Energy Storage

The development of the electric grid system is one of the most impressive accomplishments of the 20th century.  It is so vital to the commercial and social life around the world that the National Academy of Engineering dubbed the electric grid the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century.

However, today’s grid is still largely unchanged from the original developed by George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison in the early 1900s.  It is a sensitive, unidirectional spoke and hub system that was not designed for today’s electrical loads, renewable energy sources or optimal efficiency.

The development of distributed, grid-scale energy storage systems offers great promise for improving the reliability, safety and cost of the electrical grid.  The need for utility-scale grid storage is being driven by several factors, including:

• Rapid growth of renewable energy, especially intermittent wind and solar
• Load growth and under investment in transmission & distribution assets
• Not in my back yard (NIMBY) resistance to new thermal generation, transmission and distribution
• Need for high quality power for industrial processes and information technology

Energy storage offers several advantages over traditional gas generation approaches:

• Improved costs and asset utilization
• Enhanced system reliability
• Greater penetration of renewable energy
• Reduction in green house gas emissions