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Renewable Energy Storage

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How inexpensive must renewable storage be for utilities to switch to 100% renewables
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This article appeared again in my feed today, but it was originally written a year ago.
It asks a very relevant question, but then manages to get very confused during their answer.
The short versions of their answer are that to have 100% solar and wind electricity, energy storage cost would need to come down from the current $175/kWh to around $20/kWh. They then go on to note that if only 5% of the electricity generation is not from solar or wind, then the cost of storage would only need to come down to $150k. In other words, if only a slight portion of electricity comes from thermal, hydro, wave, tide and other renewable sources, not much of a reduction in energy costs would be needed.
Which is quite a meaningful difference, especially if one takes into account that nuclear currently makes up about 20% of the USA electricity supply. And Hydropower, which is not going anywhere soon, is at 7.3%. So with about 27% of non-carbon based supply already in place, storage at even much more than $150/kWh will suffice.
But lets keep it at $150. The following storage technologies are below that already:
Lithium Ion Battery Packs - these are, on average, currently slightly below $140/kWh, with installations at below $100 for e-buses in China.
Pumped Hydro and Compressed Air Storage - The cost for these are already down to around $20/kWh, but the article is concerned about the availability of sites. However, the
Australian National University
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used satellite imaging information to identify 530,000 viable sites around the world. This amounts to 100 TIMES the storage that is necessary for a 100% renewable grid.
The article concludes with: “The key is to develop storage technologies that can reach those low capital costs [of $20/kWh],” Chiang says. “I believe this kind of storage can be demonstrated at a pilot scale within the next five years.”
I disagree. The key is to follow an integrated holistic approach. And as I have shown, applying that, the world already has the technology to move to 100% renewables, it is just a question of getting the build work done. And again, not solar and wind, but non-carbon.

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