Grid-Scale Energy Storage from Batteries – Soon To Be Economically Viable

A happy consequence of humankind’s progress in energy technology is that all the major components associated with the generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption of energy are improving simultaneously.  Here at 2GreenEnergy, we tend to talk mainly about generation, perhaps because it’s the sexiest of the four, but generation alone will only get us so far in terms of reducing the environmental damage associated with providing power to a civilization that is soon to exceed nine billion people.

Fortunately, at the same time we’re developing more and better ways of harnessing the energy from the sun and other renewable resources, we’re also figuring out how to consume less energy.  And, while energy efficiency and conservation are important here, so is the concept of energy storage.  A large percentage of our electricity grid exists only to deliver power during the 100 hours each year where demand is at its peak.  What if, instead of delivering that power with peaker plants, it could be done with batteries that had stored energy from times of low demand, or from the peak production of variable resources, e.g., wind?

As you’ll read in this article on grid-scale energy storage, this is quickly becoming a reality.