ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

Storing energy allows humans to balance the supply and demand of energy. Energy storage
systems in commercial use today can be broadly categorized as mechanical, electrical, chemical,
biological and thermal.

Energy storage became a dominant factor in economic development with the widespread
introduction of electricity and refined chemical fuels, such as gasoline, kerosene and natural gas
in the late 19th century. Unlike other common energy storage in prior use such as wood or coal,
electricity must be used as it is being generated, or converted immediately into another form of
energy such as potential, kinetic or chemical. Until recently electrical energy has not been
converted and stored on a major scale, however new efforts to that effect began in the 21st
century.

In the U.S., the 2009 Stimulus Plan helped finance research into energy storage and its
integration with smart electrical grids.[1] Electricity is transmitted in a closed circuit, and for
essentially any practical purposes cannot be stored as electrical energy. This means that changes
in demand cannot be accommodated without either cutting supplies (as by brownouts or
blackouts) or by storing the electric energy in another medium.

Even renewable energy must be stored in order to make it reliable. Wind blows intermittently
and so some form of storage is required to compensate for calm periods. Solar energy is equally
not available on cloudy days and during the nighttime, so stored energy must be available to
compensate for the loss of sunlight.

An early solution to the problem of storing energy for electrical purposes was the development
of the battery as an electrochemical storage device. Batteries have previously been of limited use
in electric power systems due to their relatively small capacity and high cost, however since
about the middle of the first decade of the 21st century newer battery technologies have been
developed that can now provide significant utility scale load-leveling capabilities. [2] A similar
possible solution to deal with the intermittency issue of solar and wind energy is found in the
capacitor.

In the 1980s, a number of manufacturers carefully researched thermal energy storage (TES) to
meet the growing demand for air conditioning during peak hours. Today, several companies
manufacture TES systems.[3] The most popular form of thermal energy storage for cooling is ice
storage, since it can store more energy in less space than water storage and it is also less costly
than energy recovered via fuel cells or flywheels. Thermal storage has cost-effectively shifted
gigawatts of power away from daytime peak usage periods, and in 2009 was used in over 3,300
buildings in over 35 countries. It works by creating ice at night when electricity is usually less
costly, and then using the ice to cool the air in buildings during the hotter daytime periods.

Chemical fuels have become the dominant form of energy storage, both in electrical generation
and energy transportation. Chemical fuels in common use are processed coal, gasoline, diesel
fuel, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), propane, butane, ethanol and biodiesel. All of
these materials are readily converted to mechanical energy and then to electrical energy using
heat engines (via turbines or other internal combustion engines, or boilers or other external
combustion engines) used for electrical power generation. Heat-engine-powered generators are
nearly universal, ranging from small engines producing only a few kilowatts to utility-scale
generators with ratings up to 800 megawatts. A key disadvantage to hydrocarbon fuels are their
significant emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, as well as other
significant pollutants emitted by the dirtier fuel sources such as coal and gasoline.

Some areas of the world such as Washington and Oregon in the United States, and Wales in the
United Kingdom, have used geographic features to store large quantities of water in elevated
reservoirs, using excess electricity at times of low demand to pump water up to the reservoirs,
then letting the water pass through turbine generators to retrieve the energy when electrical
demands peak.[2]

Liquid hydrocarbon fuels are the most commonly used forms of energy storage for use in
transportation, but because the byproducts of the reaction that utilizes these liquid fuels' energy
(combustion) produce greenhouse gases other energy carriers like hydrogen can be used to avoid
production of greenhouse gases.

Storage methods
Chemical
o Hydrogen
o Biofuels

o Liquid nitrogen

o Oxyhydrogen

o Hydrogen peroxide

Biological
o Starch
o Glycogen

Electrochemical
o Batteries
o Flow batteries

o Fuel cells

Electrical
o Capacitor
 o Supercapacitor

o Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES)

Mechanical
o Compressed air energy storage (CAES)
o Flywheel energy storage

o Hydraulic accumulator

o Hydroelectric energy storage

o Spring

o Gravitational potential energy (device)

Thermal
o Ice Storage
o Molten salt

o Cryogenic liquid air or nitrogen

o Seasonal thermal store

o Solar pond

o Hot bricks

o Graphite accumulator very high temperature

o Steam accumulator

o Fireless locomotive

o Eutectic system

Chemical
 Hydrogen

Hydrogen is also being developed as an electrical power storage medium. Hydrogen is not a
primary energy source, but a portable energy storage method, because it must first be
manufactured by other energy sources in order to be used. However, as a storage medium, it may
be a significant factor in using renewable energies. See hydrogen storage.

