Energy Storage In Future Smart Grid
Tushar.M.Wadghule
Professor, Electrical Department, MET’s, Bhujbal Knowledge City, Nashik-422003.
tusharwadghule@gmail.com
Abstract-Generally, energy storage systems
enhance the performance of distributed renewable
generation systems and increase the efficiency of
the entire power system. Energy storage allows for
levelling the load, shaving peak demands, and
furthermore, transacting power with the utility
grid. Distributed energy storage systems in
combination with advanced power electronics have
a great technical role to play and will have a huge
impact on future electrical Supply systems and
lead to many types benefits. With the development
of advanced energy storage technologies, the
electrical energy storage systems are making the
future power system more reliable, efficient and
economical. This paper presents various energy
storage technologies currently used, their,
applications and the role they are going to play in
the future power system.
Keywords-- Distributed Generation (DG), Energy
Storage System (ESS), Smart Grid, Renewable
Energy.
I. INTRODUCTION
For more than one hundred years, utilities have
supplied reliable power to the globe with relatively
high quality of service. Today, as electricity demand
and customers’ expectations escalate, utilities are
struggling to fulfill those needs. Electricity industries
are being transformed worldwide, driven by the need
for more energy, urbanization, scarcity of natural
resources and global warming. At the present stage,
most of the electricity is generated in India is by
thermal power plants. These fossil-fuels based
generating plants are continuously polluting the air
and emitting greenhouse gases. The current trends in
energy supply and consumption are not
environmentally, economically and socially
sustainable. There is a clear need to introduce
II. ROLE OF ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM
Energy storage system basically means a system
which can store energy in any form that can be used
afterwards. Storing of energy at excess and using it
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Technologies that will assist in the mitigation of
greenhouse gases. Because the global energy market
increases continuously, while the conventional
energy resources deplete gradually, the renewable
energy solution becomes more attractive and
contributes to a sustainable development of the
society. India has an important potential of renewable
sources (hydro, wind, solar) and their exploitation
can lead to new perspectives over the energy future
of the country. Energy storage technologies present a
number of operating benefits to the grid that enable
improved reliability and increased power utilization
and efficiency.
Over the past decade, new storage techniques have
found their way to the market. Most of them have
higher efficiency, longer cycle-life, lower
maintenance and smaller footprint than the more
mature lead-acid or nickel-cadmium batteries. Their
appearance originated new research efforts on the
participation of storage in frequency control, and
interesting advances have been reported: e.g. it has
been shown that fast-acting storage such as lithium-
ion batteries or advanced flywheels can provide
frequency control services more effectively than
conventional resources, at lower life-cycle cost and
reduced CO2 emissions. Modular products up to 20
MW with a charge/discharge time at rated power of
15 min. have been developed. New technologies,
such as new wind forecast tools, demand-side
response, and fast start-up units, were proposed to
resolve storage problem. However, among them,
energy storage is a more viable solution because of
its fast response and flexibility in control. It can act
as a buffer that isolates the rest of the grid from these
frequent and rapid power changes caused by
renewable resources. The integration of renewable
energies in power systems of small, medium and
large scale has become a reality and it is constantly
expanding.
during shortage will cause reduce in cost. Reduce the
costs of electricity storage systems could drive
revolutionary changes in the Design and operation of
the electric power system. Peak load problems could
be reduced, electrical stability could be improved,
and power quality disturbances could be eliminated.
Storage can be applied at the power plant, in support
of the transmission system, at various points in the
distribution system and on particular appliances and
equipments on the customer’s side of the meter.
Energy storage systems in combination with
advanced power electronics (power electronics are
often the interface between energy storage systems
and the electrical grid) have a great technical role and
lead to many financial benefits. Some of these are
summarized in the following sections.
III. TECHNICAL ROLE AND FUNCTION OF
ELECTRICITY STORAGE
SYSTEM
A. Grid Voltage Support
Grid Voltage Support means power provided to the
electrical distribution grid to maintain voltages within
the acceptable range. This involves a trade-off
between the amount of “real” energy produced by
generators and the amount of “reactive” power
produced.
B. Grid Frequency Support
Grid Frequency Support means real power provided
to the electrical distribution grid to reduce any
sudden, large load- generation imbalance in order to
keep the3 grid frequency within the permissible
tolerance for periods up to 30 minutes.
C .Grid Angular (Transient) Stability
Grid Angular Stability means reducing power
oscillations (due to rapid events) by injection and
absorption of real power. Load Levelling / Peak
Shaving Load Levelling is rescheduling certain loads
