Five factors driving energy storage adoption in United States
December 3, 2014
There's no question that the energy storage adoption is on the rise, and that growth is centralized in North America. Research performed by Navigant identified nearly 100 additional grid-scale energy storage projects, installations totaling up to an additional 360 MW of storage capacity, were announced in the region over the past two years. Several factors supporting energy storage adoption have begun to gain momentum as the U.S. looks to resolve its grid resiliency and renewable energy problems.
Stability for the long term
The nation's demand for power has grown far faster than the country's power grid was originally designed to support. This power infrastructure is extensive and comprehensive upgrades would be very expensive, in part because of the non-scalable legacy installations that make up the current grid. As a result, a priority has been placed on energy storage solutions because they can both stabilize the grid in the present and facilitate growth as needed in the future, according to Renewable Energy World.
Support from state governments
State legislators lead the change on new energy storage investments. Hawaii, for instance, has prioritized energy storage development as a way of offsetting the state's energy costs that are among the country's most expensive, according to Forbes. The state's investments in energy storage are expected to continue increasing as Hawaii pushes its utility companies to achieve 70 percent renewable energy generation over the next 15 years. Forbes reported ramped up expansion of energy storage applications in California, Texas and Illinois as well. The adoption rate for energy storage is likely to continue accelerating as the grid-stabilizing projects begin to provide dividends on state investments.
Consumer demand for greater resiliency
A survey performed by General Electric about consumer attitudes toward grid resiliency showed a growing interest in a more reliable grid, said GE. Over 40 percent of Americans on the east side of the country and 34 percent of consumers on the west side of the United States reported that they were willing to pay a higher utility bill in order to fund improvements to the power grid. Another 81 percent of utility customers have expressed desire for their utilities to make greater future investments in renewable energy solutions. Both customer trends parallel the benefits of energy storage, respectively the technology's ability to add resiliency to the grid and supplement renewable energy installations.
Growing overlap with solar technology
With widespread deployment of solar photovoltaic installations has come additional opportunities for distributed storage, noted Green Tech Media. Energy storage particularly benefits solar technology by counterbalancing the variable rate of solar energy available throughout the day and helping to maximize the efficiency of the collection process. This specific potential for energy storage to support solar has lead the IRS to make tax credits available for sustainable solar projects that utilize energy storage.
Performance advantages over peak plants
A presentation prepared by clean energy consulting firm Strategen outlined several trends supporting the continued growth of the energy storage industry. One notable cause highlighted in the presentation was energy storage's superior performance when compared to peaking plants used to offset demand for renewable energy installations. Energy storage solutions demonstrated a more flexible capacity range per MW of power, a more rapid response time, and a 95 percent utilization rate per 100 MW, compared to 20 to 40 percent utilization found in peaking plants.
