ABI Research: Utility-scale energy storage
to reach nearly 150 GW by 2015
More than 128,000 megawatts of energy storage are currently
attached to the power grid worldwide, and more will be needed
if renewable energy sources are to be integrated into the
modern electrical grid, according to ABI Research.
Renewable energy sources typically are intermittent by
their very nature; solar power facilities don't generate
electricity at night, and wind farms can't produce when
the wind doesn't blow. The electrical grid needs reliable
power generating resources that are steady and predictable,
to best service anticipated electrical demand. That's where
storage comes in; energy generated from renewable sources
can be stored during peak generation times, and fed into
the grid when it's dark or the wind stops.
A new ABI Research market study, "Renewable Energy
Storage," forecasts that utility-scale energy storage
worldwide will increase to nearly 150 GW (150,000 MW) by
2015, growing at a CAGR of 2.6% through the 2010-2015 forecast
period.
Says research director Larry Fisher, "Over the next
five years, multiple government-funded demonstration projects
worldwide will help advance a number of energy storage technologies
by validating their ability to optimize power. These include
lithium-ion batteries, molten salt thermal energy storage,
and lead-carbon batteries. Further, as energy storage costs
decline with increasing production of these technologies,
particularly with batteries, costs will be more in line
with current sources of energy production, which will boost
their acceptance by the utility community."
Fisher adds, "Over the coming decade, as countries
across the globe strive to meet their renewable energy targets,
they will come to understand the need for energy-oriented
storage. However, while such storage will serve to keep
power costs low in the long run, each such implementation
requires hundreds of millions of dollars to install and
test, which will create a near-term rise in end-user electrical
rates."
Renewable Energy Storage examines a number of novel energy
storage technologies that will aid utilities in the coming
years, including compressed air energy storage (CAES), pumped
hydroelectric storage, molten salt thermal energy storage,
supercapacitors, and sodium-sulfur batteries.
Well the renewble energy is not just solar semiconductors,
it's lot more.
