Battery storage: the next oil – and gas? [GasTransitions]
Apr 14, 2021 7:15:am
Summary The race for battery storage capacity is on. In countries like Australia and the US, an increasing number of ever-larger battery grid storage projects are being announced. [Gas Transitions Volume 2, Issue 3]
by: Karel Beckman
The race for battery storage capacity is on. In countries like Australia and the US, an increasing number of ever-larger battery grid storage projects are being announced. They are likely to increasingly replace gas-fired back-up power plants. At the same time, China, the US and Europe are in a race to build battery gigafactories to supply the growing EV market. According to Simon Moores of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, we are on the verge of a “global lithium-ion economy”.
April 1, 2021
Two months after snow, ice, and temperatures as low as -6° F left 4 million Texans without electricity, the fight over how to power the state’s future is just heating up.
In February, the Texas grid came four minutes away from complete collapse. Half of the state’s electricity generating capacity failed. Coal, nuclear, wind, and solar plants left gaping holes in the state’s energy supply, and natural gas left the biggest: 17,000 megawatts. The outage left at least 100 people dead, and $90 billion in damages. It also sparked interest in building more power plants to guard against the next one. Last week, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary pitched one of the ambitious proposals yet: Build 10,000 MW of natural gas plants with on-site fuel storage.
President Biden s aggressive goal to completely decarbonize the power sector in the next 15 years brings him directly in conflict with natural gas, the resource that has largely driven U.S. emissions reductions to date.
Inside Clean Energy: The Energy Storage Boom Has Arrived
After years of build up, a giant battery storage project is online in Moss Landing, California, and a huge one is on the way in Florida.
January 7, 2021
A worker controls batteries in an electricity storage container on Sept. 29, 2020 in Fontenelle near Dijon in France. Credit: Philippe Desmazes/AFP via Getty Images
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Just five years ago, a 20 megawatt battery storage project was considered big.
Now a 300 megawatt project, the largest in the world, has gone online in California, and even bigger battery projects are coming in 2021.
Battery storage has entered a new phase of rapid growth, brought on by falling prices for lithium-ion batteries and rising demand for electricity sources that can fill in the gaps in a grid that is increasingly fueled by wind and solar. High demand is leading to a boom in investment in battery companies, and fevered speculation about new kinds of batteries.
Market Design for the Clean Energy Transition: Advancing Long-Term Approaches
December 16, 2020 to December 17, 2020
12:00 PM - 3:30 PM
WRI partnered with Resources for the Future to co-host a workshop aimed at advancing proposals for organized long-term electricity market designs.
Rapid expansion of zero- and low-carbon generating capacity requires effective policy frameworks for both vertically integrated utilities and organized (restructured) electricity markets. A vibrant debate has emerged regarding how well existing market designs in the U.S. can enable the investments needed for an affordable, reliable, deeply decarbonized electric grid that relies heavily on generation resources with variable output and zero or very low operating costs; and serves load that could grow rapidly in the decades ahead as electricity plays a pivotal role in decarbonizing other sectors of the economy.