Reliable access to cost-effective electricity is the backbone of the U.S. economy, and electrical energy storage is an integral element in this system. Without significant investments in stationary electrical energy storage, the current electric grid infrastructure will increasingly struggle to provide reliable, affordable electricity, jeopardizing the transformational changes envisioned for a modernized grid. Investment in energy storage is essential for keeping pace with the increasing demands for electricity arising from continued growth in U.S. productivity, shifts in and continued expansion of national cultural imperatives (e.g., the distributed grid and electric vehicles), and the projected increase in renewable energy sources. Stationary energy storage technologies promise to address the growing limitations of U.S. electricity infrastructure. A variety of near-, mid-, and long-term storage options can simultaneously provide multiple benefits that have the potential to greatly enhance the future resilience of the electric grid while preserving its reliability. These benefits include providing balancing services (e.g., regulation and load following), which enables the widespread integration of renewable energy; supplying power during brief disturbances to reduce outages and the financial losses that accompany them; and serving as substitutes for transmission and distribution upgrades to defer or eliminate them. Significant advances in materials and devices are needed to realize the potential of energy storage technologies. Current large-scale energy storage systems are both electrochemically based (e.g., advanced lead-carbon batteries, lithium-ion batteries, sodium-based batteries, flow batteries, and electrochemical capacitors) and kinetic-energy-based (e.g., compressed-air energy storage and high-speed flywheels). Electric power industry experts and device developers have identified areas in which near-term investment could lead to substantial progress in these technologies. Deploying existing advanced energy storage technologies in the near term can further capitalize on these investments by creating the regulatory processes and market structures for ongoing growth in this sector. At the same time, a long-term focus on the research and development of advanced materials and devices will lead to new, more cost-effective, efficient, and reliable products with the potential to transform the electric grid.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
