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Storage

Storage

When nature decides to rest, storage systems come into play to help renewable energy do its job. Energy storage is the keystone to providing added value to green energy.

About storage

An Ally for Renewables

Renewable energy is inevitably subject to variations in availability. The wind and sun are unpredictable by nature and, consequently, non-programmable. To harness the power of the winds, the Greek god Aeolus decided to lock them up in an amphora. Helios, instead, controlled the light and darkness by pulling the sun with his winged chariot.

Putting the suggestions of mythology aside, technological breakthroughs now make it possible to transform what was only possible for gods in the ancient world into reality: the storage of wind and solar energy to make them available 24 hours a day. All thanks to energy storage systems.

Storage systems are fundamental to the future of renewable energy. They store electricity and make it available when there is greater need, acting as a balance between supply and demand and helping stabilize the grid. Batteries – connected in series – are now some of the most common storage systems (with the exception of pumped-storage hydroelectric systems) and are going through a real technological revolution. Year after year, new materials and cutting-edge technological solutions are introduced, providing greater efficiency, lower costs and a design-to-recycle approach, to obtain a more sustainable product.


Development projections for storage are promising. According to a 2017 IRENA Report, titled Electricity Storage and Renewables, a potential doubling of the growth of renewables – between 2017 and 2030 – will have to correspond to a tripling of the stock of electrical energy available in storage systems: from 2017’s 4.67 terawatt hours to a range between 11.89 and 15.72 TWh in 2030.

History of storage

Energy Storage: Ingenuity and Evolution

How storage works

The Power-bank of the Electrical Grid

Battery storage systems are able to store the electrical energy produced by renewable plants. Their functioning is comparable to the miniature accumulators in the devices we use every day: they turn a chemical reaction into electrical energy, storing energy to use later, based on necessity. Just like a power bank when our smartphones are low on battery.

When the frequency of the electrical grid falls because of heightened demand, the storage system is able to deliver stored energy in just a few seconds; if the frequency increases due to a drop in demand, the battery charges with the excess energy. This double function is fundamental to the stabilization of electrical grids. 

Strong points of storage

Never Again Without Energy

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Increasingly Common and Affordable

The large-scale production of battery systems allows storage to take hold faster, guaranteeing higher levels of performance.

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Toward the Energy Transition

With storage systems, renewables can shift gears, making the process of the energy transition faster and more ready for the future.

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Ancillary Services

Storage allows for new services for electrical system security (static reserve, regulation of frequency, voltage and restarting), previously the exclusive terrain of conventional sources.

Frequently asked questions about battery storage systems

By 2050, nearly 50% of the electricity fed into the grid will be generated from renewable sources. However, their intermittent nature means that solutions must be found to match electricity production with demand. In this respect BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems) are highly effective. They use batteries (mostly lithium-ion) to store energy and then release it as needed. Here are a series of answers to the main questions about these devices.

Frequently asked questions on energy storage in USA and Canada

As renewable energy continues to grow in the US and Canada, so does the demand to install utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). The market’s demands for system flexibility combined with decreasing costs in battery technology is leading BESS to play a more important role than ever in the energy market. By 2023, an additional 3.6 GW of large scale battery storage is planned to be operational in the US.

Did you know?

Crushed Rocks to Store Energy

A battery… with crushed rocks? It seems incredible, but the startup Brenmiller has created an electricity storage system that is a small masterpiece of green engineering.

The bGen™ system allows for the accumulation of energy at high temperatures, based on crushed rock. The solution is based on a heat exchanger and a thermal accumulator.

No dangerous or chemical substances are used in this energy storage system. It’s completely zero-emission: to charge up the storage unit, the system can receive heat or electricity from various sources and can then make it available when necessary.