Underground hydrogen storage is the practice of hydrogen storage in underground caverns, salt
domes and depleted oil and gas fields. Large quantities of gaseous hydrogen are stored in
underground caverns for many years without any difficulties.[6] The storage of large quantities of
hydrogen underground can function as grid energy storage which is essential for the hydrogen
economy. By using a turbo expander, the electricity needs for compressed storage at 200 bars
amounts to 2.1% of the energy content.[7]

With intermittent renewable such as solar and wind, the output may be fed directly into an
electricity grid. At penetrations below 20% of the grid demand, this does not severely change the
economics; but beyond about 20% of the total demand, external storage will become important.
If these sources are used for electricity to make hydrogen, then they can be utilized fully
whenever they are available, opportunistically. Broadly speaking, it does not matter when they
cut in or out, the hydrogen is simply stored and used as required. A community based pilot
program using wind turbines and hydrogen generators is being undertaken from 2007 for five
years in the remote community of Ramea, Newfoundland and Labrador.[8] A similar project has
been going on since 2004 on Utsira, a small Norwegian island municipality.

Energy losses are involved in the hydrogen storage cycle of hydrogen production for vehicle
applications with electrolysis of water, liquification or compression, and conversion back to
electricity.[9] and the hydrogen storage cycle of production for the stationary fuel cell applications
like microchp at 93 %[10] with biohydrogen or biological hydrogen production, and conversion to
electricity.

About 50 kW·h (180 MJ) of solar energy is required to produce a kilogram of hydrogen, so the
cost of the electricity clearly is crucial, even for hydrogen uses other than storage for electrical
generation. At $0.03/kWh, common off-peak high-voltage line rate in the United States, this
means hydrogen costs $1.50 a kilogram for the electricity, equivalent to $1.50 a U.S. gallon for
gasoline if used in a fuel cell vehicle. Other costs would include the electrolyzer plant, hydrogen
compressors or liquefaction, storage and transportation, which will be significant.

Mechanical storage
Energy can be stored in water pumped to a higher elevation using pumped storage methods, in
compressed air, or in spinning flywheels.

A mass of 1 kg, elevated to a height of 1000 m stores 9.8 kJ of gravitational energy, which is
equivalent to 1 kg mass accelerated to 140 m/s. To store the same mass of water, if increased in
temperature by 2.34 Celsius, requires the same amount of energy. Admittedly, this is a bit of an
unfair comparison, but it makes it easy to see how it is possible to store more energy in 1 m 3 of
cheap rock or sand than 1 m3 of lead–acid battery, even if the battery is also moved to a higher
elevation, not just charged.

Compressed air energy storage technology stores low cost off-peak energy, in the form of
compressed air in an underground reservoir. The air is then released during peak load hours and
heated with the exhaust heat of a standard combustion turbine. This heated air is converted to
energy through expansion turbines to produce electricity. A CAES plant has been in existence in
McIntosh, Alabama since 1991 and has run successfully. Other applications are possible. Walker
Architects published the first CO2 gas CAES application, proposing the use of sequestered CO2
for Energy Storage on October 24, 2008.

Several companies have done preliminary design work for vehicles using compressed air power.

Thermal storage
Thermal storage is the temporary storage or removal of heat for later use. An example of thermal
storage is the storage of solar heat energy during the day to be used at a later time for heating at
night. In the HVAC/R field, this type of application using thermal storage for heating is less
common than using thermal storage for cooling. An example of the storage of "cold" heat
removal for later use is ice made during the cooler night time hours for use during the hot
daylight hours. This ice storage is produced when electrical utility rates are lower. This is often
referred to as "off-peak" cooling.

When used for the proper application with the appropriate design, off-peak cooling systems can
lower energy costs. The U.S. Green Building Council has developed the Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED) program to encourage the design of high-performance
buildings that will help protect our environment. The increased levels of energy performance by
utilizing off-peak cooling may qualify of credits toward LEED Certification.

The advantages of thermal storage are:

 Commercial electrical rates are lower at night.

