Applied Energy

Applied Energy 179 (2016) 350–377
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy
Energy storage technologies and real life applications – A state of the art
review
Mathew Aneke, Meihong Wang ⇑
Process and Energy Systems Engineering Group, School of Engineering, University of Hull, HU6 7RX, United Kingdom
h i g h l i g h t s
Primary and secondary energy forms introduced.

Different (electrical and thermal) energy storage technologies presented and compared.
Real life energy storage application analysed to understand the most widely applied technology.
Challenges facing the energy storage industry summarised.
Future prospects of the energy storage sector predicted.
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Energy storage is nowadays recognised as a key element in modern energy supply chain. This is mainly
Received 31 January 2016 because it can enhance grid stability, increase penetration of renewable energy resources, improve the
Received in revised form 5 May 2016 efficiency of energy systems, conserve fossil energy resources and reduce environmental impact of
Accepted 18 June 2016
energy generation. Although there are many energy storage technologies already reviewed in the litera-
Available online 9 July 2016
ture, these technologies are currently at different levels of technological maturity with a few already pro-
ven for commercial scale application. Most of the review papers in energy storage highlight these
Keywords:
technologies in details, however; there remains limited information on the real life application of these
Energy storage
Primary energy storage
technologies for energy storage purpose. This review paper aims to address this gap by providing a
Secondary energy storage detailed analysis of real life application and performance of the different energy storage technologies.
Electrical energy storage The paper discusses the concept of energy storage, the different technologies for the storage of energy
Thermal energy storage with more emphasis on the storage of secondary forms of energy (electricity and heat) as well as a
Application of energy storage detailed analysis of various energy storage projects all over the world. In the final part of this paper, some
of the challenges hindering the commercial deployment of energy storage technologies are also
highlighted.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
1.1. Motivations for energy storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
1.2. The novelty of this review paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
2. Energy storage (ES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
2.1. Scales of ES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
2.2. Primary ES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
2.3. Secondary ES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
2.4. ES concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
3. Benefits of energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
4. Energy storage technologies, their characteristics and real life applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Wang).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.06.097
0306-2619/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Aneke, M. Wang / Applied Energy 179 (2016) 350–377 351
4.1. Electrical Energy Storage (EES) technologies and their characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
4.1.1. Mechanical Energy Storage (MES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
4.1.2. Chemical Energy Storage (CES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
4.1.3. Electrochemical energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
4.1.4. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
4.1.5. Cryogenic energy storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
4.2. Electrical energy storage technologies and real life applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
4.2.1. Intermittent balancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
4.2.2. Arbitrage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
4.2.3. Renewable penetration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.2.4. Black start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.2.5. Mobile application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.2.6. Demand shifting and peak reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.3. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) and their characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.3.1. Sensible heat storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.3.2. Latent heat storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.3.3. Thermochemical heat storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.4. Thermal energy storage technologies and real life applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
4.4.1. Waste heat utilisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
4.4.2. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5. Comparison of different ES technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5.1. Energy/power density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5.2. Life time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5.3. Capital and operating costs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5.4. Storage capacity/duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5.5. Round trip efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
5.6. Response time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
5.7. Technological maturity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
6. Current status and some real life ES projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
7. Challenges & future prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
8. Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
1. Introduction ing gradually due to the penetration of renewable energy systems.

For example, approximately 82% of the primary energy supply in
Energy in whatever form is an essential commodity globally. It 2012 came from fossil fuels compared to 87% in 1973 [2]. However,
is the most common consumer good and has continued to be a key this reduction in fossil fuels share in the primary energy supply
element to the worldwide development. Energy comes in various does not portray in actual terms a reduction in CO2 emission. For
forms although it can be broadly classified into two [1]. They example, fossil fuels contributed about 31,734 Mt of CO2 emissions
include: primary and secondary forms of energy. Primary energy in 2012 compared to 16,633 Mt in 1973 [2,4].
are regarded as those energy sources that only involve extraction CO2 emissions from fossil fuels have been identified as a major
or capture, with or without separation from contiguous material, global environmental threat due to its contribution to global
cleaning or grading, before the energy contained in it can be con- warming. For the past years, many efforts have been made to
verted into heat or mechanical work [1]. They are usually found reduce CO2 emission in order to mitigate the associated environ-
in nature. They include all energy forms which have not been sub- mental impact. These range from creating new and innovative
jected to any conversion or transformation process. Typical exam- energy conversion technologies to improving the efficiency of
ples are crude oil, coal, biomass, wind, solar, tidal, natural uranium, existing energy conversion technologies. Furthermore, reducing
geothermal, falling and flowing water, natural gas, etc. On the energy wastage from a variety of industries whether domestic or
other hand, secondary forms of energy include all energy forms commercial by storing them for future use has a very significant
which occur as a result of the transformation of primary energy impact in reducing CO2 emission. The need to balance the mis-
using energy conversion processes. Fig. 1 shows the relationship match between energy supplied to the grid and the energy actually
between the primary and secondary energy forms. used from the grid by storing the excess energy is equally impor-
Secondary energy forms are more convenient forms of energy as tant to achieving a low carbon economy. It is against this backdrop
they can directly be used by humankind. They are also known as that energy storage is believed to be essential in the modern
Energy Carriers (EC). Examples of secondary energy forms are elec- energy supply chain as it will help to plug the leakages and
tricity, gasoline, diesel, ethanol, butanol, hydrogen, heat. Table 1 improve efficiency. As a result of this, energy storage has recently
shows the different primary energy forms and the corresponding attracted the attention of governments, stakeholders, researchers
technology used to transform it to secondary energy form. and investors as it may be used to improve the performance of
Cumulatively, energy consumption has been growing signifi- the energy supply chain.
cantly over the years. According to the 2014 key world energy
statistics released by the International Energy Agency (IEA), about 1.1. Motivations for energy storage
13,371 Mtoe of energy is supplied globally in 2012 [2]. This is
about 10% and 119% higher than the 2009 and 1973 values respec- Energy storage is an essential link in energy supply chain. For
tively [3,4]. Although there is an increasing trend in the global example, it is a fact that there is no system that is 100% thermody-
energy supply, the percentage share of fossil fuel has been decreas- namically efficient. The energy losses in most systems occur in the
352 M. Aneke, M. Wang / Applied Energy 179 (2016) 350–377
Fig. 1. Primary and secondary energy [1].
Table 1
Primary energy and conversion technologies.
Primary energy form Conversion process Secondary energy form

Crude oil Oil refinery Gasoline, diesel
Coal Thermal power plant Work, heat, electricity
Natural uranium Nuclear power plant Work, electricity, heat
Solar energy Photovoltaic power plant Electricity, heat
Solar energy Solar thermal power plant Electricity, heat, work
Wind energy Wind farm (turbine) Work, electricity
Falling or flowing water Hydropower plant Work, electricity
Tidal energy Tidal power plant Work, electricity
Biomass Biorefinery, thermal power plant Work, electricity, biofuel, biodiesel, heat
Geothermal energy Geothermal power plant Work, electricity, heat
form of heat which is usually lost to the environment. These waste storage for low grade heat utilisation, Zhou et al. [7] reviewed
heats are essential resources which if captured and stored, can the different energy storage technologies for marine current appli-
serve as a useful energy resources for other processes. Apart from cations, Tan et al. [8] focused on the application of energy storage
waste heat, energy storage will also play a significant role as the technologies for micro-grid processes, Kousksou et al. [9] investi-
world moves to a low carbon economy where more energy is gated the different challenges faced by different energy storage
envisaged to be extracted from renewable resources. One major technologies, Suberu et al. [10] analysed how energy storage can
challenge facing most renewable energy resources, especially solar be used to mitigate the intermittency in renewable energy supply,
and wind, is that they occur intermittently which makes them Hassan et al. [11] reviewed the use of different energy storage
unreliable for steady energy supply. Through the energy storage technologies for wind energy system, and Chen et al. [12] looked
concept, these renewable resources can be made to be reliable at the progress in electrical energy storage using different tech-
and steady energy sources. This can be achieved by storing the nologies. The present work is different from most of the review
excess energy generated when the renewable resources are avail- articles already in the literature in the following ways. Apart from
able and re-use the stored energy when the renewable resources presenting an updated review of the different energy storage tech-
are not available. nologies for storing secondary energy forms, we have also covered
the technologies used for storing energy in its primary form. The
1.2. The novelty of this review paper most distinguishing feature of our review paper to other reviews
in this subject area is that we have carried out a detailed analysis
Energy storage is a very wide and evolving subject area. Hence, of the different real life projects where most of the energy storage
it is necessary for us to emphasize on the area which this work technologies have been applied as well as the future prospect of
focuses on. From the literature, most of the energy storage review energy storage in the modern energy supply chain.
papers focus on the technologies used for storing secondary energy
forms. A good representation of the review papers in energy stor- 2. Energy storage (ES)
age is as analysed below. Mahlia et al. [5] carried out a technical
comparison of the different energy storage technologies with Literally, energy storage occurs in every facet of human society.
emphasis on their energy densities, economics and suitability for The fundamental process of photosynthesis through which green
different applications, Chan et al. [6] reviewed the application of plants generate food involves the conversion of solar energy from
chemical heat pumps, thermodynamic cycles and thermal energy sunlight to chemical energy which is stored in plant cells. Storing
fuel wood to provide heat during the winter or using it to maintain storable forms. For example crude oil is stored in tank farms pend-
a fire is also a form of energy storage. Energy can also be stored as ing when they are sent to refineries for processing. Fig. 3a shows
commodity or used to process materials which are storable. For the world’s largest crude oil tank farm located in Cushing, Okla-
example energy can be used to purify dirty water which can be homa, USA. It holds about 62 million barrels of crude oil [14]. Nat-
stored as drinking water. ural gas as a form of primary energy can also be stored. It can either
be stored in gaseous form in underground caverns or in tank farms
2.1. Scales of ES in the form of liquid otherwise known as liquefied natural gas
(LNG) (Fig. 3b) [15].
In engineering term, energy storage is focused on the concept of Coal is also often stored in large piles prior to use, either in coal-
storing energy in the form in which it will be reused to generate fired power stations or industrial plants. Coal piles are designed in
energy whenever needed. It is required for a wide range of differ- many shapes. Fig. 4 shows the different designs of coal storage
ent time and size scale as shown in Fig. 2. As indicated in the figure, domes [16,17]. Biomass is another form of primary energy which
the range of storage can be from capacitors which stores as little of is storable. They can be stored as wood logs, wood chips, wood pel-
1 W h of energy for few seconds to chemical compounds which can lets which can be burnt when needed to provide energy. Fig. 5
be used for grid scale storage of several TW h of energy for years. shows the different forms in which biomass are stored.
Generally speaking, primary energy serves to supply one of the The characteristics of primary energy storage forms are that
three consumption sectors – transport, heat and electricity [13]. they have very high energy density and can provide long term
Energy storage has to meet completely different requirements for energy storage. However, since they only occur in natural form,
each of these consumption sectors, and the different storage con- they cannot be used as a medium for storing secondary forms of
cepts and technologies have to integrate in a concerted manner energy.
to provide the basis of an energy system. On the other hand, there are also some primary energy forms
which are not storable. For example, most renewable energy
resources are not easily storable in their natural form. Typical
2.2. Primary ES
examples are wind, solar, tidal and wave energy. They can only
be stored by converting them to secondary energy forms.
The most common and stable form in which energy is stored is
in its primary form. Most primary energy is usually obtained in
2.3. Secondary ES
Like the primary energy forms, some secondary energy forms

