From: The Unpopular Truth

By: Dr. Lars Schernikau

Date: June 19, 2026

Can solar and wind + batteries really provide 24/7/365 electricity?

Examining the realities of a solar and wind + battery system

If someone told you they had discovered a cheaper way to power your home, you would naturally expect your bills to be reduced… right?

But then, before you could switch, they tell you to buy another heating system, install a large battery in the garage, replace much of your electrical wiring, and keep the old setup ready as a backup? (I call it “other things” or “ancillary systems”)? Latest at that point, you would probably start asking yourself… if all of that extra equipment is necessary, is the new option really less expensive? And then… how long does this equipment last?

This same question extends well beyond individual households!

Energy sits behind almost everything we do. It powers our lights, heats our homes, keeps hospitals running, extracts mined and grown resources for our survival, moves goods around the world and enables the running of factories that produce the products we buy every day.

This is the reason the cost of electricity does not just stay on your electricity bill. It eventually filters through into food prices, manufacturing costs, transport costs, your taxes and, ultimately, the cost of living.

We are repeatedly been told that solar and wind + batteries systems are becoming so inexpensive that they can provide reliable electricity around the clock, even competing with conventional coal, gas, hydro, and nuclear power plants… but is this a realistic “idea”? because to date, it is only an idea…

End April 2026 IRENA went public with a 60 page report  titled 24 / 7 Renewables – the Economics of firm Wind and Solar [1] claiming that “It indicates that co-located solar photovoltaics (PV) and onshore wind systems with battery energy storage systems (BESS) can reliably and cost-effectively provide round-the-clock electricity in favorable resource conditions”. (continue reading)

 

Can solar and wind + batteries really provide 24/7/365 electricity?