Sumant:
Thats a very important part of the market that were going to be looking at, figuring out how thats going to evolve. But, again, our intention
is to be ahead of the competition on that as well.
John:
Great. Sumant, if you can, just to clarify, theres a unified grid, but intermittency is still an issue. Is that just because demand does fluctuate? It
depends on the time of day. If you didnt have any storage, would the power essentially have to be used immediately when its produced? Is that why theres still a need for the batteries and the storage?
Sumant:
Yeah. What happens is that theres a certain
demand curve. Every grade, every country will have a certain demand curve. The demand will show up at certain times of the day. In India, for example, theres demand in the morning when people are getting ready, and commuting, and so on. Then
theres a demand in the middle of the day when air conditioning demand goes up. Then theres a peak at the end of the day, and so on. Thats one aspect.
Sumant:
The second aspect is that you produce solar power when
the sun shines and wind energy when the wind blows. That you cant forecast that well. That happens when it happens. You have to manage the mismatch between the generation side and the demand side.
Sumant:
You have various sources of power generation in the
grid. There could be coal-based power, gas-based power, nuclear, hydro, et cetera. Some of those can provide a certain amount of base load power. But, when renewables get beyond a certain amount of the grid,
lets say 30% or so, then you need to have the ability of storing that power and then using it whenever its required.
Sumant:
We are quite a far away point from reaching that point, maybe another five, seven years. Therefore, we have time to figure out the best solutions. Batteries
are one of the most obvious solutions, and battery costs will come down quite substantially over time. Therefore that will probably end up being the best solution.
John:
Great. As far as the batteries and the solar panels, is
there any initiative to recycle them? Thats something thats been going on here more and more often with batteries, because if theyre not disposed of properly, theyre actually quite bad for the environment. Is that something
... Maybe its too early. I imagine the solar panels, for instance, are still good for quite some time.
Sumant:
Yeah. The solar panels, as we discussed earlier, are good for maybe another ... The ones that are being installed now, maybe another 30, 35 years. Batteries,
of course, have a shorter timeline, maybe seven to ten years. But, look, they have a lot of very important material inside them. Lithium, for one, cobalt, copper, et cetera. I see the development of a fairly active recycling industry, especially on
the battery side. Thats something Im sure that Bob will have some views on as well, in case, Bob, you want to comment on that.