Fighting Climate Change Isn’t Just About Green Energy, It’s Also About Green Energy Storage
As the world continues to grapple with the challenges of climate change, the search for efficient, renewable energy solutions has never been more urgent. A significant aspect of these challenges involves green energy storage, particularly as it pertains to accommodating the fluctuations in energy utilization.
In the past few years, batteries have taken center stage in the discourse on short-term energy storage, and efforts to scale this technology to meet grid-level requirements have seen remarkable progress. In fact, earlier this year, the British government awarded £11 million ($13.7 million) to global battery maker Invinity Energy Systems to build the UK’s largest-ever grid-scale battery storage. And even more recently, Apex Clean Energy developer announced two battery storage projects to be built in Texas.
However, a less talked about, but equally promising area is that of long-term energy storage. This is where green hydrogen technology finds its niche. Green hydrogen can serve as a carbon-free energy store, which can be converted back to electricity during peak demand, thus providing balancing power for the grid. In this context, hydrogen serves as a valuable medium for storing energy over extended periods, thereby bridging the gap in the current energy storage paradigm.
Green energy expert Dr. William E. Mustain, Ph.D. emphasizes the importance of developing new energy storage solutions. Mustain is Director of Emerging Energy Programs at the University of South Carolina.
William’s Thoughts:
“The energy utilization really goes up and down seasonally, not just hourly or day to day. So, you need media that can store that energy long term. So, batteries have received a ton of attention and making batteries at grid scale is a significant challenge and it’s something that lots and lots of people around the world are talking about and working on. We’re making huge strides in this sort of short-term energy storage. Where the green hydrogen thing comes in is that hydrogen can be used for long-term energy storage.”
