PNNL

Abstract

Access to sustainable and affordable energy is the foundation for the economic growth of our current society and its future prosperity. Energy harvested from renewable resources, such as solar and wind, although currently at a small fraction, is on a steady trajectory of increasing installation accompanied with falling cost. Driven also by the need to reduce the carbon footprint from electricity generation, they could provide a clean and sustainable energy future. The caveat, however, is the intermittent and fluctuating nature of the renewables, which threatens the stability of the grid when its share surpasses 20% of the overall energy capacity. 1 Besides the on-demand power generation, electrical energy storage is another potentially cost-effective way to provide massive energy storage for not only renewable energy integration, but to balance the mismatch between supply and demand, and the improvement of grid reliability and efficiency also.