Energy storage systems

When we talk about energy storage, what usually comes to mind is battery system.  But there are various ways by which energy can be stored aside from battery:

1.  Heat storage via  salt, sand

2.  Storage via kinetic energy and gravity

3.  Hydraulic system as in Caliraya:     When there is excess power, a pump is driven bring water up to the lake dam, and when power is scarce, the water is released to generate power.   With all the power generated, how do you balance this vs. demand

Large scale NaS battery from NGK insulators

Savings from oil and coal importation

NaS energy storage system soluiton

I read in Fortune Magazine the NaS (Sodium Sulfur) Battery energy storage system of NGK Insulators of Japan.  They have up to 15 years life and can come in containerized form for easy installation. They have installations of as low as 50 kW up to 300 kW in various locations.

This makes wind and solar energy more stable with the storage system.  We all know that there is no energy from solar panels 2/3 of the day or during rainy or inclement weather.   Or when there is no wind.

Thus an energy storage system would be a necessity. An ideal RE system would consist of a wind, solar farm, and  storage system.

NGK would seem to have come with a viable ready solution

The only supplier of NaS battery is NGK. It bought the technology from Ford Motor Corporation jointly developed this with TEPPCO (the one that runs the nuclear power plant)   The battery is made from readily available materials:   aluminum, sodium from sea water as well as sulfur.  The battery has 15 years life and good up to 2,500 cycles. It operates at temp of 300 degrees.  The sodium is can tach fire when oxidized or when it contacts with water and thus safety is important in its use\usage

The only other viable system for power storage is the hydro as in Kalayaan Laguna.  The output of hydro at night is used to pump up Laguna lake water which generates energy during daytime for industrial consumption.  But such facilities are limited by geography.

NaS works for wind, solar, and concentrated solar power (where the suns rays are collected to generate steam to generate electricity.   Electricity generated at daytime can be stored at the batteries, and the heat can be stored at salt towers too.

Cost would be about $0.08 per kwatt hour (P4.00) so that makes solar power using storage very expensive even if LCOE is P5.00

There was a fire incident in its plant in Tsukuba Japan and NGK has temporarily suspended its production.  NGK has requested those who bought the batteries to refrain from using the batteries until such time that the cause of fire has been determined. From Greentech media

Xtreme power also experienced a small fire at its plant in Hawaii and farm.

From Energy Storage News

Largest Energy Storage Trial launched in UK

Savings from oil and coal importation
                               



From Clean Tecnica

From Energy matters




The largest intelligent battery storage trial has been launched in UK by S & C Electric Europe, SDI, Younicos and Samsung onto a UK Network power substations.  The project cost is placed at $28.6 and saves $9.6 million on traditional network reenforcement systema and will store 10 megawatt hours of power.

The project is in Bedforshire in UK and will transform the electricity network in UK and will connect the intermetittent renewable energy into the electric grid (as baseload?)

Savings

The savings from storage has been identified as Imperial College London to be $4.8 billion by 2020 based on 2 GW storage and will increase to $25 billion with 25 GW towards 2050.  However the electricity storage has presented a tremendous challenge to scientists and developers