The role of power storage module

The power sector needs to ensure a rapid transition towards a low-carbon energy system to avoid the dangerous consequences of greenhouse gas emissions. Storage technologies are a promising option to provide the power system with the flexibility required when intermittent renewables are present in the electricity generation mix.

Storage can provide both upward and downward flexibility, storing energy either when there is generation surplus or lower demand and discharging in the opposite case. Depending on the time scale (miliseconds up to months), there are different roles that storage can play, .

Future energy systems require more storage facilities to balance the higher share of intermittent renewables in the upcoming power generation mix (Benato and Stoppato, 2018), especially as the demand for electric power could push capacity to 7200 GW by 2040 (International Energy Agency, 2014).

Storage technologies store one commodity and are sized in terms of energy capacity and charging/discharging power capacity. Energy and power capacities are expanded independently, however, for batteries, a linear dependence between them is integrated.

Storage technologies are a promising option to provide the power system with the flexibility required when intermittent renewables are present in the electricity generation mix. This paper focuses on the role of electricity storage in energy systems with high shares of renewable sources.

Based on these, for power systems with up to 95% renewables, the electricity storage size is found to be below 1.5% of the annual demand (in energy terms). While for 100% renewables energy systems (power, heat, mobility), it can remain below 6% of the annual energy demand.