5 Step
5 Step
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ENERGY STORAGE
Innovation
Insights Brief | 2020
In collaboration with the California Independent System Operator (CAISO)
ABOUT THE WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL ABOUT THIS INSIGHTS BRIEF
The World Energy Council is the principal impartial This Innovation Insights brief on energy storage is part
network of energy leaders and practitioners promoting of a series of publications by the World Energy Council
an affordable, stable and environmentally sensitive focused on Innovation. In a fast-paced era of disruptive
energy system for the greatest benefit of all. changes, this brief aims at facilitating strategic sharing
of knowledge between the Council’s members and the
Formed in 1923, the Council is the premiere global
other energy stakeholders and policy shapers.
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with over 3,000 member organisations in over 90
countries, drawn from governments, private and state
corporations, academia, NGOs and energy stakeholders.
We inform global, regional and national energy strategies
by hosting high-level events including the World Energy
Congress and publishing authoritative studies, and work
through our extensive member network to facilitate the
world’s energy policy dialogue.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
INTRODUCTION 6
FUTURE OUTLOOK 27
INTERVIEWEE CREDITS 59
PROJECT TEAM 60
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As the global electricity systems are shaped by decentralisation, digitalisation and decarbonisation, the
World Energy Council’s Innovation Insights Briefs explore the new frontiers in energy transitions and the
challenges of keeping pace with fast moving developments. We use leadership interviews to map the state
of play and case studies across the whole energy landscape and build a broader and deeper picture of new
developments within and beyond the new energy technology value chain and business ecosystem.
The topic of this briefing is energy storage. We interviewed energy leaders from 17 countries, exploring
recent progress in terms of technology, business models and enabling policies. We showcase these in 10
case studies. While the brief addresses energy storage as a whole, most insights are focused on electri-
cal storage. Our research highlighted that today’s mainstream storage technologies are unlikely to be
sufficient to meet future flexibility requirements resulting from further decentralisation and decar-
bonisation efforts. Furthermore, a restricted focus on lithium-ion batteries is putting the development
of more cost-effective alternative technologies at risk.
Our findings are based on interviews conducted with the following organizations:
A detailed list of the interviews with innovators, energy users and producers can be found at the end of
this brief. Annex 4 provides a list of acronyms and abreviations.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
With major decarbonising efforts to remove thermal electric power generation and scale up renewable
energies, the widespread adoption of energy storage continues to be described as the key game changer
for electricity systems. Affordable storage systems are a critical missing link between intermittent renew-
able power and 24/7 reliability net-zero carbon scenario. Beyond solving this salient challenge, energy
storage is being increasingly considered to meet other needs such as relieving congestion or smoothing
out the variations in power that occur independently of renewable-energy generation. However, whilst
there is plenty of visionary thinking, recent progress has focused on short-duration and battery-based
energy storage for efficiency gains and ancillary services; there is limited progress in developing daily,
weekly and even seasonal cost-effective solutions which are indispensable for a global reliance on inter-
mittent renewable energy sources.
The synthesis of thought leadership interviews and case studies with 37 companies and organizations
from 17 countries helped derive the following key takeaways and also provide the impetus to the solution
steps that we discuss in detail later in this brief:
1 SHARED ROADMAPS
Energy storage is a well-researched flexibility solution. However, while the benefits of energy storage
are clear to the energy community, there has been limited bridge-building with policy-makers and
regulators to explore the behavioural and policy changes necessary to encourage implementation.
4 SECTOR COUPLING
Energy storage presents a sector coupling opportunity between hard-to-abate sectors, such as
mobility and industry and clean electricity. Different vectors of energy can be used, including
heat, electricity and hydrogen.
5 INVESTMENT
Relying on investments by adjacent sectors such as the automotive sector is not enough. The energy
sector must adopt more aggressively technologies aligned with the end-goal: affordable clean ener-
gy for all.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
INTRODUCTION
Since 2009, the Council has been conducting a global survey of critical energy issues for its horizon
scanning tool (Issues Monitor). This horizon scanning tool is a reality check of what energy leaders
perceive as action priorities and what they perceive as uncertainties toward their respective energy
transitions. It enables an understanding of the world energy agenda and the evolution of priorities on a
historical and geographical basis. Since 2015, the global perspective is that energy storage and renew-
ables are action priorities, meaning that energy stakeholders from across the globe are working to
incorporate these technologies into their energy transition portfolios. In addition, World Energy Sce-
narios published in 2019, highlights that the pace of change is dependent on deployment and further
development of energy storage.
As electricity systems evolve, there is an industry-wide recognition of the necessity to deploy addi-
tional new and flexible storage solutions. These flexible solutions are essential to meet new demand for
diverse needs (including transport), to enable the reliable integration of intermittent renewables, to
facilitate the cost-effective switching between supply and storage. Nonetheless, significant progress
remains to be achieved globally in terms of developing supportive policy and market frameworks
for energy storage. The interviews conducted as part of this brief very clearly show where and how
deployments of energy storage are occurring.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
Energy storage is a well recognised flexibility tool, both for electrical and thermal storage. However,
as noted from the key takeaways drawn from the thought leadership interviews and case studies, there
are missing elements that are preventing energy storage from providing their potential benefits. Indus-
try, policy makers and regulators need common understanding derived from shared roadmaps. Market
design needs to evolve to enable the access for new storage service opportunities and should be tech-
nology agnostic because energy storage needs to be more diversified than batteries. Adjacent sectors
may provide new storage solutions beneficial for the energy system and investment should explore all
potential storage technologies. Using these takeaways as foundational building blocks, we explore a
set of helpful steps for energy storage developers and policymakers to consider while enabling energy
storage. These steps are based on three principles:
1. encourage whole system thinking,
2. focus on energy storage as an “affordable and deeper” decarbonisation option, and;
3. advocate for technology-openness.
STEP 4: Assess and adopt enabling mechanisms that best fit to your context
• Learn from & with others to identify those policies that best suit to your circumstances
• Ensure that there is no bias against or for behind-the-meter energy storage
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
In addition to the interview process to identify the enabling steps in the next section, we also prepared 10
case studies to showcase a variety of technologies at different stages of development which can provide
daily, weekly and even seasonal solutions. These case studies can be found in the Annex I and focus on:
- Different energy storage applications
- The business models implemented
- The conditions for replicability of the different projects
- The value creation and cost-effectiveness of different case studies
- The lessons learned, whether they are technical, economic or regulatory
Noor Molten Salt Hybrid CSP and PV power station United Arab
Energy 1 Emirates
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
Efficiency 90-95% 95-98% 75-85% 70-89% 93-95% 80-90% 85-95% 60-85% 35-55% 80-90%
Response
ms <100 ms sec-mins mins ms-secs ms ms-secs ms secs mins
Time
Lifetime, 5-30 30
20+ 20+ 40-60 20-40 15+ 10-15 5-15 5-10
Years years years
Charge s - hr min - hr hr - hr - s - min s - hr min - hr - hr - hr -
time months months days months months months
Depend-
Environmen- None Moderate Large Large Almost Moderate Moderate Moderate ent of H2 Moderate
tal impact none production
method
Possible applications by technologies
Power quality
Energy
arbitrage
RES
integration
Emergency
back-up
Peak shaving
Time shifting
Load leveling
Black start
Seasonal
storage
Spinning
reserve
Network
expansion
Network
stabilisation
Voltage
regultation
End-user
services
Sources: Interviews, Schmidt et al. (2019), Das et al. (2018) for proven
H2 = Hydrogen, RES = Renewable energy source, RE = Renewable energy, SMES = Superconducting mag-
netic energy storage, PHS = Pumped hydroelectric storage, CAES = Compressed-air energy storage for promissing
Note: The Council has reviewed available literature to build this table. In our review, technology specifica-
for possible
tions differ greatly based on the source.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
Enabling Energy
Storage
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
Within electricity, interviewees insisted on the idea of storage to be established as a separate asset
class, next to generation, transmission/distribution, and consumption. This would ensure that regulato-
ry frameworks recognise the unique aspects of energy storage vis-à-vis the other assets.
