Overview of current development in electrical energy storage technologies and the application potential in power system operation

Energy is a vital input for social and economic development. As a result of the generalization of agricultural, industrial and domestic activities the demand for energy has increased remarkably, especially in emergent countries. This has meant rapid grower in the level of greenhouse gas emissions and the increase in fuel prices, which are the main driving forces behind efforts to utilize renewable energy sources more effectively, i.e. energy which comes from natural resources and is also naturally replenished. Despite the obvious advantages of renewable energy, it presents important drawbacks, such as the discontinuity of generation, as most renewable energy resources depend on the climate, which is why their use requires complex design, planning and control optimization methods. Fortunately, the continuous advances in computer hardware and software are allowing researchers to deal with these optimization problems using computational resources, as can be seen in the large number of optimization methods that have been applied to the renewable and sustainable energy field. This paper presents a review of the current state of the art in computational optimization methods applied to renewable and sustainable energy, offering a clear vision of the latest research advances in this field.

Optimization methods applied to renewable and sustainable energy: A review

Lithium-ion batteries play an important role in the life quality of modern society as the dominant technology for use in portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops. Beyond this application lithium-ion batteries are the preferred option for the emerging electric vehicle sector, while still underexploited in power supply systems, especially in combination with photovoltaics and wind power. As a technological component, lithium-ion batteries present huge global potential towards energy sustainability and substantial reductions in carbon emissions. A detailed review is presented herein on the state of the art and future perspectives of Li-ion batteries with emphasis on this potential.

The lithium-ion battery: State of the art and future perspectives

Large-scale deployment of intermittent renewable energy (namely wind energy and solar PV) may entail new challenges in power systems and more volatility in power prices in liberalized electricity markets. Energy storage can diminish this imbalance, relieving the grid congestion, and promoting distributed generation. The economic implications of grid-scale electrical energy storage technologies are however obscure for the experts, power grid operators, regulators, and power producers. A meticulous techno-economic or cost-benefit analysis of electricity storage systems requires consistent, updated cost data and a holistic cost analysis framework. To this end, this study critically examines the existing literature in the analysis of life cycle costs of utility-scale electricity storage systems, providing an updated database for the cost elements (capital costs, operational and maintenance costs, and replacement costs). Moreover, life cycle costs and levelized cost of electricity delivered by electrical energy storage is analyzed, employing Monte Carlo method to consider uncertainties. The examined energy storage technologies include pumped hydropower storage, compressed air energy storage (CAES), flywheel, electrochemical batteries (e.g. lead–acid, NaS, Li-ion, and Ni–Cd), flow batteries (e.g. vanadium-redox), superconducting magnetic energy storage, supercapacitors, and hydrogen energy storage (power to gas technologies). The results illustrate the economy of different storage systems for three main applications: bulk energy storage, T&D support services, and frequency regulation.

Electrical energy storage systems: A comparative life cycle cost analysis

Statistical Databases

The non-combustion based renewable electricity generation technologies were assessed against a range of sustainability indicators and using data obtained from the literature. The indicators used to assess each technology were price of generated electricity, greenhouse gas emissions during full life cycle of the technology, availability of renewable sources, efficiency of energy conversion, land requirements, water consumption and social impacts. The cost of electricity, greenhouse gas emissions and the efficiency of electricity generation were found to have a very wide range for each technology, mainly due to variations in technological options as well as geographical dependence of each renewable energy source. The social impacts were assessed qualitatively based on the major individual impacts discussed in literature. Renewable energy technologies were then ranked against each indicator assuming that indicators have equal importance for sustainable development. It was found that wind power is the most sustainable, followed by hydropower, photovoltaic and then geothermal. Wind power was identified with the lowest relative greenhouse gas emissions, the least water consumption demands and with the most favourable social impacts comparing to other technologies, but requires larger land and has high relative capital costs.

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Assessment of sustainability indicators for renewable energy technologies

Renewable energy technologies are expected to take the leading role in the forthcoming energy generation portfolio in order to achieve sustainable energy generation. The major constraints for increasing penetration of renewable energy sources is their availability and intermittency, which can be addressed through energy storage when available and energy use when needed. This work reviews the energy storage technologies and gives an up to date comparative summary of the performance parameters of the major energy storage options. The parameters compared here include efficiency, energy capacity, energy density, run time, capital investment costs, response time, lifetime in years and cycles, self discharge and maturity of each energy storage option. The choice of storage system will depend on individual requirements, and may even incorporate more than one energy storage system to increase the energy storage capacity and improve energy security.

Assessment of utility energy storage options for increased renewable energy penetration

The sustainability of electricity generation from biomass has been assessed in this work according to the key indicators of price, efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, availability, limitations, land use, water use and social impacts. Biomass produced electricity generally provides favourable price, efficiency, emissions, availability and limitations but often has unfavorably high land and water usage as well as social impacts. The type and growing location of the biomass source are paramount to its sustainability. Hardy crops grown on unused or marginal land and waste products are more sustainable than dedicated energy crops grown on food producing land using high rates of fertilisers.

Sustainability considerations for electricity generation from biomass

Nine different indices for measuring sustainable development, comprising Change in Wealth Index (CWI), Ecological Footprint (EF), Environmental Performance Index (EPI), Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), Genuine Savings Index (GSI), Global Well-Being Index (GWI), Happy Planet Index (HPI), Human Development Index (HDI) and Sustainable Society Index (SSI) were selected in this study. The indices were analysed for their ability to measure the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. Only two indices (SSI and GSI) considered all three dimensions of sustainable development, while the remaining measured either the socio-economic, socio-environmental or just economic and environmental dimensions. A normalized average sustainability index (NASI) was proposed in this study, calculated as an average index of all nine. Switzerland, Norway and Sweden were the countries with the highest, while Burundi, Sierra Leone and Niger were the countries with the lowest NASI scores. The deviation of each index compared with NASI was determined, resulting in GWI followed by HDI having the lowest deviation from the average rankings. The publication contribution of the scientific literature towards the three dimensions of sustainable development for each individual index was further analysed and discussed, identifying public health as one of the potential overarching indicators for sustainable development. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Annette Evans

Papers

Assessment of sustainability indicators for renewable energy technologies

Assessment of utility energy storage options for increased renewable energy penetration

Sustainability considerations for electricity generation from biomass

Assessment of the Economic, Social and Environmental Dimensions of the Indicators for Sustainable Development

Defining sustainability indicators of iron and steel production