Energy Storage: crucial to renewable energy but also makes good economic sense

[txlibdem]

There is no way to get around it, we need energy storage:
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"As you go from a scenario where 2 percent of the peak load is generated by PV to 20 to 30 to 40 percent, you start to get into a situation where you need storage," Shugar said.

from: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/12/energy-storage-and-the-grid
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Further, in figure 1 on the same page, it shows that the greatest market potential will come from time-of-use energy storage systems: where one stores energy during the cheapest rate period of the day for use when rates are higher/highest. The savings over a 10 year period would be about $1,250 per kW of installed storage and the market could reach 65 GW of capacity also over a 10 year period.

Large commercial buildings like Hospitals, Universities, office towers, etc., would likely be the first to take advantage of these savings but residential customers will soon follow. Here's one example of a University making the best use out of local wind power:
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Viridity Energy, a smart grid technology company leading the next generation of distributed energy resource management, today announced a partnership with Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals (Jefferson) to develop and implement a project aimed at maximizing the economic and environmental value of its energy resources. The two have signed a letter of intent to develop a large-scale energy storage project that will allow Jefferson to strategically manage its on-site and renewable energy resources through Viridity's dynamic load control optimization system so that electricity at or near a Jefferson site can be stored for use when it best serves Jefferson's operational needs and economic opportunities. It is hoped that the system will become a replicable model for other hospitals within the Jefferson network as well as throughout the region and country.

"Philadelphia is on its way to having one of the first grid-scale urban energy storage systems in the U.S., making it a leader and a model that others will want to emulate," said Audrey Zibelman, President and CEO, Viridity Energy. "We are proud to partner with Jefferson as they are showing true vision in pursuing a new distributed generation resource within downtown Philadelphia that will contribute to grid reliability and carbon reduction. Large hospitals and research oriented academic campuses are by nature some of the biggest energy users out there, which offers up a host of opportunities for savvy administrators to save huge sums by managing their resources more strategically."

Jefferson recently acquired one-third of the electricity supply from the 102 megawatt Locust Ridge II wind power project developed by Iberdrola Renewables and located in Schuylkill County, PA. Jefferson has been seeking ways to optimize this intermittent resource and maximize the value of wind energy, as its output will vary in ways that will not match variations in either Jefferson's electricity usage or in wholesale power prices.

from: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2011/04/12/5440166.htm
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While I think the following cost figures are a bit high, I thought this article was interesting:
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The cost of a typical PV module has dropped by more than half over the past two years, according to research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Still, the cost of photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) generation is just below $200/MWh, nearly four times the equivalent cost of a coal-fired power plant at $56/MWh. It's also between two and four times the cost of onshore wind power.

While solar may not be the cheapest option, Julia Hamm of SEPA said it is becoming increasingly appealing to the energy industry.

"It's pretty much the only technology option that's coming down in price as everything else goes up," she said. "Most utility folks recognize at this point that while solar might not be their cheapest option today, it very soon could be."

from: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/12/2011-solar-outlook
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The article further points out that solar energy still needs support from the feds but not for long:
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"Policy, rather than sunshine, will remain the U.S.'s greatest solar resource for the next few years," said Milo Sjardin, Bloomberg New Energy Finance's U.S. head of research. He said that by the middle of the decade, the U.S. retail solar market will be driven by fundamental, unsubsidized competition, which could transform the U.S. into one of the world's most dynamic solar markets.

from: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/12/2011-solar-outlook
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One note about solar costing 4 times that of coal power, that may be out of date:
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At Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s annual conference in New York this week, industry executives and representatives indicated that solar power installations are going to continue growing rapidly and the cost of solar, which may soon be competitive with the cost of coal in general, is low enough in some regions that it is already competing with coal.

from an April 7, 2011 article: http://cleantechnica.com/2011/04/07/cost-of-solar-power-competitive-with-coal-some-places-dropping-fast/
...which contains the link to: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-05/solar-energy-costs-may-already-rival-coal-spurring-installation-boom.html
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We are fast approaching a time when we will both need and want to put major dollars into energy storage. That is the only way we are going to be able to end the dominance of coal and fossil fuels in my opinion.

[truedelphi]

1. Does any of this involve the Smart Meters?

Or is this more about batteries and other storage devices?

My husband and I both have ringing headaches ever since the Smart Meter replaced the old analog meter on the side of our house near to our kitchen.

[Taverner]

2. Gleefully flys in the face of the whole "dollars are stored energy" nonsense

Because that just isn't so - dollars are not stored energy

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Well, if you burn them...

