That’d be a couple hours a day, vs 24 hours a day, so a twelfth, not a rounding error. If the power plant costs 13 times more and takes 10 times longer to build (for example), and the power it generates is twice more expensive, then batteries make more sense.
Eight to ten, while I’m sleeping 
.
I suspect that we (CA) will soon have enough batteries to keep the night lights and the fridge running at night.
Regenerative batteries would otherwise be called power plants…
Once a battery is depleated, it’s depleated unless that nuclear plant exists to recharge it. So yes, it’s a couple hours of power, period, unless there is a lot more to the equation than just the batteries.
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Your speculation is, with all due respect, not worth much. It seems like the extended cloudy periods would be easy enough to simulate, but I have not seen any studies that indicate the probability of long periods without power versus the amount of battery storage. Better yet would be a demonstration project. Actually, we do have a demonstration project, which would be Germany. They spent huge amounts of money with their energiewende but they had to turn to lignite coal power plants to keep the electricity on.
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There IS more to the equation. There’s PV, both residential and commercial. We ended up with too much solar generation that caused energy prices to go negative. So now we’re building batteries to soak up all that excess energy and make it last longer.
Now I’m confused. I thought the sales pitch for electric cars was they could set in your garage and charge overnight when electrical demand was low and electric rates were cheaper? Now we need batteries to have power available at night, and electricity is free during the day?
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Yikes! You cost me some bourbon … or in your parlance, you caused my bourbon consumption to go negative. Sadly, neither you nor I can get a claim for our “negative intake.”
Bless your heart, keep trying.
I think that sales pitch didn’t account for rapid adoption of solar panels without batteries. The panels make hay when the sun shines, so wholesale rates can be cheaper during the day if supply exceeds demand. But the local power utilities take their cut and offer different, predictably-priced plans for consumers, including a plan for EV owners There’s a flat rate plan (same $/kWh rate 24/7), time-of-use plan (more expensive at peak evening hours, cheaper at night), and an EV plan that’s similar to time-of-use but has some other special rate for EV charging. I don’t know all the details, all I know is that if I were to go solar now, it would only make sense with a battery, and it would make even more sense with an EV. Financially speaking / ROI-wise. It would’ve been better to go solar when they had the original version of NEM, where you could actually get paid for excess generation. The new one doesn’t really let you get paid as much from what I understand.
In a predictable end, the German green energy mania imploded
Folks, it’s happening again. Germany—the economic powerhouse of Europe, the land of engineers and precision—has fallen flat on its face. Why? Because its leaders are chasing a climate dream that’s got more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition just imploded, and the reason is as simple as it is obvious: climate policy lunacy meets fiscal reality.
The German government went green alright. It went green as a tree frog, all while dumping logic and accountability out the window. Scholz kicked out his finance minister, Christian Lindner, for daring to do his job—keeping the books balanced and calling out the green pipe dream for what it is. So now the government’s in shambles, and it’s all because of the unhinged climate crusaders.
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You will only pry my gas stove out of my cold, dead hands.
The DOE’s order also outlines a plan to begin a comprehensive review of the agency’s Appliance Standards Program to make home appliances and products more affordable for Americans and promote consumer choice for appliances. The Biden-Harris administration led a push toward regulating the use of certain gas appliances, including introducing several stringent efficiency rules for gas stoves and some water heaters.
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It is not clear that the European greens will want to import natural gas from Gaza but see the second article below
One way Trump could increase natural gas production is through ownership of the Gaza Strip. In June 2023, Netanyahu awarded preliminary approval for the development of gas fields in Gaza Marine. It would have been an economic boon for the Palestinians, and it would also have given Netanyahu ammunition to demonstrate that he is working to make better living conditions for Gaza residents. These fields are estimated to contain over 1 trillion cubic feet of gas. That gas could go to Europe and could decimate what’s left of Russia’s gas supply to Europe.
In a related story the European greens are still holding to their “renewable” dreams but having to make concessions with reality
https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentMulti/468014/Multimedia.aspx
Egypt, EU and Israel sign agreement to export natural gas to Europe
“With this agreement we will work on the stable delivery of natural gas to the EU from the East Med region. This will contribute to our EU energy security. And we are building infrastructure fit for renewables - the energy of the future,” tweeted Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, after she witnessed the signing ceremony.
