Battery

Battery Storage

While hydrogen offers advantages for seasonal storage, batteries excel in short-term storage applications like smoothing renewable power output, frequency regulation and providing backup capacity. Lithium-ion currently dominates the battery storage market due to its high energy density, cycle efficiency and maturity.

For residential and commercial installations, lithium-ion battery packs like those from LG Chem, Samsung, BYD and others can store solar energy for use in the evenings, reducing reliance on the grid. In Europe, Verkor's gigafactory in Dunkirk is pivotal for grid stability and reduced grid reliance by providing high-performance, low-carbon lithium-ion batteries for energy storage and electric vehicles. This gigafactory with production capacity of 16GWh per year will be operational by 2025 (eeNews Power December 2023). When these storage technologies are coupled with smart software can provide valuable grid services, including grid stability.

At the grid scale, massive battery plants like Tesla's Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR) facility in Australia or LS Power's Frontier project provide flexible, instant response for frequency regulation, voltage support and other ancillary services. HPR has the capacity to provide up to 2,000 MWs of inertia, approximately one-third of South Australia's state-level requirements contributing around 10% of the Frequency Control Ancillary Services value each month in the National Electricity Market (ARENA December 2023). Additionally, the Dalian Battery Energy Storage Station – the largest battery energy storage in the world, came into operational in October 2022 in China with a total capacity of 100 MW or 400 MWh, addressing approximately electricity needs of 200,000 residents and thus reducing power pressure on grid during peak demand (Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences October 2022).

For electric vehicles, lithium-ion battery costs have fallen over 80% since 2013, making EVs increasingly competitive with conventional cars. Companies like Tesla, GM, Volkswagen and BYD are ramping up EV production and battery megafactories globally.

In brief, rapidly falling battery costs and rising performance have unlocked new opportunities across the stationary storage and electric mobility markets. Lithium-ion has taken an early lead, but emerging technologies could further improve capabilities in areas like safety, cycle life and energy density. Continued innovation will be key to maximizing batteries' effectiveness as short-duration storage enablers for renewable integration.