Power Storage

Batteries are just one of many options for addressing the stubborn problem of storing energy on a large scale. Utilities adopting renewable energy, especially wind and solar power, need batteries or some other technology that will allow them to store the output from these intermittent sources so they can maintain power quality and the ability to respond to demand peaks when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining.

An article in the January issue of Electrical Wholesaling by Doug Chandler addresses the puzzle of how best to store electricity. The article reports that the federal government is heavily involved in promoting energy storage technology R&D. In November, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, which has an Energy Storage Council devoted to the subject, endorsed legislation intended to spur deployment of energy storage technologies.

The need for energy storage is huge, Chandler writes, and the payoff likely will be, too. It's no surprise, then, that research and development efforts to find the best large-scale energy storage solutions have been popular investment choices for venture capital firms lately.

The article highlights some specific solutions, and the author contends that the use of energy storage technologies at the scale of a building, campus or neighborhood opens the way for more distributed approaches to grid balancing and presents more realistic opportunities for electrical distributors to take part in growing and serving this market.