to cut electrical power demand, or the production of
energy during off-peak periods for storage and use
during peak demand periods. Whilst Peak Shaving is
reducing electric usage during peak periods or
moving usage from the time of peak demand to off-
peak periods.
D. Spinning Reserve
Spinning Reserve is defined as the amount of
generation capacity that can be used to produce
active power over a given period of time which has
not yet been committed to the production of energy
during this period
E. Power Quality Improvement
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Power Quality is basically related to the changes in
magnitude and shape of voltage and current. This
result in different issues including: Harmonics, Power
Factor, Transients, Flicker, Sag and Swell, etc.
DESSs can mitigate these problems.
F. Power Reliability
Can be presented as the percentage/ratio of
interruption in delivery of electric power (may
include exceeding the threshold and not only
complete loss of power) versus total uptime.
Distributed energy storage systems (DESSs) can help
provide reliable electric service to consumers.
G. Ride through Support
Ride Through means the electric unit stays connected
during system disturbance (voltage sag). ESSs have
the potential of providing energy to ride-through.
H. Unbalanced Load Compensation
This can be done in combination with four-wire
inverters and also by injecting and absorbing power
individually at each phase to supply unbalanced
loads.
IV. DIFFERENT ENERGY STORAGE
TECHNOLOGY
Energy storage can be defined as the conversion of
electrical energy from a power network into a form in
which it can be stored until converted back to
electrical energy. There are different energy storage
technologies of which some are already in use and
some are yet to be implemented. Different energy
storage technologies serve different applications
depending on the amount of energy to be stored, the
rate at which it is to be transferred, and the response
time.
The following energy storage technologies are with
the high priority in the energy storage applications.
The comparison of these technologies is summarized
in TABLE below. Besides, there are several other
energy storage technologies, such as hydrogen energy
storage, thermal storage, and fuel cells.
 Figure 1. Comparison of different energy storage technology
A. Pumped Hydro Storage
The pumped hydro storage is the conventional and
most widely used energy storage technology. In this
storage, the electrical energy is stored as the potential
energy by pumping water to a higher reservoir during
off peak periods. This energy can be converted back
to the electrical energy by allowing the water to flow
from higher to lower reservoir and driving the hydro
turbines. Of the grid energy storage techniques
currently in use, the pumped hydro storage is the
largest one in terms of capacity. The efficiency of the
pumped hydro storage plant is about 70%–80%
which varies depending on the plant size, the type of
turbine, the penstock diameter, the height between
the reservoirs and the level of generation [5]. The
usage of pumped storage plants is limited to rural
areas because of the large area the system constitutes
for setting up the reservoirs.
B. Battery Energy Storage
The battery is charged to store the electrical energy in
the form of a chemical reaction inside the battery.
The reversal of this reaction will result in the
discharge of the battery producing
Electrical energy from the chemical reaction.
Because batteries store and produce DC power, the
power converters are essential for this type of storage
in order to interact with the AC power grid. Because
they are non-polluting, easy to install and portable,
the battery energy storage is the most convenient
form of storage in urban areas. A battery energy
storage system is made up of several low voltage
battery modules connected in series and parallel to
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Obtain the desired electrical characteristic. There are
many types of battery systems like lead-acid,
Lithium-ion, Sodium sulphur and flow batteries.
Among them, the Lead-acid battery is presently used
in many applications due to its low cost. Although
the batteries are the most convenient and practical
method, their high cost and less cycle life are of great
concern in their implementation. The implementation
of batteries in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is
challenging the existing energy management system
of power grids.
1. Sodium Sulphur (NAS) battery
The NAS battery operates at 300 °C, employing an
electrochemical reaction between sodium and
sulphur. Molten sulphur at the positive electrode and
molten sodium at the negative electrode are separated
by a solid beta alumina ceramic electrolyte. The
electrolyte allows only the positive sodium ions to
pass through it and combine with the sulphur to form
sodium polysulphides. During discharge, sodium ions
in the negative electrode pass through the solid
electrolyte to reach sulphur in the positive electrode.
A key issue is that the battery cannot be allowed to
cool down, as the sodium and sulphur will solidify
and damage the battery. The basic NAS battery
“building block” has a capacity of 50 kW.Batteries
can be connected together to provide megawatts of
power. A 1-MW system would be roughly the size of
two semi-trailers and would weigh approximately 88
tons. The batteries will last for at least 15 years,
assuming 2,500 charge/discharge cycles.
 applications are its high costs (>$600/kw-hr or over
twice the cost for a ZnBr battery) and cycle life
(2,000–5,000 cycles). On the positive side, Li-ion
efficiency is very high, potentially over 90 percent.

