经济学人下载:能源短缺 电能如何储存?(下)

Battery firms like Tesla, as well as some utilities, see a mixture of rooftop photovoltaics, home-mounted batteries and electric vehicles as the way of the future, with power being stored locally and new business models emerging to manage customers' energy use remotely.
像特斯拉这样的电池公司，以及一些公用事业公司，将屋顶太阳能电池、家用电池和电动汽车作为未来的一种混合方式，将电力储存在本地，这种新的商业模式可以远程管理客户的能源使用。

But Mr Galan is sceptical that batteries can last long enough to handle intermittency, or that customers will care enough about distributed energy to make the domestic-battery business compelling.
但Galan先生则质疑电池是否可以持续足够长的时间来处理间歇性，或者消费者是否会关心国内电池行业中的核心问题——分布式能量。

“I can't imagine saying to my wife that we have a choice between a new fridge and the latest Powerwall battery.”
Galan先生指出“我无法想象告诉我的妻子，我们将在新冰箱和新Powerwall电池之间做出选择。”

Instead, he believes there is more to be gained by using renewable energy to pump water up to hilltop reservoirs, and letting it flow downhill to produce hydroelectricity when needed.
相反，他认为通过利用再生能源将水抽到山顶水库会更有利，并在需要时让它流向山下来产生水电。

Iberdrola has already done this with its successful $1.3bn Cortes La Muela project in Spain, completed in 2013.
2013年Iberdrola公司已经在西班牙花13亿成功地做完了Cortes La Muela项目。

It is building a large pumped-hydro storage facility in northern Portugal.
它正在葡萄牙北部建造一个大型抽水蓄能设施。

Mr Galan does not dismiss batteries altogether.
Galan先生并没有忽略电池。

But he thinks it would be better for utilities to deploy them to regulate the intermittency of electricity supply in substations, rather than putting them in homes.
但他认为对于公共事业来说，调动它们管理变电站供电的间歇性好过于把它们放在家里。

His reservations about fully distributed electricity may be self-serving.
他对全分布式电力的保留可能是自私的。

If users buy batteries to help them cut loose from grids, network operators would have to raise prices to remaining customers, causing a “utility death spiral”.
如果用户购买电池而不再使用电网，电网运营商就只好对剩余客户提升价格，从而导致“公用事业死亡螺旋”。

Yet it is probable that centralised electricity will survive, especially in big cities.
然而，集中供电很可能会幸存下来，尤其是在大城市。

And do not write off Iberdrola's predictive powers.
不要低估了Iberdrola的预测能力。

“They could see the future,” says Antonella Bianchessi of Citigroup.
花旗集团Antonella Bianchessi说“他们可以预见未来”。