In order to stay reliable, the national grid needs large energy storage systems that use ‘consistent’ sources of energy.
Both wind turbines and solar power are great for consumers, and the environment. But because of their intermittent nature, they need to be backed up by battery storage.
And although we think of batteries as those little cylinders we buy in the supermarket, there are other ways to store the massive amounts of energy needed by the electricity grid as we use more renewable sources.
Let’s take a look at four ways we can store renewable energy to draw on later, after the sun has gone down and the wind dies.
Types of energy storage systems
Water storage with pumped hydro
Pumped hydro storage uses renewable electricity to pump dam water to a high reservoir. When needed, energy flows back down through turbines to turn the trapped energy into electricity again.
Two large hydro storage projects are under development in Australia – Snowy 2.0 and Hydro Tasmania.
The first will connect the Talbingo and Tantangara reservoirs with a 27-kilometre tunnel, costing between $1.9 and $2.25 million per megawatt.
Hydro Tasmania, on the other hand, will turn the state into the “battery of the nation”. It will pump hydro across 14 possible sites around the state at a lower build cost than Snowy 2.0.
The main difference is the storage capacity. Snowy 2.0 aims to store 175 hours’ worth of energy, while Hydro Tasmania could only hold between 8 and 36 hours.
Molten salt energy storage systems
In South Australia, a project called Aurora will use molten salt to generate and store energy. The project requires a 240-metre-tall tower in the centre of 12,000 heliostats, or mirrors, across 700 hectares.
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