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EXPANDING HORIZONS FOR ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
EV&AE(EV batts, HEVS, FCEVs - EPRI Volume 2 Number 1 May 1999)
Like the rapidly advancing technologies that help drive the electric
transportation industry, EPRI's science and technology research on
energy storage systems is evolving to meet the needs of customers and
a changing industry. The Energy Storage Systems target is expanding
its original focus on battery research and development into three
major areas.
While battery research remains an important staple, the target is
launching new projects to examine potential battery applications
beyond the transportation market - as a strategy for expanding the
battery market. Meanwhile, technology advancements in hybrid and fuel
cell energy systems are driving demand for their commercialization.
EPRI will take an active role in R&D collaborations to evaluate the
benefits and identify appropriate applications for these energy
systems in transportation markets and beyond.
EXPANDING BATTERY MARKETS
Like the football player who does an end-run around the opponents to
score, EPRI is making a conscious decision to explore other
applications that could use batteries currently being developed for
the EV market, with the goal of increasing production and bringing
down prices.
"The market for batteries just for EVs is going to stay small for some
time, but the market for batteries for other applications is growing,"
says EPRI's Bob Swaroop, manager, Energy Storage Systems. Eventually,
Swaroop reasons, the technology that we know works well in EVs today
but is too expensive to expect to see a large market demand for soon,
will be mass-produced for a wide range of other end uses. Once those
advanced batteries reach mass-production levels, their prices will
drop, allowing EVs to be more affordable.
There is a precedent for EPRI to support work that develops new
advanced battery applications, Swaroop notes. Although the Japanese
developed lithium-ion batteries for various uses including EVs, cost
created a barrier for EV applications due to their energy storage
capacity needs. In response, developers found other applications
requiring high energy density in smaller capacities, such as consumer
electronics, to build the market. Likewise, nickel-metal hydride
batteries being developed for the EV market have first found their way
into computers and consumer electronics used throughout the world.
Swaroop adds that even though lithium-polymer batteries are still
under development, marketers are broadening their horizons to consider
potential uses including utility load management applications, buses,
and smaller on- and off-road vehicles such as neighborhood electric
vehicles.
EPRI's Energy Storage Systems target will continue to develop
batteries with the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC)
with an eye for new markets. EPRI and USABC are launching a new
project to evaluate whether batteries developed initially to power EVs
also could be useful in distributed storage or stationary
applications.
The distributed storage concept is familiar to commercial utility
customers, whose monthly bills typically include both energy and peak
demand components. Commercial customers may be able to save
substantially on their monthly costs by reducing the peak power they
demand from their utility company. In theory, they can accomplish this
by drawing their needed extra power (and its associated energy) from
batteries stored on-site instead of depending on the utility to supply
it.
EPRI is the prime contractor on this USABC project. The Energy Storage
Systems target, working with Southern California Edison and Georgia
Tech's National Electric Energy Testing Research and Applications
Center (NEETRAC), will test high-energy batteries for durability,
performance and lifecycle in stationary applications.
Bruce Rauhe, principal research engineer with Southern Company
Services, and Naum Pinsky, manager of EV battery testing and
evaluation, SCE, are co-managing this program. It follows on previous
USABC research involving used nickel-metal hybrid batteries that no
longer provided enough capacity to meet the power needs of an EV but
were suitable and serviceable for other applications. The earlier
research provided impressive results, Pinsky says.
"We had to identify places where we could use these used batteries,
which are typically quite large - 100 Ahr - and we found significant
potential in stationary applications," Pinsky explains.
In this follow-on project with new batteries, the battery components
and critical materials are the same - even if the batteries are not EV
batteries.
"The point is, we need to improve performance and reduce cost," Pinsky
adds, "and the way to do that is to find more uses for these batteries
- in transportation and stationary applications."
Rauhe explains that the project will test nickel-metal hydride and
lithium-polymer batteries in laboratory and field settings. The
project will start with load management strategies such as load
leveling and peak shaving.
The value of the project, explains Rauhe, is that it provides a tool
to address customer and utility issues with power quality and cost of
electricity. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the customer doesn't
need full power, but the utility must supply the infrastructure and be
prepared to deliver full (peak) power any time it is needed.
"It's like building the church for Easter and Christmas," Rauhe muses.
The utility or a third party can offer a battery load management
system to modify the customer's apparent power use, Rauhe explains.
