We are in the middle of the most remarkable transformation in the history of the electricity grid — from dirty and centralized to clean, distributed, and digital. Many policymakers and pundits believe that if only we had enough batteries, we could adapt to this new mix of generation resources and continue to pretend that nothing but a few operating conventions have changed.

And indeed, utilities, regulators and state legislators are allocating ever-larger piles of ratepayer and taxpayer money to subsidize lithium-ion batteries on both sides of the meter. Subsidizing batteries sounds simple and wonderful, but the unspoken problem is that the emperor has no clothes. There is no economic model of behind-the-meter batteries for grid purposes — period.

Don’t get me wrong: I love batteries. I drive a battery to work every day. I’ve checked the math behind utility-scale batteries combined with renewables as a substitute for gas peakers, and in many places, it checks out. I even understand the attraction of batteries in microgrid or resilience projects, as a clean but expensive alternative to generators.

But as an energy economist and former utility rate designer, I am cursed with the ability to do basic arithmetic, so to be clear: The economics of behind-the-meter (BTM) batteries in grid-connected commercial buildings are and will continue to be wasteful, inefficient and impractical, to put it kindly.

I know, I know. You’re saying, “But lithium-ion batteries are really cheap, and they keep getting cheaper, and that changes everything!”

Except that it doesn’t. I read the same reports as you do, but those $150-headed-toward-$100/kWh numbers for battery capacity prices have nothing to do with the installed cost of a battery in a commercial facility. We are not making master electricians any cheaper, nor permitting any easier, nor fire suppression any less necessary, nor commercial floor space any more widely available.

Market players are adopting more sustainable ways of storing thermal energy than before. Many startups have entered the market and introduced sustainable ways of thermal energy storage. Companies are targeting new geographic locations for their projects.

The concept of thermal energy storage has been practiced by many companies all over the globe. It is one of the conservative methods of consuming energy. There are several technologies for energy storage. Many companies are developing more ways than before to conserve energy. Market players are expanding their projects in new geographical areas as they see huge potential in new locations. There has been an entry of several startups in the last few years in the market. Some of the companies are Stash Energy, Axiom Energy, Highview Power, Phase Change Energy Solution, and Skyven Technologies. According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global thermal energy storage market is expected to reach $8.86 billion by 2023. Companies are following many trends to withstand other competitors and capture major part of market. Some of the trends are-

Market players are developing methods to offer green thermal energy storage. Phase change material (PCMs) are synthetic polymers produced from petrochemicals. But companies are trying to develop a more stable and sustainable materials than before. Recently, there was a development by Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory’s scientists in the U.S. regarding a thermal energy storage system for industrial use. It can store and capture wasted heat for later use. The device was developed by scientists, and it stores and releases latent heat by using specific kind of molten salts which act as phase-change materials. While molten salts are effective as phase-change materials, they have a drawback in terms of poor thermal conductivity. Due to this drawback, it takes too long for molten salts to absorb and release energy. The scientists are developing a plan to overcome this problem. They are devising a method to integrate the phase-change materials with another high-thermal-conductivity material. They are planning to seal the composite material system into a cylindrical module and then bath in inert gas. The heat stored in the module can be further used to heat water to create steam.

COVID-19 has led to lock-downs. That, in turn, has led to less energy use, creating an opportunity for renewables to shine. They are becoming the lowest-cost energy source on sunny days, although during the evening when electricity demand is high, power prices are spiking.

But there is a fix: utilities and onsite generators are using energy storage to harness the electricity during the day and release those electrons at night. Those batteries not only can limit the price spikes but they can also add value to solar farms. The twin goals are to increase renewable power usage and to provide electricity during peak demand. But the main obstacle is the high price of storage. The options?

“If low electricity prices remain, what will it mean for future the grid and the electricity market?” asks Matt Harper, chief commercial officer for Invinity Energy Systems that makes “flow batteries.” “Battery storage can take advantage of abundant and low-cost power: it consumes excess power during the day and redeploys that electricity during the peak periods when conventional power generation would be turned on.”

Harper explains that “flow batteries” are different from “lithium-ion batteries.” The former provides long-term storage that can deliver power for up to 15-hours while the latter supplies electricity for shorter periods of four-hours or less. The better performance, he adds, means that renewables have more leverage in the market — something that will eventually mean that power can be stored in the summer and used in the winter.

COVID-19 has led to lock-downs. That, in turn, has led to less energy use, creating an opportunity for renewables to shine. They are becoming the lowest-cost energy source on sunny days, although during the evening when electricity demand is high, power prices are spiking.

But there is a fix: utilities and onsite generators are using energy storage to harness the electricity during the day and release those electrons at night. Those batteries not only can limit the price spikes but they can also add value to solar farms. The twin goals are to increase renewable power usage and to provide electricity during peak demand. But the main obstacle is the high price of storage. The options?

“If low electricity prices remain, what will it mean for future the grid and the electricity market?” asks Matt Harper, chief commercial officer for Invinity Energy Systems that makes “flow batteries.” “Battery storage can take advantage of abundant and low-cost power: it consumes excess power during the day and redeploys that electricity during the peak periods when conventional power generation would be turned on.”

Harper explains that “flow batteries” are different from “lithium-ion batteries.” The former provides long-term storage that can deliver power for up to 15-hours while the latter supplies electricity for shorter periods of four-hours or less. The better performance, he adds, means that renewables have more leverage in the market — something that will eventually mean that power can be stored in the summer and used in the winter.

At the same time, he says that “flow batteries” are positioned between short-term “lithium-ion” batteries and long-term hydrogen tanks. Hydrogen storage, he adds, has limitations because of the fuel’s efficiency rate, which is about 50% — the ability to take a unit of energy input and convert it to electricity. In comparison, he says that the efficiency rate for battery storage is between 70-90%.

The first grid-scale battery energy storage project in the Canadian province of Alberta is on-track to go into operation this month, while TransAlta, the company behind the project, has expedited plans to retire a coal plant citing “future market conditions”.

TransAlta Corporation, which generates and is engaged in wholesale marketing of electricity, is building the WindCharger 10MW / 20MWh lithium-ion battery storage project in the municipal district of Pincher Creek, through its subsidiary Western Sustainable Power Corporation.

As the name implies, the project is being built at the site of a wind farm, also operated by TransAlta. The company said it had been investigating the viability of battery storage at its various wind farm locations before selecting the Summerview Wind Farm in Alberta.

Approval was granted for WindCharger to be built at the wind farm’s substation in November 2019 by the Alberta Utilities Commission and construction began at the end of March this year. While it had originally been expected to be completed in June or July, TransAlta announced in its second quarter 2020 results reporting on 31 July that the project is to be completed during August.

TransAlta targeting ‘100% clean electricity by 2025’

TransAlta chief operating officer John Kousinioris told local newspaper the Calgary Herald that the project, which uses Tesla’s battery storage technology, is “an opportunity for us to match storage and our renewable wind power generation”. Kousinioris told the Herald that the batteries will charge up from the wind farm “when the wind is blowing or prices are really low”.