“Energy storage systems are not generating assets; they are not load-absorbing assets; they have
the potential to provide a broad range of services, from integrating renewables to deferring
transmission upgrades. In any situation, the questions we need to ask are – what job or jobs does
the storage need to do, what technology will best fit that need, and are the business and regulatory
structures in place to ensure it can?”
MADINA MUKHANOVA, FLUENCE
While most of recent discussions are focused on electric energy storage, the definition of energy stor-
age should enable cross-sectorial interfaces. This enables a more flexible operation of the electricity
grid, while providing clean fuels from renewables for the decarbonisation of other sectors.
The definition should not focus on a specific storage family in order to allow for the development of
new technologies. This has been extensively seen in the development of batteries in the past. The same
applies to potential applications of energy storage, which may continue to develop in the years to
come as systems continue changing.
Based on the findings of our interviews, the World Energy Council considers that a wide range of energy
storage technologies will be needed to address the challenges of the energy transition. Yet, recent
publications, press coverage and events of the energy storage industry has been very focused on bat-
tery-only innovation, in particular lithium-ion. However, lithium-ion batteries may not be fit for a series
of requirements of future energy systems, in particular fast charging and long duration storage integra-
tion. These markets, in turn, must open to other technologies.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
In this context, is it is crucial that the system and different enabling frameworks remain technologi-
cally neutral.
“I don't think policy makers should try to choose winners and losers in terms of
technology. I believe that if the regulatory authority wants to promote storage,
they need to define the characteristics and use cases, avoiding the determination of
whether it should be based on lithium-ion, hydro or any other technology.”
RODOLFO MARTINEZ CAMPILLO, IBERDROLA
The bias towards a technology can be intentional, by referring to energy storage as battery storage
for example. It can also be unintentional, as was the case in California’s energy storage mandate. In
2013, utilities in California were mandated to procure 1,325 megawatts of energy storage by 2020.
While this approach led to the development of projects, it focused on lowest cost and provided rela-
tively short timeframes for projects to be executed. According to several interviewees, this created
a bias toward lithium ion battery projects, as it is seen as relatively low risk.
1
Grey energy is the hidden energy associated with a product, meaning the total energy consumed throughout the product's life
cycle from its production to its disposal.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
“With many of today’s storage solutions, including molten salts, we are dealing with
very damaging, very corrosive, very sensitive and toxic material, which all have to be
disposed of at the end of life in a careful, responsible way. What I would like to see
is much more attention and effort to reuse, rather than just dispose. Some attention
is starting to go towards that. Because quite a lot of the material that we are using
comes from finite resources. Beyond the environmental damaging consequences,
there is also the issue around continuing to extract more and more new material,
which also has its own environmental impact.”
PADDY PADMANATHAN, ACWA POWER
Battery recycling is an aspect that is becoming increasingly important. On the one hand, this is moti-
vated by the shortage of certain materials - often precious - necessary for the manufacture of elec-
trochemical cells. On the other hand, this is due to several recent legislations, which require significant
reductions in energy intensity of processes to obtain mineral material.
Life cycle analysis (LCA) is one of the methodologies to assess the environmental impact of productive
systems. For batteries, a LCA entails looking at four phases of a battery's life: obtaining the required
minerals, manufacturing, utilization, and finally collection and recycling (or disposal) of the product at
the end of its useful life. While a lot of focus has been given to batteries’ environmental footprint, it is
crucial that the same is applied to other types of energy storage technologies.
More broadly, it would be helpful to consider how energy storage can help to improve the performance
of the whole energy system by improving energy security, allowing more cost-effective solutions and
supporting greater sustainability to enable a more just and better energy transition. The Council’s Ener-
gy Trilemma tool could help frame how energy storage options could more effectively help achieve the
decarbonisation goals set by policy.
The first conversation to have with these stakeholders is whether energy storage is necessary in the
assumed context. Energy storage should not be developed for its own sake. Competing technologies
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
for energy storage exist, including demand side responses, flexible generation, smart grids, etc. Stor-
age is desirable if (a) there is significant variability in the source of power which requires some tailoring
to conform to the desired profile of power demand and (b) alternative approaches are insufficient (or
insufficiently competitive) to satisfy this tailoring requirement.
If energy storage is perceived as a necessity, the priority is to get stakeholders to reflect upon future
grid operations. In particular, they should assess the potential energy storage needs necessary to be
able to develop suitably reliable systems in a timely manner.
“We need to make sure that everybody quits installing 200 megawatts of solar
without a balancing act together. This is to avoid having to connect another
power plant which maybe uses coal turbines. They need to provide fully reliable
and dispatchable renewables since the development, not several years after.”
JAVIER CAVADA, HIGHVIEW POWER
Increasingly, intermittent producers are taking responsibility and hybrid renewable energy projects
are emerging as a solution for a reliable, affordable and dispatchable integration of renewable ener-
gies to solve critical needs. Such projects could allow renewables to participate in capacity markets
and be stored for use during peak demand periods that would otherwise require natural gas peaker
plant generation.
However, the concept faces important regulatory and policy barriers. To start with, most systems do
not have a hybrid project capacity accreditation. Accreditations exists for solar and wind and many
operators are developing a capacity accreditation for battery storage. Even so, specialised accred-
itation remains almost non-existent for hybrid projects. Other barriers include interconnection,
dispatch and compensation issues. These are all issues which can be solved by engaging the different
stakeholders from an early stage of the development of energy storage: regulators, system opera-
tors, customers, utilities, etc.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
UTILITIES
• Energy storage can be a means of decarbonising the fleet. In other words reduce the need
to build gas peakers.
