Battery storage with four hours’ duration such as pictured here, is largely seen as key for adding firm capacity in much of the US. Image: Vistra Energy.
Energy storage is poised for “rapid growth” in the US, with between 130GW to 680GW of diurnal storage capable of integrating an 80% share of renewables on the US grid by 2050.
That’s one of the key takeaways from work by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Storage Futures, a seven-part series of studies which has just concluded with the publication of its final chapter: ‘Key learnings for the coming decades’.
NREL has conducted what it described as ‘high-resolution modelling of future scenarios,’ calculating the value of diurnal battery energy storage — defined as storage with <12 hours duration as well as the potential need for longer duration solutions.
The latest report…