Synthesis

In theory renewable energy sources are a great solution for reducing emissions to help
with the climate crisis (Lehtola et al., 2019). However, even though there are many types of
renewable energy sources now ranging from things like wind and solar to tidal energy, there are
still many shortcomings associated with the entire industry, and specifically when it comes to
renewable energy storage (Dinesh et al., 2018; Lehtola et al., 2019; Muttaqi et al., 2019; Wang et
al., 2019; Fambri et al., 2020; Tsai et al., 2018). But, there are many researchers, like the ones
who wrote these articles, that are working towards and investigating extremely innovative
solutions to this problem. While all six of these articles share the common theme of renewable
energy storage, almost every one touches a different type of storage technology and technique,
which is very promising since this is such a complex topic, and most likely there is never going
to be one ‘correct’ solution to renewable energy usage and storage.
A common theme among a few of the articles was water and its potential in the creation
and storage of renewable energy. It can be used for things like hydroelectric power,
hydro-pumps, and marine energy storage. However, there are limits to these sources and storage
methods since water is a limited resource and large bodies of water, like the ones needed for
energy production, can not be found everywhere (Tsai et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2019). Electric
vehicles are another type of storage that was mentioned in a few of the articles. For this type of
renewable energy system, which in most cases is solar, the power created can be used to charge
electric vehicles almost instantaneously (Lehtola et al., 2019; Muttaqi et al., 2019). This is a
great use of renewable energy since they can not be stored for long periods of time.
There were not many differences or discrepancies between the articles because this is
such a broad topic that affects all parts of the world, so the possibilities within the space are
extensive. This set of articles touches on a bunch of different systems, and one is not ‘better’ or
‘more correct’ then another. Some would realistically operate more efficiently in different areas
and on different scales, so this would be the main difference between the articles in this set.
One of the main challenges that a lot of these articles point to is the actual feasibility of
these products and systems when it comes to production, implementation, and scaling. For
example, redox-flow batteries seem like they would be a great option for storing renewable
energy, but at this point in time the development of these products is not to a level where they
would actually be effective on a large scale (Dinesh et al., 2018). This is similar to the power to
heat (P2H) technologies because in the modeling done by the authors, a P2H system would work
great in commercial and residential buildings, but the technology needed for the systems does
not actually fully exist yet (Fambri et al., 2020). For technologies and systems that do exist and
are fully operational, like a lot of marine energy storage systems, hydroelectricity, wind, and
solar, they come with a lot of upfront costs. So, even if in the long run customers could be saving
money, people get very turned off of renewable energy by the large initial costs (Tsai et al., 2018;
Wang et al., 2019).
This body of work definitely addresses the original question of, how can renewable
 energy be stored in innovative ways to create a buffer against reliability issues related to the
integration of renewable energies into the existing energy infrastructure, but I am not sure if it
provides one set answer because there are so many options for renewable energy storage out
there and that are explored within this body of work. One of these systems would not work on its
own because they all have their own unique functionality, and work better in certain
environments and contexts. So, I suppose the answer could be, researchers and scientists must
continue to explore innovative ways to store renewable energy because even though there are a
lot of great technologies out there, we are still not at a point now where these sources are reliable
enough to be used as a main component of large energy infrastructures.

Reference List

Dinesh, A., Olivera, S., Venkatesh, K., Santosh, M. S., Priya, M. G., Inamuddin, Asiri, A. M., &
Muralidhara, H. B. (2018). Iron-based flow batteries to store renewable energies. Environmental
Chemistry Letters, 16(3), 683–694. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-018-0709-8

Fambri, G., Badami, M., Tsagkrasoulis, D., Katsiki, V., Giannakis, G., & Papanikolaou, A. (2020).
Demand Flexibility Enabled by Virtual Energy Storage to Improve Renewable Energy
Penetration. ENERGIES, 13(19), 5128. https://doi.org/10.3390/en13195128

Lehtola, T., & Zahedi, A. (2019). Solar energy and wind power supply supported by storage technology:
A review. SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND ASSESSMENTS, 35, 25–31.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2019.05.013

Muttaqi, K. M., Islam, R., & Sutanto, D. (2019). Future Power Distribution Grids: Integration of
Renewable Energy, Energy Storage, Electric Vehicles, Superconductor, and Magnetic Bus. IEEE
TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY,

Tsai, Y.-C., Chan, Y.-K., Ko, F.-K., & Yang, J.-T. (2018). Integrated operation of renewable energy
sources and water resources. ENERGY CONVERSION AND MANAGEMENT, 160, 439–454.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2018.01.062

Wang, Z., Carriveau, R., Ting, D. S. K., Xiong, W., & Wang, Z. (2019). A review of marine renewable
energy storage. International Journal of Energy Research, 43(12), 6108–6150.
https://doi.org/10.1002/er.4444