(not much energy, but still)

[truedelphi]

3. If our nation truly evaluated the "real" costs to a society of the

Dirtier energies, like coal, there would not be the ability to say that "The cost of a typical PV module has dropped by more than half over the past two years, according to research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Still, the cost of photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) generation is just below $200/MWh, nearly four times the equivalent cost of a coal-fired power plant at $56/MWh. It's also between two and four times the cost of onshore wind power."

Should one of the huge waste ponds generated by coal production slide into an area and wipe out an entire community, the cost would have to be revised significantly upwards. In some cases, the slag ponds are on hillsides directly above elementary schools.

[txlibdem]

8. EPA recently found that 34 out of 35 ash ponds are leaking poison into the groundwater

Coal is the worst energy source in the world right now but the coal industry has bribed enough people to completely get away with pushing the costs of its toxic poisons onto the rest of us.

If coal had to pay proper containment costs of its ash alone (coal ash contains Uranium and Thorium as well as Boron, Mercury, Lead, Arsenic and a few other deadly substances), coal would no longer be considered cheap. We're not even talking about the millions of tons of poisons that go out the chimney stack, nor are we talking about the CO2 that will make the planet a global climate change hellish nightmare for the survivors during the next century.

[truedelphi]

4. K & R.

A lot to read and consider.

My household is doing all the electric chores that we can do at night - running the washing machine, and often doing the vaccuuming, after 7 Pm and before midnight.

Good to read about people whose placement in indutry could help us arrive at a better solution than building mroe nukes, blowing up mor emountains to find coal, or fracking necessary to getting out the abundant natural gas while destroying the reservoirs and aquifers of drinking water.

[arachadillo]

6. Renewble Storage

Philadelphia is on its way to having one of the first grid-scale urban energy storage systems in the U.S

Go Phillies:)

Read the story and could not figure out exactly what type of storage device that Jeff is going to use.

Glad to hear about wind power project in Schuylkill County, it's smack in the middle of the Anthracite region.

[txlibdem]

9. Looks like it isn't a stock solution, they customize for each situation

For example:
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Working together with Drexel University, Viridity Energy is developing deterministic, price-sensitive load forecasting algorithms to leverage client buildings’ unique thermal heating, cooling and air transfer characteristics. This capability enables a building’s thermal capacity to be used as energy storage which complements purchases, renewable and traditional generation and other forms of storage resources.

Viridity Energy has filed a grant application to work with The University of California San Diego to optimize its distributed resources (e.g. photovoltaics with battery and chilled water storage), dispatchable generation, (e.g. cogeneration and gas turbines) and demand side management capabilities to transform its portfolio of buildings into a unified, dispatchable energy asset.

from: http://viridityenergy.com/clients/educationinstitutional/
more at: http://viridityenergy.com/
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It looks like as of April 12, 2011 they are at the letter of intent stage with Jefferson U. and Jefferson U. Hospital.

[damntexdem]

7. Crucial to sustainability, good economic sense, good policy to support it:

the GOP will be totally opposed to it.

[txlibdem]

11. Aint it the truth!

[Nihil]

10. Good stuff - K&R. (n/t)

:thumbsup:

[txlibdem]

12. Thanks

Just trying to set the record straight on the zero-carbon energy sources. I'm even more convinced post-Fukushima than before that we need to put maximum effort into all the zero-carbon energy sources.

[arachadillo]

13. Someone's Listening To You

:)

http://www.xtremepower.com/downloads/pressreleases/04_14_11-Notrees-Battery-Storage-News-Release_FINAL.pdf

Duke Energy intends to store electricity generated at its Notrees Windpower Project in west Texas using an energy storage and power management system developed by Austin-based Xtreme Power.

In November 2009, Duke Energy announced plans to match a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to install large-scale batteries capable of storing electricity produced by the company’s 153-megawatt (MW) Notrees wind farm, located in Ector and Winkler counties. After due diligence, Duke Energy chose Xtreme Power (www.xtremepower.com) to design, install and operate a 36 MW-capacity Dynamic Power Resource™ system at the wind farm. When complete, the battery storage system will be one of the largest of its kind in the world.

[phantom power]

14. I was interested to learn that one of the business models for grid storage is frequency maintenance.

Keeping the voltage on the grid balanced is required to maintain standard current frequency (e.g. 60Hz at the wall outlet)

[kristopher]

15. Energy Storage: important to renewable energy, has slowly expanding economic niche.

There, now your header is accurate.