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Written by Aliza Vaida
February’s EPMA presentation delve into the key terms and concepts necessary to understand battery storage and how battery storage is vital for renewables, like solar and wind, to become the dominant energy source for the world.
The first part of the presentation reviewed the key metrics and economics to understand and consider when thinking about battery storage coupled with solar energy for the residential and commercial market. When looking into a storage solution, one needs to consider how much energy the battery can discharge, how long it will last and other key elements. Besides having a lot of new concepts to consider, another challenge with battery storage today is that it is quite expensive, ranging from $10,000-$20,000 for residential, and usually only lasts around 10 years. There are benefits to getting battery storage today, like if you live in storm prone areas or have time-of-use rate plans. In general however, battery technologies are just too expensive for most people.
But times are changing! Battery storage is expected to drop significantly over the next 10 years making it a possibility for more home owners, businesses and utilities. Currently solar only works when the sun is shining, when batteries become the norm the world will be come a much more resilient place. We will be able to power the built environment with renewables during the day and fill up the storage as well. And then during the night hours batteries will be able to power the built environment, closing the loop. Storage will allow redundancy so resiliency within our current energy grid. Imagine a world where if the grid goes down because of a natural disaster, key institutions like hospitals, fire departments and schools, can link up together and still be powered by solar plus storage. Individual’s homes will be able to be islanded off from the grid, because of solar plus storage, allowing autonomy during a grid failure as well. Storage is the piece that will enable a clean energy future.
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