{"id":1940,"date":"2021-05-28T08:56:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T08:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fundacioncanal.com\/blog\/?p=1940"},"modified":"2025-09-04T06:52:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:52:34","slug":"how-to-store-energy-and-how-important-this-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fundacioncanal.com\/blog\/en\/how-to-store-energy-and-how-important-this-is\/","title":{"rendered":"How to store energy and how important this is"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Estimated reading time: 4.11 minutes) – Audio version of article available.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving energy storage is an\ninevitable challenge on the road to a successful ecological and digital\ntransition. To this end, in addition to investing in innovation and technology,\nwe must take advantage of all possibilities already within our reach, with a\nhost of devices and equipment (mobile phones, electric cars, etc.). Our goals\nfor total decarbonisation by the middle of the century and replacing fossil\nfuels with renewables require it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one hand, it is true that, while\nrenewable energy production is not continuous, because most of its greatest\nsources are intermittent (sun does not shine and wind does not blow 24 hours a\nday), they can be combined with others that have lower potential, like biomass\nor small-hydro energy for total supply when not enough is produced, so as to\nattain a flexible system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, having adequate\nstorage technologies would allow us to store surplus when natural resources\nexceed demand and use them when we need them. Along with developing batteries\nfor domestic, industrial, and commercial self-supply, there is an increasing\nnumber of mass-storage facilities, like the one built by Tesla in Hornsdale, South Australia<\/a>, one of the largest lithium-ion\nbattery storage projects in the world. It is combined with a nearby wind farm\nand provides enough energy for 30,000 homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storage provides the system with the\nsecurity it needs, both for emergency situations (like in Australia, who made\nthis decision after a great storm caused a serious blackout) and to deal with\nthe great Digital Transformation we are currently experiencing, and which will\ninevitably increase electricity demand. What is more, this roll-out has made\nthis kind of solution increasingly economically viable. In fact, it is\nestimated that total installation costs could be reduced by between 50% and 60%\nby 2030 (IRENA, October 2017<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this intent, last February the\nSpanish Government approved the “Estrategia de Almacenamiento\nEnerg\u00e9tico<\/em> (Energy Storage Plan)” (MITECO, February 2021<\/a>). This policy is in line with the\nEuropean Union’s, which insists that the region must move toward better energy\nstorage to meet its energy and climate goals of keeping the planet’s average\ntemperature increase below 1.5\u00baC (European Commission, May 2020<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, and also, developing\nstorage is an opportunity for growth for the green economy, with implementation\nof new business models up and down the chain of value. This will have an\ninfluence on the country’s recovery, both in terms of jobs and in strengthening\nits industry and reducing dependency on critical materials from abroad. This\npositive impact will be seen especially in the electric mobility and the\nconstruction and industry sectors, given the advantages storage will provide as\nfar as the spread of self-supply is concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government has calculated our\ncountry’s minimum storage needs based on the goals of the Plan Nacional\nIntegrado de Energ\u00eda y Clima<\/em> (Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan)\n(PNIEC, January 2020<\/a>) and the Estrategia de\nDescarbonizaci\u00f3n a Largo Plazo 2050 <\/em>(Long-Term Decarbonisation Strategy\n2050) (ELP, November 2020<\/a>). Thus, they propose moving from\ntoday’s 8.3 GW total available storage potential to approximately 20 GW in 2030\nand 30 GW in 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several kinds of energy\nstorage: hydraulic pumping, batteries (lithium-ion, lead-acid, redox flow, and\nsodium-sulphur), supercapacitor, hydrogen fuel cell, flywheel energy storage,\nliquid or compressed air, and heat storage. In the European Union, as far as\nthe electric network is concerned, the most-used is pumped-hydro. This accounts\nfor 88% of the storage capacity installed in the region (European Court of\nAuditors, April 2019<\/a>). Also of note is the peculiarity of solar thermal\nenergy, and its capacity for on-site thermal storage at all new installations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storing energy also means we can decentralise production, bringing consumption closer to the source and, especially, providing even more incentive for the roll-out of renewable energies, which are essential if we wish to reach zero emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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