Seasonal energy storage costs

What is seasonal thermal energy storage (STES)?

Analysis of relations between technical and economic parameters. Revelation of economic competitiveness of STES against existing heating options. Seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) holds great promise for storing summer heat for winter use. It allows renewable resources to meet the seasonal heat demand without resorting to fossil-based back up.

Does seasonal thermal energy storage provide economic competitiveness against existing heating options?

Revelation of economic competitiveness of STES against existing heating options. Seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) holds great promise for storing summer heat for winter use. It allows renewable resources to meet the seasonal heat demand without resorting to fossil-based back up. This paper presents a techno-economic literature review of STES.

What is seasonal storage?

Seasonal storage is a form of storage technology that typically charges during over-production of electricity from renewable energy sources during summer and discharges in winter, when electricity demand is large and renewable electricity production, specifically solar PV, is low.

Is seasonal storage a viable balancing yearly cycles?

This is one of the key findings of DNV GL’s latest research paper ‘The promise of seasonal storage’, which explores the viability of balancing yearly cycles in electricity demand and renewable energy generation with long-term storage technology.

Why is seasonal energy storage important?

Energy storage at all timescales, including the seasonal scale, plays a pivotal role in enabling increased penetration levels of wind and solar photovoltaic energy sources in power systems.

How much does energy storage cost?

The energy storage cost varies from 4.6 to 50 US$ MWh −1 without including dams in cascade and from 1.8 to 50 US$ MWh −1 when including them (Fig. 2b, c, respectively). The water stored in a SPHS plant also benefits the dams downstream (in cascade).