Assessment of utility energy storage options for increased renewable energy penetration

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. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.