especially those that are in the liquid and gaseous phase are easily
storable. A good example is gasoline, diesel, biofuels (ethanol,
butanol), hydrogen, methane and biodiesel. They are usually stored
in tanks or high pressure containment vessels of various sizes and
shapes.
The major challenge in the field of energy storage which is para-
mount in the field of engineering is in the storage of secondary
forms of energy which neither occurs in the form of liquid nor
gas. Some of these secondary energy forms include: work, heat,
and electricity. From this point onward, the focus of this paper will
be on the storage of secondary energy forms which occur in the
form of heat and electricity as they are the most widely used form
Fig. 2. Typical time and size scales associated with sufficient storage technologies of secondary energy. The term energy storage (ES) will henceforth
[13]. refer to this type of energy storage.
Fig. 3. Crude oil and natural gas tank farm (a) in Cushing, Oklahoma, USA [14] and (b) in Brazoria County, Texas, USA [15].
Fig. 4. Coal storage domes (a) 180,000 t coal storage dome for power plants, Taiwan, (b) 60 m 200 m longitudinal coal storage, Tunisia [16], (c) 122 m diameter storage
dome with internal cladding, Florida, USA [16], and (d) coal pile feeding Drax Power Plant, England [17].
2.4. ES concept 4. Energy storage technologies, their characteristics and real life
applications
The general concept behind secondary energy storage is to cap-
ture energy produced at one time for use at a later time. The pro- There are many technologies used for energy storage purposes.
cess of capturing the energy is generally regarded as the charging These technologies can be broadly classified according to the pur-
while the process of releasing the energy to be used is regarded pose for which the energy is stored. They include: electrical energy
as the discharging. The energy is stored using different kinds of storage and thermal energy storage. Fig. 7 shows the different
materials which are commonly referred to as the energy carriers. classes of energy storage technologies. From the figure, it can be
Fig. 6 shows the diagrammatically representation of the energy seen that the technologies in which energy is stored in the form
storage concept. of thermal energy and released in the same form such as ice/chill
water storage are classified as thermal energy storage technologies
3. Benefits of energy storage while those in which the energy is stored in the form of thermal
but released as electrical energy such as liquid air energy storage
Energy storage has lots of benefits. It is important in energy are classified as electrical storage.
management. It helps to reduce energy wastage and increase the
energy utilisation efficiency [6,21] of process systems. Storage of 4.1. Electrical Energy Storage (EES) technologies and their
secondary energy forms such as heat and electricity helps to characteristics
reduce the quantity of primary energy forms (fossil fuels) con-
sumed to generate them. This in turn not only lower CO2 and other Electrical energy is regarded as one of the most readily available
greenhouse gas emissions together with the associated global form of energy. It is a common consumer good [25] and ranked
warming [5] but also help to conserve fossil fuels which are only second to oil in consumption in 2012 [2]. Presently, the pro-
believed to be exhaustible. It can also play a crucial role in increas- duction of electricity is highly centralized with power plants
ing the penetration of renewable, clean and intermittent energy located far from the end users. Grid load levelling is usually based
resources such as wind energy, solar energy, and marine tidal cur- on the prediction of daily and seasonal usage using historical
rent to the grid [7,22–24] as well as help in load shifting [9]. Energy trends. When production is not sufficient, peaking power plants
storage helps in power system planning, operation and frequency such as gas turbine and hydroelectric systems are usually deployed
regulation [8,12]. It helps to maintain energy systems stability, to meet the shortfall. The increased decentralization of power gen-
improve power quality in micro-grid systems as well as match eration combined with the high penetration of renewable intermit-
demand with supply [8,24,25]. tent power generation such as wind, solar and tidal into the grid
Fig. 5. Forms of biomass storage (a) wood chips [18], (b) wood pellets [19], (c) wood logs, and (d) wood dust [18].
Fig. 6. Energy storage concept [20].
systems has resulted in increased difficulty of stabilizing the power of mechanical based energy storage systems include: flywheels,
network, mainly due to the imbalance in supply and demand pumped hydro energy storage, gravity power module, compressed
[10,25,27–29]. Due to the aforementioned factors, the storage of air energy storage, liquid-piston energy storage.
electrical energy has become a necessity. Electricity in its form is
not storable. The only way through which it can be stored is by 4.1.1.1. Flywheel Energy Storage (FES). Flywheel energy accumula-
converting it into a more stable energy form which is storable with tors comprises of composite flywheel coupled with motor genera-
the intent of transforming it back to electricity when needed. There tor and brackets (often magnetic), with a low pressure casing
are various technologies which can be used to convert electricity to which helps to reduce self-discharge losses [25,30]. Its principle
other forms of energy which can easily be stored. These technolo- has been in use since the 1950s when it was used to build ‘‘gyro
gies are regarded as electrical energy storage technologies and can buses” [5]. As an energy storage device, flywheel was designed to
be grouped as follows: mechanical energy storage, chemical energy deal with short voltage disturbance in order to improve power
storage, electrochemical (supercapacitor energy storage, battery quality [11,12,27]. It stores electrical energy in the form of rota-
energy storage), superconducting magnetic energy storage and tional kinetic energy [8]. Fig. 8 shows the diagram of a flywheel
thermal energy storage. system with its parts [31]. As an energy storage device, flywheel
operates in the charging and discharging mode.
4.1.1. Mechanical Energy Storage (MES) During the energy storage mode otherwise known as the charg-
These are electromechanical systems which convert electrical ing phase, the electrical energy is used to accelerate the motor
energy into forms of energy which are easily storable. Examples which is connected to the rotor (the rotating mass) via a shaft.
Energy Storage
Electrical Energy Storage Thermal Energy Storage
Mechanical Energy Chemical Energy Electrochemical Superconducting Cryogenic Energy Sensible Heat Latent Heat Storage Thermochemical
Storage Storage Energy Storage Magnetic Energy Storage Storage • Phase Change Heat Storage
• Flywheel • Hydrogen • Supercapacitor Storage • Liquid Air • Ceramics Materials
• Pumped Hydro • Biofuel • Batteries Energy Storage • Concrete (PCM)
• Gravity • Biodiesel • Molten Salts • Ice
• Compressed Air • Chilled water
• Liquid Piston
Fig. 7. Energy storage technologies classification [26].
Fig. 8. Flywheel [31].
The rotation of the shaft transfers an angular momentum to the pumping water uphill using off-peak electricity. The water is
rotor which acts as the energy storage component. During the dis- stored in reservoirs otherwise known as the upper reservoir and
charging phase, the rotating mass transfers the kinetic energy as it only released downhill to the lower reservoir to drive a generator
decelerates back to electrical energy using the generator connected in order to produce electricity when it is needed. According to
to the same shaft. The motor/generator unit of the device is the the 2010 survey carried out by the Electric Power Research Insti-
same. During the charging phase, the device acts as a motor while tute (EPRI), PHES makes up more than 99% of the global large scale
during the discharging phase it acts as the generator. Flywheels are energy storage installation [32]. They are capable of providing reli-
broadly classified into two classes based on the rotational speed. able power within a short period of time (typically within 1 min)
Low speed flywheels are those with rotational speed of less than [31]. Their efficiency is in the range of 65–85% [5,10,25,31], with
10,000 rpm while high speed flywheels have rotational speed some installations claimed to have achieved an efficiency of 87%
greater than 10,000 rpm [7]. Low speed flywheels provide a shorter [33]. PHES was firstly constructed in Italy and Switzerland in
period of storage with high power capacities while high speed fly- 1890 and later in the USA at the beginning of 1929 [5]. PHES sys-
wheels are the opposite [5]. In terms of cost of operation and oper- tem can be incorporated into natural lakes, rivers, or reservoirs.
ability, flywheels are regarded as perfect model of energy storage This technology is known as open-loop pumped hydro energy stor-
device due to its low maintenance cost, long life cycle, high effi- age or it can be constructed independent of existing natural water
ciency, free from depth of discharge effects, environmentally sources as a closed-loop system [34]. Presently, there are over 150
friendly, wide operating temperature range and ability to survive plants with 22,000 MWe capacity in the USA and 78,000 MWe of
in harsh conditions [5,7]. However, as a result of friction losses, fly- installed capacity worldwide [33]. One limitation of PHES is that
wheels are not good for long term energy storage. The presence of several natural geological features are needed, including adequate
frictional forces lowers the efficiency of the flywheel device during close land areas divided by adequate elevation. There must also be
operation. For example a flywheel can attain an instantaneous effi- an adequate supply of water. Fig. 9 shows the diagram of a PHES.
ciency of 85% after charging. This can drop to about 78% after 5 h
and 45% after one day [25]. 4.1.1.3. Gravity Energy Storage (GES). Because of the geological lim-
itations and water requirement encountered with PHES, there have
4.1.1.2. Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage (PHES). PHES is the been many adaptations to the pumped hydro concept. These adap-
most mature and widely used large scale energy storage technol- tations are geared towards eliminating the aforementioned limita-
ogy. It uses gravity to store energy. It stores electrical energy by tions. Like pumped hydro concept, these technologies depend on
Fig. 9. Pumped hydroelectric energy storage.
Fig. 10. Gravity Power Module (GPM) [35].
gravity and are generally called Gravity Energy Storage (GES) tech- The piston is held at the high position until when power is needed
nologies. An example of such technology is the Gravity Power during the discharging mode. In the discharging mode, the piston
Module (GPM) technology developed by Gravity Power [35]. As drops forcing water down the storage shaft up the return pipe
shown in Fig. 10, this technology uses a very large piston that is and through the turbine which spins a motor/generator to produce
suspended in a deep water filled shaft with sliding seals which electricity. Although there is currently no GPM installation, the
helps to prevent leakage around the piston. developers claim that it can achieve an efficiency more than 80%
The system operates as a closed loop which means that the [35].
shaft is only filled with water once, mainly at the start of the oper- A new GES solution developed by Energy Cache uses electricity
ation. During the charging mode, the off peak electricity is used to during off peak period to move buckets of gravel to high elevation
drive the motor/generator which spins the pump to force water (Fig. 11). These buckets are released during peak period to release
down the return pipe and into the shaft thus lifting the piston. the energy.
Another technology which is based on the same concept uses period to generate electricity during the discharge phase. This
boxcars (train-like system) as shown in Fig. 12. The system oper- technology is being pioneered by a company called Advanced Rail
ates by using off-peak electricity during the charging phase to Energy Storage. They both claim that their systems can achieve an
move concrete blocks up an elevation such as on top of mountains. efficiency of about 90%. However, they still suffer the same topo-
The blocks are then allowed to descend under gravity during peak logical constraint as pumped hydro [37].
4.1.1.4. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES). CAES system uses off
peak electricity to compress air and store it in a reservoir either an
underground cavern or aboveground pipes or vessels [38]. This air
is released during peak period, heated, expanded and used in a
turbine-generator to produce electricity. The process diagram of
a CAES is shown in Fig. 13. It is second to PHES in terms of commer-
cial bulk energy storage plant available today. The technology was
first introduced in 1970s as a load following and peaking power
system [5]. For a given amount of fuel, it is capable of producing
three times the electricity produced from a conventional gas tur-
bine system since no air compression is required. Underground
hard rock caverns, salt caverns, depleted gas fields or an aquifer
Fig. 11. Energy Cache 50 kW Gravity Energy Storage (ECGES) demonstration plant are usually used as the reservoir. Over-ground high pressure con-
in California [36]. tainment can as well be used as reservoirs [38]. CAES has an esti-
mated efficiency of 70% with an expected lifetime of about
40 years [9]. Several options have been explored on how to make
CAES more attractive. They include: to reuse the compression heat
during the expansion process in order to either eliminate or reduce
the quantity of natural gas consumed during the power generation
(i.e. discharging) phase and Compressed Air Storage with Humidi-
fication. There are two commercial plants using CAES for energy
storage application. They include: a 290 MWe Huntorf air storage
gas turbine power plant in Germany and a 110 MWe CAES in
Mclntosh, USA [12]. There are also some plants being planned or
under construction [12].
4.1.1.5. Liquid-Piston Energy Storage (LPES). This is relatively a new