• Defer expensive new investments and reduce the risk of long-lived capital projects not
being used
• Address both long-term regulatory requirements and short-term needs, such as reliability
and deferring the construction of new substations
• Explore new opportunities by providing advisory services (e.g. Australia) or selling
advanced analytics and data-management services (e.g. USA, ComEd)
DISPATACHABLE PRODUCERS
• Combine conventional generation and storage to improve operational and environmental
performance
• Optimize the sizing of facilities by coupling production and storage
• Anticipate future capacity requirements and take advantage of capacity market (if
existent)
• Protect medium and long-term economic risks (e.g. carbon price)
INTERMITTENT PRODUCERS
• Anticipate the regulatory constraints on storage obligations for intermittent producers
• Consolidate installed capacity to participate in existing/future capacity market
• Develop synergies to increase competitiveness
RESIDENTIAL CONSUMERS
• Minimise reliance on the grid and manage energy bills through savings from time-of-use
rates where these exist
• Residential batteries could be linked together and dispatched to deliver grid support
services
• Reducing the peak load on the local grid network and optimizing individual circuit
loading can make local nodes safer and more reliable, and allow utilities to delay some
capital upgrades
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
On this topic, several recent regulatory changes outlined below are expected to have huge impacts on
energy storage.
Enacted in February 2018 in the United States, the FERC 841 regulation directs grid operators to
remove barriers to the participation of energy storage in wholesale capacity and energy and ancillary
service markets. In addition, FERC 845 revises the definition of a generating facility to account for
electricity storage and recognise its unique characteristics as technically neither generation nor load.
Within the European Union, the Clean Energy for All Europeans package opens up electricity markets
to energy storage.
In China, utility scale energy storage has been driven by state-run projects. China’s National Energy
Administration announced that the ancillary services market will be transitioning from a basic com-
pensation mechanism to a market integrated model with spot energy prices by 2020. That, along with
technological maturity and subsequent cost reductions, are key factors that will contribute to the
exponential growth in the nation’s energy storage market through to 2024.2
2
https://www.woodmac.com/press-releases/china-to-become-largest-energy-storage-market-in-asia-pacific-by-2024/
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
VALUE STACKING
Break Even
Yet, while utilities and regulators have played with the idea of value stacking, and even adopted minor
changes to capitalize on energy storage’s different applications, value stacking on a large scale remains
to be widely implemented. In January 2018, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ap-
proved new market rules for energy storage aimed at enabling the resources to stack incremental val-
ue and revenue streams through the delivery of multiple services to the wholesale market, distribution
grid, transmission system and other uses. In the order, the CPUC acknowledged that current market
rules, including utility standard contracts and program tariffs, fail to support the ability of an energy
resource to access more than one service.3
“The business model for energy storage relies on value stacking, providing a set
of services for customers, a local utility and the grid for example. By having two
or three distinct contracts stacked on top of each other you are being paid for
the different services. For this, you need to measure very granularly the different
services to avoid double payments. Regulatory paradigms need to evolve to allow
for that contracted effort. This is not yet in place in most territories."
POLLY SHAW, STEM
Another stacking opportunity is through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI opens a lot of possi-
bilities to maximize the returns from an energy storage project. This includes performing predictive
analytics, machine learning, big data and grid-edge computing. Data can be captured and analysed on
loads, power generation, weather, nearby grid congestion and electricity rates.
3
https://www.cleanenergylawreport.com/energy-storage/california-adopts-rules-for-evaluating-multiple-use-energy-stor-
age-resources/
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
“The entire secret sauce behind energy storage is not the hardware product but
in the software, which governs the charge and discharge and its operation as a
network. Increasingly using AI for predictive analytics, weather patterns, load
behaviour of buildings, rate design options available to customers, anticipating
load behaviour and deciding whether to charge or discharge to maximise
economic value for the customer."
POLLY SHAW, STEM INC
AI is also key to stack different contracted revenues. It can drive the “delivery” of unused energy
stored in a network of batteries, as a virtually-integrated resource to those grid locations that need
power. For example, on a given day, an ESS may be able to perform renewable energy firming while
also helping to manage time-of-use charges and participate in demand response programs. However,
the amount and timing of each manoeuvre would depend on cloud cover, the building’s operational
schedules and load requirements, and other factors on a given day. Without an intelligently optimized
approach, this could result in missed financial opportunities and negative impacts on battery perfor-
mance or operating life.
“It's all about optimizing through sophisticated algorithms that are typically
AI driven to be able to capture as much value as possible while preserving the
integrity and the degradation profile of your battery system."
MOE HAJABED, NRSTOR
The speed and complexity of this task requires advanced artificial intelligence. It could be a network of
thousands of mixed energy storage units (electrical, thermal, others) installed at consumers, end-users
or on highly used sites, such as industrial installations.
“We really built this for sector coupling, and not only just for arbitrage or battery
replacement. Nine years ago, we recognised that there was a need for large-scale,
long-duration green flexibility."
HASAN ÖZDEM, SIEMENS GAMESA
Thermal energy storage can capture the heat generated by industry, to be sold by companies when
the price of energy is highest, therefore creating a new revenue stream. Steel companies, for example,
could de-couple their fuel supply from their electricity generation: a way to store the heat from flue
gases and use it to generate electricity and sell it at peak prices.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
“For example, if you run a wind farm next to an industrial complex, you can store
the excess wind power in heat and release the heat as processed heat into the
industrial complex. You can also do district heating, or you can produce electricity
using a steam turbine again."
MARTIN SCHICHTEL, KRAFTBLOCK
In addition, companies such as Siemens Gamesa are looking into using thermal storage to transform
conventional power plants. Where contemporary gas, coal or nuclear power generation facilities emit
heat as a byproduct, there is also room for volcanic stones. The rest of the components, the electrical
and civil infrastructure, can be reused. With this “brownfield” approach, an old power plant can become
a modern, large-scale energy storage plant. Storage can likewise optimize energy intensive industries,
such as the steel industry.
Hydrogen is gaining attention as a form of chemical energy storage. Its capacity to store large quantities
of renewable energy sources over long periods of time further demonstrates its significance in the clean
energy transition. Hydrogen can contribute to decarbonisation by acting as a storage medium for re-
newable energy sources and in doing so reach sectors which still rely on fuels and where electrification
alone is insufficient. Processed hydrogen provides high-grade heat that can be used in transport as fuels,
in industries as feedstock and in agriculture for fertilisers.
“We see hydrogen as a logical extension of our value chain to make and sell not only
green electricity, but also green hydrogen. We see green hydrogen as an energy carrier
in transportation, as a process gas, in the steel industry, or in refineries, but also is a
very valuable seasonal storage medium, because it's a gas, it's got quite high energy
density, which can be potentially stored in underground storage systems, and will help
us to shift large amounts of energy between summer and winter."
RUDOLF ZAUNER, VERBUND
The storage potential of hydrogen is particularly beneficial to power grids, as hydrogen allows for
renewable energy sources to be kept in large quantities and over long periods of time. This means that
hydrogen can help significantly improve the flexibility of energy systems by balancing power generation
when it is either too much or not enough and in so doing boost energy efficiency throughout Europe.
These applications could lead to an improvement of the energy system, in both energy efficiency issues
and environmental perspectives.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
Different countries take a different route depending on how their electricity system is structured. For
example, the United Kingdom is known for emphasizing agile regulation and competition.
