Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Applications of Energy Storage to Generation
and Absorp
tion of Electrical Power
JonahG.LevineandFrankS.Barnes
CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1
Ramp Rate Challenges ........................................................................................... 8
Capacity Challenges ............................................................................................. 11
References .............................................................................................................. 14
Suggested Additional Reading ........................................................................... 15
Introduction
Energy storage currently plays an important role in the electric utility indus-
try. On the current electricity grid, storage capacity has been developed to
accumulate energy produced by large, less responsive thermal generation
plants and then redispatch it based on peak demand. Storage facilities were
largely financed by arbitrage (buying energy at a low price and selling it at
a higher price). In addition to the benefits derived by utility companies from
arbitrage, energy storage currently contributes to reliability, efficiency, power
quality, transmission optimization, and black-start functions. Although dif-
ferent end functions of energy storage affect production, the sole purpose of
storage is to increase operational flexibility. The various energy storage tech-
nologies allow generation to be followed by distribution on demand within
the constraints of storage capacity and the systems in which they function.
The electric energy systems of yesterday largely used energy storage to
optimize the dispatch of energy from large thermal generation plants and
capitalized on the high value of peak demand. The electrical energy system
of tomorrow will use storage as one of many tools for aligning nondispatch-
able renewable energy generation with load demands. In the future, energy
storage will continue to fill its earlier roles and expand to facilitate the tech-
nologies of tomorrow. Storage will play an increasingly important part in
electric utility operations as they face new challenges arising from the intro-
duction of significant renewable energy sources.
