It's certainly not disqualifying until we are at far far far higher levels of renewables on the grid. Getting to 80% generation would take very little storage.
And people overestimate how much storage costs. In Texas, even with super cheap natural gas, there are more GW of storage in the interconnection queue than there are of natural gas plants. That's at today's prices, in a market where everybody competes on their own costs!
And greater than 95% of new solar projects in California include storage, and something like 25% of projects outside of California include storage along with the renewables.
We don't absolutely need to deploy storage right now, but independent agents are still doing it, because they make money by deploying storage at current costs.
And people overestimate how much storage costs. In Texas, even with super cheap natural gas, there are more GW of storage in the interconnection queue than there are of natural gas plants. That's at today's prices, in a market where everybody competes on their own costs!
https://rmi.org/clean-energy-is-canceling-gas-plants/
And greater than 95% of new solar projects in California include storage, and something like 25% of projects outside of California include storage along with the renewables.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/hybrid-power-pl...
We don't absolutely need to deploy storage right now, but independent agents are still doing it, because they make money by deploying storage at current costs.