What does the future hold for energy storage and decentralised networks?

Ener­gy stor­age plays a piv­otal role in strength­en­ing grid resilience and enabling the shift to renew­able ener­gy sources. From estab­lished tech­nolo­gies like lithi­um-ion and sodi­um-sul­fur bat­ter­ies to cut­ting-edge solu­tions such as vana­di­um redox flow bat­ter­ies (VRF­Bs), these sys­tems are indis­pens­able for sta­bil­is­ing pow­er grids, cap­tur­ing excess ener­gy, and mit­i­gat­ing the inter­mit­ten­cy inher­ent in renew­able generation.

At COP29, glob­al lead­ers under­scored the urgency of expand­ing ener­gy stor­age capac­i­ty and mod­ernising grid infra­struc­ture to cre­ate a robust, cli­mate-resilient ener­gy sys­tem. Ini­tia­tives pro­mot­ing decen­tralised grids, the adop­tion of flow bat­ter­ies, and the inte­gra­tion of hybrid stor­age sys­tems fur­ther high­light the trans­for­ma­tive poten­tial of ener­gy stor­age tech­nolo­gies in shap­ing a sus­tain­able ener­gy future.

Ener­gy stor­age spans diverse tech­nolo­gies designed to cap­ture, retain, and release ener­gy as need­ed, enabling greater flex­i­bil­i­ty and depend­abil­i­ty in pow­er flow man­age­ment¹. The elec­tri­cal grid, defined as a com­pre­hen­sive net­work of gen­er­a­tion, trans­mis­sion, and dis­tri­b­u­tion sys­tems, relies on these stor­age solu­tions to main­tain sta­bil­i­ty and syn­chro­nise sup­ply with real-time demand.

The chart illus­trates the glob­al cumu­la­tive ener­gy stor­age instal­la­tions from 2015 to 2030, show­ing a sig­nif­i­cant upward trend, which is dri­ven by strong pol­i­cy sup­port and tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ments, par­tic­u­lar­ly in regions like the US, Chi­na, and Europe. How­ev­er, it’s impor­tant to note that the data is based on fore­casts as of 2021, and might not ful­ly cap­ture recent mar­ket devel­op­ments or changes.

Ener­gy stor­age meth­ods include elec­tro­chem­i­cal sys­tems such as lithi­um-ion and sodi­um-sul­phur bat­ter­ies, mechan­i­cal sys­tems such as pumped hydro and com­pressed air stor­age, elec­tro­mag­net­ic stor­age such as super­con­duct­ing mag­net­ic ener­gy stor­age and super­ca­pac­i­tors, ther­mal stor­age such as molten salt and phase-change mate­ri­als, and hydro­gen stor­age². Each approach plays a dis­tinct role in enhanc­ing the grid’s effi­cien­cy and resilience.

Eddie Rich, CEO of the Inter­na­tion­al Hydropow­er Asso­ci­a­tion says, “a lack of long-dura­tion ener­gy stor­age has, until now, been the ignored cri­sis with­in the cur­rent ener­gy cri­sis. This is the first time world lead­ers have rec­og­nized the need for a mix of renew­ables, rather than just vol­ume³.” COP29, held in Baku, Azer­bai­jan, from Novem­ber 11^th to 22^nd 2024, places a strong empha­sis on advanc­ing grid infra­struc­ture and ener­gy stor­age as piv­otal com­po­nents of the tran­si­tion to low-car­bon ener­gy. Dur­ing COP29, the Glob­al Ener­gy Stor­age and Grids Pledge has­set an ambi­tious goal of achiev­ing 1,500 GW by 2030, six times above 2022 lev­els, and to devel­op or mod­ernise over 80 mil­lion kilo­me­tres of elec­tric­i­ty grids by 2040⁴.

Achiev­ing glob­al net-zero emis­sions hinges on the rapid expan­sion of ener­gy stor­age, a pri­or­i­ty high­light­ed by COP29 lead­ers who rec­og­nized its crit­i­cal role in advanc­ing a clean ener­gy future. Many nations and cor­po­ra­tions have pledged to deploy cut­ting-edge ener­gy stor­age solu­tions. Notably, the Glob­al Renew­ables Alliance has set an ambi­tious tar­get of 8,000 GW of long-dura­tion stor­age by 2040, advo­cat­ing for invest­ments in tech­nolo­gies like flow bat­ter­ies to enhance grid sta­bil­i­ty and sup­port renew­able ener­gy inte­gra­tion⁵.

