Techno-economic analysis of long-duration energy storage and flexible power generation technologies to support high-variable renewable energy grids

As variable renewable energy penetration increases beyond 80%, clean power systems will require long-duration energy storage or flexible, low-carbon generation. Here, we provide a detailed techno-economic evaluation and uncertainty analysis of applicable technologies and identify challenges and opportunities to support electric grid planning. We show that for a 120-h storage duration rating, hydrogen systems with geologic storage and natural gas with carbon capture are the least-cost low-carbon technologies for both current and future capital costs. These results are robust to uncertainty for the future capital cost scenario, but adiabatic compressed air and pumped thermal storage could be the least-cost technologies in the current capital cost scenario under uncertainty. Finally, we present a new storage system using heavy-duty vehicle fuel cells that could reduce the levelized cost of energy by 13%-20% comparedwith the best previously considered storage technology and, thus, could help enable very high (>80%) renewable energy grids.

Automated summary

As variable renewable energy penetration increases, clean power systems will need long-duration energy storage or low-carbon generation to meet the demand. Current research shows that hydrogen systems with geologic storage and natural gas with carbon capture are the least-cost low-carbon technologies, with compressed air and pumped thermal storage potentially being the least-cost options in the current capital cost scenario under uncertainty. A new storage system using heavy-duty vehicle fuel cells could significantly reduce the levelized cost of energy and help enable very high renewable energy grids.