Focus The New York Times – July 14
The Energy Department on Wednesday announced a new effort to tackle one of the toughest technical challenges facing President Joe Biden s push for an electric grid dominated by solar and wind power. While dozens of companies are working on different ideas for so-called long-duration energy storage, most are still too expensive to be useful. As part of its initiative, the Energy Department wants to drive down the cost of long-duration storage 90% below the cost of today s lithium-ion batteries by 2030. The agency will direct experts at its national labs to focus on improving such technologies while it seeks funding from Congress for early demonstration projects.
The Energy Department aims for cheaper batteries to make clean energy more viable.
The Energy Department is seeking a low-cost way to store electricity generated by the sun or wind for days or even weeks at a time.Credit.Damon Winter/The New York Times
July 14, 2021, 8:40 a.m. ET
The Energy Department on Wednesday announced a new effort to tackle one of the toughest technical challenges facing President Biden’s push for an electric grid dominated by solar and wind power namely, what to do when the sun stops shining and the wind stops blowing.
The government is chasing a promising but uncertain solution: a low-cost way to store electricity generated by the sun or wind for hours, days or even weeks at a time, saving it for when it’s most needed. That goes far beyond what current batteries can do. While dozens of companies are working on different ideas for so-called “long-duration energy storage,” most are still too expensive to be practical.
CHAMBLEE, Georgia (AP) — As the shutdown of a major fuel pipeline entered into its fifth day, efforts are under way to stave off potential fuel shortages, though no widespread disruptions were evident. The Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of.
May 11, 2021 Share
Hit by a cyberattack, the operator of a major U.S. fuel pipeline said Monday it hopes to have services mostly restored by the end of the week as the FBI and administration officials identified the culprits as a gang of criminal hackers.
U.S. officials sought to soothe concerns about price spikes or damage to the economy by stressing that the fuel supply had so far not experienced widespread disruptions, and the company said it was working toward “substantially restoring operational service” by the weekend.
The White House said in a statement late Monday that it was monitoring supply shortages in parts of the Southeast and that President Joe Biden had directed federal agencies to bring their resources to bear.