 It takes less energy to make ice when the ambient temperature is cool at night. Source
energy (energy from the power plant) is saved.
 A smaller, more efficient system can do the job of a much larger unit by running for more
hours.
Following are the detailed methods of energy storage:

ELECTRICAL

1. CAPACITOR:
A capacitor (originally known as condenser) is a passive two-terminal electrical component
used to store energy in an electric field. The forms of practical capacitors vary widely, but all
contain at least two electrical conductors separated by a dielectric (insulator); for example,
one common construction consists of metal foils separated by a thin layer of insulating film.
Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits in many common electrical devices.

When there is a potential difference (voltage) across the conductors, a static electric field
develops across the dielectric, causing positive charge to collect on one plate and negative
charge on the other plate. Energy is stored in the electrostatic field. An ideal capacitor is
characterized by a single constant value, capacitance, measured in farads. This is the ratio of
the electric charge on each conductor to the potential difference between them.

The capacitance is greatest when there is a narrow separation between large areas of
conductor; hence capacitor conductors are often called "plates," referring to an early means
of construction. In practice, the dielectric between the plates passes a small amount of
leakage current and also has an electric field strength limit, resulting in a breakdown voltage,
while the conductors and leads introduce an undesired inductance and resistance.

Capacitors are widely used in electronic circuits for blocking direct current while allowing
alternating current to pass, in filter networks, for smoothing the output of power supplies, in
the resonant circuits that tune radios to particular frequencies, in electric power transmission
systems for stabilizing voltage and power flow, and for many other purposes.

Energy storage

A capacitor can store electric energy when disconnected from its charging circuit, so it can be
used like a temporary battery. Capacitors are commonly used in electronic devices to maintain
power supply while batteries are being changed. (This prevents loss of information in volatile
memory.)

Conventional capacitors provide less than 360 joules per kilogram of energy density, while
capacitors using developing technologies could provide more than 2.52 kilojoules per kilogram.
However, a conventional alkaline battery has a density of 590 kJ/kg.
In car audio systems, large capacitors store energy for the amplifier to use on demand. Also for a
flash tube a capacitor is used to hold the high voltage.

2. SUPERCAPACITOR
An electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC), also known as supercapacitor, supercondenser,
electrochemical double layer capacitor, or ultracapacitor, is an electrochemical capacitor
with relatively high energy density. Their energy density is typically hundreds of times greater
than conventional electrolytic capacitors.[1].

A typical D-cell-sized electrolytic capacitor may have capacitance of up to tens of millifarads.

The same size EDLC might reach several farads, an improvement of two orders of magnitude.
As of 2011 EDLCs had a maximum working voltage of a few volts (standard electrolytics can
work at hundreds of volts) and capacities of up to 5,000 farads.[2] The amount of energy stored
per unit of mass is called specific energy, which is often measured in watt-hours per kilogram
(W⋅h/kg) or megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg). In 2010 the highest available EDLC specific
energy was 30 W⋅h/kg (0.1 MJ/kg).[3] Up to 85 W⋅h/kg has been achieved at room temperature in
the lab,[4] which is still lower than rapid-charging lithium-titanate batteries.[5]

Much research is being carried out to improve performance; for example an order of magnitude
energy density improvement was achieved in the laboratory in mid-2011.[6] Prices are dropping: a
3 kF capacitor that cost US$5,000 in 2000 cost $50 in 2011.

EDLCs are used for energy storage rather than as general-purpose circuit components. They have
a variety of commercial applications, notably in "energy smoothing" and momentary-load
devices. They have applications as energy-storage and KERS devices used in vehicles, and for
smaller applications like home solar energy systems where extremely fast charging is a valuable
feature.

Flywheel energy storage (FES) :-

Works by accelerating a rotor (flywheel) to a very high speed and maintaining the
energy in the system as rotational energy. When energy is extracted from the system, the
flywheel's rotational speed is reduced as a consequence of the principle of conservation
of energy; adding energy to the system correspondingly results in an increase in the speed
of the flywheel.

Most FES systems use electricity to accelerate and decelerate the flywheel, but devices
that directly use mechanical energy are being developed.
 Advanced FES systems have rotors made of high strength carbon filaments, suspended
by magnetic bearings, and spinning at speeds from 20,000 to over 50,000 rpm in a
vacuum enclosure.[2] Such flywheels can come up to speed in a matter of minutes —
much quicker than some other forms of energy storage.[2]

Transportation
Road

In the 1950s, flywheel-powered buses, known as gyrobuses, were used in Yverdon, Switzerland
and there is ongoing research to make flywheel systems that are smaller, lighter, cheaper and
have a greater capacity. It is hoped that flywheel systems can replace conventional chemical
batteries for mobile applications, such as for electric vehicles. Proposed flywheel systems would
eliminate many of the disadvantages of existing battery power systems, such as low capacity,
long charge times, heavy weight and short usable lifetimes. Flywheels may have been used in the
experimental Chrysler Patriot, though that has been disputed.

