Storing renewable power

With Lynda O’Malley, York University This is the second primer in the series Making Renewable Energy a Priority June 2008 The Pembina Institute is a member of the Canadian Renewable Energy Alliance, an alliance of Canadian civil society organizations from the non-profit or voluntary sector that hold a common interest in promoting a global transition to energy conservation and efficiency and use of [...] Pembina Institute – Storing Renewable Power • 3 Electric Power Storage Options and Applications 2. Electric Power Storage Options and Renewable Energy Applications Power storage can be located at several locations within the grid depending on the role it plays: • At the generation site to provide the power generator with dispatchable high quality power and lower connection costs. [...] As noted in the previous section, storage is most useful to wind and solar generators for • firming production, frequency control and power quality of renewable power sources • reducing connection and transmission capacity needed for renewable power sources by up to two-thirds • allowing renewable power sources to take advantage of competitive power markets, for instance offering day-ahead guarant [...] Sizing Storage Systems for Renewable Energy Applications A power storage system will normally be used to store power when a wind or solar generator is producing power above its mean power output, and to deliver power when the renewable energy production is lower than the mean. [...] At the Second International Energy Storage Conference (IRES II)8 in 2007 and the Electricity Storage Association’s (ESA) Annual Meeting9 in 2008, several speakers spoke of the important role storage will play in the grid of the future, the numerous technologies that are near to commercial and cost-effective deployment10 and the fact that some storage technologies are already being used for mainstr