I think this part of the article is quite interesting: "But utilities could also tap batteries for
backup power when the grid is under strain or temporarily knocked out in an emergency, paying drivers
for the electricity harvested from their parked cars." - jman72
Charging off-peak electricity at home will be as common as freezers in our home in the near future.
But, charged energy should be used for ourselves, rather than sending the stored energy to the grid.
It is much simpler technically and administratively than feed-in system.
Nissan's Leaf is already used for this purpose (at least in Japan). Tesla is going to make home battery
pack called Powerwall available soon. Besides they can serve as a big home UPS in an emergency, daily
use can shave grid demand during peak hours. Suppose we have a home battery pack and charge it
during off-peak hours and discharge the stored energy during the day to power air conditioners,
kitchen stoves, TV etc. by cutting off grid connection, we can contribute a lot in the effort to reduce
peak demand. The home storage system should be encouraged especially in those area where they
are heavily dependent on nuke or combined cycle fire plants, output of which cannot be easily controlled.
They must keep generating a constant power all the time even during off-peak hours. (This is the reason
why they offer off-peak rates.)
If one million households can shave 3kW each during peak hours, for example, that's 3gW meaning
power companies do not have to fire up 5 or more quick-starting (and more polluting) peak covering
plants.
Eventually many of us will be making our own electricity by roof-top solar panels and natural gas
fuel cell with the storage battery pack making us independent from the grid.
