I spend a good deal of time at energy storage conferences, trying to figure out where the various technologies and business models are headed. I thought I had most of the nuances figured out – until I ran into Sam Jaffe at the Energy Storage America conference in Charlotte in April. After a brief discussion, I realized I had some more understanding to do, and was able to arrange a follow-up conversation. I first met Jaffe when he was active at Navigant Research as their main energy storage analyst, and he has since moved on to become Managing Director at Cairn Energy Research Advisors (Cairn ERA). Jaffe’s spent more than 10 years in energy storage as an analyst, consultant, entrepreneur and executive from all ends of the business. So he’s practically been watching this space since before it became relevant.

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Energy storage has been hailed as the missing link and even an essential ingredient to higher levels of wind and solar power, but anew paper from Argonne National Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology questions that premise.

The authors of the report, “The value of energy storage in decarbonizing the electricity sector,” conclude that the value of shorter-duration storage technologies, up to about two hours, is only justified by generation cost savings under the most stringent carbon emissions limits, and even then, only at low storage penetration levels. Hence, continued innovation and cost declines for lithium-ion batteries and other electrochemical energy storage technologies will be necessary to economically justify large-scale deployment in future low-carbon power systems.

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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued a landmark resolution that requires a major utility to procure energy storage capacity as quickly as possible.

There has been a moratorium on gas injections at the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility ever since Southern California Gas Company members of staff discovered a now infamous methane gas leak in October last year.

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Energy Storage News – In the quest for a radically better lithium-ion battery, a promising direction is the so-called “lithium-rich” cathode, in which the cathode contains a higher proportion of lithium than normal. While it has the potential to have far higher energy density, scientists have lacked a clear picture of the chemical processes, especially the role of oxygen.

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Energy Storage News – Variable output renewable energy systems, such as wind turbines and solar panels, are growing across Europe and contribute to supply and price volatility in electricity markets. 

Systems for energy storage, for example reversed hydro power plants, large scale compressed air systems and batteries, provide ways to compensate for this variable power supply by storing excess power and releasing it when there is a production shortage. 

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Energy Storage News – Jay Whitacre is a former Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor whose work was featured in the Mars Rover Program. He is also the creator of the “edible battery”, better known as the Aquion Energy Battery System.

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Grid-based energy storage directly addresses one of the main issues facing renewable energy; renewable sources aren’t always available. The sun doesn’t always shine. The wind doesn’t always blow.

Energy storage solutions allow energy to be stored during sunny and windy periods, and be released when it is needed. It may sound like a simple concept, but there are a number of ways energy storage can be achieved.

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Energy Storage News – As researchers look for better ways to store energy, pseudocapacitors (“super-fast batteries”) have proven to be of great interest thanks to their fast charging and discharging, high power density, and excellent cycling stability. The technology is likely to be beneficial to many potential applications ranging from personal (think portable electronics) to nationwide grid energy storage. Typically, transition metal oxides are used in electrodes of batteries and these pseudocapacitors.

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The U.S. energy storage market is continuing along a roller-coaster of rapid growth, according to the latest report by GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association (ESA). Q1 2016 U.S. Energy Storage Monitor found a 127% growth year-over-year to 18.3 MW installed, which is also down 84% from a spike in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The market is also changing significantly. While behind-the-meter installations have in the past been a much smaller market than utility-scale, during Q1 behind-the-meter energy storage made up nearly half of all newly installed capacity at 8.9 MW. This is accompanied by an ongoing geographic shift in the market.

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Energy Storage News – According to GTM Research and ESA’s latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, the U.S. deployed 18.3MW (21.2MW-hrs) of energy storage in the first quarter of 2016. Deployments were up 127% year-over-year, but down 84% from the historic fourth quarter of 2015.

The first quarter continued the trend of relatively slow starts seen over the last few years. However, residential energy storage was a standout segment both quarterly and annually. More than 8.9MW were deployed in behind-the-meter applications.

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