Now that solar and wind are hitting their stride as major sources of power, the next logical step is for energy storage to scale, and that’s exactly what is happening.
SunEdison, which is now the world’s top renewable energy developer, acquired Pennsylvania-based Solar Grid Storage and its 100 megawatt pipeline, to be able to offer a complete solution that combines solar, wind and energy storage.
There’s also lots of interest in using energy storage for backup, to keep energy flowing during grid outages.
Solar Grid Storage installed one of the first commercial-scale microgrids in the US, consisting of solar PV combined with batteries for a corporation in Maryland.
At least 270 energy storage projects are deployed or planned in the US, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), mostly in Hawaii, California and the Mid-Atlantic.
"Because it has the ability to address a wide range of potential issues – including renewable energy integration, variability management, peak management, voltage and frequency regulation, grid resiliency, and energy management – distributed storage is gaining attention from customers, utilities and regulators," says IREC.
On the international level, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is creating a roadmap to install quadruple the energy storage capacity as there is solar in the world – 160 gigawatts by 2030.
It will take that much energy storage for renewables to have a 40% share of the world’s energy mix by 2030, they say.
Alevo opens North Carolina factory for grid-scale energy storage products:
Policy drivers include:
- Germany’s feed-in tariff for energy storage integrated with solar
- California’s requirement of energy storage as a preferred energy source
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DOE’s ARPA-E research program: Batteries and Energy Storage Hub
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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is facilitating energy storage by leveling the playing field with fossil fuels.
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NY-BEST: supports energy storage entrepreneurs and Milwaukee’s Energy Innovation Center for research on distributed energy.
This year will be a break-out year for energy storage in the US, with 220 MW of projects, according to the inaugural US Energy Storage Monitor by GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association. By 2019, they expect the US market to reach 861 MW a year.
And within five years, Deutsche Bank expects batteries will be ready for large-scale use as the technology improves and prices come down. Mass adoption could happen before 2020, catapulting solar to the dominant electricity source.
Read our articles, Energy Storage: Important New Industry and Energy Storage Startups Raise $105 Million So Far In 2014.
Read the US Energy Storage Monitor:
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