energy storage concept which is yet to be commercialised [40]. It is
believed that this technology can be used to substitute lead-acid
batteries in certain standalone stationary applications. It provides
a near isothermal behaviour [40,41] due to the low speed of the
Fig. 12. Advanced Rail Energy Storage (ARES) demonstration plant [37].
compression/expansion process which is distributed over all the
Fig. 13. Process diagram of CAES [39].

Fig. 14. Liquid-piston energy storage [40].
storage vessels. The schematic diagram of the process is shown in hydrogenating CO2 to produce liquid hydrocarbon or methanol as
Fig. 14. this can lead to too much losses. Hence, the conversion of the
It operates by modulating the compression and expansion of a hydrogen directly to electricity should be the most promising tech-
trapped volume of gas – usually nitrogen in a vessel using a liquid. nology. Based on the argument, only the storage of electricity in
The gas pressure varies from 100 bar (with no liquid) to 250 bar form of hydrogen is considered in this paper.
(with 50% of vessel filled with liquid). As an energy storage device,
during the charging phase, electricity is passed to the high effi- 4.1.2.1. Hydrogen Energy Storage (HES). Hydrogen energy storage is
ciency fixed displacement pump/motor which pumps the liquid one of the most popular chemical energy storage [5]. Hydrogen is
into the vessel thus compressing the gas contained there. The storable, transportable, highly versatile, efficient, and clean energy
energy is stored in the compressed gas until when energy is carrier [42]. It also has a high energy density. As shown in Fig. 15,
needed. During the discharge phase, the compressed gas is for energy storage application, off peak electricity is used to elec-
expanded and the fluid is expelled from the vessels to the pump/- trolyse water to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen can be stored
motor which drives the generator to provide electricity. The sys- either as compressed gas, liquefied gas, metal hydrides or carbon
tem is usually provided with a solenoid powered 4-way spool nanostructures [43]. The choice of the storage technology depends
valve which works in conjunction with a flywheel designed to on the characteristics of available technologies in terms of techni-
maintain a low-rippled speed for the motor/generator as well as cal, economical or environmental performance [44]. During the
a liquid reservoir which helps store liquid. Compared to lead-acid discharge phase, the stored hydrogen is either used in fuel cell or
batteries, this technology has the following advantages: unlimited burnt directly to produce electricity. One major drawback in using
cycling ability, lower maintenance, storage capacity unaffected by hydrogen for electricity storage is the substantial energy losses
age, undamaged performance in cases of full discharge, impossible during a single cycle [13]. For example, electrolysis currently have
overcharge due to the presence of relief valves, power supply is an efficiency of 60%, transport and compression for storage may
unlinked to capacity, almost zero self-discharging [40]. However, lead to another 10% efficiency loss (although this can be lower)
it has lower energy density (from 3.2 to 5.55 W h/kg) and there while reconversion to electricity has a efficiency of about 50% for
are chances of leakage at the piping assembly, it also has lower fuel cell application (higher efficiency is anticipated for combus-
energy efficiency, at around 73%, compared to a new lead-acid bat- tion based power generation if cogeneration of heat is integrated).
tery. Although the energy density can be increased by increasing Thus, the overall round trip efficiency may be in the neighbour-
the pressure, there is always a limitation to the maximum pressure hood of 30%. This is partially compensated by the high storage
that is allowed by the hydraulic system components. density.
4.1.2. Chemical Energy Storage (CES) 4.1.3. Electrochemical energy storage