"From the customer's perspective, there's no change in operation - in
fact the process is transparent - but it can reduce the customer's
monthly bills." From a utility perspective, Rauhe continues, it can
reduce the need to install or upgrade infrastructure to meet peak
demand, enabling the utility to better manage loads and impacts on the
grid.
On the surface, examining stationary applications for high-power,
high-energy batteries may seem like a departure for the Energy Storage
Systems target, yet this expanded focus represents the long-term
approach guiding the target and the Transportation Area's vision for
future markets.
HYBRID ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS EVALUATION
Hybrid energy storage systems show promise for transportation
applications. Hybrids appear poised to meet regulatory requirements
for lower emissions and to deliver power and performance to meet
consumer demand. Perhaps the greatest benefit of hybrids - at least
from a cost standpoint - is that, while they still use high-energy
batteries, they require much less battery storage capacity than the
20- 30 kWh necessary for pure EVs. The amount could vary from 2-3 kWh
to 10-15 kWh, depending on whether the system design is fuel-only or
grid-connected.
While hybrids appear to be an excellent technology for transportation,
there remain many unknowns about these developing systems. In
response, EPRI is launching an extensive study of existing hybrid
technologies and characteristics. Transportation Area Manager Eric
Heim, who is managing this project, says EPRI plans to conduct the
first impartial assessment of the leading attributes of hybrids.
"We want to determine which hybrid options make the most sense, and
what's reasonable in the foreseeable future from a technology
standpoint." This effort will compare the characteristics of hybrids
with various drive train options such as gasoline, CNG and diesel, and
evaluate their respective emissions, energy efficiencies, lifecycle
costs and consumer acceptance.
FUEL CELLS: ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS OF TOMORROW?
The new direction for the Energy Storage Systems target also will
explore fuel cell energy systems in conjunction with EPRI's existing
fuel cell program for stationary applications. The Transportation Area
will bring automakers into the fold to collaborate on a variety of
projects that are currently in development. While the transportation
and stationary applications for fuel cells are clearly quite
different, Swaroop expects that EPRI will be involved in bench- and
preliminary on-road test- ing of early prototype fuel cell and hybrid
vehicles by the Year 2000.
Tom Jones, principal engineer in American Electric Power's Technology
Development Division and a longtime participant in the Energy Storage
Systems target, explains that there is an important synergy between
fuel cells for both stationary and transportation applications. Fuel
cells likely will be commercialized first in stationary applications,
but he adds that incorporating fuel cells into transportation
technologies will bring their prices down due to volume in the
transportation market. In addition, a fuel cell on board a vehicle
might be connected to the grid to supply energy when the vehicle is
not in use, which, Jones points out, is about 95 % of the time.
"If, in the long haul, fuel cells used in vehicles also provided
energy to the grid, it would have a significant impact on the way we
do business," Jones explains. When considered solely for a single
application, fuel cells may have difficulty competing with present
technologies. But taken as a potential energy source for dual
applications, capital investment and overall costs are reduced
significantly, Jones adds.
Jones cautions that fuel cells for transportation may not be the
optimal design for stationary use, and further research is necessary
to consider potential trade-offs. Still, he recalls a presentation in
which EPRI's Steve Gehl, director of Strategic Technology, noted that
over the next 50 years the world may need an estimated 10,000 GW of
new energy supply. According to Gehl, the auto industry currently
manufactures this amount of energy every five years in the form of
internal combustion engines. "What if?" asks Jones rhetorically.
EPRI plays an important role in developing and investing in
technologies for the long term, Jones says. "This is where EPRI has
value and can benefit our industry as a whole." In the newly
deregulated competitive market, energy providers are less likely to
invest in technologies that don't provide an immediate payback because
they are seen as risky. "But since EPRI can collaborate with
utilities, as an industry, to pursue these long-haul technologies, it
minimizes the risk for us all."
[To order this report, FS-112939, contact EPRI Customer Service,
800-313-3774, ASKEPRI@epri.com ]
EPRI. POWERING PROGRESS
Bob Swaroop, Project Manager, Transportation Area
Phone: 650.855.1097, Fax: 650.855.2737, e-mail: rswaroop@epri.com
Staff Perspectives Editor:
J Knapp Communications 530.756.3611, e-mail: jknapp@mother.com
EPRI, 3412 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304
P.O. Box 10412, Palo Alto, California 94303
800.313.3774 or 650.855.2000 www.epri.com
c (1999) Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Inc.
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