Why Energy Storage?
Renewable energy storage — "One of the
greatest challenges facing the electric power industry worldwide is how
to harness the immense renewable energy resources and deliver them in
a useable form as a higher-value product. By storing the power produced
from renewable sources off-peak and releasing it during on-peak periods,
energy storage can transform this low-value, unscheduled power into schedulable,
high-value 'green' products. Developing these resources will not only
lessen environmental impacts but also increase each country's domestic
energy security (lowering payments for imported energy)."
"Two challenges in particular are well known to renewable energy
proponents. First, many of the potential power generation sites are located
far from transmission facilities. Although the costs of connecting these
sites to the transmission system will delay these resources from being
tied into the local grid for a long time, it leaves the possibility for
off-grid applications. The second challenge is the timing of resource
itself. Generally, renewable energy sources are intermittent or vary in
intensity throughout the day, with much of the potential for generated
power not coincident with the peak demand. Renewables - especially wind
- suffer from lower prices in the wholesale market due to the inability
to guarantee delivery levels."
"Electric power has a tremendous weakness: it must always be
used precisely when it is produced. Thus, one of the greatest challenges
facing the electric power industry is how to harness the immense renewable
energy resources and deliver them when they are needed..."
— By Richard
Baxter,
Ardour Capital Investments
Energy Storage A Nontechnical Guide
by Richard Baxter is a complete resource on the operation of energy
storage technologies and how they interact in the marketplace today.
Richard Baxter explains
new opportunities for these technologies, detailed descriptions of the
technologies and their market applications, and business opportunities
energy storage technologies can expect throughout the industry. The book
explains how, and under what conditions, energy storage technologies
can become a vital component of the electric power industry.
The Missing Link in the Electricity
Value Chain
The continuing evolution of the U.S. electric power industry has been
stymied because the electric power market is incomplete. Unlike other
successful markets, it has no growing storage component. Energy markets
need storage in order to successfully emerge from deregulation—witness
the successful evolution of the gas industry. Without a storage component,
the market will not function properly and price spikes, instability
and volatility will remain chronic problems. Many of the market-based
services (Like tailored end-use products) that make the gas industry
as flexible as it is today only became available by leveraging storage
capacity.
What is Energy Storage?
At its heart, energy storage is an economic decision. Without storage,
an industry must develop and maintain an entire delivery network capable
of meeting the highest peak of the year at any given moment. Without
storage, the industry must operate within a "justin-time"
framework that is dependent not only on variable end-use demands, but
is also completely at the mercy of one of the most uncontrollable variables
known: weather. With storage, the owners only must build out what is
necessary to carry a heavy, but normal load—resulting in a much
higher utilization of the existing equipment, and hence a higher return
on their investments (ROI).
Although electricity cannot be directly stored (cheaply), it can be
easily stored in other forms and converted back to electricity when
necessary. The additional value of the electricity during peak demand
can cover the cost of storing power produced at night. As demand continues
to expand, storage can play a crucial, multi-functional role since storage
facilities are designed to excel in a dynamic environment.
How Storage Helps
Without a means to store electricity, a number of conditions will remain
endemic to the industry: 1) raised volatility, 2) reduced reliability
and stability, and 3) threatened security. By utilizing energy storage
technologies, each of these challenges facing the industry can be greatly
diminished thereby leading to a more efficient market that costs less
to operate, that is more responsive to market changes, and that is more
reliable in the event of a disruption.
Energy storage technologies provide a wide spectrum of capabilities
that will perform a number of applications throughout the market. These
capabilities can be grouped into three market roles: 1) energy management,
2) bridging power, and 3) power quality & reliability. Since the
purpose is to act as a ‘shock absorber’ to the system, the
incremental and beneficial impacts will accumulate as they are implemented.
Market Role
By supplying power when and where needed, energy storage will create
a far more responsive market. It will:
1) Reduce the need for additional transmission assets,
2) Be the preferred supplier of ancillary services,
3) Provide better integration of renewables into the system,
4) Support more efficient use of existing assets,
5) Improve the reliability of electricity supply,
6) Increase the efficiency of existing power plant and transmission
facilities, and
7) Reduce the investment required for new facilities.
The current power market suffers from uncertainty. The regulatory framework
is incomplete, obvious market leaders have fallen, and the winning business
models are still not defined. Energy storage can help by improving the
economic efficiency and utilization of the existing system, not by replacing
it. By optimizing the existing assets in the market and creating more
opportunities, increased private industry investment will move into
the market prompting greater competition and lower prices.
Read the full report:
Energy
Storage - The Missing Link in the Electricity Value Chain
(Downloads a 23 page white paper in Adobe PDF format)
Published by the
Energy Storage Council © May 2002
"Energy storage
can improve the efficiency and reliability of the electric utility system
by reducing the requirements for spinning reserves to meet peak power
demands, making better use of efficient baseload generation, and allowing
greater use of intermittent renewable energy technologies. Energy storage
technologies include utility battery storage, flywheel storage, superconducting
magnetic energy storage, compressed air energy storage, pumped hydropower,
and supercapacitors."
- U.S.
DOE Energy Storage Technologies
Energy
Storage - The Sixth Dimension of the Electricity Production and Delivery
Value Chain
(Downloads a 34 page Adobe PDF document)
By Jason Makansi
Executive Director, Energy
Storage Council
Articles:
Information Links:
California Energy Storage
www.ElectricityStorage.org
Electricity Storage Technologies
www.EnergyStorageCouncil.org
Applications of Electricity Storage
Energy storage (Wikipedia encyclopedia)
The U.S. Department of Energy's Distributed Energy Program
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