Been reading about these mega portable chargers (1-2kWh jobs like Anker and EcoFlow...enough oomph to power an air-fryer on a camp site, in your articulated lorry etc).
Made me wonder, why not put all the solar farms in sunny places, charge up 'electricity tankers' - basically huge floating batteries - and move them around using oil terminal infrastructure maybe and connect 'em to the grid? (They had a similar idea years ago with ships carrying nuclear reactors to deliver power to disaster areas...unsurprisingly, I don't think it happened ).
I've had a Jackery Explorer 500 portable power station to power my astrophotography rig for just over two years. Good piece of kit as far as I'm concerned. Also useful at home as we get a ridiculous amount of power cuts in the village. It won't boil a kettle though.
That Anker Solix C100 is almost half as much again in Turkey (about £775 on the current RoE). I got the Jackery on an introductory offer and it was about £20 cheaper than the UK price. It'll comfortably power my rig all night when I'm away from home and charges pretty fast.
Count Steer wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 9:44 am
Been reading about these mega portable chargers (1-2kWh jobs like Anker and EcoFlow...enough oomph to power an air-fryer on a camp site, in your articulated lorry etc).
Made me wonder, why not put all the solar farms in sunny places, charge up 'electricity tankers' - basically huge floating batteries - and move them around using oil terminal infrastructure maybe and connect 'em to the grid? (They had a similar idea years ago with ships carrying nuclear reactors to deliver power to disaster areas...unsurprisingly, I don't think it happened ).
Yrs, Professor Popkiss
Do you really want to know "why not"? I could list some of the reasons for you but I suspect you already know.
The step daughter has one she has used twice, put away, and dug out again a year or three later. I managed to charge it to 100%, checked it a week later...89%. I recharged it, now it is fubarred. About £250 I believe......
Cousin Jack wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 11:36 am
Bastard English again!
You lot are already covering the Duchy in solar farm and wind turbines. Now you want to clog up our roads with humungous electricity tankers too.
An Gof is turning in his grave! Bishop Trelawny too. Time to blow up the bridges, dig a 6 mile ditch in the north and become an island nation!
When I say 'electricity tankers' I mean and when I say places I mean really places with lots and lots of land that isn't much use for anything (ie after the oil has been drained out of it).
I expect my roof can collect more than enough energy to last me all year, no need to import it. All I need is a decent storage system.
Sand heat stores look very interesting but probably need to be centralised.
The "tankers" I refer to are of course just all the millions of EVs already clogging up the "Duchy".
@Cousin Jack I think you just want to check what sort of MPG you get out of a typical tanker. Those filthy gigantic beasts somehow escape the wrath of eco warriors and "carbon tax" bollocks, one assumes because you don't bite the hand that feeds you. Pick on the low hanging fruit you can force into compliance (you an me). We digress.
Perhaps one day someone will invent a sort of connection that allows electrickery to move from one place to another without having to dump it into a bucket and physically move several hundred tons of (vanishingly) rare earth metals...
Count Steer wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 9:44 am
(They had a similar idea years ago with ships carrying nuclear reactors to deliver power to disaster areas...unsurprisingly, I don't think it happened ).
USN has done that with Carriers, I forget where it was.
Count Steer wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 9:44 am
(They had a similar idea years ago with ships carrying nuclear reactors to deliver power to disaster areas...unsurprisingly, I don't think it happened ).
USN has done that with Carriers, I forget where it was.
I had a sneaky feeling it had been done using the installed nuclear power plant - rather than an additional reactor. I have a memory of a diagram in my head but wasn't sure if it was an actual or conceptual thing.
Count Steer wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 9:44 am
(They had a similar idea years ago with ships carrying nuclear reactors to deliver power to disaster areas...unsurprisingly, I don't think it happened ).
USN has done that with Carriers, I forget where it was.
I had a sneaky feeling it had been done using the installed nuclear power plant - rather than an additional reactor. I have a memory of a diagram in my head but wasn't sure if it was an actual or conceptual thing.
Quite a few ports and countries will not accept nuclear pwered ships.
Mike1976 wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 12:09 pm
Perhaps one day someone will invent a sort of connection that allows electrickery to move from one place to another without having to dump it into a bucket and physically move several hundred tons of (vanishingly) rare earth metals...
I think they may have done this already. One version involves bloody great steel towers that are unpopular with the locals, the other involve digging a big trench across the landscape. That isn't popular either.
Mike1976 wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 12:09 pm
Perhaps one day someone will invent a sort of connection that allows electrickery to move from one place to another without having to dump it into a bucket and physically move several hundred tons of (vanishingly) rare earth metals...
I think they may have done this already. One version involves bloody great steel towers that are unpopular with the locals, the other involve digging a big trench across the landscape. That isn't popular either.
Mike1976 wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 12:09 pm
Perhaps one day someone will invent a sort of connection that allows electrickery to move from one place to another without having to dump it into a bucket and physically move several hundred tons of (vanishingly) rare earth metals...
I think they may have done this already. One version involves bloody great steel towers that are unpopular with the locals, the other involve digging a big trench across the landscape. That isn't popular either.
I wasn't just thinking about getting power from sunny places to these hallowed shores anyway. The idea of undersea cables (or pylons) from Saudi etc to eg Canada or the Netherlands is a big ask.
).
and when I say 
places I mean really 
places with lots and lots of land that isn't much use for anything (ie after the oil has been drained out of it).
