Energy storage technologies are not the ‘silver bullet’ they have sometimes been hyped as, but nonetheless have a crucial role to play in a decarbonized electricity system, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in a report published March 19.
The IEA has published a technology roadmap for energy storage, covering both electricity and thermal storage systems.
The document attempts to address the three questions of where energy storage technology is today, what long-term goals for energy storage development and deployment might be, and finally, what priority actions are required to put increased development and deployment of energy storage into practice.
Key recommendations made in the roadmap include the need for better data sets to quantify the need for storage and its potential uses. According to the IEA, improved global data sets would be useful in tracking progress within the industry and would provide better global and regional potential and targets. The roadmap also provides ‘technology timelines’ that forecast the expected levels of progress in the three scenarios modelled.
Key Findings:
• Energy storage technologies are valuable in most energy systems, with or without high levels of variable renewable generation. Today, some smaller-scale systems are cost competitive or nearly competitive in remote community and off-grid applications. Large-scale thermal storage technologies are competitive for meeting heating and cooling demand in many regions.
• Individual storage technologies often have the ability to supply multiple energy and power services. The optimal role for energy storage varies depending on the current energy system landscape and future developments particular to each region.
• To support electricity sector de-carbonization in the Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) 2014 2DS, an estimated 310 GW of additional grid-connected electricity storage capacity would be needed in the United States, Europe, China and India. Significant thermal energy storage and off-grid electricity storage potential also exists. Additional data are required to provide a more comprehensive assessment and should be prioritized at the national level.
• Market design is key to accelerating deployment. Current policy environments and market conditions often cloud the cost of energy services, creating significant price distortions and resulting in markets that are ill-equipped to compensate energy storage technologies for the suite of services that they can provide.
• Public investment in energy storage research and development has led to significant cost reductions. However, additional efforts (e.g., targeted research and development investments and demonstration projects) are needed to further decrease energy storage costs and accelerate development.
• Thermal energy storage systems appear well-positioned to reduce the amount of heat that is currently wasted in the energy system. This waste heat is an underutilized resource, in part because the quantity and quality of both heat resources and demand is not fully known.