The framework agreement was signed by Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla , EU Commission for Energy Kadri Simson and Israeli Minister of Energy Karine Elharrar during the ministerial meeting of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) in Cairo.
I am unfamiliar with gas reserves in the mentioned countries, but suspect that DJT had a hand in maneuvering parties to this result.
There is a huge amount of gas off the Mediterranean coast of the Middle East
The Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean Sea has emerged as one of the world’s top natural gas resources, with 85 trillion cubic feet (~2.4 trillion cubic meters) discovered over the past two decades by countries in the region, including Israel. The gas-rich offshore basin straddling Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and Lebanon has attracted some of the world’s top energy companies as Europe scrambles to secure supplies to replace Russian gas.
Israel exported a record 981mn cfd of natural gas to Egypt in 2024, good for 18.2% year-over-year. According to Middle East Oil & Gas publication MEES, the remarkable surge in imports can be attributed to a growing gas deficit resulting from declining domestic production by Egypt. However, Israel will struggle to ramp up exports further due to infrastructure limitations.
As expected, the Biden regime is on the wrong side of exporting this natural gas to Europe
The Biden administration has abruptly withdrawn American support for the Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) pipeline, a project aimed at shipping natural gas from Israel to European markets. The White House said the project was antithetical to its “climate goals.”
John Hinderaker of powerline has a good review of the newly announced initiative on US energy production by DOE secretary Chris Wright. As the saying goes, RTWT, read the whole thing
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/02/coming-soon-energy-dominance.php
COMING SOON: ENERGY DOMINANCE
Other Trump initiatives have gotten most of the headlines, but his moves to unleash American energy should prove, long term, to be among his most significant. I wrote about the executive orders that Trump signed on day one here. Now, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has followed up with a Secretarial Order that implements some of the President’s key initiatives. The order is titled, “Unleashing the Golden Era of American Energy Dominance.”
1. Advance Energy Addition, Not Subtraction:
Great attention has been paid to the pursuing of a net-zero carbon future. Net-zero policies raise energy costs for American families and businesses, threaten the reliability of our energy system, and undermine our energy and national security. They have also achieved precious little in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The fact is that energy matters, and we need more of it, not less. Going forward, the Department’s goal will be to unleash the great abundance of American energy required to power modern life and to achieve a durable state of American energy dominance.
NKLA goes BK, turns out to be infeasible for electric trucks.
Nikola, Once a Darling of Green Investment, Files for Bankruptcy
Electric truck maker Nikola, which briefly boasted a market value above Ford Motor before its founder was charged with fraud, filed for bankruptcy after struggling with high costs and a trucking industry reluctant to abandon diesel engines.
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The CEO was sentenced to prison about a year ago too:
Massive power outage in Spain and Portugal caused by over reliance on wind and solar
The situation reveals a very serious underlying problem:
- Spain is still an energy island: it only has 3% foreign exchange capacity compared to its total demand.
- The network depends a lot on variable renewables, which are disconnected quickly in the face of any instability.
- The lack of physical inertia reserves (i.e. large rotating masses such as thermal power plants or classic hydraulics) prevents the disturbances from damping.
- And poor maintenance planning left without enough hydraulic muscle to respond to a crisis.
The most likely causes, with current data, are:
- A combination of technical failure in protection or in synchronization, added to a serious lack of operational forecast and maintenance (probability ≈ 40%).
- The possibility of an intentional cyber-physical attack remains in analysis (≈ 25% estimated probability).
- Other factors such as human error, punctual atmospheric phenomenon or mixed causes complete the rest.
In short: an initial shake at the most sensitive point of the Spanish network —the Aragón-Catalonia corridor, door to Europe— left the peninsula isolated and vulnerable. The network could not sustain its own demand because it did not have sufficient assistance, nor stable physical reserve, nor enough bootable plants in black. Three of five hydroelectric jumps were out of service when they were most needed.
For this reason, Spain went out in five seconds, and that is why it still continues to light little by little, fragile, slow and exposed.
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More covering of Spain’s blackouts, and how renewables failed and the legacy media wouldn’t admit it either.
After two decades of putting up solar and wind farms at massive taxpayer expense, Europe has turned electricity from cheap and reliable to the reverse. If the sun shines too brightly, the lights go out. Congrats, Greta Thunberg!
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Perhaps the “legacy” media is waiting for confirmation instead of spreading rumors or propaganda.