Grid-scale storage refers to technologies connected to the power grid that can store energy and then supply it back to the grid at a more advantageous time – for example, at night, when no solar power is available, or during a weather event that disrupts electricity generation.
By the reckoning of the International Energy Agency (iea), a forecaster, grid-scale storage is now the fastest-growing of all the energy technologies. In 2025, some 80 gigawatts (gw) of new grid-scale energy storage will be added globally, an eight-fold increase from 2021. Grid-scale energy storage is on the rise thanks to four potent forces.
Sustainable Energy Research 10, Article number: 13 (2023) Cite this article The International Renewable Energy Agency predicts that with current national policies, targets and energy plans, global renewable energy shares are expected to reach 36% and 3400 GWh of stationary energy storage by 2050.
GB will need large-scale energy storage to complement high levels of wind and solar power. No low-carbon sources can do so at a comparable cost. Construction of the large-scale hydrogen storage that will be needed should begin now. royalsociety.org/electricity-storage.
Despite widely known hazards and safety design of grid-scale battery energy storage systems, there is a lack of established risk management schemes and models as compared to the chemical, aviation, nuclear and the petroleum industry.
Great Britain’s demand for electricity could be met largely (or even wholly) by wind and solar energy supported by large-scale storage at a cost that compares favourably with the costs of low-carbon alternatives, which are not well suited to complementing intermittent wind and solar energy and variable demand.