“In the UK, the regulator has worked on identifying and addressing regulatory and
policy barriers to storage. For instance, there's a problem of kind of double charging,
where storage is penalised by having to pay levies on both the imports and exports of
electricity. That's now being reviewed. There were issues with the licence categorization
of storage, and a whole suite of issues that have been logged in a paper called upgrading
our energy system. The UK's approach is not to directly support, but rather to try to
remove the regulatory friction, to kind of unleash the power of the market."
FELICITY JONES, EVEROZE
Other countries take different approaches, including direct subsidies, energy storage mandates, in-
centives in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates, etc. The table below provides insights into how
different jurisdictions are working on the topic.
European Union Focus: clean energy transition, system flexibility, energy security
• RD&D Funding
• Energy storage’s role part of the Clean energy for all European Package
• Focus is on reducing barriers by focusing on non-discrimination, competitive
procurement and fair rules in relation to network access and charging
• Wide definition of ‘energy storage’ adopted, encompassing both reconversion
to electricity or conversion into another energy carrier.
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New York (USA) Focus: Economic development, DR, ancillary services, upgrade deferrals
• Energy Storage Roadmap in 2016 with goals of 2 GW in 2025, and 4 GW
in 2035
• Creating new regulatory and market mechanisms to accelerate use of
Energy Storage
• Creating standardized codes and regulations universally accepted by all
jurisdictions across the State.
Republic of Korea Focus: RE integration, climate change, industrial support for manufacturers
• Renewable Portfolio Standard program: REN projects paired with
energy storage benefit from a higher Renewable Energy Certificate
(REC) multiplier
• The government has tripled the level of discount on electricity retail
rates for C&I customers with storage systems
United Kingdom Focus: Grid flexibility, system balancing, renewables integration, ancillary services
• RD&D Funding + Energy Entrepreneurs Fund
• Storage eligible under Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariff
• Licence exemptions for small capacity storage systems
• Proposed modified generation licence for large scale storage systems
• Regulator working to remove barriers to energy storage deployment
USA (Federal) Focus: Significant focus for RE integration and climate change, DR, ancillary
services. Now unclear.
• Enacted in February 2018, FERC 841 directed regional grid operators
to remove barriers to the participation of electric storage in wholesale
markets; markets have to be redesigned to recognise the unique charac-
teristics of storage as technically neither generation nor load
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
Figure 5: Energy storage deployment levels & BTM storage expansion figures.
“Customers want choice and they want independence. The world is moving towards
a decentralized system, where customers want to generate their own electricity and
want to have control over their electricity costs. This is becoming a main driver for
behind the meter installations. But it all depends on the market, and the ability
to monetize assets by providing services to the grid."
MOE HAJABED, NRSTOR
Despite the acceleration of BTM storage deployment, many regulations do not currently allow these
assets to, for example, receive payment for deferral services, to provide grid services through bilateral
contracts in non-liberalized markets or to bid into wholesale markets in liberalized markets.
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Additional focus should therefore be given to reducing barriers by focusing on non-discrimination, com-
petitive procurement and fair rules in relation to network access and charging.
Nonetheless, battery technology, particularly in the form of lithium-ion, is getting the most attention and
has progressed the furthest. Lithium-ion technologies accounted for more than 95% of new energy-stor-
age deployments in 20154. Following substantial investments from the consumer electronics and auto-
motive sectors, the average price of a lithium-ion battery pack dropped by 85% between 2010 and 20185.
4
BNEF, 2019
5
BNEF, 2019
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
100
80
60
40
20
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
As storage requirements move beyond the five to six hour threshold, technologies with low duty-cycle
degradation at full depth of discharge, low material costs, and long lifetimes will be required to provide
those lower costs than what most analysts believe Li-ion can achieve.
“There are a lot of people that think that 24/7 storage solutions technology
is right around the corner but that’s not true, it has a long way to go."
LUIS MEEHRSON, SIEMENS CHILE
However, the direction of recent investments, with the exception of a few flagship investments (e.g.
Energy Vault, HighView Power, Gravitricity, etc.) indicate that the industry’s agenda is still focused on
battery technology. Venture capital investments in energy storage technology companies exceeded
$1.9 billion in Q3 of 2019 alone and have continued to increase6. This money flows increasingly from
acquisitions as well as non-traditional sources, including venture capital funds targeting risky and ear-
ly-stage technologies (e.g., Breakthrough Energy Ventures), consortia of utilities targeting later-stage
6
I3 insights, December 2019
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
commercialization (e.g., Energy Impact Partners), and a growing number of incubators and accelera-
tors7. Overall, less than 10% of the $1.9 billion was channelled towards non lithium-ion technologies.
“Lithium-ion batteries have been around us for a long-time but happen to have
been scaled up to the industrial level. It became an obvious area of interest and
investment. Investors and policy makers are less comfortable and aware around other
technologies. This is also related to risk appetite and finance and the fact that REN
have been given extraordinary returns that are relatively risk free. In turn, there
seems to be a lock in effect related to lithium ion-batteries."
HASSEN BALI, ION VENTURES
The deployment and system integration of energy storage technologies depends to a large extent on
the strength of R&D efforts.
“We still don't know that much about a lot of storage technologies and this should
be approached as a research development and demonstration activity. This means it
should be government-driven. Politicians want to see things happen in a time frame
that is relevant for their time in elected office and that can create a bias toward
doing something quickly. But I think energy storage is an area
where we should have a long-term horizon in mind."
ANDREW CAMPBELL, ENERGY INSTITUTE AT HAAS, UC BERKELEY
In addition to supporting technical innovation, there is a priority for demonstrating the practicability
and commercial viability of storage projects in a range of applications. Demonstration projects are an
opportunity to gather valuable knowledge about the market applications and commercial arrangements
for energy storage systems.
“There are a lot of people crying for innovations in the energy system. But when you
come up with something, the first question is whether this has been running for at
least 10 years? This makes it challenging to then develop anything at large scale."
7
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“Most utilities or transmission operators have never seen a battery contract, they
have no idea how to create one. All these things
are really being created in the industry as we speak."
SUDIPTA LAHIRI, DNV GL
For non-utility-owned projects, the focus was on dependable offtake revenue contract to provide a
steady stream of project cash flow. Offtake revenue contracts for front-of-meter battery storage
projects usually take one of three forms: the energy storage tolling agreement, the capacity sales
agreement or the hybrid power purchase agreement (PPA). The energy storage tolling agreement and
capacity sales agreement are similarly structured and typically govern the sales of products and services
from a stand-alone storage project. In contrast, the hybrid PPA applies to a renewables or conventional
energy generation project (e.g. solar, wind, gas or other project) integrated (and typically co-located)
with a storage project.
“Compared to financing a solar project, the financing structures that would stand
behind large scale storage are still somewhat unclear and immature. You think about
the massive deployment of solar that has allowed it to get some of those very, very
low levelized numbers, part of it is the cost reduction of the technology itself. But
really, a lot of it is financial innovation and engineering around how these projects get
financed, how they get operated, and how those costs are spread out over a very, very
long-time horizon. Storage, I think, is still in that transition period."
