It Might Be Useful To Listen To Energy Storage Skeptics Too
There is a lot of hype in recent years about energy storage and how it is going to change the world. Pessimists though, have a different take, naturally.
Davis Swan, President of Debarel Systems Ltd, insists that “Utility scale storage is not close and saying that it is will only make people complacent.”
To go a little further, Haresh Kameth, a senior expert at the Electric Power Research Institute explains that the industry is still in its infancy, and research and market size are only just about to grow. Cost reduction is a main barrier to entry, and he concedes that it will be difficult to remove that barrier in the near future.
At present, batteries look the most promising because they aren’t bound by geographical limitations, as pumped hydro and compressed air energy storage are. Hydrogen produced from electrolysis is too inefficient and its system requires expensive materials to construct. However, with more research and innovation on the way, we might just see such applications overcome their main limitations.
Admittedly, energy storage still has a long way to go, but it is of course worth delving into, if we seek to reduce carbon emissions with renewable energy.
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.