Chemical energy storage envelopes all technologies where the 4.1.3.1. Supercapacitor energy storage. Supercapacitors (SCs) also
electrical energy is used to produce chemical compounds which known as electrochemical capacitors (ECs), ultra-capacitors or
can be stored and used when needed for energy generation. Most electric double layer capacitors [42,45] were attracting less atten-
chemical compounds which are used as energy storage media tion until very recently [46] when faster energy storage systems
has higher energy density than pumped hydro and CAES and this were needed in a number of applications to replace Li-ion batteries
makes them an ideal energy storage medium. There are several which suffer from sluggish charge/discharge with a limited life-
chemical compounds which are currently been considered for time. This renewed interest has resulted in great progress in its
energy storage application. They include: hydrogen, methane, development and use in energy storage technologies. For example,
hydrocarbons, methanol, butanol and ethanol. Butanol and ethanol the common arrangement of solid dielectric between the elec-
are mainly produced through fermentation of biomass and thus are trodes in conventional capacitors is now replaced with the use of
not considered as electrical energy storage technique. Amongst the an electrolyte solution placed between two solid conductors as is
remaining listed compounds, hydrogen is regarded as the shortest the case with SCs [30]. This gives the SC a much larger capacitance,
route to chemical compound from electricity. Hydrogen is pro- energy density and compactness compared with the conventional
duced through the electrolysis of water and all other compounds capacitors [12,47–49]. SCs stores energy in the two series capaci-
(i.e. methane, hydrocarbons and methanol) can be produced from tors of the electric double layer which is formed between each of
hydrogen in the presence of a carbon source such as CO and CO2 the electrodes and the electrolyte ions [8]. They are capable of stor-
using the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis [13]. For electricity generated ing large energy density and can respond to any change in power
through fossil fuels, it is worthless to store the electricity by demand in tens to hundreds of milliseconds [8,31]. The most
Fig. 15. Hydrogen energy storage process.
important challenge facing SC is the need to reduce its cost and for power system application [54–56]. Apart from the electric grid,
increase its energy density to P10 W h/kg thus moving them clo- their energy storage application covers sectors such as hybrid elec-
ser to batteries [45,50]. One way of achieving this is by increasing tric vehicles (HEV), marine and submarine missions, aerospace
the capacitance and/or the cell voltage. The number of charge and operation, portable electronic systems and wireless network sys-
discharge cycles of SCs is nearly unlimited but the energy through- tems. Batteries come in different varieties depending on their
put in fast cyclic operation is limited [9]. They have an efficiency of application. Deep cycle type batteries are the most commonly used
95% and 5% per day self-discharge, meaning that the stored energy for power system application and they have efficiency range of 70–
must be used quickly [25]. Fig. 16 shows the schematic diagram of 80% [54,57]. There are different types of batteries used in energy
capacitor storage system. storage application and they include: sodium sulphur battery,
sodium nickel chloride battery, vanadium redox battery, iron chro-
4.1.3.2. Battery energy storage. Secondary or rechargeable battery is mium battery, zinc bromine battery, zinc air battery, lead acid bat-
regarded as the oldest electrical energy storage device [51,52] tery, lithium ion battery, nickel cadmium battery, etc.
which stores electricity as chemical energy. It is an electrochemical
device with the ability to deliver energy, in the form of electrical 4.1.3.2.1. Sodium Sulphur (NaS) battery. NaS is one of the batteries
energy, using the chemical energy generated by electrochemical used for commercial electrical energy storage in electric utility dis-
reactions [53]. Batteries are built in different sizes with capacity tribution grid support, wind power integration and high-value grid
ranging from less than 100 W to several megawatts. Their round services [38]. Its potential comes from its ability to provide high
trip energy storage efficiency is in the range of 60–80% depending energy density (151–170 kW h/m3), better energy efficiency
on the operational cycle and the electrochemistry type [8]. Battery (>85%), long cycle capability (2500 cycles upon 90% depth of dis-
system technology is the most widespread energy storage device charge) enhanced energy storage capacity and long discharge per-
iod (approximately 6 h) [10,38,58–60]. Its capability to provide
prompt and precise response makes it useful for applications in
grid power quality regulation. As shown in Fig. 17, NaS battery is
made of liquid (molten) sulphur at the positive electrode and liq-
uid (molten) sodium at the negative electrode.
The electrodes are separated with a solid beta alumina ceramic
electrolyte [59]. It is economical with low maintenance cost. The
reason is because the material of construction is affordable and
also recyclable. They operate in the temperature range of 300–
350 °C during the discharge and charging cycles. During the dis-
charge phase, the sodium (negative electrode) is oxidized at the
sodium/beta alumina interface, forming Na+. These ions move
through the electrolyte and combine with sulphur that is being
reduced at the positive electrode to form sodium pentasulphide
(Na2S5) which is immiscible with the remaining sulphur thus lead-
ing to a two-phase liquid mixture (see Fig. 18). After consuming all
the free sulphur available, the Na2S5 becomes progressively con-
verted to single phase sodium polysulphides (Na2S5x) with
increasing sulphur content. The disadvantages of NaS battery are
Fig. 16. The capacitor storage system [9]. high capital cost, high operational temperature requirement and
high operational hazard due to the use of metallic sodium which is tion is reversed during the discharging phase (see Eq. (1)). One
combustible if exposed to water. advantage of the process is that no side reaction occurs.
4.1.3.2.2. Sodium Nickel Chloride (NaNiCl2) battery. Like NaS, NaNiCl 2NaCl þ Ni ¢ NiCl2 þ 2Na ð1Þ
batteries are high temperature devices. They operate at normal The battery uses a wall material made of ceramic as the elec-
temperature range of 270–350 °C [38] and were primarily devel- trolyte. This electrolyte helps to separate the electrodes from each
oped for application in electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric other. The electrolyte conducts only Na+ but isolates electrons. This
vehicles (HEV) [58,61]. During the charging phase, NaCl salt and means that the reaction can only proceed when there is an external
Ni are transformed into NiCl2 and molten Na. This chemical reac- circuit which allows the flow of electron of equal amount as the
Na+. The porous solid NiCl2 cathode is impregnated with a Na+ con-
ductive salt (NaAlCl4) that provides a conductive path between the
inside wall of the separator and the reaction zone [38] (see Fig. 19).
4.1.3.2.3. Flow battery - Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB). Vanadium

reduction and oxidation (redox) battery (VRB) belongs to a group
of batteries known as flow batteries. This is the type of battery in
which one or both active material is in the electrolyte solution at
all times [38]. The operation of VRB is based on the redox reaction
of different ionic forms of vanadium (see Fig. 20). As a flow battery,
its advantage over the conventional battery types is that it is pos-
sible to design the system with optimal power acceptance and
delivery properties without needing to maximize the energy den-
sity [5]. This is possible due to the separation between the power
and energy requirement. Furthermore, it can achieve stable and
durable performance since the electrodes do not undergo physical
and chemical changes during operation. For the case of VRB, the
V3+ is converted to V2+ ions at the negative electrode during the
charging operation. At the same time at the positive electrode,
V4+ ions are converted to V5+ ions through the release of electrons.
These reactions absorb the electrical energy and convert it to
chemical energy. During the discharge phase, the reactions are
reversed which leads to the release of the stored chemical energy
to electrical energy. VRB can achieve an efficiency of about 85%
[5]. Their advantages include: low maintenance cost, tolerance to
overcharging, and ability to be deep charged without affecting
the cycle life. On the other hand, the need for pumps, sensors,
power management and secondary containment makes them
Fig. 17. NaS battery [9].
unsuitable for small scale energy storage application [63].
Fig. 18. NaS operation [38].

Fig. 19. Sodium nickel chloride battery [62].
Fig. 20. Principles of the vanadium redox battery [38].
4.1.3.2.4. Flow battery - Iron Chromium (FeCr) battery. This is cycling. Fig. 21 illustrates the principle of operation of the FeCr
another type of flow battery but unlike the VRB, the FeCr battery battery.
is still in the R&D stage. Their low cost structure makes them It can find application in grid time shifting on either the utility
attractive for grid storage solutions however, because it is still or customer side of the meter and also for frequency regulation
mainly in the R&D stage [38], there is still high uncertainties in services.
its performance and cycle life. It uses liquid reactants in which only 4.1.3.2.5. Flow Battery - Zinc bromine (ZnBr) battery. This also
a small volume is electrically active and the cells are hydraulically belongs to the family of flow batteries [10,25]. It comprises of
balanced. The volume of the reactant remains constant during two electrode surfaces and two electrolyte flow stream separated
Fig. 21. Principle of FeCr battery [64].
by a micro-porous film [38]. The electrolytes are aqueous solutions the most compact and potentially the least expensive batteries
of zinc bromine. The positive electrolyte is called the catholyte available [31]. However, they have low efficiency (50%) and can
while the negative is the anolyte. During the charging operation, only achieve a few hundred cycles. Fig. 23 shows the principle of
off peak electricity is introduced into the system which results in operation of zinc-air battery.
the deposition of zinc onto the negative electrode while bromine The battery produces electricity when the air electrode is dis-
is form at the positive electrode. The zinc and bromine ions charged with the help of catalysts that produce hydroxyl ions in
migrate to the opposite electrolyte via the micro-porous separator the liquid electrolyte. This process is reversed when the battery
in order to achieve charge equalization. The electrodes are com- is recharged and oxygen is released into the air electrode. The
posed of bipolar carbon plastic due to the corrosive nature of bro- major challenge with the development of this battery is avoidance
mine. Fig. 22 shows the schematic diagram of ZnBr battery. of CO2 impacts from the air on the electrolyte and cathode as well
as avoiding Zn dendrite formation.
4.1.3.2.6. Zinc Air (ZnAir) battery. This is an example of metal air
battery. Metal air batteries make use of an electropositive metal 4.1.3.2.7. Lead Acid (PbO2) battery. This is the oldest rechargeable
in an electrochemical couple with oxygen from the air to generate battery for both household and commercial application. Its use
electricity. Apart from zinc, examples of metals that can be used in for commercial application is limited due to the development of
the battery include: aluminium, magnesium or lithium. They are other high efficient and high energy density batteries. PbO2 is still
Fig. 22. ZnBr cell configuration [38].

