This is the other end of the solar/wind puzzle. And it will work in the same way: individual consumers operating in their best self interest.<p>My power company just came out with a new rate plan that I jumped on: 8 cents for all but 5-9, which is 26 cents. It's pretty obvious the "duck curve" is slamming them pretty hard. I'm making it mostly work with creative home automation and timers on my car charger and water heater, but with just 6 kWh or so of batteries I could completely eliminate my peak power usage. I don't have any place to put solar panels on my property, so I'm looking forward to sodium batteries making this a viable way for me lower my electric bills.
Battery Technology is a bit of a handy distraction. The only solution is to move the "Duck Curve" to later in the day. So use batteries? well yes if you use them at the household WITHOUT solar.
If you have solar + batteries you just increase the duck curve
You can use centralized batteries but that probably means major upgrades to the distribution infrastructure.
If the power companies would charge according to cost of supply (so ALL power is cheaper during the Duck Curve period) so you can charge the home battery during "duck Curve" and use it ONLY during the evening peak.
But most power companies have multiple generator technology and use power generated by "cheaper" generators to subsidize the costly overnight or non renewable generation.
Related:<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38304405">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38304405</a><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38025086">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38025086</a><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38361094">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38361094</a><p>And this insightful comment about how to think about pack density (don't require nearly as much cooling and management systems as nickel-cobalt chemistries, and 160Wh/kg is good enough):
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38363603">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38363603</a>
Battery tech has deep and extensive research behind it. It is unlikely that a revolutionary breakthrough will happen at this point. Batteries have to balance so many factors: energy density, safety, cost, reliability, recharge characteristics, and they're all really important. We are in the incremental phase of battery technology advancement now. The options and their drawbacks are all well known.