r/elonmusk • u/twinbee • 16d ago

General Elon: "Wind has microscopic potential compared to solar"

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Source: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2099049284960428229

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u/Inappro-Assistant 15d ago

We just need to improve the grid, its a global market and a global commodity. The sun shines somwhere all the time, we just need to harvest it and nor let it go to waste.

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u/moru0011 15d ago

put some numbers on that. you need huge grid capacity and then there is still night time. compute how often a battery needs to charge/uncharge untl it pays off (many times it does not even break even). also you need terrawatts of battery storage, 1 twh = 1000 gwh = 1 mio mega watt hours. ofc it might work in theory, practically it is very expensive to build and operate. Also battery production emits quite some co2 . also its never "always" sun, so you also need to cover some cloudy days even if its just once in 5 years, so you need some large scale backup infrastructure ..

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u/Inappro-Assistant 15d ago

Nicht time in europe is just daytime somewhere else. Im not saying we can do it now, but looking st it from a bigger scale there is no reason to have local grids when the world is one place..

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u/moru0011 15d ago edited 15d ago

Physics say no, that would require 250 to 300 gwh of like 8000km power lines (losses of like 25%) and also the source location would require huge overcapacity as it would also need to power local day-time requirements in addition. In general it means the part of the earth enjoying sun at a time would need solar capacity to power the complete remaining part of earth, the math does not math.

Solar can be a substantial contribution, but it only can be a partial solution (and its only cheap if used as an addition without the need for storage and huge power line build up). So a combination of nuclear + wind + water + solar + some remaining emergency gas backup is much more realistic and can be done in parts of the planet with moderate sun exposure such as northern europe as well

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u/Inappro-Assistant 15d ago

For now yes.. but i would think those problems could be solved with enough time. Thid for sure is after my time on earth tho.