Battery storage: Get ready, it’s here!
The use of energy storage in various forms has been around most of our human existence in one form or another, one example going back to the 1300s is the use of stored or dammed waterways to control water mills for use in grain processing and irrigation.
Energy storage is used so we can control the supply and demand of energy and now the battery storage systems in the next two years will become mainstream and change the renewable energy Industry forever.
Japan, Germany, the United States and China have been sinking millions of dollars into this exciting technology over the last three years and it seems that it will be finally paying off. The problem with this technology in the past was the density of storage available and the price points which were very cost-prohibitive to install on renewable energy systems.
But get very excited because now this technology is not only affordable but makes sense to add to renewable energy systems to help save you a lot money in the years to come, and to be that added protection in power outages and any type of prolonged exposure from downed utilities due to typhoons.
On the utility scale, solar energy farms and wind farms with a very high penetration of renewable energy, by their inherently variable nature, bring additional challenges to the grid conditions such as cloud cover and changing weather conditions. When utility scale energy storage is added to the mix, these systems deliver reliable and efficient energy to the grid with minimal voltage fluctuations from production through transmission and distribution to consumption. Battery technology such as lead acid gel deliver high performance, long service life and low/zero maintenance requirements even in extreme conditions in Micronesia with all the heat and humidity. This value proposition is designed to optimize energy efficiency, enable more flexible grid management, maximize investments and provide peace of mind knowing energy balance is under control across the entire energy supply chain.
On the commercial and residential market, solar companies are partnering with energy storage companies and coming out with hybrid systems that will not only store your excess energy produced during the day and deliver this energy to your electrical system once the sun goes down, but also produces logic control where these systems will determine after programming when to dispatch the energy and under what conditions pre-determined by the owner. This technology, when it becomes mainstream, will eliminate the heated battle that is going on throughout the renewable energy industry over net metering.
