hard · GRE Verbal
A regional utility has proposed replacing its aging coal plant with a network of small solar arrays. Critics contend that solar output collapses on overcast winter days, precisely when demand peaks, so the utility would still need costly backup generation. **But the utility could pair the arrays with grid-scale batteries charged during sunny periods, neutralizing this objection.** Batteries, however, currently degrade to half their storage capacity within a decade, and their replacement cost is not trivial. **Given these figures, the solar-plus-battery configuration would not, over its full service life, undercut the coal plant on cost.** The utility's board, then, should defer the transition until battery chemistry matures.
In the argument, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
- The first is a position the author initially entertains but ultimately rejects; the second is the main conclusion of the argument.
- The first is the main conclusion of the whole argument; the second is a further consideration the author offers in support of that conclusion.
- The first states the critics' central objection to the plan; the second is the author's own rebuttal directed against that objection.
- The first and the second are both intermediate conclusions that the author endorses wholeheartedly and without any reservation.
- The first is evidence supporting the author's final recommendation; the second is an objection that this recommendation must still overcome.
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