Storage solutions and adaptations to power grid needed
September 11, 2014 Category Alternative energy, Environment
China will have to adapt its power grid to use more of its installed solar and wind capacity. Wind farms are built faster than the power grid, designed for conventional energy, can adapt. Consequently, wind operators in some places are paid at times to idle a fifth of their turbines. The problem partly arises because wind and solar, while steady over the long term, fluctuate in the short term. Output peaks can clash with usage peak times on the power grid. Adding more power lines, which takes several years, is the standard solution. However, additional capacity is often underutilized, like empty highways during the day or late at night. Storing electricity is the alternative. For a century, the only realistic storage was pumped hydro. Compressed air, flywheels and molten salts are now gaining attention. The biggest advances are seen in falling prices for advanced chemical batteries. Like solar, batteries are modular, installed in days and work equally well whether distributed among consumers or concentrated in remote storage stations. Storage will increase the economic use of variable renewable energy. For example, batteries near renewable-energy generators soak up electricity otherwise lost to grid congestion. Distributed solar and distant wind farms, when the grid has spare capacity, can charge batteries near consumers. However, developing storage solutions is not simple. In China, State Grid runs the large-scale Zhangbei demonstrator in Hebei province, while battery manufacturer BYD has batteries deployed in Changsha, Hunan province. While other countries are also working on solutions, the world’s biggest storage targets will probably be in China. With experience elsewhere limited, how China optimizes value and integrates storage will be globally significant for policy and the fortunes of manufacturers in a critical new sector for sustainable electricity, Ecological Economist David Fullbrook suggested in the South China Morning Post.
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