Link: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/01/1145435/distributed-batteries/

"If every stove in America were shipped with a battery, it would add up to tens of gigawatts of power, Calisch said. That’s capacity that can be aggregated and tapped when the grid is stressed."

Back of an envelope calculation: 100 million distributed batteries × 10 kWh each = 1,000 GWh = 1 TWh. If those batteries could each provide 5 kW: 100 million × 5 kW = 500 GW. That would be comparable to, or larger than, the entire short-duration storage requirement in some US 100%-clean-grid scenarios.

Of all the many forces working in renewables favor, here's another. The grid storage a 100%-renewables grid needs can be largely self-building. Decentralized self-building systems always win out against inefficient centralized systems in the end.

How smaller, distributed batteries could help the grid

Defense spending should be diverted to solar and batteries. Far, far easier to defend decentralized electricity infrastructure.

This is a terrible idea...

Like, batteries are made of rare earth materials, we can't just snap our fingers and make that many batteries.

The real solution is going to be something like pumping water uphill when there's surplus of power, and then let it run thru a turbine to generate power when needed.

Creating a shit ton of e-waste is the most counter productive thing I ever heard of

Batteries last for a long time, and there are different battery chemistries like sodium ion that don't require the same rare earth metals. Also even if it's using chemistries that need elements like cobalt (which is not at all necessary for this purpose), the metals in batteries are recyclable. The stuff only needs to be mined once, and if it's replacing fossil fuels that require continuous extraction and environmental harm to human and natural spaces, it's a win. I think pumped hydro has a place, but that doesn't mean other solutions are bad.

That hsan't really been the experience in Australia. Snowy 2.0 is late & over budget while grid scale batteries are getting rolled out fast.

A 10kwh battery costs a few grand and is much too big to be installed in a typical kitchen (think more than half a metre square by 20cm thick).

1 TWh would be enough to fulfill the USA's current average generation from renewables for just eight hours. The USA is big so won't suffer from as many periods of no solar and wind generation as a small country, but it will still lose generation during generally cloudy, still times.

Batteries last for a long time

Then you're thinking on way too short of a timeline...

And you're acting like sodium is ready to go...

Not even getting into how even with distributed backup batteries, sticking them in random appliances doesn't make any sense.

Like, at least argue for distributed battery backup. Even at individual home level that would be inefficient, but tying them into a stove, refrigerator or fucking microwave just because they're already plugged into a wall is completely nonsensical.

Just so we are clear, the battery in a Prius comes in at 4.4kWh and weighs 180lbs, or slightly less than my whole stove… and who is going to pay for that? The damn things already costs a grand.

Also, my stove is the last place I want to store a lithium battery. I say this as someone that's very in favor of distributed gen and storage

Which rare earth materials? Are you thinking of cobalt? Cobalt is problematic but it's not a rare earth.

Oh yeah, all those super batteries that are made of readily available materials and can be built to scale at no environmental impact and can easily fit in household appliances...

Yeah, I forgot we had all of those laying around, you're right bro.

CATL is mass manufacturing sodium batteries this moment. It's totally ready to go.

And batteries can last a long time. There was a lot of fearmongering about EV lifespans, but they often last longer than gas cars.

Distributed power storage can be decently efficient, especially if paired with residential solar, and it has benefits for outage resilience and reducing demand on the grid.

Using EV batteries for this makes sense because the batteries are there anyway, but I think separate home battery banks makes sense too. And while I don't think they make sense for new construction and they are quite expensive, the battery stoves are reasonable if you want a high power electric stove and a battery backup without rewiring your home.

Do you know that "rare earth" refers to 17 specific elements? I don't know of any battery technologies that use any of them, which is why I asked.

I'm being a pedantic ass but I'm taking issue with your terminology, not your overall point.

The paywall on this website is sometimes hard to get around, but one thing I like about it is that if you subscribe to it with RSS, the full articles are present in the RSS preview.