MATT HARPER, AVALON BATTERY
Offtake revenue contracts for behind-the-meter battery storage projects include transactions for
the sale of products and services provided by a battery system to a utility (utility services agreements,
including demand response contracts), transactions for products and services provided by a battery
system to a commercial or industrial (C&I) host customer on whose site the battery is installed, as well as
transactions combining both features.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
FUTURE OUTLOOK
The need of energy storage in the energy system is well recognized. Energy storage provides benefits
through flexibility and through the possibility of better linking of various energy and economic sectors. The
interviews conducted as part of this brief signal that the applications and technologies which will dominate
the market will depend on two things:
1) Whether the energy sector decides to push forward a wide range of technologies or contin-
ues to limit energy storage to battery storage
2) Energy storage is integrated as part of long-term energy policies and enabling regulatory
frameworks, market incentives and support of demonstrations are provided
Energy storage is unique in the sense that it can truly provide benefits to all actors of the value chain,
whether energy producers, distributors, system operators or consumers. Taking a whole-system view
is therefore the only way to avoid falling into narrow definitions of the topic which may restrict the
development of innovative technologies and applications. Education and dialogue between all stakeholders
is therefore key.
Today's energy storage applications SECTOR FOCUSED BATTERY Batteries increase in performance and
mature, focusing on short-duration ENERGY STORAGE INTEGRATION reliance on rare materials drops. They
services. Investments continued to are well integrated to different sectors,
be led by the automotive sector, especially transport and buildings.
focusing on batteries. The energy Behind-the-meter energy storage
sector is a technology adopter rather dominates with a growing number of
than developer. Storage systems are prosumers. Clean seasonal storage
poorly integrated between various BIAS TOWARDS BATTERY and long-duration storage remain very
application sectors (transportation, expensive and needs continue to be met
STORAGE PERSISTS
buildings, energy networks) by fossil fuel based plants.
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ANNEX 1 |
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
Located at a mine near Adelaide, the facility will • Status: Under construction Scale: 5 MW,
repurpose underground infrastructure as the 10MWh
A-CAES system’s air storage cavern. The 5 MW • Technology: Purpose-built air storage cavern
facility will be dispatched into the National Elec- • Cost of the project: AUS $33 million
tricity Market to provide synchronous inertia, • Financing: The project has been awarded a
load shifting, frequency regulation, and support combined total of $9 million of grant fund-
grid security and reliability. ing from the Australian Renewable Energy
Agency (ARENA) and the Government of
A-CAES technology uses electricity from the South Australia Renewable Technology Fund.
grid to run a compressor, producing heated
compressed air. During charging, compressed air
displaces water out of the cavern up a water col-
Conditions for replicability
umn to a surface reservoir, and during discharge • Ability to draw from different revenue streams
water flows back into the cavern forcing air to • Willingness of local stakeholders to invest in
the surface under pressure where it is re-heated demonstration projects
using the stored heat and then expanded through • Not geographically constrained, deployable at
a turbine to generate electricity on demand. both greenfield and brownfield sites
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
Peak shaving / Energy arbitrage Ancillary services Heat storage & sales
Reserve capacity (reg down)
SGRE started working on the R&D associated Technology: Electric Thermal Energy Storage
with this project in 2011, foreseeing a need for (ETES)
long-duration and large-scale energy storage
technologies. In 2014, its test site and proof Demonstrator (2019):
of concept for high-temperature storage of • Status: Operational
700kW power and 5MWh storage capacity was • Charge/Discharge Power: 5.4/1.2 MW
inaugurated. As a consortium with the local util- • Storage capacity: 130MWh
ity, Hamburg Energie, the Technical University • Cost: 27 USD MM
of Hamburg, the ETES demonstrator plant was • Financing: public financing
developed. This project is funded by the Ger- (6th German Energy Research Program)
man Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Pilot Project (2020+):
Energy. The site has 5.4MW of charging and • Charge/Discharge Power: 85/30MW
1.2MW of discharging power and 24h storage • Storage capacity: 1GWh
capacity. With a resistive heater, air is heated to
more than 600°C and stored in 1000t of vol- Commercial Platform (2025+):
canic rocks, after which 480°C/65bar steam is • Charge/Discharge Power: >100MW
generated, and electricity generated in a steam • Storage capacity: >1GWh
turbine. • Efficiency: 45%
• Capacity-specific total cost (~90-100 EUR/
kWh (greenfield))
Value creation & Cost Effectiveness
Replicability & Market Design
• Stated 80% of off-the-shelf technology, low
cost level of 90-100 EUR/kWh • Currently, many electricity markets have rec-
• In the large-scale (>100MW) and long-du- ognition criterion for the capacity product of
ration (up to days), ETES could become the 4 to 6 hours. Leveraging ETES’ long-duration
more efficient and cost-effective technology feature & resulting economies of scale hinges
versus competing storage technologies on a capacity market design change, or BESS
• With the brownfield approach of retrofitting might outperform
old steam power plants into ETES facilities • In the absence of competitive wholesale
(‘ETES:Switch’), whereby steam cycle and electricity markets, ETES could become highly
operational process remain in place, capaci- replicable in off-grid, isolated applications to
ty-specific total cost could be reduced to 40 allow full decarbonization
EUR/kWh
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The energy storage systems will be supported by two remote operations centers that use proprietary
artificial intelligence-based peak prediction and value stack optimization algorithms. These centers will
automatically start the battery systems to maximize savings for commercial and industrial customers.
Honeywell's advanced control technologies will enable precise battery dispatch along with network secu-
rity and cybersecurity protection.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
• Status: Complete
Energy Storage Applications • Scale: 20 households
• Technology: Networked Lithium-ion battery
Load- Customer • Cost of the project: €1.12m
levelling price-reduction • Financing: This pilot project is a joint venture by
consortium formed by the different stakeholder
StoreNet is a joint research project by a consor- This has load levelling applications for the network
tium of Irish energy stakeholders: The Interna- operators. enables consumers with renewable
tional Energy Research Center (IERC), Electric energy production means to become prosumers.
Ireland, ESB Networks and Solo Energy.
Stakeholders used this project as a platform to ex-
This pilot project provides local network servic- plore and plan around innovative business models.
es, including localised network voltage support, The Consortium benefited from learning how to
ability of battery storage to offer ESB Networks design virtual powerplant architecture (function-
non-wires solutions to operating the network ality, ICT communication requirements) capability
and reducing consumption at peak times to for battery advanced control function support.
offset new capacity requirements. These are de-
livered via FlexiGrid VPP platform and the ESB Value creation & Cost effectiveness
Networks’ SERVO platform. When aggregated,
the systems acts as a Virtual Power Plant. One of the objectives of this pilot project is to
determine the economic viability for stakehold-
Conditions for replicability ers and consumers. Currently, the upfront cost
of battery installation is paid by stakeholders.
