It’s exploiting energy from the wind and the sun, along with the power of gravity. “Battery storage on its own—or what people call short-duration energy storage—is very important,” said Martin Staadecker, an energy systems researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lead author of the new study.
The global energy landscape is undergoing an evolution from fossil fuels to renewables and more sustainable sources. As growth in non-fossil energy continues to soar, the need for efficient energy storage is rising in parallel. Enter the battery – a powerful technology anchoring this global energy transition.
Strong growth occurred for utility-scale battery projects, behind-the-meter batteries, mini-grids and solar home systems for electricity access, adding a total of 42 GW of battery storage capacity globally.
Utilities around the world have ramped up their storage capabilities using li-ion supersized batteries, huge packs which can store anywhere between 100 to 800 megawatts (MW) of energy. California based Moss Landing's energy storage facility is reportedly the world’s largest, with a total capacity of 750 MW/3 000 MWh.
To triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, 1 500 GW of energy storage, of which 1 200 GW from batteries, will be required. A shortfall in deploying enough batteries would risk stalling clean energy transitions in the power sector.
A stationary Battery Energy Storage (BES) facility consists of the battery itself, a Power Conversion System (PCS) to convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC), as necessary, and the “balance of plant” (BOP, not pictured) necessary to support and operate the system. The lithium-ion BES depicted in Error!