ENERGY STORAGE
Updated: Mar 9, 2022
TECHNOLOGIES OF ENERGY STORAGE
Augwind’s AirBattery represents a revolutionary approach to energy storage, combining pumped-hydro and compressed air into a modular, scalable system, with minimal environmental footprint and with the perfect fit to address distributed energy storage applications.
Video credit: Augwind
Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an accumulator or battery.
Energy comes in multiple forms including radiation, chemical, gravitational potential, electrical potential, electricity, elevated temperature, latent heat and kinetic. Energy storage involves converting energy from forms that are difficult to store to more conveniently or economically storable forms.
Technologies of Energy Storage
A wide array of storage technologies have been developed so that the grid can meet everyday energy needs.
Since the discovery of electricity, scientist have sought effective methods to store that energy for use on demand. Over the last century, the energy storage industry has continued to evolve, adapt, and innovate in response to changing energy requirements and advances in technology.
Energy storage systems provide a wide array of technological approaches to managing our power supply in order to create a more resilient energy infrastructure and bring cost savings to utilities and consumers. To help understand the diverse approaches currently being deployed around the world, we have divided them into six main categories:
BATTERIES: a range of electrochemical storage solutions, including advanced chemistry batteries, flow batteries, and capacitors
THERMAL: Capturing heat and cold to create energy on demand or offset energy needs
MECHANICAL STORAGE: Other innovative technologies to harness kinetic or gravitational energy to store electricity
HYDROGEN: Excess electricity generation can be converted into hydrogen via electrolysis and stored
PUMPED HYDROPOWER: Creating large-scale reservoirs of energy with water
COMPRESSED AIR ENERGY STORAGE: Compressed-air energy storage (CAES) is a way to store energy for later use using compressed air. At a utility scale, energy generated during periods of low demand can be released during peak load periods