6 August Forbes Article mentions IES & the future of energy!10 Aug 2020 18:22
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2020/08/06/battery-storage-is-delivering-value-for-solar-developers-and-energy-consumers-but-what-about-cost/amp/
“If low electricity prices remain, what will it mean for future the grid and the electricity market?” asks Matt Harper, chief commercial officer for Invinity Energy Systems that makes “flow batteries.” “Battery storage can take advantage of abundant and low-cost power: it consumes excess power during the day and redeploys that electricity during the peak periods when conventional power generation would be turned on.”
Harper explains that “flow batteries” are different from “lithium-ion batteries.” The former provides long-term storage that can deliver power for up to 15-hours while the latter supplies electricity for shorter periods of four-hours or less. The better performance, he adds, means that renewables have more leverage in the market — something that will eventually mean that power can be stored in the summer and used in the winter.
At the same time, he says that “flow batteries” are positioned between short-term “lithium-ion” batteries and long-term hydrogen tanks. Hydrogen storage, he adds, has limitations because of the fuel’s efficiency rate, which is about 50% — the ability to take a unit of energy input and convert it to electricity. In comparison, he says that the efficiency rate for battery storage is between 70-90%.
When comparing the value of short-term battery storage to long-term battery storage, Harper says that a key difference is that long-term “flow batteries” can be charged and recharged multiple times a day for decades at a time. Short-term lithium-ion batteries, in contrast, will wear down and lose their function in 10 years. That means the value of flow batteries over a lifetime is worth more, Harper adds, even though the lithium-ion batteries are less expensive upfront.
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“We’ve come to a fork-in-the-road during this energy transition,” says Harper. “We can continue to use centralized generation to balance renewables when the sun is not shining or we can fully embrace renewables. The former offers a bandaid approach. The latter provides the lowest-cost source, especially when coupled with long-term battery storage.”
Getting to 100% renewable energy levels will be challenging under the best of circumstances. But utilities like Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B, NextEra NEE and Edison International EIX are betting heavily on wind and solar and that rely on energy storage. As storage prices continue to fall, it will be easier to meet peak demand with clean energy sources — a transition that is happening now in parts of the country but one that could grow nationally as renewable energy becomes more pervasive."
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