Massive Investments in Energy Storage Could Be the Beginning of the End for Fossil Fuel Dependency

Please welcome back Jane Marsh, a repeat contributor here at 21st Century Tech Blog. Jane is an environmental journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of Environment.co. Her interests focus on environmental issues, sustainability and renewable energy. She has written for Renewable Energy Magazine, Manufacturing.net, and Nation of Change. This is her fifth contribution to this blog site. As always your comments are welcomed.

The harmful effects the fossil fuel industry has had on the environment can no longer hide in the shadows. Despite calls from climate change advocates to reduce carbon emissions and transition to renewables, the energy industry dependent on fossil fuels continues to delay action on combatting climate change.

The widespread adoption of energy storage technologies, however, could end the reign of fossil fuels. How would this be possible?

Today, there are emerging options to make the transition to renewables possible and it is energy storage that makes this feasible.

Energy Storage is Essential in Transitioning to Renewables

In order for decarbonized energy systems to be effective, long-duration energy storage technologies need to be in place. Variable renewable energy can be a boon for clean energy companies, but only if there is backup baseload energy available when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. 

According to McKinsey, the challenge of significant structural strains on today’s energy infrastructure can lead to energy instability, supply and demand imbalances and changes to transmission flow patterns. McKinsey, however, suggests that Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) makes stable energy delivery viable.

The newly founded LDES Council, a global nonprofit run by CEOs of some of the leading energy technology providers which include Electrified Thermal Solutions, Breeze, MGA Thermal and Quidnet Energy, is working to decarbonize the industry through the widespread adoption of LDES. In a recent report, the Council claims the role of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) can play a critical role in realizing a net-zero heat sector — an integral aspect of overall decarbonization.

What is TES? It is a range of technologies that capture excess thermal energy and store it on-site to be used to supplement other energy sources. It can dramatically decrease the need for energy coming from utilities and can be deployed individually in a building, or be distributed over multiple buildings, a district, or town.

New Energy Storage Facilities Emerging Worldwide

The power needed to light, heat and cool buildings account for 40% of the carbon footprint produced in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the time people spend indoors. It has caused stark increases in energy consumption in residential buildings. Combining retrofits to improve energy efficiency, plus capturing TES can reduce the carbon footprint of this built infrastructure.

So where are we seeing LDES and TES being applied? 

California

The state of California is home to three of the largest direct energy storage projects: Vistra Energy’s Moss Landing Power Plant, and Recurrent Energy’s Crimson Storage and Garland Storage Retrofit sites. These large-scale battery facilities are feasible solutions for dealing with the oversupply of energy when the sun is shining, and the undersupply when it sets.

The same is true for wind with California actively involved in eight wind-plus-storage projects that have been in development since 2018 and are capable of producing 5.1 GigaWatts of power to supplement variable wind energy conditions.

And wind energy continues to decline in cost with energy professionals forecasting prices to continue to decrease compared to fossil fuel-generated energy sources.

Germany

RWE is a power and utility generator with headquarters in Germany. It is building two co-located energy storage projects in North Rhine-Westphalia with a total capacity of 10.6 MegaWatts. The projects are expected to go online in 2023.

The first location is a solar PV and battery storage system being built directly under an existing operational wind farm. It will combine 19.4 MegaWatts of solar power with 6.5 to 13 MegaWatts of energy from storage.

The second location, called Jackerath, will offer 12.1 MegaWatts of solar power and between 4.1 and 8.1 MegaWatts of battery storage. Jackerath is being built near an open-cast lignite mine.

Lithuania

Lithuania is giving California a run for its money, as the country plans to build the world’s largest battery storage facility. The goal is to use LDES resources to assure energy independence from Russia by the end of 2023. The government is investing €100 million  ( U.S. $117.6 million) in the project which will include four 50 MegaWatt batteries with a minimum of 200 MegaWatt hours of storage capacity. This is part of a wholesale effort to move to renewable zero-emission energy.

Mass Energy Storage Could Lead to Faster Shifts

LDES is still, relatively, in its infancy with a range of technologies being used from battery to TES, to pumped storage options. There are uncertainties to overcome including establishing a favourable regulatory environment for rapid implementation. But there is no doubt that storage solutions are going to play a prominent role for the foreseeable future to help countries implement clean energy initiatives in the effort to combat climate change.