The drive towards longer duration energy storage will likely be multifaceted, with different technologies finding their place both in front of and behind the meter.
The challenges of explosion prevention – with flammable gases needing to be vented “very rapidly” – in the event of a battery fire have been highlighted at this week’s Energy Storage Summit USA.
The energy storage industry should be well prepared to deal with failure in lithium-ion battery systems so that thermal runaway in a single battery cell never becomes a fire or explosion.
The devastating power crisis in Texas last month proved the value of the energy storage market, particularly distributed models, according to a panel of renewables investors this week.
The business case for a range of long-duration storage technologies needs to be addressed to help the US reach its decarbonisation targets, according to the Department of Energy’s director of energy storage research Dr Imre Gyuk.
Based on the value it provides to grids as shares of renewable energy grow, energy storage is a “very exciting market,” the VP of Goldman Sachs Renewable Power has said.
Early days of the new regime have been applauded for their progressive nature, but lack of proper cost-benefit analysis for storage and concerns of trade tariffs remain
Two subsidiaries of Wisconsin-based electric and gas company WEC Energy Group have put forward plans for their second large-scale solar-plus-storage project in as many months.
Vertically-integrated solar PV company Canadian Solar won nearly 1GWh of battery storage contracts in 2020 and CEO Shawn Qu has said it expects to “capture around 10% of the battery storage market in the US alone” during this year.
