Wednesday, September 30, 2009
U.S. Research Agency Focuses on Energy Storage
Better batteries and other storage technology will be key to making renewable energy dominant.
By Kevin Bullis
As
prices for wind and solar power drop, some experts say that the biggest barrier
to making renewable energy dominant is the need for cheap and reliable storage.
A
new Department of Energy agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), seems to be
listening. It could soon start a new funding round devoted exclusively to
energy storage technologies, according to Imre Gyuk, a program manager for
energy storage research at the Department of Energy. As a first step, it has
also announced a workshop on grid scale energy storage to be held
in Seattle on October 4.
Solar
and wind technologies seem headed to the point where, in the next several
years, they will be able to generate electricity at costs comparable to those
of conventional sources.
But
there's a catch. Electricity from wind turbines and solar panels isn't worth as
much as electricity from coal or natural-gas-fired power plants or from nuclear
reactors because it's not always available. When clouds cover the sun, or the
wind stops blowing, utilities have to turn to conventional power plants to make
up the difference. And, of course, solar doesn't work at all at night.
As
the cost of solar comes down--and if researchers can develop cheaper
storage--one day it might be practical to build extra solar panels and store
the electricity they produce for use on cloudy days and at night. Then, because
there's more than enough sunlight for all our energy needs, solar could become
a primary source of electricity.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_energy_source
I appears that there is no need for additional infrastructure investments for 20% renewables penetration.
The fuzz with the intermittency is unfounded for now and probably will be for the next at least 20 years. But still Grid Energy Storage is very good for stabilizing the Grid even without Renewables - it reduces the "peak" in peak demand.
dmtk
10/01/2009
Posts:9
Kevin Bullis
10/01/2009
Posts:92
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_energy_source
Paragraph 4: "...significant upgrades may be required to accommodate large amounts of intermittent power."
Paragraph 6: "At present, the penetration of intermittent renewables in most power grids is low... The use of small amounts of intermittent power has little effect on grid operations. Using larger amounts of intermittent power may require upgrades or even a redesign of the grid infrastructure."
Having read the above statements one would write: "The fuzz with the intermittency is unfounded for now and probably will be for the next at least 20 years."???
JTN
10/02/2009
Posts:2
Converting CO2 into fuels could eventually eliminate the need for CO2 sequestration and reduce global CO2 emissions by 40%. Switching 70% of global transportation fuels from petroleum to WindFuels should be possible over the next 35 years. The scale-up challenges do not appear to be significantly greater from a technical perspective than similar fuel-synthesis challenges addressed successfully by Germany during WWII. (See the DotyEnergy website for more details.)
Seasonal storage of renewable energy – from spring to summer, and from fall to winter – is desired from both security and economic perspectives. Energy storage on such a scale is feasible only in the form of chemical bonds in stable liquids. The cost of the tanks for storing three months supply of U.S. transportation fuel usage in jet fuel, ethanol, and diesel would be under $50B – only $0.02/kWhr. The cost of storing that much energy in batteries, pumped-hydro, compressed air, flywheels, or ultra-capacitors would be several thousand times greater.
FDDoty
10/01/2009
Posts:1
What is efficiency for electricity-to-WindFuels-to-electricity?
JTN
10/02/2009
Posts:2
Please see: http://www.prweb.com/releases/gravity-power/electricity-storage/prweb2964714.htm
cgreeko
10/03/2009
Posts:1
http://www.solarnetwork.net/
jwgorman
10/04/2009
Posts:15