During the 1990s, Rosen Motors developed a gas turbine powered series hybrid automotive
powertrain using a 55,000 rpm flywheel to provide bursts of acceleration which the small gas
turbine engine could not provide. The flywheel also stored energy through regenerative braking.
The flywheel was composed of a titanium hub with a carbon fiber cylinder and was gimbal-
mounted to minimize adverse gyroscopic effects on vehicle handling. The prototype vehicle was
successfully road tested in 1997 but was never mass-produced.

Rail vehicles

Flywheel systems have also been used experimentally in small electric locomotives for shunting
or switching, e.g. the Sentinel-Oerlikon Gyro Locomotive. Larger electric locomotives, e.g.
British Rail Class 70, have sometimes been fitted with flywheel boosters to carry them over gaps
in the third rail. Advanced flywheels, such as the 133 kW·h pack of the University of Texas at
Austin, can take a train from a standing start up to cruising speed.[2]

The Parry People Mover is a railcar which is powered by a flywheel. It was trialled on Sundays
for 12 months on the Stourbridge Town Branch Line in the West Midlands, England during 2006
and 2007 and was intended to be introduced as a full service by the train operator London
Midland in December 2008 once two units had been ordered. In January 2010, both units are in
operation.[10]

Rail electrification

FES can be used at the lineside of electrified railways to help regulate the line voltage thus
improving the acceleration of unmodified electric trains and the amount of energy recovered
back to the line during regenerative braking, thus lowering energy bills.[11] Trials have taken
place in London, New York, Lyon and Tokyo, [12] and New York MTA's Long Island Rail Road
is now investing $5.2m in a pilot project on LIRR's West Hempstead Branch line.[13]

Uninterruptible power supply

Flywheel power storage systems in production as of 2001 have storage capacities comparable to
batteries and faster discharge rates. They are mainly used to provide load leveling for large
battery systems, such as an uninterruptible power supply for data centers as they save a
considerable amount of space compared to battery systems.[14]

Flywheel maintenance in general runs about one-half the cost of traditional battery UPS systems.
The only maintenance is a basic annual preventive maintenance routine and replacing the
bearings every five to ten years, which takes about four hours. [6] Newer flywheel systems
completely levitate the spinning mass using maintenance-free magnetic bearings, thus
eliminating mechanical bearing maintenance and failures.[6]

Costs of a fully installed flywheel UPS are about $330 per 15 seconds at one kilowatt.[15] In
combination with a diesel generator set or integrated design, it supplies continuous power as long
as there is fuel.

Amusement ride

The Incredible Hulk roller coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure features a rapidly
accelerating uphill launch as opposed to the typical gravity drop. This is achieved through
powerful traction motors that throw the car up the track. To achieve the brief very high current
required to accelerate a full coaster train to full speed uphill, the park utilizes several motor
generator sets with large flywheels. Without these stored energy units, the park would have to
invest in a new substation and risk browning-out the local energy grid every time the ride
launches.

A Flybrid Systems Kinetic Energy Recovery System built for use in Formula One

The FIA has re-allowed the use of KERS (see kinetic energy recovery system) as part of its
Formula One 2009 Sporting Regulations.[17] which is now back in for the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Using a continuously variable transmission (CVT), energy is recovered from the drive train
during braking and stored in a flywheel. This stored energy is then used during acceleration by
altering the ratio of the CVT.[18] In motor sports applications this energy is used to improve
acceleration rather than reduce carbon dioxide emissions—although the same technology can be
applied to road cars to improve fuel efficiency.[19]

Automobile Club de l'Ouest, the organizer behind the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans event and the
Le Mans Series, is currently "studying specific rules for LMP1 which will be equipped with a
kinetic energy recovery system."[20]
Grid energy storage

Beacon Power opened a 20 MW, (5 MWh over 15 mins) [21] flywheel energy storage plant in
Stephentown, New York in 2011.[22] Lower carbon emissions, faster response times and ability to
buy power at off-peak hours are among some advantages of using flywheels instead of traditional
sources of energy for peaking power plants.[23]

Wind turbines

Flywheels may be used to store energy generated by wind turbines during off-peak periods or
during high wind speeds.

