On the power generation side, energy storage technologies have improved waste heat recovery efficiency, mitigated the intermittency issues of renewable energy generation, and played a significant role in areas such as peak shaving and frequency regulation of thermal power units.
Do energy storage technologies provide flexibility in energy systems with renewable sources?
Storage technologies are a promising option to provide the power system with the flexibility required when intermittent renewables are present in the electricity generation mix. This paper focuses on the role of electricity storage in energy systems with high shares of renewable sources.
How can storage technology help the power sector?
The power sector needs to ensure a rapid transition towards a low-carbon energy system to avoid the dangerous consequences of greenhouse gas emissions. Storage technologies are a promising option to provide the power system with the flexibility required when intermittent renewables are present in the electricity generation mix.
Why do energy systems need more storage facilities?
Future energy systems require more storage facilities to balance the higher share of intermittent renewables in the upcoming power generation mix (Benato and Stoppato, 2018), especially as the demand for electric power could push capacity to 7200 GW by 2040 (International Energy Agency, 2014).
Conclusion and policy implications The role of electricity storage in the renewable transition is essential for achieving the decarbonisation of the power system. In this paper, we present a model comparison approach for four models (G E N e S Y S - M O D, M U S E, N A T E M, and u r b s - M X).
What is the role of electricity storage?
The model comparison assesses electricity storage role and its modelling challenges. Storage enables lower cost transitions including high variable renewables uptakes. Carbon taxes might promote non-variable rather than variable renewables. Diversity in storage costs, geographical, and temporal granularity affects outcomes.
Why is energy storage important?
Energy storage is crucial for successfully building an energy system model containing large shares of VRES. In their review of 75 energy systems models, Ringkjøb et al. (2018) highlight that the vast majority of them include at least one technological option for electricity storage.