Investment In Batteries Can Supercharge Renewables

As nations integrate renewable energy into their power generation portfolios, storage remains the gravest obstacle to maximizing its potential. Without technological, economic, and policy advances in energy storage, the world’s energy will require a powerful baseload production, which today only comes from coal, natural gas, and nuclear.

Power production will remain CO2 positive no matter how many wind turbines or solar panels we install until fusion is cracked. Long-term storage methods are required to fill energy baseload gaps in renewable generation, creating solutions for key technological and economic challenges surrounding the renewable energy transition.

Developing advanced energy storage methods is vital to effectively integrate, optimize, and expand green energy. The United States ranks first in renewable attractiveness in the 2022 Global Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) despite intense partisan disagreement about energy policy and a diminished political will for large state-directed and expensive initiatives as seen in Europe. This is due to the US’ many advantages concerning energy storage including territorial size, grid redundancy, diffusion of power generation, portfolio diversification, and consumer base.

Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allocates some taxpayers’ funds to increasing America’s energy storage capacity. This focus combined with trying to make renewable energy more market-friendly is the best long-term green energy strategy the US could adopt, provided industry develop technological and economically efficient solutions. On the policy side, the US has a leg up over its competitors concerning energy storage.

Currently, energy storage is dominated by two primary methods: pumped-storage hydropower and grid-scale batteries. Pumped hydroelectric facilities are the most common, accounting for over 95% of total storage and global electricity used today. Turbines pump water to an elevated reservoir where retained water flows through turbines, producing electricity and storing excess to be used during periods of high demand. Through a full cycle pumped-storage hydropower is more than 80 percent energy efficient.

Grid-scale batteries siphon energy from the grid and discharge it during periods of high demand. Despite constraints of energy loss and costs, recent advances have diversified the types of batteries available which include lithium-ion, sodium sulphur and lead-acid batteries.

The global battery market experienced year-over-year growth of about 29% in 2022, with total growth expected to surpass 150% in the next four years.

Currently, China is the leading investor, responsible for 80% of all grid scale investments with over 50 GW of capacity under construction. The Huaneng Group and Huadian Group, and three others have invested in 2,333 MW of grid-scale battery storage in the country. Lithium-ion batteries are the most common, providing a longer duration of energy storage, better safety, and improved output. The Ukraine-Russia war has created supply chain bottlenecks in the battery metals market, as Russia is a leading producer of Class-1 Nickel and cobalt, accounting for 20% of the world’s mined supply.

Several competing batteries are expected to dominate the industry within the coming decade. zinc ion batteries are the more affordable and sustainable counterpart to lithium-ion batteries and utilize cost-effective and non-flammable water-based electrolytes that store energy for longer periods. Aqueous batteries provide a safer, longer-lasting alternative to zinc-ion, utilizing similar electrolyte technology to create energy storage through ion conduction without the risk of short-circuiting.

Despite the many emerging technologies, the global battery storage market faces several challenges hindering further development. Many policymakers and stakeholders responsible for innovation are still attempting to define fast-acting battery storage, leading to an identity crisis within the sector. High prices, outdated regulatory policy, and market designs are unable to keep up with rapid technological advancements. Decision-makers also tend to have outdated cost perceptions, not realizing that new technologies have dropped costs significantly in recent years. Furthermore, battery storage, an early-stage tech, requires standardization for further progress.

The Biden Administration must create a business-friendly regulatory framework for promoting long-term energy storage innovation and development. The focus should rest on the flexibility of energy storage units while taking steps toward commercializing second-life batteries: used batteries that no longer meet regulatory standards for usage in electric vehicles (EVs) typically maintain up to 80% of their total usable capacity, and the growing popularity of EVs creates an untapped market of energy storage capacity through these batteries that power grids desperately need.

Flexibility based on demand response, , smart grid tech , and other technologies are essential to storing even greater amounts of energy for longer periods and switching the destinations them quickly as needed.

The history of technological development bequeaths many lessons. One of the least appreciated is that new technologies depend on policy and logistical innovation. Green energy won’t just require more PV panels and turbines, but organization, financing, transportation, and storage.

Affordable batteries and other storage tech are just as vital to a green future as panels and turbines.