I was talking with an engineer about using a closed loop hydro system at home, maybe in a tower. He said the water wouldn't have enough head to generate electricity. But that compressed air energy storage just might be the solution I was looking for.

[–] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago

the other arguably more effective option for home use is dumping it into heat. Heating up water is a great heat storage solution for radiant heating for instance. Getting that energy back out is arguably harder, but hot water is also pretty useful, so.

[–] Dashmezzo@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Hydrogen fuel cells also. Use the excess to make hydrogen which is simple to store and then use it as a fuel to burn when you have demand. These have started to be put at the bottom of wind turbines so they don’t need to be stopped when the wind is blowing but there is no grid demand.

All these systems help balance the grid too meaning these renewables can be used as base loads instead of dirtier base load generators like coal or gas fire stations.