Innovative Energy Storage Well Into The Future
With the spread of renewable energy comes the necessity of innovative energy storage to store generated surplus energy. At the moment lithium ion batteries are mostly used for this purpose. But lithium is still expensive and therefore the search for other battery technologies continues. Research and development attempts to replace lithium with the more available and much cheaper aluminium and to develop other batteries such as sodium-sulphur and zinc-bromide.
Another form of energy storage is in thermal systems where renewable electricity is used to heat and melt salt or silicon to a high temperature and later recover the heat for power generation. This system can be used directly by the heat generated from concentrated solar collectors and it is cheaper than battery related applications.
Unlike installing gas turbines which takes years, installing 70MW took just 6 months storage manufacturers in the US.
Countries that are committed to reduce carbon emissions will continue to invest in energy storage systems as means to store energy from intermittent renewables.
If you want to know more about this and other topics directly from end users of energy storage technologies join us at one of these annual events: The Energy Storage World Forum (Grid Scale Applications), or The Residential Energy Storage Forum, or one of our Training Courses.
