I. Gyuk
Department of Energy,
United States
Keywords: Energy storage
Summary:
Energy storage is now becoming one of the hottest topics in the utility industry. The commercial success of energy storage applications will depend on aligning the cost of a project with the benefits of the technology. Research on materials and devices has increased cost effectiveness, cycle life and safety of these systems. Besides Li-ion batteries, flywheels, flow batteries, and advanced lead-carbon batteries are being deployed. The presentation will discuss research on flow batteries as an example of consistent, device driven reduction in cost. Markets are now gradually taking shape as changes in the regulatory framework result in more equitable valuation of storage benefits. The presentation will discuss diverse monetized and unmonetized benefit streams, using multi-megawatt applications of a variety of energy storage technologies and highlight outcomes and objectives of highly leveraged, DOE supported energy storage projects in California, Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon, and Vermont. As major players begin deploying more storage projects, operators are recognizing their value for ancillary services. In particular, smoothing and ramping of variable wind and solar PV are being addressed. Emergency preparedness through storage microgrids is another important development. Storage provides resilience to the grid and supports diversification of generation assets. There are now over 1500 storage projects listed in the Global Energy Storage Data Base, but with the continuation of the California mandate for 1.3GW of storage and new emphasis in other states, we can expect an exciting upsurge in storage research and many new projects to be realized.