The electricity grid is undergoing its first evolution since the invention of the power transmission system, and energy storage devices, particularly mechanical energy storage devices, will play a solid role in this evolution. Decarbonization, renewable energies, and energy storage devices are all factors involved in the current evolution of the electricity grid. In the last decades the integration of renewable energies, pushed by the necessity to decarbonize the electricity sector, led energy storage devices to become increasingly important to stabilize the electricity grid. The increased adoption of variable renewable energy led the electricity grid operator to adopt energy storage systems to smoothen the variability of renewable sources.
Li-ion batteries, currently dominating the storage sectors in all of its aspects. From portable electronics to MW scale storage systems, Li-ion batteries will struggle in the future to address the MW scale power and daily storage duration, when Mechanical Energy Storage systems will enter the market. In the brand-new report " Potential Stationary Energy Storage Technologies to Monitor ," IDTechEx has investigated these emerging technologies. With a simple working mechanism, Mechanical Energy Storage systems are addressing the bigger spectrum of the energy storage devices: large power output, and long storage time. This new class of storage systems includes older and newer technologies.
It includes elderly technologies like compressed air energy storage, already installed in the 1980s, and some of the younger gravitational energy storage, like in the case of Highview Energy, and Energy Vault recently backed with millions of dollars. These interesting devices are now entering the electricity market with demonstration projects, to prove the technical concept. The constant integration of variable energy sources will require additional storage devices to stabilize the electricity grid, where the Mechanical Energy Storage device could play a fundamental role. Electricity is an essential element of modern society, and reaching a stable electricity grid is a fundamental target to improve the economy of each and every country.
The adoption of these innovative devices will surge in the next future, allowing an improvement of the electricity grid, and boosting the integration of variable energy source. The author of this article, Daniele Gatti, is presenting a webinar on this topic - Innovative Energy Storage Technologies for the Future Electricity Grid - on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. Click here to find out more and register your place on one of our three sessions.
