Engineers can add extra value to their services with energy storage
January 19, 2015
In many ways, energy storage is following in solar power's footsteps in terms of market awareness and adoption. While solar was once dismissed as a long shot, the technology is now recognized for its potential to help generate cleaner electricity in communities across the globe. This shift was driven by major innovation in the sector and greater investor interest in reducing barriers to adoption. According to Clean Energy Authority, this pattern seems to be playing out for energy storage technologies as well. Like solar power before it, recent investments in energy storage are pushing the technology into the mainstream.
In the United States, for example, multiple state governments have announced plans to invest more resources into energy storage technology. Markets in Italy, the UK and Germany are clamoring for the latest storage innovations as well. With interest in energy storage on the rise, there's no better time for engineers and building designers to incorporate energy storage into their next commercial projects. Incorporating energy storage solutions into building plans provides builders with new ways to make their client's building more cost-effective.
The future of HVAC
The major obstacle of energy storage is a lack of awareness and understanding of the types of energy storage available and the value energy storage brings to a building. As a result, insufficient pre-project planning can cause costs to increase if energy storage is not an early consideration of the design process. Energy storage life cycle value analysis early in the design process can pay for itself because of other building system synergies including emergency power and HVAC systems. Consulting-Specifying Engineer pointed out that more than half of survey respondents agree that energy efficiency and inadequate budgets for good design are affecting the future of HVAC systems.
To make up for the lack of understanding, engineers must educate the building owners on the value of reducing peak demand and become familiar with local utility rates. Energy storage can shift a facility's peak load demand. Consulting-Specifying Engineer pointed out that average buildings draw most of the energy they consume during certain peak periods throughout the day. Because the vast majority of peak periods for buildings overlaps, utility companies charge customers extra to supply power during these hours. Energy storage provides an opportunity to regulate a building's demand and avoid the extra costs that come with operating during peak periods. First costs in retrofit designs may be recouped by owners in 3-5 years. Considering that thermal energy storage systems can last 40 plus years, the additional design fees are arguably worth the investment.
By incorporating energy storage into building designs, a new facility will be prepared to store power when demand is at its lowest and electricity is at its cheapest. The strategy is versatile, so single buildings and entire campuses alike can benefit from the peak-load shifting principles of energy storage. Customers who decide to incorporate energy storage installations into building blueprints will enjoy a more cost-effective load demand schedule from the first day of operation.
Storage ideal for buildings that use renewable energy
With sustainability on the minds of most building owners, engineers have a great opportunity to stress the advantages of energy storage to customers designing a facility that incorporates renewables. After all, most renewable energy sources are limited in some way by the unpredictability of weather. Cloudy days can cripple solar panels, for example. The facility's peak load may not line up with time of the day when renewable energy sources are generating the most power. By introducing a means of efficiently saving power for later and distributing it on demand, these limitations of renewable energy can be mitigated. This makes energy storage an especially relevant resource for green building engineers and their clients.
