The number of big storage batteries is increasing throughout the United States, according to a report by U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is the official body dedicated to sharing energy information to promote sound policy making, and public understanding of energy. Most of the large storage batteries snowballing throughout the United States, currently rely on lithium-ion technology.
Large Storage Batteries Snowballing at an Increasing Rate
The Energy Information Administration confirms that big batteries are an increasingly popular source of grid-scale electricity. In 2010, just four-gigawatts of energy storage were on line. Whereas by the first half of 2024, this number had increased to twenty gigawatts.
To provide an idea of scale, one gigawatt is equal to 1,000 megawatts. One of these megawatts is very roughly equivalent to one larger coal-power generating unit. Big battery energy may be stored for future use, whereas conventional power station energy must be used the instant it is produced.
Moreover, the energy from the large storage batteries snowballing across the globe may be used for a variety of applications:
- Balancing grid supply and demand, when these factors are out of alignment.
- Shifting electricity from periods of low prices, to periods of high prices (arbitrage).
- Storing electricity from renewable sources when this is available, for subsequent use.
Battery Storage Does Not Equate To Electricity Generation
Batteries do not generate electricity, they only preserve it (although this might change if big flow batteries proliferate). In other words, conventional batteries only curate energy produced by fuel, or a natural source including wind and solar.
But what energy storage does, is shatter the assumption that we must use electricity as soon as we generate it. This simple fact turns a century’s-old assumption on its head. This was that we have no electricity, if we cannot generate it, distribute it, and use it instantly.
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