Figure 2. NAS battery station

2. Lithium Ion (Li-ion)

The electrolyte is made up of lithium salts dissolved

in organic carbonates. When the battery is being
charged, the lithium atoms in the cathode become
ions and migrate through the electrolyte toward the
carbon anode, where they combine with external
electrons and are deposited between carbon layers as
lithium atoms. This process is reversed during
discharge. Li-ion battery is the battery of choice for Figure 3. Lithium ion battery
laptops and vehicles because of its very high energy
density (on a weight basis), the key issues for utility Comparison of some battery types:-

Advanced Energy Cost (kWh) Cycle Life Other Issues or disadvantages

Battery Density
Type (Wh/kg)
Li - ion 90-190 $1,333 2000 High self-discharge rate and
requires special charging
circuit
NaS 100 $450 2500 Safety concerns addressed by
design; backup generator
required
Zinc 70 $500 1000 Energy density is a big issue for
Bromine Transportation
EDLC 6-10 $44,070 1,000,000 Has the highest dielectric absorption
SuperCap.
a 110 MW – 26 hour compressed air energy storage
3. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) plant in Alabama, built in 1991.

The compressed air energy storage uses the excess
power from the grid during off-peak load periods to
compress air and stores it in an underground reservoir
under the pressure. In case of the shortage of power,
the compressed air is released and burnt with a fuel to
drive the generator. Actually, this type of technology
is known as hybrid energy storage as it uses fuel as
well. However, for the same power output, the fuel
consumption in this storage is only one third of the
consumption for a regular combustion turbine. The
compressed air energy storage is not widely being
used presently due to the safety related issues of
storing compressed air in the underground. Currently
there is only one such kind of a plant in US, which is
4. Flywheel Storage
The flywheel energy storage stores the electrical
energy in the form of kinetic energy of a rotor or a
disc spinning around its axis on a shaft. The charging
or discharging of the flywheel
storage system takes place by changing the amount of
kinetic energy present in the accelerating or
decelerating rotor, respectively. The flywheel is
coupled with an electrical machine which acts as a
motor to drive the flywheel while charging and acts
as a generator to discharge the stored energy by
decelerating the rotor to stationary position. The
amount of energy stored depends on the moment of
inertia and square of the rotational speed of the rotor.