Decen­tralised grids use Dis­trib­uted Ener­gy Resources (DERs) like solar pan­els and wind tur­bines, which can oper­ate inde­pen­dent­ly and link to the main grid. This flex­i­bil­i­ty boosts ener­gy resilience, sup­port­ing local pow­er gen­er­a­tion and reduc­ing depen­den­cy on cen­tral infra­struc­ture⁶.

Ener­gy stor­age is fun­da­men­tal to man­ag­ing the vari­abil­i­ty of renew­able sources such as solar and wind, as well as advanc­ing grid decen­tral­i­sa­tion, stor­ing excess ener­gy dur­ing peak pro­duc­tion, and ensur­ing a con­sis­tent sup­ply dur­ing peri­ods of reduced out­put. By per­form­ing these func­tions, it sta­bilis­es pow­er grids and facil­i­tates seam­less renew­able ener­gy inte­gra­tion there­by scal­ing up renew­able ener­gy adop­tion⁷.

At COP29, the Glob­al Ener­gy Stor­age and Grids Pledge set a goal to achieve 1,500 GW of glob­al stor­age capac­i­ty by 2030—including 1,200 GW in bat­tery storage—to sup­port decen­tralised ener­gy sys­tems⁸. Com­ple­ment­ing this effort, the Green Ener­gy Zones and Cor­ri­dors Pledge aims to devel­op renew­able ener­gy zones equipped with inte­grat­ed stor­age solu­tions, fur­ther accel­er­at­ing the tran­si­tion to sus­tain­able energy.

Recent break­throughs in ener­gy stor­age have demon­strat­ed their sig­nif­i­cant role in strength­en­ing ener­gy resilience. COP29 has men­tioned many inno­va­tions in ener­gy stor­age solu­tions, each with unique approach­es to sup­port­ing renew­able ener­gy integration.

#1 Grav­i­ty Ener­gy Stor­age Solu­tions (GESS): Devel­oped by Ener­gy Vault, GESS uses sur­plus renew­able ener­gy to lift heavy blocks, which are low­ered to gen­er­ate elec­tric­i­ty dur­ing high demand. Oper­a­tional in Chi­na since May 2024, GESS is scal­able, adapt­able, and can inte­grate into tall build­ings, poten­tial­ly reduc­ing urban car­bon foot­prints⁹.

#2 Geo­pres­sured Geot­her­mal Stor­age: Dubbed an “earth­en bat­tery” by Sage Geosys­tems, this tech­nol­o­gy stores water under­ground, using pres­sure to dri­ve tur­bines for elec­tric­i­ty gen­er­a­tion. Sus­tain­able and effi­cient, it is set to con­nect to the grid by year-end¹⁰.

#3 Com­pressed CO₂ Stor­age: Ener­gy Dome’s method com­press­es CO₂ into liq­uid for high-ener­gy-den­si­ty stor­age, lat­er expand­ed to dri­ve tur­bines. With a pilot plant in Sar­dinia and larg­er-scale deploy­ments planned, this approach min­imis­es envi­ron­men­tal impact¹¹.

#4 Flow Bat­ter­ies: Scal­able and prac­ti­cal, flow bat­ter­ies like vana­di­um redox flow bat­ter­ies (VRFB) store ener­gy in liq­uid elec­trolytes with­in exter­nal tanks, enabling inde­pen­dent scal­ing of pow­er and ener­gy capac­i­ties. Durable, low-main­te­nance, and safe, they align with COP29’s ener­gy stor­age goals.

#5 Redox Reac­tions: VRF­Bs store ener­gy through vana­di­um ions shift­ing oxi­da­tion states in liq­uid elec­trolytes. Dur­ing charg­ing, V³⁺ oxi­dizes to V⁴⁺ on the anolyte side, and V⁵⁺ reduces to V²⁺ on the catholyte side, revers­ing dur­ing dis­charge to release ener­gy¹².

#6 Mar­ket Overview: The VRFB mar­ket, val­ued at $394.7 mil­lion in 2023, is pro­ject­ed to grow at a 19.7% CAGR from 2024 to 2030, dri­ven by renew­able ener­gy expan­sion in North Amer­i­ca, Europe, and Asia-Pacif­ic¹³.

Andreas Schieren­beck, CEO of Hitachi Ener­gy says, “the expan­sion and mod­erni­sa­tion of pow­er grids and deploy­ment of ener­gy stor­age, along­side oth­er key tech­nolo­gies, are now crit­i­cal for the glob­al ener­gy sys­tem¹⁴.” Smart grids rep­re­sent advanced ener­gy sys­tems designed to opti­mise pow­er dis­tri­b­u­tion and enhance grid reli­a­bil­i­ty¹⁵. Ener­gy stor­age is a cor­ner­stone of these sys­tems, enabling the cap­ture and reten­tion of sur­plus ener­gy from vari­able renew­able sources such as wind and solar. This inte­gra­tion enhances grid sta­bil­i­ty, pro­motes effi­cient ener­gy use, and bal­ances sup­ply and demand¹⁶.

