[sf-lug] ARES, too (was: Battery Storage to expand rapidly.)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Mike Higashi (mhigashi at gmail.com):

> On Jan 5, 2017 3:57 AM, "Rick Moen" <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> 
> > Ready for the description?  I hope you are dazzled by the simplicity
> > and elegance the way I am.
> 
> OMG! That's fscking clever.

Isn't it just?  It just bowled me over.

If this is successful, some of these tracks can be built in any
semi-serious set of hills near most of the cities in the western
continental USA, because we may not have enough water, but we sure have
empty land and hills.

I can imagine one of these a short ways outside Denver, for example. 

> And it bypasses all the downsides to lithium, too boot (scarcity,
> toxicity, thermal runaway).

Also, although not completely safe (a reporter was told it was a bad
idea when he asked to ride on the pilot project train), and you need a
fence around it so nobody licks the third rail and cows don't lie down
on the tracks, it's about as close to completely safe as high-density
energy storage can get.