Storage of Electricity From Renewable Sources

Posted on | August 16, 2010 | No Comments

One of the issues that arise as countries invest in technologies to generate electricity from renewable sources is the need to store electricity in order to bridge the times when there is no wind or no sunshine. During strong winds there are also large volumes of energy that are currently lost.

There are numerous ideas for how to store electricity. One of them is being developed by the electric car company Better Place in cooperation with Danish authorities. This company will make Denmark a pilot market for its electric car concept, which includes using smart grid technology to charge batteries when there is a surplus of renewable energy. One other technology that is discussed for storage of electricity is hydrogen fuel cells, but this is by some experts thought to be less energy efficient than battery powered vehicles.

http://www.betterplace.com/

There are also other options that involve taking advantage of natural opportunities for instance to use renewable electricity to pump water into dams at a higher altitude that can later be used to produce electricity. This idea and some other similar ideas is discussed in the article below.

One important aspect to keep in mind is that all storage alternatives involve investments and lead times. We need to start investing both in renewable energy, electric vehicles, smart grid technologies and storage technologies in order to prepare for the future. Or we need to analyze other ways of reducing society’s dependence on fossil fuels and develop strategies and plans to realize these.

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100106/full/463018a.html

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