circuit to avoid overload. These together with the high capital cost
($900–1300/kW h) limit their use for large capacity applications.
4.1.3.2.9. Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) battery. This is one of the most

developed nickel based batteries. It uses nickel oxy-hydroxide
and metallic cadmium as the electrodes. It was the dominant
rechargeable battery in the 90s. They are characterised by fast
recharge, long cycle life, deep discharge rates with no damage or
loss of capacity [30,67]. They can achieve about 3000 cycles [54].
However, their application is limited by cost (they cost 10 times
more than the lead-acid) and the cadmium toxicity poses environ-
mental concern [40,54,65,68].
4.1.4. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES)

SMES uses magnetic field to store energy which has been cryo-
Fig. 23. Zn-air battery operation [31].
genically cooled to a temperature below its superconducting criti-
cal temperature [5,69]. It occurs by inducing DC current into coil
being used predominantly in some applications because of its low
made of superconducting cables of nearly zero resistance (usually
cost, reliability, maturity level in technology, extended life span
made of niobiumtitane (NbTi)) filaments that operate at very low
and fast response especially in automobile systems [10]. It is com-
temperature of about 270 °C [69,70]. SMES consists of three parts
posed of a positive electrode made of lead-dioxide and a negative
namely superconducting coil/magnet, power conditioning system
electrode made of metallic lead with an electrolyte made of
and cryogenically cooled refrigeration [71]. The DC current
tetraoxosulphate (VI) acid. It has a rated voltage of 2 V, energy den-
increases during charging while the reverse is the case during
sity of about 30 W h/kg and power density of around 150 W/kg
the discharging operation. Although the system requires consider-
[40]. Its energy efficiency ranges from 85% to 90% with low main-
able quantity of energy to attain cryogenic condition and the cur-
tenance and investment cost. The self discharge rate is also very
rent has to flow through non-superconducting material and solid
low. Other variants of the traditional lead-acid battery include
state switches which cause resistive losses, the overall efficiency
the carbon lead-acid and advanced lead acid. The former involves
in commercial applications in the range of MW is very high [69].
the incorporation of carbon in one or both electrodes while the
The superconducting coil is made of either solenoid or toroid. Sole-
later involves the following: carbon-doped cathodes, granular sil-
noid is simpler and easier to control while toroid offers low stray
ica electrolyte retentions, high density positive active material
field which is an advantage in SMES applications [72]. They are
and silica based electrolyte. Fig. 24 shows an illustration of the
capable of providing rapid response for either charge or discharge
PbO2 battery.
with a response time of a few milliseconds [12]. They also have a
very high lifetime but its major drawback is the cost (both capital
4.1.3.2.8. Lithium ion (Li-ion) battery. These batteries uses lithium
and operating).
metal or lithium compound as anode [5]. This type of battery is
used for mainly portable electronics and medical devices [30].
The Li-ion batteries are lighter, smaller and more powerful than 4.1.5. Cryogenic energy storage
other batteries which make it attractive for consumer electronics 4.1.5.1. Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES). As the name implies, LAES
[5]. Their energy and power density range from 90 to 190 W h/kg involves the storage of electrical energy in the form of liquid air. It
and 500 to 2000 W/kg [40,54]. They also have high efficiency and is also known as cryogenic energy storage (CES). This technology is
low self-discharge rate making it suitable for EV solutions [65]. currently being pioneered by Highview Power Storage, UK [73]
The new advanced Li batteries developed using nanowires silicon with a demonstration plant in Slough, UK. The first stage of the
are capable of producing 10 times more electricity than the exist- process is similar to the compression stage of the CAES. The com-
ing Li-ion batteries [5]. pressed air is then liquefied and stored in a tank at a pressure close
There major drawback is that they are fragile with temperature to atmospheric pressure. During the power generation (i.e. dis-
dependent life cycle. They usually require a special protection charging) phase, the liquid air can be pumped and used to provide
direct cooling, refrigeration, and air conditioning before being
vaporised using waste heat followed by expansion to generated
electricity. One main advantage of this process is that liquid air
occupies 1/700th of volume occupied by gaseous air which results
in the storage of large quantity of air in small containment. How-
ever, it has a relatively low efficiency (40–70%) [74,75]. As this
technology is currently in the demonstration stage, there is still
room for efficiency improvement especially by improving the liq-
uefaction process and using the compression heat during the
power generation stage. Fig. 25 shows the schematic of the LAES
process.
4.2. Electrical energy storage technologies and real life applications
4.2.1. Intermittent balancing

As shown in Fig. 26, different electrical energy storage technolo-
gies can be used to achieve intermittent balancing of the electricity
supply. This can be from seasonal variations such as days, weeks or
Fig. 24. Lead-acid battery [66]. months in which case efficiency of the storage plays a crucial role
Fig. 25. Highview LAES process [76].
Fig. 26. Real life applications and technology marching [26].
or momentarily such as seconds to minutes as the case with load 4.2.2. Arbitrage
following, frequency regulation and voltage support in which case This involves using electrical energy storage technologies to
the response time is the key requirement. Hydrogen fuel cells, GES, store low priced electricity during periods of low demand
PHS, LAES, CAES and batteries are some of the energy storage tech- and subsequently sell it during high priced periods [77]. This
nologies which can be utilised for seasonal variations while fly- type of storage require technologies which can achieve long
wheels, supercapacitors and SMES are ideal applications which storage duration (hours to days) together with high round trip
require momentarily variations. efficiency. Fig. 26 shows that technology such as batteries,
CAES, LAES, GES, and PHS can be used to achieve this type of 4.3.1. Sensible heat storage
application. In this form of energy storage system, the storage material does
not undergo any form of phase change within the temperature
range required for the storage application [87]. The most common
4.2.3. Renewable penetration
materials used in this category for high temperature TES include:
This is one of the pioneer applications which are driving the
concrete, cast ceramics and molten salts. Molten salts have been
inclusion of energy storage in the modern electricity supply chain.
used in solar thermal applications. Their major drawback is that
As the penetration of renewable resources (e.g. wind and solar)
most of them have high freezing point (around 100 °C) which
into the grid energy mix continues increase, energy storage is
can lead to energy losses. They also recover a fraction of the heat
needed to change and optimise the output from renewable sources
stored during the discharge process due to the irreversibility in
so as to mitigate rapid and seasonal output changes which occurs
the heat exchanger device.
as a result of the intermittency in energy supply from aforemen-
tioned renewable resources. The duration of storage and efficiency
are among the key characteristics necessary for this type of electri- 4.3.2. Latent heat storage
cal energy storage technology. Typical examples of electrical As the name implies, these materials store latent heat which
energy storage technologies which can be utilised here include: occurs as a result of phase change in the storage media. They are
PHS, LAES, CAES, HES, GES, etc. usually known as Phase Change Materials (PCMs). For energy stor-
age application, the phase of the material changes (usually from
solid to liquid) at a temperature matching the thermal input source
4.2.4. Black start [12]. These materials always achieve a high potential for thermal
This occurs when power system collapse, ancillary mechanisms energy storage than the non-phase changing counterpart due to
failed and electricity supply resources are needed to be restarted the high latent heat associated with the phase change. They are
without pulling electricity from the grid. This type of application classified into organic PCM and inorganic PCM. The organic PCM
requires an electrical energy storage technology which should be are classified into paraffin and non-paraffin PCM. Paraffin wax rep-
able to response quickly and devoid of any energy intensive auxil- resents a good example of paraffin PCM [9]. It is made of a mixture
iary equipment. From Fig. 26, it can be seen that electrical energy of mostly straight-chain n-alkanes (CH3–(CH2)n–CH3). Non-paraffin
storage technologies such as batteries and supercapacitors are cap- PCM includes fatty acids, esters and glycols. Inorganic PCM include
able of achieving this feat. salt hydrates, salts, metals and alloys. Examples are sodium sul-
phate decahydrate, calcium chloride hexahydrate, sodium thiosul-
4.2.5. Mobile application phate, etc.
As the name implied, it covers standalone energy storage in
which the device can easily be moved around from one location 4.3.3. Thermochemical heat storage
to another. It usually occurs for off-grid applications. Some typical As shown in Fig. 27, this form of heat storage involves a rever-
examples are electric vehicles which uses electrical energy stored sible reaction in which heat is stored during the endothermic reac-
in batteries. Hydrogen fuel cell also feats into this application tion step and released during the exothermic one [22]. During the
charging step, thermal energy is used to dissociate a chemical reac-
4.2.6. Demand shifting and peak reduction tant into products in a reaction which is endothermic. The products
This involves shifting energy demand in order to match it with are stored separately pending when energy is needed. During the
supply. It can be facilitated by changing the time at which certain discharging step, the stored products are mixed together and react
activities take place (e.g. space heating) so as to reduce the maxi- to form the initial reactant in a reaction which is exothermic. The
mum (peak) energy demand level. heat released during the reaction is utilised as an energy source.
This type of TES is still mainly in the research and development
stage with many materials been investigated. Examples of some
4.3. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) and their characteristics
TES is one of the most practiced form of energy storage [78,79].

