Energy storage system and power electronics

Can electrical energy storage solve the supply-demand balance problem?

As fossil fuel generation is progressively replaced with intermittent and less predictable renewable energy generation to decarbonize the power system, Electrical energy storage (EES) technologies are increasingly required to address the supply-demand balance challenge over a wide range of timescales.

What are the different types of energy storage technologies?

Classified by the form of energy stored in the system, major EES technologies include mechanical energy storage, electrochemical/electrical storage, and the storage based on alternative low-carbon fuels.

Which EES technologies can be used for power system applications?

Owing to the similarity in technical performance of other EES technologies to PHES or LIBs, as shown in Fig. 2, other types of EES technologies could be used for power system applications. Mechanical storage like CAES, PHES, LAES, TES and GES, as well as RFB, are suitable for providing energy time shifting and seasonal/long-duration energy storage.

What is power electronics & why is it important?

Concurrently, power electronics increasingly explores and enhances traditionally hard-wired structures such as storage and energy sources, e.g., batteries or fuel-cells, where it can enable dynamic reconfiguration or active power distribution.

Which EES technology has a high power density?

Flywheels and super-capacitors have very high power densities but relatively low energy densities. All mechanical EES technologies tend to have a long lifetime of 25–50 years. Most of electrochemical batteries, e.g., LIBs, have both high energy densities and high power densities.

How can EES technology reduce energy costs?

Generally, large-scale EES technologies that have decoupled energy and power characteristics have lower costs for longer duration with optimized system designs ; while for shorter duration storage applications, batteries could further reduce the cost by learning-by-doing and potentially using chemistries with earth-abundant raw material.