Once upon a time people stored embers from their fires, so they could reignite them in the morning. This was not advanced energy storage though, although it does illustrate the principles of preserving energy. These fundamentals are to store it until we need it, somewhat analogous to the way refrigerators preserve our food.
Advanced Energy Storage Does the Same for Electricity
Our power stations, and renewable energy generators could potentially produce far more energy than we need at the present moment. Five years ago, grid operators primarily focused on balancing supply and demand with current generation. But that situation began to change when they started using batteries for advanced energy storage.
However, this was not the beginning of energy storage at grid level yet. Coal-fired power stations still accessed energy stored in coal, while hydro power made use of the energy in gravity. These are macro-strategies enabling large adjustments to available energy. More recently though, several new strategies emerged enabling smaller changes.
New Strategies in the Climate Change Era
Electricity supply has become a more participative process in the climate-change era. Utility grids are happy to receive peak, even base support from solar and wind farms. Individual consumers have begun contributing to the grid from their solar batteries, for a consideration naturally. They are also becoming more thoughtful by purchasing energy-efficient devices too.
However, as the world moves away from fossil fuels including coal, oil and gas, we need to tap into any available source for large-scale advanced energy storage. The following are all on the agenda, as we may enlarge on in future posts.
- Pumped hydro storage harnessing the kinetic energy in falling water.
- Electrochemical batteries – our favorite topic – utilizing chemical energy.
- Thermal storage collecting solar energy and storing it in liquid materials.
- Storing compressed air, and then releasing it to drive electric turbines.
- Flywheel energy storage using a motor that morphs into a generator.
- Stored hydrogen gas derived from water, and able to generate electricity.
A way back in time, our ancestors stored embers in their fires. There’s still much to learn from other cultures, as we move towards a greener future together.
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