Re: The Physics Behind the Spanish Blackout

On 2025-06-13 17:46, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org> wrote:

On 13/06/2025 11:02 pm, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

...

Is there any way you could 'store cold' rather than electricity?  Use a
solar-powered heat pump during the hours of sunshine to cool a large
tank of water, then reverse the the pump , which could be powered by a
relatively small battery and inverter, to run water-cooled air
conditioning during darkness.  (A DC powered electric motor on the heat
pump might be even more efficient - just remember to replace the brushes
regularly.)
>
That way you could take your biggest load off-grid entirely.

>
Why bother? Storing the power in a "power wall" style battery does
exactly the same job, with fewer intermediate stages to waste power
along the way.

 The storage of energy (in this case below ambient) in a tank of water is
a lot less environmentally damaging than batteries of any kind and
water-cooled air conditioning is more efficient than air-cooled.

Needs a large water tank, and not a large temperature drop. Maybe converting the water to ice? That stores a lot of "energy" per kilogram.
If you have the space, why not?
The thing is that storing cold during the night could also be interesting.
--
Cheers, Carlos.