Only the pig headed and stupid deny that the only sure sources of power are coal, gas and nuclear.

Fire is one problem with lithium batteries but operating cost and scalability could be the bigger issues. Pre Covid Australia was using about 262 Twh of annual electricity. According to credible estimates Australia would need 1% of that (3.65 average days) or 2.6 Twh of storage. The Snowy 2 pumped hydro project when completed will store 0.35 Twh.

Four hour lithium ion has a levelised cost of US$150 per Mwh yet realtime generators on the national grid have been happy with A$50-$100 per Mwh, albeit some of it with high CO2. Despite the rising cost of gas most of this new wind and solar will be balanced by gas fired power, not energy storage. The new small modular reactors could replace retiring coal plant cheaper than future gas with a bonus of inbuilt frequency stability, possibly no new transmission lines and no CO2.

They might be if we made them here. But to have any manufacturing industry that can compete! We need ultra-reliable dispatchable power 24/7. And given what the future looks like from here, carbon-free! And cheaper by far than coal, gas, hydro or any of the renewables! That only leaves MSR thorium! Or MSR nuclear waste burners. Either of which would make big batteries unnecessary!

The first could conceivably bring power costs down to 1 cent PKWH And the waste burner option, less than that. And either in complete safety!

Why don't we have them now? Well, because our parliaments are, by and large, science free zones, all too often welded to special vested interest or those who pay their reelection outlays? And front and centre there, the fossil fuel industry or coal?

Besides that, we always have the hand out for the free lunch when it comes to commercializing new ideas or our best ideas. Or defending the nation!
Alan B.

The first Apple computer to feature a lithium battery (the PowerBook 5300 if I recall correctly) was nicknamed the Hindenbook after a couple of battery fires. But after a few improvements to the battery manufacturing process, the safety problems were solved and the issue went away, and now lithium batteries are the norm for computers and phones. If some manufacturers have problems with bigger batteries, either these will be solved in a similar way or the manufacturers that have the problem will go out of business.

I'm not an expert on big battery design, but the heat issue is well known so I'd be surprised if it wasn't dealt with by using cooling systems, sensors and control software directing the charging and discharging away from the hottest cells.

Also, lithium batteries are just one of many competing battery technologies. Vanadium batteries (invented in Australia) don't suffer the same problems.

I don't think anyone's claiming we'll get to 100% renewable energy relying on big batteries alone. But despite the idiotic scaremongering of this article, big batteries are practical, safe and economically viable. We're going to see a lot more of them.

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