logoalt Hacker News

bell-cot • yesterday at 6:32 PM • 0 replies • view on HN

Note that the article is specific to open-cycle gas turbines. Which are somewhat cheaper than the (more complex) combined-cycle gas turbines, and can be brought online far faster - but are far less efficient. So, the open-cycle turbines have been economical only for covering short-duration demand peaks - a use case where batteries are now superior.

Vs. longer-duration needs, like a couple calm (bad for wind power) dark (bad for solar power) weeks in winter - you will need combined-cycle turbines or something for those, because installing that many batteries would cost too much.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas-fired_power_plant#Plant_ty...