The Potential of Energy Storage Innovations: Energy Storage Technology Articles: Eco20/20

The Potential of Energy Storage Innovations

Even though many long-awaited energy storage innovations, contrary to some expectations, have not yet been introduced en mass as offerings for the average person, a string of announcements this year point that solutions in this field are rapidly developing.

Most of the long-awaited energy storage innovations, especially in the United States, target automobiles. Electric cars and other transportation vehicles that use alternative fuels have a huge market, so it is not difficult to understand why most energy storage research focuses on them. Nonetheless, lately, other interesting solutions have appeared which, among others, target grid applications for utilities.

Energy storage innovations in 2010

International Battery, a major lithium-ion battery manufacturer joined American Electric Power as a supplier of battery systems for a new smart grid in Ohio. The part of this project that targets the community intends to enable the usage of renewable energy sources for backup power, including solar energy.

GS Battery, an important battery manufacturer, partnered with Suniva, a solar-cell maker, to create systems powered by batteries that store solar energy.

California is also making progress when it comes to alternative ways of storing energy. 11 utilities located on its territory joined with Ice Energy, a company which makes ice at night to reduce the demand of electricity from air conditioners in the day, in order to acquire the company's innovative devices.

All these energy storage innovations are gradually becoming commercial products, even if their entrance on the market is slow. Their long-term potential is huge and they can change the way energy is stored at many levels, from standard batteries which are used with everyday devices, to the grids utilities use.

Energy storage innovations are appearing for electric vehicles as well. In an effort to cut down the emission of toxic gases and to reduce the dependency on the costly oil, major automobiles manufacturers focus on developing plug-in hybrids. Volkswagen and Ford are two companies that are planning to launch hybrid models in the near future.

Utilities across the United States and Europe also depend on energy storage innovations, and are bound to influence the way these solutions are developed. In order to meet the renewable energy targets imposed on them by governments, utilities have to use more naturally replenished power sources, such as wind and solar energy. Then, to ensure the smooth operation of these new energy sources they have to adopt energy storage innovations to stabilize production in order to satisfy consumption demands.

Obstacles

The huge potential of new energy storage solutions is unquestionable. However, there are still many obstacles ahead before truly innovative products will reach markets.

At the moment, most energy storage innovations remain too expensive to make them a profitable investment for companies. Safety is also a problem not yet solved, especially by backup battery developers. If people are to buy new types of batteries for home use they will need the assurance that their purchased product is perfectly safe, which presently no vendor is ready to give. Nonetheless, at least a few new innovative energy storage technologies are expected to hit the market next year, most of which target utilities.