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E Q U I N O X
E N E R G Y 2 0 3 0
B LU E P R I N T
A t e c h n o l o g i c a l ro a d m ap fo r a
l ow - c a r b o n , e l e c t r i f i e d f u t u re
Lead Authors: Jatin Nathwani and Jason Blackstock
Chapter Authors: Esther Adedeji, Will Catton, Zhewen Chen, Kerry Cheung, Felipe De Leon, Aaron A. Leopold, Marc McArthur,
Nigel Moore, Jakob Nygard, Lauren Riga, Vagish Sharma, Ted Sherk, Gita Syahrani, Miles Avery Ten Brinke, José Maria Valenzuela, Arthur Yip
Contributors: Jay Apt, Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Robin Batterham, Barry Brook, Jillian Buriak, Zoë Caron, Lia Helena Demange, Jian hua Ding,
Craig Dunn, Cathy Foley, Yacine Kadi, Velma McColl, Greg Naterer, Linda Nazar, Nicholas Parker, Walt Patterson, Tom Rand, Marlo Raynolds,
William D. Rosehart, David Runnalls, Ted Sargent, Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, Wei Wei
Lead Writer and Editor: Stephen Pincock
Editor-in-Chief: Wilson da Silva
A report on the outcomes of the Equinox Summit: Energy 2030, convened by the Waterloo Global Science Initiative and held in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada on 5-9 June 2011
FEBRUARY 2012
E Q U I N O X B L U E P R I N T : E N E R G Y 2 0 3 0
2 PAGE
Publisher: Waterloo Global Science InitiativeEditor-in-Chief: Wilson da SilvaLead Writer and Editor: Stephen PincockLead Authors: Jatin Nathwani, Jason BlackstockChapter Authors: Esther Adedeji, Will Catton, Zhewen Chen, Kerry Cheung, Felipe De Leon, Aaron A. Leopold, Marc McArthur, Nigel Moore, Jakob Nygard, Lauren Riga, Vagish Sharma, Ted Sherk, Gita Syahrani, Miles Avery Ten Brinke, José Maria Valenzuela, Arthur YipContributors: Jay Apt, Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Robin Batterham, Barry Brook, Jillian Buriak, Zoë Caron, Lia Helena Demange, Jian hua Ding, Craig Dunn, Cathy Foley, Yacine Kadi, Velma McColl, Nigel Moore, Greg Naterer, Linda Nazar, Nicholas Parker, Walt Patterson, Tom Rand, Marlo Raynolds, William D. Rosehart, David Runnalls, Ted Sargent, Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, Wei WeiArt Director: Lucy GloverDeputy Editor: Kate ArnemanCopy Editor: Dominic CaddenIllustrator: Fern Bale Picture Editor: Tara Francis Research Assistants: Zhewen Chen, Ganesh Doluweera, Miriel KoProofreaders: Heather Catchpole, Renae Soppe, Becky Crew, Fiona MacDonald
EQUINOX SUMMIT: ENERGY 2030 PATRON His Excellency The Right Honourable David Lloyd Johnston, CC, CMM, COM, CD, FRSC (Hon)Summit Moderator and Content Team Leader: Wilson da SilvaContent Team: Ivan Semeniuk, Lee SmolinScientific Advisor: Jatin Nathwani Forum Peer Advisor: Jason BlackstockFacilitator: Dan Normandeau Rapporteur: Stephen PincockStrategic Advisors: Jason Blackstock, Blair Feltmate, Thomas Homer-Dixon, David Keith, David Layzell, Kevin Lynch, Jatin NathwaniEvent Producers: Sean Kiely and Frank Taylor, Title Entertainment Inc.Presenting Media Partner: TVO
WATERLOO GLOBAL SCIENCE INITIATIVEBOARDDr Neil Turok (Chair)Director, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Dr Feridun Hamdullahpur (Vice-Chair)President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Waterloo
Dr Arthur Carty (Secretary & Treasurer)Executive Director, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology
Dr Tom Brzustowski, RBC Professor, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa; and Chair, Institute of Quantum Computing (IQC), University of Waterloo
Michael Duschenes, Chief Operating Officer, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
ADVISORY COUNCILMike Lazaridis (Chair)Founder & Chair of the Board, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics; and Founder and Vice Chair of the Board, Research In Motion
Dr Tom Brzustowski (Vice-Chair)RBC Professor, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa; and Chair, Institute of Quantum Computing (IQC), University of Waterloo
Dr David Dodge Chancellor, Queen’s University; and Sr. Advisory, Bennett Jones
Dr Suzanne Fortier President, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Peter HarderSenior Policy Advisor, Fraser Milner Casgrain
Dr Chaviva Hošek President & CEO, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)
Dr Huguette LabelleChancellor Emeritus, University of Ottawa
John PollockCEO, Electrohome; and Chancellor Emeritus, Wilfrid Laurier University
Dr Cal Stiller Chair, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research; and Former Chair, Ontario Innovation Trust and Genome Canada
John M. Thompson Chancellor, University of Western Ontario; and Chairman of the Board, TD Bank Financial Group
The Hon. Pamela Wallin Senator, Government of Canada; and Chancellor Emeritus, University of Guelph
Lynton Ronald (Red) Wilson Chancellor, McMaster University; former CEO, Redpath; Chairman of the Board of BCE; and Former Deputy Minister
MANAGEMENT TEAM John Matlock Director, External Relations and Public Affairs, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Tim Jackson Vice-President, External Relations, University of Waterloo
Ellen RéthoréAssociate Vice-President, Communications and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
Martin Van NieropSenior Director of Government Relations and Strategic Initiatives, University of Waterloo
Stefan PregeljSenior Analyst, Financial Operations, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
STAFFWGSI Coordinator: Julie Wright WGSI Communications Liaison: RJ TaylorOperations Support: Jake Berkowitz, Lisa Lambert, Mike Leffering, Peter McMahon, Cassandra Sheppard, Graeme Stemp-Morlock, and the staff of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
February 2012 Waterloo Global Science Initiative. This work is published under a Creative Commons license requiring Attribution and Noncommercial usage. Licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based only for noncommercial purposes, and only where the source is credited as follows: “produced by the Waterloo Global Science Initiative, a partnership between Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the University of Waterloo”.
