Storage race key to harnessing renewable energy's potential
Battery storage will be one of the key areas that will determine the success of renewable energy as a power source, with the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market expected to dominate demand1. However, significant technological innovation is needed if success is to be realised.
Energy storage is an essential component of the transition to a zero-carbon economy because the supply of renewable energy is intermittent: the sun only shines for a certain number of hours a day, wind is difficult to predict, and hydro power brings significant logistical, social, and environmental pressures.
As countries move away from fossil fuels, ensuring the stability of electricity grids and expanding the use of electric vehicles will rely on battery and other technologies storing huge amounts power.
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New technologies needed
There are several stumbling blocks to this. Although lithium-ion batteries are currently used for short-duration storage of clean renewable power, long-duration solutions are required to ensure reliable energy on a large scale.
However, power companies are still well short of having the technological solutions needed to make long-duration storage cost-efficient and replicable on a broad scale. In short, most current solutions are too big and too expensive.
Huge investments are needed by power companies and governments to make long-duration storage feasible, while government regulations must continue to evolve to both keep up with and spur technological developments and renewable energy demand.
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According to the International Energy Agency, close to 10 000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries and other forms of energy storage are required across the energy system by 2040 – 50 times the size of the current market2. Many in the energy industry believe we are not on track to achieve this.
Energy storage decade
Nevertheless, the power storage industry has grown exponentially in recent years, with some analysts calling this the 'energy storage decade'.
Battery manufacturers are racing to develop the storage technology that will unlock large-scale renewable energy, with everything from volcanic rocks, to tanks full of liquid air, to systems that lower weights down abandoned mine shafts currently being trialled3.
Energy storage hit another record year in 2022, adding 16 gigawatts (GW)/35 GWh of capacity, up 68% from 2021, according to BloombergNEF4. Energy storage installations around the world are projected to reach a cumulative 411 GW (or 1,194 GWh) by the end of 2030, 15 times the 27 GW/56 GWh of storage online at the end of 20215.
Asia-Pacific at the forefront
APAC is expected to account for 68% of total demand6 through to 2026, led by China, Korea, Japan, India, and Australia7. This, perhaps, is unsurprising considering the region is by far the biggest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions globally8.
However, the region also provides numerous test cases for technology development, including issues such as difficulties around transmitting renewable power across the challenging island archipelago of Indonesia, and the huge interiors of China and Australia.
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China's big plans
China, the world's biggest producer of wind and solar power, plans a 50% increase in renewable energy generation from 2021 to 20259, and energy security is a top priority with the country having been hit by electricity outages over the past few years.
As part of this, new and nascent storage technologies are being developed. For example, a 100 megawatt (MW) compressed air energy storage plant in Hebei province has recently come online, which can generate more than 132 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually, providing electricity for 40,000 to 60,000 households during peak electricity consumption, according to the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences10.
Australia and Southeast Asia seeking storage solutions
Shell is developing a 200 MW / 400MWh battery system in Melbourne, which will have the storage capacity to power the equivalent of 80,000 homes for one hour during periods of peak demand11.
Meanwhile, Singapore surpassed its 2025 energy storage deployment target three years early after the opening of the biggest battery storage project in Southeast Asia in February of this year12. And in 2022, Indonesia launched a pilot 5 MW Battery Energy Storage System13 as part of a planned battery storage ecosystem, and is expected to install 450 MW of wind capacity between 2023 and 202714.
The bottom line is that the carbon transition will be smoother and faster if technology advances sufficiently to offer storage systems that provide stable and reliable power to customers. There is a long way to go, but APAC will play a central role in providing such solutions.
Read also: Thailand tackles sustainability with carbon credits.
[1] https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/04/11/asia-pacific-to-lead-global-battery-storage-market-by-2026/
[2] https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/77b25f20-397e-4c2f-8538-741734f6c5c3/battery_study_en.pdf
[3] https://www.lombardodier.com/contents/corporate-news/ft-rethink/2021/april/storage-technologies-paving-the.html
[4] https://about.bnef.com/blog/1h-2023-energy-storage-market-outlook/
[5] https://about.bnef.com/blog/global-energy-storage-market-to-grow-15-fold-by-2030/#:~:text=The%20law%20will%20drive%20roughly,cloud%20deployment%20expectations%20until%202024.
[6] https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/automotive/asia-pacific-to-lead-the-global-battery-energy-storage-market-by-2026/
[7] https://asian-power.com/power-utility/in-focus/apac-lead-battery-storage-market-through-2026-globaldata
[8] https://www.statista.com/statistics/205966/world-carbon-dioxide-emissions-by-region/#:~:text=The%20Asia%2DPacific%20region%20produced,percent%20of%20the%20global%20total.
[9] https://www.efchina.org/Blog-en/blog-20220905-en#:~:text=The%20plan%20targets%20a%2050,China's%20incremental%20electricity%20and%20energy
[10] https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/10/06/worlds-largest-compressed-air-energy-storage-project-goes-online-in-china/
[11] https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/oil-giant-shell-makes-world-first-big-battery-investment-in-melbourne-20230331-p5cwzq.html
[12] https://www.energy-storage.news/southeast-asias-biggest-battery-storage-project-officially-opened-in-singapore/
[13] https://www.cekindo.com/blog/energy-storage-system
[14] https://asian-power.com/power-utility/in-focus/indonesia-install-450mw-wind-power-2027
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