• Control and communication of virtual network Consumers benefit from lower price of energy
• Public acceptance of new technology by charging batteries when the prices of electric-
• Integration to grid poses a challenge as the ity is low or with on-site renewable production
lithium-ion batteries and using that stored energy when demand peaks
• Stakeholder cooperation and the price is high.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
This hybrid project helps to respond to the The Kennedy Energy Park has a 10- year
challenge of integrating intermittent renewable offtake agreement with CS Energy for the
energies to the market and to reduce the mar- supply of renewable electricity and large-
ginal loss factor in transmission. scale generation certificates. The offtake
agreement does not take 100 percent of
The hybridisation aspect of the plant is ensured the output from the project; that is, some
by Vestas’ proprietary Active Output Manage- merchant risk was retained. Although the
ment 4000 (AOM 4000) service for 15-years. power cannot quite be considered “dispatch-
able” (available on demand), the relatively
Value creation & Cost effectiveness flat block of power was a good selling point
in negotiating the offtake agreement.
To maximise cost effectiveness, the plant has
to produce when the cost of energy is high on
the market. This project has the objective to add Conditions for replicability
renewable energy to the grid at a low marginal • Technology is mature and scalable
cost, driving prices down. Vestas also provides • Must have access to sufficient renewable
ongoing support through backend engineering energy sources and efficient system control
and the use of their control system for the entire • Must have effective market signal mechanisms
hybrid power plant. for optimised cost effectiveness
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) awarded a build-own-operate (BOO) contract for the
700MW Noor Energy 1 CSP plant to a consortium led by ACWA Power in September 2017.
The contract has a 35-year power purchase agreement, under which DEWA will off-take electricity from
the independent power producer (IPP) project at US $0.073 per KWh, known as the lowest 24 hours
energy from CSP with energy thermal storage tariff, competitive with fossil fuel-based power generation.
DEWA and ACWA Power signed an amendment to increase the plant’s generating capacity to 950MW by
adding a 250MW PV facility, in October 2018.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
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The plant has a capacity of 300 MW and will work • Status: Securing funding
in conjunction with Cielos de Tarapacá, a 600 MW • Scale: Large-scale
photovoltaic power plant. • Technology: x3 100MW reversible turbines
• Cost of the project: US$543 million
The target for the two plants is 1,500GWh-a-year. • Financing: US$60 million awarded by the
This system allows response to demand during the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The project
night with stored renewable energy from the day. sponsors expect it to hit financial close in
Water is pumped from the Pacific Ocean into the 2020, followed by the start of construction
reservoirs with surplus energy from the Cielos de in the same year. Commercial operation is
Tarapacá PV plant, and released during periods of slated to come in 2025.
demand. Allows for storage and 24/7 distribution
of renewable energies, taking advantage of the The scheme – which represents 35 million
high solar radiation in Chile. tonnes in CO2 savings – comes to fill a
support gap for Chilean energy storage,
This system is projected to optimise the transmis- according to its promoters.
sion grid and store renewables cheaply, despite
heavy initial investment.
Conditions for replicability
Value creation & Cost effectiveness • Combined with the PV powerplant, Cielos
Offers 24/7 PPA renewable to private client in de Tarapacá, the installation relies heavily
the power generation market segment (regulated on local geographical characteristics (cliffs,
distribution model). Regulation is changing to adapt ocean, high solar radiation).
transmission networks to the new asset type repre- • Considerable initial investment to build
sented by the plant. infrastructure and subsequent debt.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
ANNEX 2 |
State of Storage
Technologies
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
This chapter builds on the insights from interviews and provides a broader overview of the state of energy
storage technologies.
Energy storage technologies are commonly classified according to storage principle, or family. There
are five energy storage families. The members of a family may change in accordance with technological
evolutions, but the five categories reflect the five storage principles. Therefore, the examples in each
category should not be seen as an exhaustive list of potential family members.
Source: EASE
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
Supercapacitors
Supercapacitors are also known as ultra-capacitors or electrochemical double-layer capacitors. Conven-
tional capacitors consist of two conducting carbon-based electrodes separated by an insulating dielectric
material. When a voltage is applied to a capacitor, opposite charges accumulate on the surfaces of each
electrode. The charges are kept separate by the dielectric, thus producing an electric field that allows the
capacitor to store energy. Supercapacitors utilize an electrochemical double-layer of charge to store en-
ergy. As voltage is applied, charge accumulates on the electrode surfaces. Ions in the electrolyte solution
diffuse across the separator into the pores of the electrode of opposite charge. However, the electrodes
are engineered to prevent the recombination of the ions. Thus, a double-layer of charge is produced at
each electrode.
Supercapacitors are high-power, low-energy devices that can react very quickly. Due to the absence of
a chemical reaction (unlike batteries), they can withstand a very high number of cycles (up to 100,000).
They are highly efficient (from 80% to 95%), but, because the voltage varies linearly with the charge con-
tained in the system, they require power electronics to ensure steady output.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• High efficiency • Low energy
• High cycle-fatigue life • Require power conditioning to deliver steady
• Scalable/ flexible state output power
• High power • Expensive per unit of energy capacity
Device upgradation: Device innovations for next generation supercapacitors are being emphasized in
research phase. These include AC-line filtering supercapacitors, redox electrolyte enhanced supercapaci-
tors, piezoelectric and electrochromic supercapacitors.
As well as the coil and the refrigeration system, SMES require power electronics such as Alternating Cur-
rent/Direct Current (AC/DC) converters to control the flow of the current into and out of the coil that
charges and discharges the SMES. They also need a physical structure to mechanically support the coil,
which is subjected to magnetic forces during operations, providing protection and additional equipment
for system control.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
SMES react almost instantaneously and have a very high cycling life. They require limited maintenance
and can achieve high efficiencies, with only between 2% and 3% losses resulting from AC/DC converters.
However, due to the high energy requirements of refrigeration, the complexity of the system and the
high cost of superconductors, SMES are currently at an early demonstration phase and are only suitable
for short-term storage.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• High Power Density • High cost of energy
• Quick response and charging time • Complexity of the system
• High efficiency and low maintenance • Need to be kept at cryogenic temperatures
Superconducting coils: Different coils are being designed and tested to increase the maximum stored
energy in the coil. High temperature superconductors are also being investigated. The These would be a
key component to a cost-effective grid-scale SMES system that would offer megawatt hours of stored
energy and thereby support a growing infrastructure for renewable energy.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
Compared to lithium-ion batteries, sodium sulfur batteries typically have a much longer useful life. 15 years
or 4500 cycles is typical. Their efficiency is around 85% and they have a response time of 1 millisecond.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• High energy density • Need of thermal management
• High charging and discharging efficiency • Thermal self-discharge limits parking time
• Long cycle life • Safety concerns due to reaction of sodium with
sulfur
Development of next generation sodium sulfur batteries: Ongoing research is focusing on improving
the performance of the batteries in terms of capacity retention and battery life. In addition, chemistry of
electrodes, electrolytes, separators and cell configuration are being researched further to make NaS an
integral part of smart grid solutions.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
The use of lithium ion batteries has grown significantly in recent years. They offer some distinct advantages
and improvements over other forms of battery technology. Lithium ion technologies have benefitted from
significant investment in recent years due to their versatility that enables them to be deployed in a wide
variety of applications, many of which show important synergies in terms of technology development.
