Big batteries can store power when the sun doesn't shine
Lloyd Alter (@lloydalter) Energy / Renewable Energy June 5, 2017
pumped storage
© Andrew Roberts/ New York Times
SNIPPET:
What is the difference between a battery and a power source? It is sometimes hard to distinguish. If you build a dam and capture the energy of falling water, it is considered power generation from a power source, namely gravity. But if you pump water up a hill and store it behind a dam until you need it, that's acting as a battery; it is not making energy, it is just storing it. It is a really important distinction; it is one of the reasons we are not fans of hydrogen, considering it more a battery than a fuel.
Diane Cardwell of The New York Times writes about The Biggest, Strangest "Batteries" and explains how really, anything that can store energy and release it later is a battery.
Full article:https://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/big-batteries-can-store-power-when-sun-doesnt-shine.html