(Salton Sea, California, from freeimages.com. It looks more lovely in this photo than the reality on the ground.)
Putting a solar photovoltaic system on our house has been part of our long term plan since long before the recent spike in energy prices. For various reasons, we weren’t in a position to work on it until around the start of this year. We’re waiting for one last update on the proposal from the installer we believe we want to engage.
Solar PV installers are working overtime in the UK right now. Having energy prices double or triple makes more households and businesses willing to absorb the up-front cost of a solar system. We understand the pressure this puts on installers, especially those qualified to set up systems that feed excess power into the national grid.
We are not in a tizzy about how long this project is taking. It is, after all, part of our long term plan. In the future we may add a microwind turbine to the system. We’re so far north, solar power only produces well for a little over half the year. We get a lot of wind during the portion of the year when solar hardly produces at all.
Getting into this solar PV project has led to interesting conversations.
No, our roof orientation is not ideal, so the leading proposal includes panels that perform better than most with the angles of incidence we’ll get. Yes, battery storage will be involved. No, lithium ion is not necessarily the best battery technology for us, but it’s the most widely used.
No, there is no reason to panic about lithium supply as the world transitions more and more to renewable energy sources and electric vehicles.
Lithium is not as commonly available as dirt, so why shouldn’t we worry about lithium supply?
Because an alternative battery technology is just a few years away from becoming available. A decade from now, we can look back and marvel that we were using the batteries we’re using.
In the meantime, sources of lithium are scattered around the world. This is not a substance only found in one or two countries.
The USA has enough lithium to take care of its own needs. This means we shouldn’t have one of the world’s biggest economies grabbing lithium away from other countries. The USA has enough to make its own batteries and may even be able to provide some to other countries.
The fellow who trumpeted doom at me about the USA not having enough of this metal doesn’t know this. Heck, when he first shouted, I wasn’t sure of it myself. I had to look it up.
If you have the time and are curious, take a look at this video about a place where California produces geothermal power and is setting up to produce lithium at the power plants.
It’s fascinating. It’s much needed for the technologies we rely upon now. The more the dried-up lake bed can be processed to make something useful, the better. Right now the area wafts toxic dust at people who live nearby.
It’s a counterweight to oil companies that are implementing “carbon bomb” projects which promise to push the world well beyond the amount of climate change it can tolerate.
We can make the business case for those projects fall apart. Not our governments. Us. Ordinary people. It’s a matter of enough of us, those of us with the means to do it, finding ways not to need much oil and gas any more. For that, right now we need lithium, and a lot of it is right there at the Salton Sea.
Note: Many thanks to my brother for finding the video.