Global manufacturing for Li-ion cells has ramped up considerably, and plans to further expand capacities
continue. With the dominance of Li-ion batteries in the EV market and the synergies in the development
of Li- ion batteries for EVs and stationary applications, the scale of deployment that Li-ion batteries are
likely to experience, will be orders of magnitude higher than for other battery technologies. Although the
bulk of the capacity has been announced in Asian facilities, a consortium of several German companies
recently announced the creation of a 35 GWh per year Li-ion cell production plant in Germany.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Very high energy density • Highly reactive and flammable
• Low maintenance • Requires recycling programs and safety
• No requirement for priming measure
• Relatively low self-discharge • Natural Degradation
• High rated voltage • Suffers from aging effect
High voltage electrolytes: By allowing charging voltages of up to 5 volts (given current systems often
capped at 4.4 volts in order to limit electrolyte oxidation and protect cell lifetime), the energy density of
Li-ion batteries can be significantly increased, with new electrolytes showing promising stability.
Operational temperature is usually between 20°C and 40°C, but higher temperatures are possible, pro-
vided plate coolers are used to avoid over-heating the plates. Flow batteries are usually between 65% and
80% efficient, allow approximately 10,000 to 20,000 cycles, and have a short response time. Vanadium
Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) is the only redox flow battery that has been used in large scale applications
around the world, e.g. Australia, Europe, Japan and United States for extended periods of time.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Independent energy and power sizing • More complex than conventional batteries
• Scalable for large applications • Early stage of development
• Longer lifetime in deep discharge • High cost of vanadium and current membrane
• Long cycle life (10,000+ full cycles) designs
Improved membranes: Although exact membrane characteristics may differ depending on specific flow
chemistry, improved membranes are being innovated as they can unlock widespread use of redox flow
battery. The better membranes have the potential to offer low area resistivity, longer lifetimes, chemical
resistance to electrolyte pH, etc.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
Hydrogen
Hydrogen energy storage technologies are based on the chemical conversion of electricity into hydro-
gen. Electrolysis is used to split water (H2O) into its constituent elements, Hydrogen (H2) and Oxygen
(O2). Due to its low atomic mass, it has an unrivalled specific energy. The electrolysis process can be
reversed (i.e. hydrogen and oxygen generate electricity and water) to feed electricity back into the grid,
using a fuel cell. Otherwise, hydrogen can be passed through heat engines in a similar way to natural
gas, to produce electricity. Hydrogen can be stored in three main ways, each with different implications
for the energy capacity of the system and its layout: as a gas in very large underground caverns within
geological formations or in high-pressure tanks; as a liquid in cryogenic tanks; or as solid or liquid hydrides
(e.g. ammonia, magnesium).
Hydrogen-storage technologies can capitalize on the experience of the chemicals and petrochemicals in-
dustries, which have long used hydrogen as a feedstock. These technologies have minimal environmental
impacts and are highly reliable and responsive. However, some losses are unavoidable during the conver-
sion and reconversion process, and investments in conversion facilities are required.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Scalable from distributed to long-term, large • Low round trip efficiency
scale storage • High capital cost
• Low detrimental effect on environment • Safety concerns
• Low energy density at ambient conditions
Transportation and Storage of Hydrogen: One of the innovative solutions being looked at to transport
hydrogen is use of unique liquid carriers to charge and release hydrogen. These carriers have six to eight
times higher storage capacity than high pressure transportation and are considerably less expensive.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
Greater than 95% of global energy storage is met by PHS and for years, it has offered a cost-effective
way to provide large-scale storage solution and supporting grid balancing services. To achieve greater
efficiency, flexibility and faster response times, PHS developers are now using variable speed pump tur-
bines that facilitate better tuning of grid frequency thus contributing to grid stability.
80%8 of the existing over 180 GW of pumped storage capacity is located in Europe, China, Japan and
the United States. IHA estimates the total energy stored within the world’s PHS projects to be up to
9,000 GWh. In comparison, the total energy stored within utility scale batteries is estimated at just 7
GWh.
While new storage technologies are gaining worldwide attention, PHS is expected to grow to 78 GW of
additional capacity to be commissioned by 20309, with the highest growth in PHS installations over the
next five years expected to be in China.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Established technology deployed at scale • Environmental concerns due to relatively low
• Long project life-time of 60 years that can be energy density
extended up to 100 years • High initial investment costs result in longer
• Rapid ramping potential return on investment
• Very low self-discharge • Depends on availability of water and geograph-
ically suitable sites
TECHNOLOGICAL & OPERATIONAL INNOVATIONS
Pumping water into rock fissures: PHS developers are increasingly looking at using bi-directional injector
generator to pump water into rock fissures at high pressures, enabling operation with increased mechani-
cal efficiency and storage of energy in flatter areas where conventional PSH may not be possible
Coupling PHS with other storage technologies as future avenue of potential growth: As part of upgrad-
ing existing PHS facilities, players are looking at coupling storage solutions such as Li-ion batteries to
utilise their short reaction time. This would help in further integration of VRE.
7
IEA, March 2019: https://www.iea.org/newsroom/news/2019/march/will-pumped-storage-hydropower-capacity-ex-
pand-more-quickly-than-stationary-b.html
8
IHA, 2018.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
In adiabatic CAES systems, heat during compression cycle is stored which is later used to heat the
released air through heat exchangers in the expansion cycle. This is an advanced concept in comparison
to diabatic systems which often use natural gas as a combustion fuel in turbine chambers to heat the
released air during expansion phase (to improve turbine efficiency). As a result, the advanced adiabatic
CAES systems address the environmental concerns of CO2 emissions in diabatic CAES systems. Similarly,
isothermal CAES storage process involves maintaining a near constant temperature, allowing the air to
be compressed to relatively higher pressures. This eliminates the need for natural gas combustion and the
expansion can deliver energy on its own.
The market for CAES systems had remained underdeveloped for several reasons, such as lack of in-
vestment given the cost uncertainty and lack of scalable projects. Diabatic CAES systems are the only
commercialised systems as of 2019. However, increasing number of demonstration projects coupled with
technological developments in the CAES systems, are likely to drive the market for CAES storage. North
America is the largest market followed by Europe, with several new CAES projects to be commissioned
between 2020 – 2024.
“The advantage of CAES is we can either build the underground cavern or leverage
existing infrastructure. CAES projects are sizeable. We can go really where the
grid needs that capacity. CAES uses less water in comparison to other mechanical
storages like hydro. Overall we use about 95% less water during operation."
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Large energy and power capacity • Constraints on availability of suitable storage
• Durable and highly sustainable allowing for caverns
limitless cycles of charging and discharging • Existing designs rely on gas burners
• No degradation of capacity over time • Traditional systems are inefficient because of
• Competitive and more cost effective inherent heat losses
Storage of heat generated during compression: Companies are looking at storing the heat generat-
ed during compression in mediums such as insulated hot water tanks and crushed rocks, which is then
re-injected to the system for expansion, thus improving system’s efficiency to 60-70% and reducing
costs. Other thermal management and storage systems that can be scaled-up are also being extensively
researched.