TES systems consist of devices which are used to store electricity or
other waste heat resources in the form of thermal energy pending
the time when they are used to meet energy need. There are three
thermal energy storage methods [80,81]. They include: sensible
heat storage method through a change in material temperature,
latent heat storage through phase change of a material and ther-
mochemical heat by thermally inducing changes in a material’s
chemical structure [25,82–85]. The choice of TES method depends
on a variety of factors such as the storage temperature range, the
specific application and the storage media. TES systems are gener-
ally classified into low-temperature and high temperature systems
depending on the whether the operating temperature of the mate-
rial is higher than the room temperature [12,86]. Low temperature
TES are assumed to operate in a temperature range below 200 °C.
This set of TES system has been extensively investigated and devel-
oped. They are usually found in building heating and cooling appli-
cation, solar cooking, solar water boiler and air heating system.
High temperature TES systems are usually used in renewable
energy technologies, waste heat recovery and thermal power sys-
tems. As aforementioned, thermal energy can be stored in the form
of cryogenic, sensible heat, latent heat or thermochemical means. Fig. 27. Process of thermochemical heat storage [12].
thermochemical TES material currently been investigated include: investment point of view over those with short life span. From
metallic hydrides (MgH2 and CaH2), carbonates (PbCO3 and CaCO3), Table 2, it can be affirmed that mechanical energy storage tech-
hydroxides (Mg(OH)2 and Ca(OH)2), oxides (BaO2 and Co3O4), nologies which are based on conventional mechanical engineering
ammonia system (NH4HSO4 and NH3), and organic systems (CH4/ such as PHES, CAES, flywheel, gravity energy storage and hydrogen
H2O, CH4/CO2, C6H12). They have potentials over the sensible and energy storage systems usually have long life time as their life time
latent heat systems. Their energy density is about 5–10 times is mainly determined by the life time of the mechanical compo-
higher than latent and sensible heat storage systems respectively; nents. Even though there is currently no reliable data for some of
their storage period and transport are theoretically unlimited the technologies that are still in the concept or demonstration
because there is no thermal loss during storage as products can stage such as LAES, GPM, ARES, operational experience from
be stored at ambient temperature [9,88]. mechanical components which make up the system also suggest
that they will likely have long life time when fully matured. Battery
4.4. Thermal energy storage technologies and real life applications based systems usually have short life time owing to chemical dete-
rioration with the operating time.
4.4.1. Waste heat utilisation
Thermal energy storage technologies can be used for the tempo-
ral and geographic decoupling of heat supply and demand [77]. 5.3. Capital and operating costs
Typical examples are the hot and ice/chilled water storage which
is used for heating and cooling application and supply of industrial The cost of an energy storage technology is one of the most
process heat. important factors for commercial deployment of a given energy
storage technology. For detailed analysis, the cost of any given
4.4.2. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) energy storage technology should include both the capital and
Thermal energy storage can be utilised to increase the opera- operating costs. The operating cost covers the cost of operation,
tional flexibility of CHP plants. It can be used to decouple the heat maintenance, disposal and replacement. The auxiliary components
demand of a connected district heating system and the require- used by some energy storage technologies add to the total capital
ments of the electricity system. As a result of this increased flexi- cost of the system. As a result of this, some energy storage systems
bility, the CHP can be operated as a load following with minimal tends to be only economically feasible above a minimum energy
need for complex control system. content and power output [9]. There are various ways in which
the costs can be calculated. They include cost per kW h, per kW
5. Comparison of different ES technologies and per kW h per cycle. The later is preferred for systems with fre-
quent charge/discharge application. In terms of capital cost per
Any given energy storage technology has some unique features/ kW h, PHES, CAES, Zn-Air are in the low range. Unproven and
characteristics which make it suitable for a particular energy stor- promising technologies such as GPM and ARES are expected to
age application. These unique features help in the determination of have capital cost per kW h in the same or slightly higher order of
the best energy storage technology to be adopted in any given cir- magnitude as the PHES when fully matured as they are based on
cumstance. Some of these features are explained in this section. similar concept. LAES, which is currently in the demonstration
The technical details of these characteristics for the different stage, is also a promising technology for low capital cost. Table 2
energy storage technologies are summarised in Table 2. shows that CAES has a lower capital cost per kW h than the PHES
but also suffers from low round trip efficiency. Flywheel, SMES,
5.1. Energy/power density supercapacitors have very high power density and capital cost
per kW h but low capital cost per kW h per cycle which makes
The power density of any energy storage technology is defined them suitable for applications that require high power output for
as the rated power output divided by the volume of the device short duration.
[9,12]. Its unit is W/kg or W/l. This is slightly different from the
energy density which is defined as the actual energy stored divided
by the volume of the storage device (W h/kg or W h/l). In these def- 5.4. Storage capacity/duration
initions, the volume of the device is regarded as the volume of the
whole energy storage system including the energy storing element, This refers to the quantity of energy available in the storage
accessories, supporting structures and inverter systems [12]. ES device. In other words, it is the total energy stored in the energy
systems with very high power density are usually suitable for storage device. Its unit is Wh. It is different from the energy
applications which require high power quality with large discharge retrieved from the storage device since discharge is usually incom-
currents and fast response time. As shown in Table 2, HES and Zn- plete. Commercial scale energy storage devices usually have large
Air battery have very high energy density but suffer from low storage capacity. Due to self-discharging problem, storage duration
round trip efficiency. Other conventional batteries, CAES and LAES is also regarded as one of the essential feature to be considered
follow with medium energy density while PHES, SMES, flywheel while deciding on an energy storage technology to deploy for any
and supercapacitors have lower energy density. Amongst the bat- given application. It shows how much of the stored energy can
teries, Li-ion, NaS and NaNiCl2 have higher energy density than be retained by the energy storage device for over a period of time.
the others. Flow batteries also show a lower energy density than Devices with very low self-discharging ratio are usually suitable for
the conventional batteries. long storage applications. From Table 2, PHES and CAES have large
storage capacity and thus are suitable for grid scale energy storage
5.2. Life time application. Developing technologies such as LAES and other tech-
nologies which are in the concept stage such as GPM and ARES are
The life span any given energy storage technology also plays a likely to be suitable for grid scale applications as they are scalable
significant part in deciding whether the technology will be adopted and also based on matured mechanical components. These tech-
for any given application or not. All things been equal, energy stor- nologies are also suitable for long duration storage since they have
age technologies with long life span are usually preferred from an low self-discharge rate.
368
Table 2
Technical characteristics of some selected energy storage technologies.
Technology Energy density Power density Power Discharge Suitable storage Life time Cycle life Capital Cost Round trip Technological
Wh/kg(W h/L) W/kg(W/L) rating time duration (years) (cycles) efficiency (%) maturity
$/kW $/kWh $/kW h-per
cycle
M. Aneke, M. Wang / Applied Energy 179 (2016) 350–377

