Clean energy is a major component of the Obama Administration's plans for an upgraded electricity grid. But with variable outputs, clean energy generation from solar and wind will need to be augmented, according to this piece from NPR.
"Here's the problem: Solar and wind power are intermittent. Sometimes it's sunny, sometimes it's not, and it's the same for wind. But the grid needs constant and reliable sources of power."
"What's the answer? One solution, says Imre Gyuk, a researcher at the Department of Energy, is to store that energy. Gyuk and engineers at power companies have an idea for how to do that."
"'You put a large number of small batteries around a neighborhood,' Gyuk says, 'just like the neighborhood transformers - just a little green box that's innocuous.'"
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research