Energy storage enables a smarter, more flexible electricity grid that can deliver renewable energy directly to customers. Energy storage “firms up” renewable resources while simultaneously lowering electricity costs by storing power when it is cheaper, as well as improving our aging electrical system’s reliability.
Energy storage options range from rechargeable batteries and electrolysis hydrogen production, thermal ice-storage systems that freeze a tank full of less expensive electricity at night and fossil fuel peaker plants as possible methods.
Long-Duration Storage
Attaining 100 percent clean energy requires keeping power flowing when wind and solar production drops off; long-duration storage solutions provide this vital service.
Lithium-ion batteries–the type used in electric vehicles–are the go-to choice for grid energy storage systems, yet emerging technologies such as carbon dioxide capture and reuse or hydrogen electrolyzers are promising much longer discharge durations, up to six days or longer.
These large-scale modular storage solutions can help address intermittency and increase grid reliability. Their services may be compensated through energy markets (such as ancillary or capacity markets) or reduced end user demand charges; alternatively they could even be integrated into microgrids. Policymakers and market participants face the challenge of making sure these technologies receive adequate compensation for providing flexibility services – which means identifying individual storage needs more granularly so as to generate market signals driving investment in appropriate technologies.
Short-Duration Storage
Storage with short duration power delivery capabilities is an integral component of energy systems, often serving to support grid reliability and peak demand functions such as backup power supply, frequency regulation, microgrid peak regulation, uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), uninterruptible power supplies (USPSs). Lead-acid, lithium-ion and flow battery technologies are among the many examples of rechargeable short duration storage technologies used today.
At the core of 100 percent clean energy targets is storage. At present, this task is carried out mostly via fossil fuel peaker plants which operate only during high electricity demand periods and produce air pollution – worsening already poor public health impacts among low-income and minority communities. When these dirty peakers begin being phased out from use altogether, something else must take their place – long duration storage offers great promise as a possible solution.
Microgrids
Microgrids are energy systems designed to operate either independently from or in parallel with the grid (islanded mode or grid-tied mode). Their components include distributed generation like solar and wind energy generation, advanced energy storage technology and a control system; system sizes range from 100kW up to multiple megawatts (MW). Microgrids serve small communities, commercial buildings and residential properties – for instance NREL recently supported one at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in Guam that integrated 276kW photovoltaic solar power, battery storage technology as well as fuel cells into one integrated microgrid system with fuel cells for fuel cell power production and battery storage system with battery storage technology for control system control purposes.
The system allows the base to switch over to renewable energy sources and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, while California also uses a solar microgrid as back-up power during blackouts at a jail with up to 4,000 inmates. Microgrids not only improve resilience, but can help manage local demand while postponing costly investments into new power generation systems – all benefits that help bring down electricity prices overall.
Community Resiliency
Community resilience refers to the capacity of communities to respond quickly and recover from disasters, as well as anticipate potential changes such as climate change effects.
Resilient communities are prepared to respond quickly to disasters when they strike and mitigate their effects through investments in green infrastructure such as renewable energy sources and green building practices. They also proactively prepare for events that might disrupt them such as climate change or technological developments that threaten their way of life.
Resilient communities incorporate community resilience planning into every aspect of their operations. For instance, they take steps to mitigate flooding risks such as building elevated homes and flood barriers to lessen storm surge risks, investing in renewable energy solutions and adopting smart grid technology so as to be less dependent on centralized power sources in case of an emergency, investing in renewable energy technologies such as wind or solar, investing in renewable energy investments or developing alternative power sources, or employing innovative tools such as big data analytics that detect potential threats and prepare them for disasters before they occur.