Energy storage is a key technology that will enable us to reach our clean energy goals. There are various forms of storage solutions, including batteries, thermal, and mechanical.
Grid-scale storage technologies can quickly balance supply and demand in seconds, provide power quality and reliability, and assist with grid stability. While battery storage remains the most scalable technology, other alternatives include compressed air storage, superconducting magnets, or underground pumped hydropower systems.
Renewable Energy Expansion
With a fleet of battery factories across its borders, the United States is poised to play a leading role in renewable energy storage. Under previous administrations, billions were spent in research and supply chain development while current administration is focused on speeding deployment by prioritizing permitting for clean energy technologies at Bureau of Land Management field offices, Forest Service national forests and lands and Department of Defense military installations and ranges.
Solar and wind renewable power capacity additions accounted for most of the new capacity added in 2024, as these sources of electricity often offer the lowest costs and offer combined-cycle renewable generation with energy storage technology. Storage technology could even lower investments required by wind and solar sources by mitigating peak demand periods more efficiently.
As illustrated by Figure 7 (available capacity and electricity production for B/BNS, N, Net0NoStorage and N for the reference time scale scenarios) energy storage penetration has an enormous effect on whether or not Fitfor55 decarbonization goals can be realized.
Grid Stability
Renewables’ variable nature presents power systems with new challenges, making energy storage an indispensable way of stabilizing their electric grid.
Battery storage technology helps balance out wind and solar energy production to the grid by storing energy for release later, as well as providing frequency regulation and reactive power services that increase grid stability while simultaneously decreasing demand charges.
Storage devices can also help address peak pricing in certain regions – an issue caused by higher-than-usual energy demand during hot weather – by helping lower energy costs for families and businesses – helping avoid incurring extra charges at peak time.
Policymakers need to support energy storage’s full potential by facilitating its incorporation into the electricity market through regulatory reforms and dynamic market design. In particular, updating capacity accreditation models could make using energy storage resources to achieve increased reliability and resilience as well as lower prices during historic cold or heat events easier.
Low-Income Communities
As energy storage technologies move closer to commercialization, state agencies charged with meeting clean energy goals are placing greater focus on making these resources available in low-income communities. This requires states to utilize all available policy, program and financing tools from their public policy toolboxes in innovative ways.
Home batteries may help lower energy costs and blackout risks for low-income communities; however, to realize optimal cost-benefit outcomes.
State policy tools already familiar to states–utility procurement targets, solar programs and tax incentives–can be leveraged to support LMI technologies like solar+storage. This brief outlines emerging strategies to provide these communities access to its benefits via innovative financing mechanisms or targeted support to community organizations, affordable housing developers or technical service providers. In addition, training hubs for LMI communities must also be established.
Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles (EVs) can help make the electricity grid more reliable by contributing back energy when demand for power spikes or weather-related events disrupt generation, known as vehicle-to-grid charging (V2G). Projects employing V2G are now receiving substantial financial incentives and have attracted significant utility interest.
EV batteries not only offer energy storage potential, but can also help lower emissions from transportation. Electric cars emit no tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions and much fewer nonmethane volatile organic compounds and particulate matter than traditional cars and trucks.
At the end of their lifespan, electric vehicle (EV) batteries can either be reused for V2G and stationary storage as second-life batteries (SLBs), or recycled directly; reuse delays recycling and reduces primary material savings at current direct recycle efficiencies; thus the model includes a hierarchy which gives preference to equipping new EVs with V2G capability before using them as SLBs; at later stages, some proportion of the fleet may be upgraded with network storage batteries (NSBs) to meet demand growth for grid storage solutions.