Flywheel 10–30(20–80) 400–1500(1000–2000) 0–250 kW ms–15 min s–min 15 20,000+ 250–350 1000–5000 3–25 85–95 Commercial
PHES 0.5–1.5(0.5–1.5) 100–5000 MW 1–24 h+ h–months 40–60 600–2000 5–100 0.1–1.4 65–87 Matured
CAES 30–60(3–6) 5–300 MW 1–24 h+ h–months 20–60 400–800 2–50 2–4 50–89 Developed
GES
GPM 1.06(1.06) 3.13(3.13) 40–150 MW h–months 30+ 1000 75–80 Concept
ARES 100–3000 MW 34 s h–months 40+ 800 75–86 Concept
HES
Fuel cell 800–10,000(500–3000) 500+(500+) 0–50 MW s–24+h h–months 5–15 1000 10,000+ 6000–20,000 20–35 Developing
Gas engine 33,300(530–750) 0–50 MW s–24+h h–months 40–50 Developing
Super-capacitor 2.5–15 500–5000 0–300 kW ms–60 min s–h 100–300 300–2000 2–20 90–95 Developed
Batteries Commercial
NaS 150–240(150–250) 150–230 50 kW–8 MW s–h s–h 10–15 2500 1000–3000 300–500 8–20 80–90 Commercial
NaNiCl 100–120(150–180) 150–200(220–300) 0–300 kW s–h s–h 10–14 2500+ 150–300 100–200 5–10 85–90 Commercial
VRB 10–30 30 kW–3 MW s–10 h h–months 5–10 12,000+ 600–1500 150–1000 5–80 85–90 Demonstration
FeCr 10–50 16–33 5–250 kW s12+h h–months 250 70–80 Commercial
ZnBr 30–50(30–60) 50 kW–2 MW s–10 h h–months 5–10 2000+ 700–2500 150–1000 5–80 70–80 Demonstration
Zn-air 150–3000(500–10,000) 100 0–10 kW s–24h+ h–months 100–250 10–60 50–55 Demonstration
Li-ion 75–200(200–500) 500–2000 0–100 kW min–h min–days 1200–4000 600–2500 15–100 85–90 Demonstration
SMES 0.5–5(0.2–2.5) 500–2000(1000–4000) 100 kW–10 MW m–8 s min–h 20+ 100,000+ 200–300 1000–10,000 95–98 Demonstration
LAES 97 350 kW–5 MW 1–24 h+ h–months 20+ 1000–2000 50–70 Demonstration
5.5. Round trip efficiency Globally, various kinds of energy storage projects
have been executed at varying scales as shown in Table 3. A
The round trip efficiency is the ratio of the electricity output detailed analysis of the global energy storage project database
from the storage device to the electricity input to the device during of the United States Department of Energy [89] reveals the
one charge/discharge cycle. It accounts for the losses which occur following:
as a result of storing and withdrawing energy from the energy stor-
age device. Some of the energy losses occur in the auxiliary devices The battery energy storage technology has the most number of
used in the energy storage process. As shown in Table 2, SMES, fly- operational projects followed by PHES and then the thermal
wheel, supercapacitors and Li-ion battery have very high efficiency system as shown in Fig. 28.
(>90%). These are followed by PHES, CAES, batteries (50–90%) and In terms of the quantity of energy stored, pumped
then HES, Zn-air battery technologies which have low round trip hydro represents about 98%, followed by thermal which
efficiency (<50%). Promising technologies such as gravity based has about 1% and then flywheel with approximately 1% (see
technologies (GPM and ARES) are projected to have efficiencies Fig. 29).
similar to PHES when fully matured while LAES is tipped to have
an efficiency >70% depending on the plant configuration and waste Fig. 30 shows in terms of the quantity of energy stored; that the
heat availability. open loop system represents about 99% of the global operational
pumped hydro energy storage while closed loop system represent
5.6. Response time only 1%.
Hence, open loop pumped hydro system seems to be more
Depending on the energy system requirement, some applica- favourable option than the closed loop system as reflected in the
tions may require a very fast release of the stored energy to meet project share of the former over the later (see Fig. 31).
the system energy demand. For example, most power quality As shown in Fig. 32, the most common form of operational
maintenance such as instantaneous voltage drop and flicker miti- battery energy storage technology is Li-ion battery followed by
gations requires response time in the order of milliseconds. This the Li-ion phosphate battery and then sodium sulphur, vanadium
limits the types of energy storage technologies that can be consid- redox flow and lead acid battery in that order. Despite the large
ered for such application. From Table 2, supercapacitors, SMES and quantity of Li-ion used for battery based energy storage projects,
flywheel have very fast response time in the order of milliseconds. it represents only about 18% of the quantity of energy stored
This is followed by batteries with response time in order of sec- using battery energy storage systems (see Fig. 33). This confirms
onds, then PHES and CAES in minutes. the fact that Li-ion battery is usually used for portable energy
storage application. On the other hand, NaS battery contributed
about 24% of the quantity of energy stored using battery technol-
5.7. Technological maturity
ogy showing that it is used for large scale energy storage applica-
tion. Advanced lead acid battery also contributed about 18% of
Technological maturity of any energy storage system plays a
the operational battery energy storage globally just from 15 pro-
significant role in determining whether it should be selected for
jects confirming its suitability for large scale energy storage
any given energy storage application. Matured technologies are
applications.
usually preferred because more operational expertise has been
Figs. 34 and 35 show the number of different operational ther-
developed in its operation than for less matured counterparts. Fur-
mal energy storage projects globally and the corresponding share
thermore, increase in the maturity always drives down the cost of
of each of the technology in terms of the actual quantity of energy
any given technology. From Table 2, PHES and lead-acid battery are
stored. The figures show that ice thermal energy storage technol-
the most matured energy storage technology. CAES is developed
ogy remains the most implemented thermal energy storage tech-
but there is still a need for improvement in its round trip efficiency
nology globally followed by molten salt, chilled water and then
which is the mainstay of many current researches in CAES systems.
heat. Ice thermal energy storage is usually used for time shifting
Other technologies such as NaS, NaNiCl2, flow batteries, Li-ion
small scale applications to provide air conditioning during peak
SMES, flywheel, supercapacitors are also developed and are com-
periods. Molten salt thermal energy storage are used for high tem-
mercially available but mainly in demonstration projects. Their
perature large scale application as found in solar thermal power
application for large-scale energy storage is highly uncommon.
plants or any other high temperature application. This fact is also
HES, Zn-Air battery are in the developing stage with few demon-
confirmed in Fig. 33 which shows that molten salt technology rep-
stration plants in operation. LAES is still in the demonstration stage
resents about 77% of the quantity of energy stored as thermal
while GPM and ARES are in the concept stage of development with
energy.
no record of operation available for now.
The analysis also shows that there is currently no operational
thermochemical energy storage system although this technology
6. Current status and some real life ES projects is believed to have some potential for large scale applications. In
the case of CAES technology, in-ground natural gas combustion
In the traditional electricity value chain, energy storage was not technology is the most used technology as seen in Fig. 36. The Hun-
considered as a valuable component [12]. This is partly because torf and the McIntosh CAES are currently the only two commer-
electricity generation were based on fossil fuels which are reliable cially operational in-ground natural gas energy storage systems
and stable. The lack of interest in energy conservation and green- in the world. The in-ground isothermal and modular isothermal
house gas emission reduction also contributed to the lack of inter- technologies are currently emerging for commercial applications.
est in energy storage as a valuable link in the traditional electricity The in-ground natural gas combustion technology is also currently
value chain. Nowadays, due to the increase in the number of inter- the most used form of CAES technology for large scale application.
mittent renewable energy resources, the need to conserve the It accounted for about 99% of the quantity of energy stored using
exhaustible fossil fuel resources, to reduce the greenhouse gas compressed air technology (see Fig. 37). Isothermal option is still
emission and supply power when and where needed, energy stor- an emerging technology and will likely pose a better efficiency
age is now considered an integral part of the modern electricity than the compressed air technology due to its more efficient com-
value chain. pression operation.
370
Table 3
List of some operational energy storage projects.
Technology Project name Location Construction Construction Rated power Duration Mode Status Source
start year duration (MW) at
rated
power
Pumped Hydro Energy Storage
Open loop Bath county pumped hydro storage Virginia, USA 1977 8 years 3030 10 h Commercial Operational [90]
18 min
Open loop Olivenhain–Hodges storage plant California, USA 2005 7 years 40 6h Commercial Operational [91]
Open loop John W. Keys III pumped generating Washington, USA Used initially for irrigation 13 years 314 80 h Commercial Operational [92,93]
plant but, converted to power
plant in 1960
Open loop Helms pumped hydro storage California, USA 1977 7 years 1212 Commercial Operational [94]
Open loop San Luis (William R. Gianelli) pumped California, USA 1962 6 years 424 298 Commercial Operational [89]
storage
M. Aneke, M. Wang / Applied Energy 179 (2016) 350–377

Open loop Drakenberg pumped storage Kwa-Zulu Natal, South 1974 7 years 1000 10 h Commercial Operational [89]
Africa
Flywheel energy storage
Beacon Power flywheel frequency Pennsylvania, United 2013 1 year 20 15 min Commercial Operational [95]
regulation plant States
Max Planck Institute Power Supply Bavaria, Germany EZ1, 1973 1 year 155 12 s Commercial Operational [89]
System EZ2, 1977 1 year 124
EZ3, 1987 1 year 108
EFDA JET fusion flywheel Oxfordshire, United 1981 1 year 400 50 s Commercial Operational [96]
Kingdom
Thermal energy storage
Heat (steam) thermal Planta solar 20 solar power plant Seville, Spain 2006 3 years 20 1h Commercial Operational [97]
Heat (steam) thermal Julich solar tower Rhineland, Germany 2007 1 years 1.5 1h Demonstration Operational [98]
30 min
Heat (steam) thermal Minera El Tesoro CSP Atacama, Chile 2011 1 year 10.5 6h Commercial Operational [89]
30 min
Ice thermal Glendale water and power – peak California, USA 2010 1 year 1.5 6h Commercial Operational [99]
capacity project
Molten salt thermal (60% sodium Manchasol 2 solar (power plant Ciudad Real, Spain 2008 3 years 50 7h Commercial Operational [89]
nitrate, 40% potassium nitrate) 30 min
Battery energy storage
Lead-acid STMicroelectronics UBS system Arizona, United States 2001 8 months 10 50 s Commercial Operational [89]
Lithium-ion AES angamos storage array Antofagasta, Chile 2008 3 years 20 20 min Commercial Operational [89]
Nickel-cadmium GVEA battery energy storage Alaska, United States 2003 1 year 27 15 min Commercial Operational [100]
Sodium-sulphur AEP presidio NaS energy storage system Texas, United States 2009 7 months 4 8h Commercial Operational [89]
Vanadium redox Tomamae wind farm Hokkaido, Japan 2005 1 month 4 1 hr Commercial Operational [89]
30 min
Compressed air energy storage
In-ground natural gas combustion McIntosh CAES plant Alabama, United States 1988 2 years 110 26 h Commercial Operational [101]
compressed air 6 months
In-ground natural gas combustion Kraftwerk Huntorf Elsfleth, Germany 321 2h Commercial Operational [102]
compressed air
In-ground isothermal compressed air Texas dispatchable wind Texas, United States 2011 1 year 2 250 Commercial Operational [103]
Fig. 28. Number of operational projects.
Fig. 29. Technology share of quantity of energy stored globally.
7. Challenges & future prospects
It is no doubt that energy storage can help to reduce energy

