Utility-Scale Energy Storage

Energy giant Alstom has nailed down a 120 million Euro contract to build a pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant in Israel.  Currently, there is 129 gigawatts of this technology installed around the globe, and, as we sit here today, it has very few competitors; over 97% of the world energy storage capacity is PHES. 

What will happen over the coming decade?  It depends on whom you ask.  I have some friends who believe in advanced rail energy storage (ARES) – a subject on which I’ve commented a few times. “Think of it as pumped hydro without the water,” they like to say.  My colleagues at Eos Energy Storage see the world differently, however; they’re all abuzz about their development of a truly cost-effective zinc-air battery, implementable for utility-scale grid storage.  “Even sushi has better storage than energy,” as they point out, quite correctly.

Needless to say, given its geography and the nature of its enemies, Israel has a great deal of motivation to migrate away from fossil fuels – oil in particular.  Though the article doesn’t speak to this, perhaps they see this storage facility as a key to integrate significant amounts of solar and wind into their grid mix. I always figured that their involvement with (now defunct) Project Better Place (electric vehicle battery swapping) was focused on moving the whole country away from gasoline and diesel.

We’ll see what happens.  In any case, it’s good to see large-scale energy storage projects happening around the globe.