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The NewMars community includes some of the most forward looking people alive on Earth.
However, not ** every ** alternate future shows up here before it happens elsewhere.
There is just too much going on, with 8 plus billion people thinking about how to live better themselves, or how to improve things for others.
The first post in this new topic reports on university research into use of railroads as potential energy storage devices, in order to avoid having to pay for transmission lines.
The argument appears to be that since the railroad network in the US is well developed, it has the capability to deliver power to where it is needed in times of need.
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Opening report: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/rese … 00512.html
FreightWaves
Researchers explore using battery systems in locomotives to support US power gridJoanna Marsh
Wed, July 5, 2023 at 7:00 AM EDTResearchers in California have explored whether battery-electric locomotives can have a role in energy storage for the U.S. power grid. (Photo:
Researchers in California are exploring the possibility of using the battery systems in battery-electric locomotives to store power for the U.S. power grid, according to a paper published in the academic journal Nature Energy.Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said they explored using batteries as a way to store energy to help address the challenges associated with maintaining reliability amid extreme weather events and intermittent power generation.
The battery systems could serve “as a nationwide backup transmission grid” through which saved power could be shared among regions, meet demand peaks and relieve transmission congestion, according to the researchers.
“Compared to new transmission lines and stationary battery capacity, deploying [rail-based mobile energy storage (RMES)] for such events could save the power sector upwards of US$300 per kW-year [for new transmission lines] and US$85 per kW-year [for stationary battery capacity,” researchers said in the article abstract. “While no known technical barriers exclude RMES from grid participation, addressing interconnection challenges and revising regulatory frameworks is necessary for deployment at scale.”
The U.S. rail infrastructure could serve as a backup system in part because of its size: The network spans 137,000 miles and consists of rights of way and property in some of the most population-dense and transmission-congested regions, the researchers said. Meanwhile, a single train has a capacity of 1 gigawatt-hour of battery storage, which is equivalent to the carrying capacity of 1,000 semi-trucks, they said.
To explore the possibility further, more study needs to be conducted on real-world freight scheduling constraints as well as ensuring that rail battery storage could be a feasible option as a hedge against transmission constraints, they said.
Discussion about using a battery-electric locomotive’s battery systems for energy storage comes as the North American freight rail industry is looking to increase its deployment of locomotives powered by alternative energy as a means to reduce the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Others have also questioned the potential or viability of electrifying the freight rail network for at least some of rail infrastructure, such as at ports.
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Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Joanna Marsh.
Related links:
Union Pacific spending over $100M on 20 battery-electric locomotivesWabtec, G&W and Carnegie Mellon partner to advance battery-electric locomotives
Freight rail electrification can exist in North America — the question is where
Is electrifying the freight rail network cost prohibitive?
Commentary: No, railroad freight electrification is not dead
The post Researchers explore using battery systems in locomotives to support US power grid appeared first on FreightWaves.
After re-reading the above, I can easily imagine posts by our members, showing cons as well as pros for this idea.
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This is in effect a method of mechanical power transmission and storage. A rail vehicle mounted of a circular track is analogous to a flywheel. Other similar mechanical power transmission technologies are rope and chain drives.
Last edited by Calliban (2023-07-05 14:15:05)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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For Calliban re #3
Thanks for helping to give this new topic a "rolling" start!
Your first impression is understandable. In fact, the archives of the forum include discussions of the very idea you have proposed.
This is NOT a gravity storage system. Instead, the idea (as I understand it) is to mount batteries on trains, and drive those to places where power is needed. This is an alternative to building power transmission lines.
The logic (again, as I understand it) is to take advantage of the extensive railroad network in the United States.
I would expect the battery cars to be charged in regions where wind and solar power are abundant, and then shipped at 60 miles per hour to wherever they are needed. So 3000 miles accross from California to New York would require 50 hours, and most locations that need emergency power would be closer.
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I changed the topic to give it more scope than it had originally.
In other topics recently (in 2024) members have been discussing railroads and dealing with expansion of the rails due to heat.
The video at the link below presents an overview of the subject, and shows that modern welded railroads are constructed on hot days, or the rails are heated or stretched before welding, so that the midpoint or "neural" expansion point is at the middle of the expected range of temperatures the rails may experience. When temperatures fall below the neutral point, the rails stretch, and above they compress. Ties and the underlying ballast are designed to help the rails to deal with the positive and negative stresses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqmOSMAtadc
In a recent post, GW Johnson suggested tongue-in-groove joints, and it appears that some railroads have implemented a "sliding V" version of that idea.
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