Next big thing. Renewable energy is not predictable so those generating will be charged with storing surplus.
I dare say batteries have moved on but it will still be DC. Great for lights i guess but how is it going to revolutionise our lives?
Anyone got their finger on the pulse and lnow what is coming? Maybe they will charge up banks of electric car batteries and operate as service stations reducing charging costs at a stroke
Being DC isn't much of a problem nowadays. AC distribution starts out at many hundreds of kV on the big pylons, is then converted down to several tens of kV for local distribution, and then down to 240V for domestic use. So there are already probably half a dozen transformers in any supply system. Even if each transformer is 99% efficient, the cumulative losses mount up, as do losses in the power cables themselves.
The first thing most modern devices (TV,'s computers etc) do is rectify the mains to get 340 VDC and then use internal switch mode PSU's to generate the required internal voltages - 12V, 5V, 3V3 etc. Big switch mode devices can be 95%+ efficient (though small ones are often only 80-85%). It makes no difference to such a device if you feed it 240V AC or 340V DC. Infact with the US being on 110V AC it's common to find devices that will work from 80-400 V DC or AC. Things like kettles, cookers, lights don't care much either.
You probably wouldn't want 340V DC in your household cables though - it's a bit too hot. I reckon something between 50 and 100V DC is more likely.
And - if you do end up storing surplus "electricity"- probably best to electrolyse water to generate Hydrogen, and then store that so you can burn it later to generate electricity. You can even then transport it in fuel tankers to "petrol" stations where you can fill up your Hydrogen fuel cell car.