By mit­i­gat­ing fluc­tu­a­tions in renew­able ener­gy pro­duc­tion and ensur­ing a steady pow­er sup­ply dur­ing peri­ods of high demand, ener­gy stor­age sig­nif­i­cant­ly improves grid resilience. Addi­tion­al­ly, it reduces reliance on long-dis­tance elec­tric­i­ty trans­mis­sion, there­by min­imis­ing ener­gy losses.

At COP29, the vital role of ener­gy stor­age in accel­er­at­ing renew­able ener­gy inte­gra­tion was promi­nent­ly empha­sized. The Euro­pean Com­mis­sion, as part of its Inno­va­tion Fund, award­ed €4.8 bil­lion in grants to 85 pio­neer­ing net-zero projects¹⁷. Among these is a hybrid ener­gy stor­age sys­tem in France that com­bines lithi­um-ion and vana­di­um redox flow bat­ter­ies (VRFB), inte­grat­ed with a large-scale solar PV farm. This ini­tia­tive aims to strength­en grid sta­bil­i­ty and advance the EU’s decar­bon­i­sa­tion objectives.

Ener­gy stor­age is piv­otal in ensur­ing a resilient pow­er sup­ply, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing extreme weath­er events or unex­pect­ed dis­rup­tions. By address­ing the inher­ent vari­abil­i­ty of renew­able ener­gy sources, these sys­tems sta­bilise the grid, advance low-car­bon objec­tives, and pro­vide crit­i­cal back­up to pre­vent pro­longed black­outs dur­ing crises.

Renew­able sources like solar and wind, while abun­dant, pose chal­lenges to grid sta­bil­i­ty. Ener­gy stor­age mit­i­gates these issues by cap­tur­ing sur­plus ener­gy gen­er­at­ed dur­ing sun­ny or windy days and releas­ing it dur­ing peri­ods of low pro­duc­tion, such as over­cast or wind­less con­di­tions. This ensures a steady, reli­able pow­er sup­ply with­out com­pro­mis­ing sys­tem dependability.

More­over, ener­gy stor­age serves as a dual solu­tion to cli­mate chal­lenges: it sup­ports cli­mate mit­i­ga­tion by facil­i­tat­ing renew­able ener­gy adop­tion and adap­ta­tion by strength­en­ing grid resilience against cli­mate-induced dis­rup­tions. Encour­ag­ing COP29 par­tic­i­pants to pri­or­i­tize invest­ments in ener­gy stor­age could fos­ter glob­al aware­ness, stim­u­late mean­ing­ful dis­cus­sions, and estab­lish a trans­for­ma­tive prece­dent for future ener­gy policies.

Since COP28, sig­nif­i­cant strides have been made in ener­gy stor­age, under­scor­ing its crit­i­cal role in the glob­al tran­si­tion to renew­able ener­gy and cli­mate resilience. Break­throughs in tech­nolo­gies such as China’s GESS and vana­di­um redox flow bat­ter­ies (VRFB) have solid­i­fied ener­gy stor­age as a cor­ner­stone of future ener­gy solu­tions. Build­ing on ear­li­er com­mit­ments, new ini­tia­tives are set­ting ambi­tious goals to fur­ther advance stor­age tech­nolo­gies, inte­grate them into renew­able ener­gy zones, and pro­mote decen­tralised grids along­side next-gen­er­a­tion bat­tery systems.

Equal­ly trans­for­ma­tive are the pol­i­cy shifts observed between COP28 and COP29. The ambi­tious tar­get of achiev­ing 1,500 GW of glob­al ener­gy stor­age capac­i­ty by 2030, cou­pled with plans to upgrade 80 mil­lion kilo­me­tres of elec­tric­i­ty grids by 2040, reflects a grow­ing con­fi­dence and col­lec­tive resolve to real­ize a clean­er, more sus­tain­able future.

Look­ing ahead, the con­tin­ued inte­gra­tion of ener­gy stor­age into renew­able ener­gy sys­tems will be para­mount for achiev­ing sus­tain­able devel­op­ment and address­ing the glob­al cli­mate cri­sis. Suc­cess demands more than rhetoric — it requires deci­sive and col­lec­tive action. A clean and resilient future will not come to us; it is some­thing we must active­ly build together.