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Energy Storage Can Help Prevent, Ease Recovery from, Electricity Grid Crises
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Our electricity grid operates as a huge
just-in-time inventory system, which is one reason why it is vulnerable to the
failures leading to the blackout of 2003. Yet it doesn't have to be this way.
Shock absorbers, known as energy storage facilities, can be installed on the
system.
A variety of energy storage technologies are available, or soon will be,
that can inject large quantities of power into the grid within minutes, aiding
in the recovery from blackouts, or stabilizing the grid before failures
cascade through the system. These technologies can either be deployed at large
scale (several hundred megawatts from each unit) or through distributed
generation networks with smaller scale (1-50 MW) units creating super-high
reliability.
Electricity itself can only be stored in small quantities in devices known
as capacitors. However, it can be stored in large quantities in the form of
chemical energy (batteries, reverse-flow fuel cells) and mechanical energy
(flywheels, compressed air, and elevated water reservoirs).
Storing electricity as compressed air in suitable underground formations,
then releasing the air to drive turbine/generators when needed, is one
technique that is commercially ready. Private developers are already pursuing
projects around the country. Such facilities, with from 100-2000 MW at the
ready, would likely have made a big difference on August 14 in supporting the
transmission grid. Networks of flywheels, fuel cells, and/or large-scale
batteries could have protected key substations, customer sites, and other
points on the distribution network.
"One, among many, of the reasons our transmission system is outdated is
that storage facilities are not generally considered in capacity planning, or,
if they are, under cost evaluations that are unsuitable," notes Jason Makansi,
Executive Director of the Energy Storage Council. Although approximately 2.7%
of our generation capacity is pumped storage hydroelectric, the last facility
came on line in 1997 and new plants are almost impossible to permit. Other
countries have higher levels of storage serving their grids.
The Federal government maintains the National Strategic Petroleum Reserve
and large storage facilities serve our natural gas transmission and
distribution network. The Energy Storage Council believes that, just as it
assisted in the deployment of gas storage, the federal government should
substantially enlarge its support for electricity storage. "Imagine how
differently August 14, 2003 might have unfolded if electricity could have been
injected into the grid at strategic locations," Makansi concludes.
SOURCE Energy Storage Council
Web site: energystoragecouncil.org
CONTACT: Jason Makansi, Executive Director, +1-314-621-0403, orcell, +1-314-495-4545, or JMakansi@pearlstreetinc.com, or JeffAbboud, Public Policy Director, +1-202-669-7575, orAbboud@advocatesinc.com, both of the Energy Storage Council |
