Discussion on Energy Storage

A reader on Quora.com asks:  When electricity is generated at a plant, is it stored and then distributed to the citizens? Can electricity be stored at such a large scale?  How efficient is the storage process?

A wonderful and comprehensive answer is given here by Ryan Carlyle, but it’s a bit odd that he didn’t address the rapid migration to renewable energy in the calculus.   Clean energy resources make the whole subject even more important–and more complicated.  

Consider wind energy, which represents almost 5% of the US grid-mix at this time.  True, the wind doesn’t blow all the time in the same place, but the more geographically disperse the wind generators, the more likely that it will be blowing in someplace of importance.  Until that time, however, it would be very good to be able to store off-peak wind, in any of the modes discussed in Mr. Carlyle’s response.  In addition, companies like WindFuels have made feasible the synthesis of high-octane gasoline, high-grade diesel, and jet fuel from water and point sources of CO2.

Also consider the impact of solar, whose presence on rooftops is spreading rapidly, even though the sun doesn’t shine at night.  Here, batteries in homeowners’ garages will soon enable large numbers of utility customers to go off the grid entirely.

Lastly, we need to keep in mind the phenomenon of electric transportation; charging large numbers of EVs is another form of storage that will grow in importance over the coming years.