Utility-Scale Energy Storage Will Enable a Renewable Grid

Summary

Utility-Scale Energy Storage Will Enable a Renewable Grid A roadblock to sustainable energy solutions is coming unstuck By Andrea Thompson on July 1, 2019 Credit: Vanessa Branchi The Away D V E the R T I Sworld E M E N Tgets its electricity is undergoing a rapid transition, driven by both the increased urgency of decarbonizing energy systems and the plummeting costs of wind and solar technology. In the past decade electricity generated by renewables in the U.S. has doubled, primarily from wind and solar installations, according to the Energy Information Administration. In January 2019 the EIA forecast that wind, solar and other nonhydroelectric renewables would be the fastest-growing slice of the electricity portfolio for the next two years. But the intermittent nature of those sources means that electric utilities need a way to keep energy in their back pocket for when the sun is not shining and the winds are calm. That need is increasing interest in energy-storage technology—in particular, lithium-ion batteries, which are finally poised to be more than just a bit player in the grid. For decades pumped-storage hydropower, a simple process that features reservoirs at different elevations, has been the dominant large-scale energy-storage method in the

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