Green giant energy goes into energy storage

Are energy-storage companies making a sustainable battery alternative?

In addition to lifting weights, energy-storage companies are compressing air or water, or making objects spin, or heating them up. If you use clean energy to do the initial work and find a green way to store and release it, you’ve created an ecologically responsible battery alternative.

Can energy be stored as heat?

Most of us are familiar with electrochemical energy storage in batteries. Energy can also be stored behind hydroelectric dams (mechanical storage) or as chemicals such as ethanol or hydrogen. But it can also be stored as heat. Gabe Murtaugh, director of markets and technology at the Long Duration Energy Storage Council, said the concept is simple:

What is the future of thermal energy storage?

A 2020 report from IRENA expected the global market for thermal energy storage to triple by 2030, to 800 gigawatt hours (about enough to power 800,000 average Canadian homes for a month). What on Earth?

Will thermal energy storage be cheaper than lithium-ion batteries?

CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, estimates that thermal energy storage will be roughly a third cheaper than both lithium-ion batteries and pumped hydro for storage longer than four hours by 2050. This is the chiller room at The Well.

Are solar and batteries a cost-effective alternative to gas plants?

One analysis from BloombergNEF found that solar and batteries can be a cost-effective alternative to smaller gas “peaker” plants that only switch on when demand spikes. But batteries remain too costly to replace many of the larger gas-burning plants that provide steadier power day and night.