Beacon Power recently began testing of their Smart Energy 25 (Gen 4) flywheel energy storage
system at a wind farm in Tehachapi, California. The system is part of a wind power/flywheel
demonstration project being carried out for the California Energy Commission (Beacon Power
Press Release March 2010).

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
(PSH) is a type of hydroelectric power generation used by some power plants for load balancing.
The method stores energy in the form of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a
higher elevation. Low-cost off-peak electric power is used to run the pumps. During periods of
high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power.
Although the losses of the pumping process makes the plant a net consumer of energy overall,
the system increases revenue by selling more electricity during periods of peak demand, when
electricity prices are highest.

Pumped storage is the largest-capacity form of grid energy storage available, and, as of March
2012, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) reports that PSH accounts for more than 99%
of bulk storage capacity worldwide, representing around 127,000 MW.[1] PSH reported energy
efficiency varies in practice between 70% to 87%.

At times of low electrical demand, excess generation capacity is used to pump water into the
higher reservoir. When there is higher demand, water is released back into the lower reservoir
through a turbine, generating electricity. Reversible turbine/generator assemblies act as pump
and turbine (usually a Francis turbine design). Nearly all facilities use the height difference
between two natural bodies of water or artificial reservoirs. Pure pumped-storage plants just shift
the water between reservoirs, while the "pump-back" approach is a combination of pumped
storage and conventional hydroelectric plants that use natural stream-flow. Plants that do not use
pumped-storage are referred to as conventional hydroelectric plants; conventional hydroelectric
plants that have significant storage capacity may be able to play a similar role in the electrical
grid as pumped storage, by deferring output until needed.

Taking into account evaporation losses from the exposed water surface and conversion losses,
approximately 70% to 85% of the electrical energy used to pump the water into the elevated
reservoir can be regained.[6] The technique is currently the most cost-effective means of storing
large amounts of electrical energy on an operating basis, but capital costs and the presence of
appropriate geography are critical decision factors.

Thermal: solar pond

A solar pond is a pool of saltwater which acts as a large-scale solar thermal energy
collector with integral heat storage for supplying thermal energy. A solar pond can be
used for various applications, such as process heating, desalination, refrigeration, drying
and solar power generation.

Solar pond is simply a pool of saltwater which collects and stores solar thermal energy. The
saltwater naturally forms a vertical salinity gradient also known as a "halocline", in which low-
salinity water floats on top of high-salinity water. The layers of salt solutions increase in
concentration (and therefore density) with depth. Below a certain depth, the solution has a
uniformly high salt concentration.

There are 3 distinct layers of water in the pond:

 The top layer, which has a low salt content.

 An intermediate insulating layer with a salt gradient, which establishes a density gradient
that prevents heat exchange by natural convection.
 The bottom layer, which has a high salt content.

If the water is relatively translucent, and the pond's bottom has high optical absorption, then
nearly all of the incident solar radiation (sunlight) will go into heating the bottom layer.

When solar energy is absorbed in the water, its temperature increases, causing thermal expansion
and reduced density. If the water were fresh, the low-density warm water would float to the
surface, causing convection current. The temperature gradient alone causes a density gradient
that decreases with depth. However the salinity gradient forms a density gradient that increases
with depth, and this counteracts the temperature gradient, thus preventing heat in the lower layers
from moving upwards by convection and leaving the pond. This means that the temperature at
the bottom of the pond will rise to over 90 °C while the temperature at the top of the pond is
usually around 30 °C

Steam accumulator
A Steam accumulator is an insulated steel pressure tank containing hot water and steam
under pressure. It is a type of energy storage device. It can be used to smooth out peaks
 and troughs in demand for steam. Steam accumulators may take on significance for
energy storage in solar thermal energy projects.

Charge
The tank is about half-filled with cold water and steam is blown in from a boiler via a perforated
pipe near the bottom of the drum. Some of the steam condenses and heats the water. The
remainder fills the space above the water level. When the accumulator is fully charged the
condensed steam will have raised the water level in the drum to about three-quarters full and the
temperature and pressure will also have risen.

Discharge
Steam can be drawn off as required, either for driving a steam turbine or for process purposes
(e.g. in chemical engineering), by opening a steam valve on top of the drum. The pressure in the
drum will fall but the reduced pressure causes more water to boil and the accumulator can go on
supplying steam (while gradually reducing pressure and temperature) for some time before it has
to be re-charged.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------