wastage and greenhouse gas emissions as well as to increase the
penetration of renewable energy resources. As presented in previ-
ous sections of this paper, several energy storage projects have
been executed to prove some of the energy storage technologies
and concepts. Some of these projects, as already seen in this
review, have been successful. For example, the pumped hydro
and compressed air technology have been used for decades with
proven reliability and availability. Advancement in battery tech-
nology has resulted in more robust and efficient battery technolo-
gies with high power and energy density.
Despite all these advancements, energy storage is still being
faced by enormous challenges:
(1) One of the main challenges (especially of large scale energy

storage technologies such as PHES and CAES) is how to
Fig. 30. Technology share of the quantity of energy stored using pumped hydro improve the round trip efficiency. An ideal energy storage
system.
Fig. 31. Pumped hydro technology options.
Fig. 32. Battery energy storage technology options.
technology is one which can achieve a round trip efficiency of the energy storage technologies are still very expensive
of 100%. Although this is not possible in real life application, whereas the incentive lies in making these technologies
notwithstanding, an energy storage technology should cheap. The reason is because energy storage technologies
aspire to achieve round trip efficiency as close as possible are usually used to store electricity which is a relatively
to 100% so as to reduce the gap between their potential cheap commodity and thus for these technologies to be eco-
and operational success. Theoretical prediction for PHES nomically viable and attractive to investors, it need to be
show that they can potentially attain an efficiency of 90%, cheap as well. Fig. 38 shows the capital costs of different
however, most of the real life installations have shown a energy storage technologies per unit of power ($/kW) and
round trip efficiency of 72–75%. In the same vein, CAES per unit of energy capacity ($/kW h).
shows an efficiency of about 42–55%. The challenge lies in From the figure, it can be seen that the costs varies significantly
identifying how to improve these efficiencies. from one technology to another. The figure also shows that for
(2) Another challenge is that of the system economics. The eco- power driven applications, flywheel and supercapacitors shows
nomics of energy storage are difficult to evaluate since they low capital cost per unit of power but high investment in
are influenced by a wide range of factors: the type of storage energy capacity. In contrast, CAES and PHS have relatively high
technology, the requirement of each application, size and capital costs per unit of power but low cost per unit of energy.
the system in which the storage facility is located [26]. Most Apart from the capital cost, there are other costs which make up
Zinc Iron Flow Hydrogen Bomine

Zinc Bromine Flow Baery Flow Baery Zinc Nickel Oxide
Baery Baery
Baery 0% 0%
0% (unspeciﬁed)
0%
Vanadium Redox 2%
Flow Baery Iron Chromium Flow
4% Baery
0%
Sodium Nickel
Chloride Baery
Advanced Lead Acid Lead Carbon
1%
Baery Baery
18% 0%
Lead Acid Baery

5%
Sodium Sulfur
Baery Lithium ion
24% Titanate Baery
4%
Lithium ion
Phosphate Baery
Sodium ion Baery Nickel Cadmium 13%
0% Baery
7% Lithium Manganese
Oxide Baery
Nickel Metal 0%
Hydride Baery Lithium ion Baery Lithium Nickel
0% 18% Cobalt Aluminium
Nickel Iron Baery Lithium Nickel Baery
Lithium Polymer Manganese Cobalt 0%
0%
Baery Baery
2% 0%
Fig. 33. Technology share of the quantity of energy stored using battery system.
Fig. 34. Thermal energy storage technology options.
this storage total operating cost. These costs consist of two key cycles, the plant maintenance cost, costs associated to equip-
components: (1) energy-related cost and (2) non-energy related ment depreciation, decommissioning and disposal cost [104].
operating cost [104]. The energy related costs includes all costs These costs vary widely from one energy storage technology
incurred to purchase energy used to charge the storage as well to another as well as the size of the storage system. For example
as the cost to purchase energy needed to make up for the large scale PHS and CAES may require labour cost to operate
energy losses arising from round trip efficiency whereas the while a small scale battery system that was designed for auton-
non-energy related costs include the labour cost associated omous operation may require no labour cost. Hence, an energy
with plant operation, the frequency of charging and discharging storage technology for high-use application is ideally required
Fig. 35. Technology share of the quantity of energy stored using thermal system. Fig. 37. Technology share of the quantity of energy stored using compressed air
technology.
to have relatively very high efficiency and low variable operat-

ing cost otherwise the total cost to charge and discharge the modularised, most of the other energy storage technologies
storage might likely be higher than the benefit. Overall, CAES have still not achieved this feat. Modularisation of the
and PHS are the most cost-effective technologies for large scale energy storage technologies helps to promote the
storage with frequent cycles, flywheel and supercapacitors will flexibility that the system provides. It allows for more opti-
be preferred for very short periods and frequent use whereas misation of the system behaviour in response to changing
batteries are likely to be the cheapest solution when the num- conditions.
ber of cycles is low [26]. (4) In addition to the aforementioned challenges, for energy
(3) The third challenge faced by this sector is the unavailability storage to prosper; there is also a need for policy support
of standard for the physical connections of different energy from the Government. This will enhance the penetration of
storage solutions to the electricity grid. There is still too energy storage especially for grid application. For example,
much complexity in the entire design of some energy stor- the UK electricity grid is estimated to reach 110 GW by
age technologies which makes it difficult to develop modu- 2020 and the government aims to generate 30% of this
lar energy storage systems. Although some energy storage energy from renewable. The government is currently fund-
technologies such as batteries are already standardised and ing energy storage research so as to achieve this aim.
Fig. 36. Compressed air energy storage technology options.

Fig. 38. Capital cost of energy storage per unit power and per unit energy capacity [26].
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Applied Energy 179 (2016) 350–377

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Primary and secondary energy forms introduced.

1. Introduction ing gradually due to the penetration of renewable energy systems.

Fig. 1. Primary and secondary energy [1].

Primary energy form Conversion process Secondary energy form

Like the primary energy forms, some secondary energy forms

Fig. 6. Energy storage concept [20].

Electrical Energy Storage Thermal Energy Storage

Fig. 7. Energy storage technologies classification [26].

Fig. 8. Flywheel [31].

Fig. 9. Pumped hydroelectric energy storage.

Fig. 10. Gravity Power Module (GPM) [35].

4.1.1.5. Liquid-Piston Energy Storage (LPES). This is relatively a new

Fig. 13. Process diagram of CAES [39].

Fig. 14. Liquid-piston energy storage [40].

4.1.2. Chemical Energy Storage (CES) 4.1.3. Electrochemical energy storage

Fig. 15. Hydrogen energy storage process.

4.1.3.2.3. Flow battery - Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB). Vanadium

Fig. 18. NaS operation [38].

Fig. 19. Sodium nickel chloride battery [62].

Fig. 20. Principles of the vanadium redox battery [38].

Fig. 21. Principle of FeCr battery [64].

Fig. 22. ZnBr cell configuration [38].

4.1.3.2.9. Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) battery. This is one of the most

4.1.4. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES)

4.2. Electrical energy storage technologies and real life applications

4.2.1. Intermittent balancing

Fig. 25. Highview LAES process [76].

Fig. 26. Real life applications and technology marching [26].

TES is one of the most practiced form of energy storage [78,79].

M. Aneke, M. Wang / Applied Energy 179 (2016) 350–377

M. Aneke, M. Wang / Applied Energy 179 (2016) 350–377

Fig. 28. Number of operational projects.

Fig. 29. Technology share of quantity of energy stored globally.

7. Challenges & future prospects

It is no doubt that energy storage can help to reduce energy

(1) One of the main challenges (especially of large scale energy

Fig. 31. Pumped hydro technology options.

Fig. 32. Battery energy storage technology options.

Zinc Iron Flow Hydrogen Bomine

Lead Acid Baery

Fig. 34. Thermal energy storage technology options.

to have relatively very high efficiency and low variable operat-

Fig. 36. Compressed air energy storage technology options.

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