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Two types of flywheels are available depending on the speed of rotation. The conventional low speed
flywheels (<10,000 rpm) are usually made of heavier metallic material, generally steel and the high speed
flywheels (10,000-100,000 rpm) are made of advanced composite materials. The main components of
the flywheel system include stator, bearings, power convertor, a spinning rotor connected to motor-gen-
erator and an enclosure. The system requires limited maintenance and has a longer lifespan than batteries
(up to 20,000 cycles). Given the fast response times of flywheel systems, they are generally used for
short- term storage among other applications.
“Flywheel is a very reliable system that doesn't look-insensitive for temperatures at all, or
at least not as batteries. That makes it even more robust for high temperatures. It is really
a well-established and mature technology. The big advantage to the other technologies is
bi- directionality, the capability of taking energy if required and giving energy at the same
speed at the ambient temperature. It has robust lifetime and can last 20 years or longer
and we have them running for a long time."
FRANK HERBENER, PRODUCT MANAGER, PILLER
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• High power density (swift charging and • Low energy density with high rate of self-dis-
discharging) charging over time
• High performance in terms of cycle efficiency • Difficult/expensive replacement of bearings as
• Low environmental impact cost of materials production is high
• Low cost maintenance • Prone to external shocks and high-energy
• Long cycle life without degradation failures
Reducing the rate of self-discharge: Researchers are looking at improving the existing systems by keep-
ing cylinders in the air using nanomagnets that would involve highly precise control. Advanced control
systems are being developed to ensure reliability and safety.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
Direct storage uses salt that is kept in liquid form in an insulated cold tank. It is pumped through pipes
to a receiver tower where it gets superheated through sunlight reflected by the CSP panels and is then
sent to a hot, insulated storage tank. The hot salt is then pumped through a super-heater, and then
goes through a conventional steam generator driven by steam that drives turbines, thus generating
electricity. The salt is then returned to the cold storage tank and the process restarts. In contrast,
indirect-storage designs use one material as the heat transfer fluid (HTF) and a second (molten salt) for
thermal storage.
Molten salt is capable of storing energy for up to 20 hours, thus working 24 hours a day for several
days in the absence of sun or during rainy days. It could play an important role in countries with high
direct normal irradiance, such as the MENA region.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Exceptional heat transfer capability • Molten salts can be corrosive
• Commercial and low cost • Must not be allowed to freeze
• Integration with CSP lowers Levelised Cost of • Limited to CSP technology for power
Electricity (LCoE) applications
Combination of both solar receiver and storage in the same unit: Normally tanks are far from the solar
receiver. Researchers have developed a methodology to place both the receiver and storage on the
ground, under a beam-down optical reflecting system.
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
ANNEX 3 |
Energy Storage
Applications
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
Power Quality Use energy storage to provide a high level of power quality above and beyond
what the system offers (e.g. critical load) to some customers.
Energy The purchase of wholesale electricity while the locational marginal price
Arbitrage (LMP) of energy is low (typically during nighttime hours) and sale of electrici-
ty back to the wholesale market when LMPs are highest.
RES Use of storage to mitigate rapid output changes from renewable generation
integration due to: a) wind speed variability affecting wind generation and b) shading of
solar generation due to clouds. It is important because these rapid output
changes must be offset by other “dispatchable” generation.
Emergency In the event of grid failure, energy storage paired with a local generator can
back-up provide backup power at multiple scales, ranging from second-to-second
power quality maintenance for industrial operations to daily backup for resi-
dential customers.
Peak shaving Refers to leveling out peaks in electricity use by industrial and commercial
power consumers.
Time shifting Energy time shift involves storing energy during low price times, and dis-
charging during high price times.
Load leveling Load leveling usually involves storing power during periods of light loading on
the system and delivering it during periods of high demand.
Black start Black start is the use of energy storage to restore the system or a power plant
or a substation after a black-out, as some electricity is needed which cannot
be drawn from the grid.
Seasonal storage Seasonal energy storage is the storage of energy for periods of up to several
months.
Spinning reserve Generation capacity that is online but unloaded and that can respond within
10 minutes to compensate for generation or transmission outages. ‘Frequen-
cy-responsive’ spinning reserve responds within 10 seconds to maintain system
frequency. Spinning reserves are the first type used when a shortfall occurs.
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Network Use of modular storage to: a) defer the need to replace or to upgrade existing
expansion T&D equipment or b) to increase the equipment’s existing service life (life
extension). Storage for T&D equipment life extension is especially compel-
ling for the aging fleet of underground circuits which are quite expensive to
replace or to upgrade.
Network Energy storage used for network stabilisation improves T&D system perfor-
stabilisation mance by compensating for electrical anomalies and disturbances such as
voltage sag, unstable voltage, and sub-synchronous resonance.
Voltage Voltage regulation ensures reliable and continuous electricity flow across
regulation the power grid. Voltage on the transmission and distribution system must be
maintained within an acceptable range to ensure that both real and reactive
power production are matched with demand.
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
ANNEX 4 |
Acronym Reference
Sheet
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
INTERVIEWEE CREDITS
(by alphabetical order based on organisation)
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WORLD ENERGY COUNCIL | 2020
PROJECT TEAM
Pauline Blanc, Marzia Zafar, Jean Levy, Prachi Gupta
Future Energy Leaders: Reem Irany (LCEC), Roland Doorduyn (Siemens), Meriem Bellizim (ACWA Power), Miralda
van Schot (New Energy Coalition), Francisco Imperatore (Pan American Energy), Piyush Verma (IERC), Vanessa
Grunwald (EDP Brazil); Mariel Juarez Olvera (IDB)
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Dr. Angela Wilkinson (Secretary General), Martin Young (Senior Director, Insights), Gina Domanig (Innovation
Executive Co-chair), Richard Lancaster (Innovation Executive Co-chair); Steve Berberich (California ISO)
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FIVE STEP S TO ENERGY STOR AGE | INNOVATION INSIGHTS BRIEF
TRUSTEES
JEAN-MARIE DAUGER
Chair ALEXANDRE PERRA
Vice Chair – Europe
KLAUS-DIETER BARBKNECHT
Chair: Finance ELHAM MAHMOUD IBRAHIM
Vice Chair – Africa
LEONHARD BIRNBAUM
Chair-Elect: Studies Committee
SHIGERU MURAKI
OLEG BUDARGIN Vice Chair – Asia Pacific/South Asia
Vice Chair – 25th World Energy
Congress IBRAHIM AL-MUHANNA
Vice Chair – Gulf States/Middle East
JOSE DA COSTA CARVALHO NETO
Chair – Programme Committee
JOSÉ ANTONIO VARGAS LLERAS
Chair – Communications & Strategy Committee
CLAUDIA CRONENBOLD
Vice Chair – Latin America & Caribbean
ANGELA WILKINSON
MICHAEL HOWARD Secretary General
Vice Chair – Responsibility for Innovation
ENGIE Siemens AG
Hydro-Québec
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