Image: Commercial solar man
“But what happens when the sun sets?” This age-old refrain now has a definitive answer: “Batteries take over.”
Over the course of 2023 and 2024, lithium-based batteries have gone from merely useful and somewhat expensive, to the brink of affordability and widespread adoption. This transformation has been driven by substantial cost reductions and increases in production and deployment volumes.
But before we get into those details, let’s first discuss why batteries are such a useful technology.
Imagine batteries as spacecraft or rocketsadjusting their trajectory with precise, rapid bursts of energy. In space travel, this is known as a ‘reaction control system’, an essential technology since the days of the first Apollo missions. Likewise, batteries are capable of delivering precise amounts of energy within milliseconds. This capability proved crucial when the world’s first large-scale battery installation blackout in Australia by responding faster than traditional power plants could.
With their microsecond response times, batteries provide highly accurate energy outputs that are critical in moments of sudden demand. This rapid response allows batteries to respond faster than the slower, more cumbersome responses of traditional fossil fuel power plants. Australia recognized the benefits of this rapid response and was able to significantly reduce the response time required for power plants 30 minutes to just 5 minutes.
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