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Therefore, composite materials are used for the rotor
to reduce its weight allowing much high speeds. The
flywheel has a high power density and high cycle
life. A medium scale flywheel system is being
incorporated in New York City with ten 100kW – 30
seconds flywheels for regenerative braking and start
up of subway transit cars.
5. Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage
(SMES)
The superconducting magnetic energy storage
charges by storing the electrical energy in the form of
magnetic field created by the flow of DC current
through a coil made of superconducting material at
very low temperatures. The DC power stored in the
magnetic field can be discharged with high power
output in a short interval time. The energy stored in
the coil is proportional to the inductance of the coil
and square of the dc current creating the magnetic
field. The increase in the size of the coil can increase
the storage capacity. Superconducting magnetic
energy storage units up to 3 MW are in usage
presently. Due to its high efficiency and fast
response, the superconducting magnetic energy
storage is driving greater attention. A small SMES
unit of 1.0 MW, 0.75 MJ was installed and tested by
Central Hudson Gas and Electric Company to
improve local power quality and reliability.
6. Capacitors
The capacitor consists of two parallel electrode plates
which are separated by a dielectric. When the voltage
is applied across the terminals the positive and
negative charges get accumulated over the electrodes
of opposite polarity. The amount of energy stored in
the capacitor is proportional to the capacitance and
the square of the voltage applied. So, the energy
storage capacity can be increased with both
capacitance and voltage. Although the voltage is
restricted by the dielectric in the capacitors, the
capacitance can be increased by increasing the
permittivity and surface area of the electrodes or
decreasing the distance between the electrode plates.
The capacitor is generally used for the high power
short term applications, such as a pulsed load. There
has been much advancement in the capacitor storage
like the super-capacitor which has much lesser
volume for the same storage capability and with
much longer cycle life. The super-capacitor is now
available in the range of up to 100 kW with very a
short discharge time of up to ten seconds.
7. Thermal
Not generally thought of as one of the new, high-tech
energy storage technologies, thermal energy storage
5
systems already exist in widely used applications.
Thermal systems can either be ice-based for peak
shaving commercial and industrial cooling loads or
molten-salt based for steam production.
8. Hydrogen
Hydrogen energy storage is still in the developmental
stages as well, but will be an integral component of
any post-fossil energy market. The hydrogen can be
stored in a gas, liquid, metal hydride or carbon-based
form, which is then released through a chemical
reaction to power a fuel cell. There are several
hydrogen storage modes, such as: compressed,
liquefied, metal hydride, etc. For station applications,
pressurized tanks with a volume anywhere between
10-2 and 10,000 m3 are the simplest solution to date.
Currently available commercial cylinders can stand
pressures up to 350 bars.
V. ENERGY STORAGE IN FUTURE SMART
GRID
Due to the aging infrastructure, environmental
concerns, security issues, to avoid blackouts and to
ensure high efficiencies, there has been much interest
laid by the United States government in transforming
the conventional electric grid into a future smart grid.
With the large scale integration of renewable energy
sources and distributed generation into the power
grid, energy storage devices will play a key role in
the future smart grid. The smart grid without energy
storage devices is said to be like a computer without
hard drive. Presently only 2.5 % of the total electric
power delivered in the United States passes through
energy storage, almost all of which is pumped hydro
storage. The distributed energy storage devices
connected to the grid on a large scale can be helpful
in meeting peak loads, maintaining power quality,
and reducing the reserve capacity. With the less
response time, the energy storage can reduce spikes
in the load and ensure the power supply to the loads
during the faults until the system is restored. The
distributed energy storage can help in reducing losses
on the distribution lines. The energy storage can also
play a major role in the micro grid operation by
helping in islanding and reconnection process, and
increasing the range of load that could be supplied by
the micro grid. In addition, the plug-in hybrid
electrical vehicle is driving greater attention in the
smart grid, which charge when the vehicle is running
and can supply the power to the grid when the
vehicle is parked. The plug-in hybrid electrical
vehicle can facilitate the micro grid to meet load
demand transients or grid power quality events. With
many applications in the power grid, the large scale
integration of energy storage is still lacking because
of the following challenges,

1. A economic energy storage device is to be
developed since the existing devices are requiring the
high capital investment
The optimal location, type, and size of the energy
storage system is still a major concern to the utilities.
2. Both optimal software and hardware models for
the energy storage applications are to be developed.
Rodriguez, Member, IEEE “A Utility Perspective of
the Role of Energy Storage in the Smart Grid.”
[7] U.S. department of energy,netl,report september
2009,“energy storage–a key enabler of the smart
grid.”
[8] ali nourai and chris schafer IEEE magzines,
“changing the Electricity game.”

3. The high-efficient power electronic conversion

system is to be developed to increase the efficiency
of the energy storage system.

4. The proper coordination of the energy storage with

the renewable energy sources should be determined.
5. The long-life and clean battery technology should
be developed for minimizing its negative impact on
the environment.

VI. CONCLUSION
This paper presents various energy storage
techniques and their applications in the storage in
smart grid. The benefits from the energy storage with
the renewable energy sources, at the grid are
discussed. The importance of storage systems in
electricity grids is finally receiving the attention of
system planners as more storage options become
available. As nations around the world continue to
increase their portfolios of renewable energy, the
participation of storage is increasing. The design of
smart grids in the future will take advantage of
storage in dealing with more dynamic loads and
sources.

VII.REFERENCES
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considerations for distributed micro- storage systems
in residential applications.”
[3] Gauthier Delille, Member, IEEE, Bruno
François, Senior Member, IEEE, and Gilles
Malarange, “Dynamic frequency control support: a
virtual inertia provided by distributed energy storage
to isolated power systems.”
[4] Sandeep Yeleti, Student Member, IEEE, and
Yong Fu, Member, IEEE “Impacts of Energy Storage
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[5] I. Serban, Member IEEE, C. Marinescu,
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[6] Bradford P. Roberts, Life Senior Member IEEE,
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