energystorage

Energy storage encompasses technologies, systems, and processes that capture energy when it is plentiful and release it when it is needed. The goal is to decouple energy generation from consumption in time, enabling more efficient use of resources, enhancing reliability, and enabling greater use of intermittent energy sources.

Storage technologies can be categorized by how they store energy: electrochemical (batteries), mechanical (pumped hydro, compressed air, flywheels), thermal (hot or cold storage for heating, cooling, or power generation), chemical fuels (hydrogen, synthetic fuels produced from surplus electricity) and electrical double-layer energy (capacitors and supercapacitors). Among these, pumped hydro and batteries are the most widely deployed, with batteries increasingly dominant in portable and distributed contexts.

Key performance metrics include energy capacity, power rating, round-trip efficiency, response time, cycle life, and cost per unit of energy stored. Energy storage systems also differ in scalability, geographic constraints, and safety considerations, particularly for high-energy chemical systems.

Applications include balancing supply and demand on electric grids, smoothing fluctuations from renewable sources, providing backup power, enabling microgrids, and powering electric vehicles and portable devices.

Challenges include high upfront costs, material supply constraints, safety and environmental concerns, end-of-life recycling, and integration with existing infrastructure and markets. Ongoing research aims to reduce costs, improve energy density and safety, and create standardized, interoperable systems to unlock widespread deployment.