How is this supposed to compete with a lithium ion battery? It's not portable, and requires access to the grid. It's a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MARKET. And 50% efficency is really bad. Batteries are 95% efficient.
I could see this as being useful if the market is EXTREMELY volatile, but you'd have to fill it up when electricity is cheap and then wait for the price to double before discharging. Electricity in my area is stable. It's been $0.12 / kWH for decades. So, that's decades that this hypothetical power plant has been making no money.
How is this supposed to compete with a lithium ion battery? It's not portable, and requires access to the grid. It's a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MARKET. And 50% efficency is really bad. Batteries are 95% efficient.
I could see this as being useful if the market is EXTREMELY volatile, but you'd have to fill it up when electricity is cheap and then wait for the price to double before discharging. Electricity in my area is stable. It's been $0.12 / kWH for decades. So, that's decades that this hypothetical power plant has been making no money.
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