Energy storage ushered in grid reform

How can energy storage help the electric grid?

Three distinct yet interlinked dimensions can illustrate energy storage’s expanding role in the current and future electric grid—renewable energy integration, grid optimization, and electrification and decentralization support.

What is the $119 million investment in grid scale energy storage?

With the $119 million investment in grid scale energy storage included in the President’s FY 2022 Budget Request for the Office of Electricity, we’ll work to develop and demonstrate new technologies, while addressing issues around planning, sizing, placement, valuation, and societal and environmental impacts.

What drives energy storage growth?

Energy storage growth is generally driven by economics, incentives, and versatility. The third driver—versatility—is reflected in energy storage’s growing variety of roles across the electric grid (figure 1).

Why do we need a co-optimized energy storage system?

The need to co-optimize storage with other elements of the electricity system, coupled with uncertain climate change impacts on demand and supply, necessitate advances in analytical tools to reliably and efficiently plan, operate, and regulate power systems of the future.

Why is storage important to a microgrid?

What’s more, storage is essential to building effective microgrids—which can operate separately from the nation’s larger grids and improve the energy system’s overall resilience—and allows us to create standalone power sources for individual buildings.

Why do we need a resilient and flexible electric grid?

Climate change challenges, including extreme weather events and wildfires, underscore the urgency for resilient and flexible electric grids. While most utilities have set targets for decarbonization and formulated strategies to meet those targets, achieving them brings a host of complexities.