Waterloo Global Science Initiative 31 Caroline Street North Waterloo, ON, N2L 2Y5, Canada Tel: +1 (519) 569 7600 Ext. 5170 Fax: +1 (519) 569 7611 Email: info@wgsi.org URL: www.wgsi.org
Produced for the Waterloo Global Science Initiative by Cosmos Media Pty Ltd, a publishing company in Sydney, Australia. PO Box 302, Strawberry Hills NSW 2012, Sydney, Australia. Tel: +61 2 9310 8500, Fax: +61 2 9698 4899. Email: info@cosmosmedia.com.au URL: www.cosmosmedia.com.au
A technolog ica l roadmap for low-carbon e lectr ic i ty product ion
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8 PAGE INTRODUCTION
Quorum members during the working sessions. In the foreground, Cathy Foley, Chief of the
Division of Materials Science and Engineering at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
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A LOW CARBON ELECTRICITY ECOSYSTEM During Equinox Summit: Energy 2030, participants evolved their discussions
of technologies for generation, transport and storage of electricity into a
detailed exploration of the societal contexts into which such technologies
must be integrated.
From this emerged the concept of a Low Carbon Electricity Ecosystem. It
highlights how a series of technological, economic and social innovations
in different contexts can contribute to transforming how we, as individuals
and societies, think about and use energy. It also allows us to more clearly
consider how we might alter the future direction of our varied electricity
systems in a more sustainable direction.
Three of the Pathways focus on technologies that could help replace our
reliance on the burning of fossil fuels for the generation of constant, reliable
‘baseload’ power in long-established electrical systems: the deployment
of grid-scale battery storage to support renewable energy expansion; the
development of Enhanced Geothermal power potential; and the accelerated
development of Advanced Nuclear Power technologies.
A fourth Pathway focusses on opportunities for innovation in rapidly
expanding urban environments, which are already among the largest
contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Taking advantage of ever-
improving information and communication technologies, coupled with
emerging battery technologies, could allow the simultaneous improvement
of urban transport systems and our cities’ electric grids. In addition,
emerging superconductor technology may allow a substantial increase in the
efficiency of electricity provision, allowing more energy to be delivered per
square metre of densely packed, power-hungry city cores. These together are
described as elements that could contribute to green urbanisation.
Finally, an important Exemplar Pathway developed by participants
focusses on the billions of people who currently live without adequate access
to electricity. This Pathway proposes routes for encouraging the development
of affordable, ‘off-grid’ power solutions for energy-poor regions.
Baseload arge scale storage
for rene able energy Geothermal dvanced nuclear
Smart urbanisation Enhanced grid lexible solar Superconductors
Electrified transport Storage
Off-grid lexible solar and
storage icro grids
INNOVATION AND
WEALTH CREATION
Figure 3: As discussions progressed, a new model for the global electricity landscape emerged: the Low-Carbon Electricity Ecosystem. It allowed participants to better conceptualise the enormous changes required, and how they could be integrated.
E Q U I N O X B L U E P R I N T : E N E R G Y 2 0 3 0
9PAGEINTRODUCTION
BLUEPRINT STRUCTURE The Equinox Blueprint contains two parts:
Part One details the Exemplar Pathways developed by participants of the Equinox Summit: Energy 2030, and incorporates specific proposals for addressing important aspects of the global energy problem. Each of these Exemplar Pathways identifies specific opportunities for action – aspects of the energy problem that are amenable to improvement with science or technology. They describe existing barriers to that improvement, and describe a series of steps to overcoming those barriers. Each Pathway includes interventions and action points for generating change, as proposed by participants.
Part Two is a more detailed discussion of the scientific and technical context of each of these Exemplar Pathways. It describes the science, technology and societal underpinnings of each proposed Pathway. The focus in this section is on clarifying the scale and nature of specific facets of the energy problem, and on identifying the technological or societal developments needed to address those problems.
Part One is aimed at policy makers, the media and the general public, and provides a detailed discussion of the proposals. Part Two delves deeper into the technical and scientific challenges and opportunities of each proposal, and is aimed at the scientific, engineering and academic community.
Within each of these two major sections, chapters have a similar structure: they each detail the Opportunities and Challenges of each proposal, and the suggested Pathway to Innovation. These are followed by proposed Actions, or other suggested initiatives to help make the recommendations a reality.
The chapters are built around the five Exemplar Pathways, which are the core pillars of the proposals contained herein. In Part One, they are:
REPLACING COAL FOR BASELOAD POWER Chapter 1: Large-scale Storage with Renewables 12 Chapter 2: Enhanced Geothermal 18 Chapter 3: Advanced Nuclear 24
REENGINEERING ELECTRICITY USE Chapter 4: Off-grid Electricity Access 30 Chapter 5: Smart Urbanisation 36
In Part Two, which focuses on the scientific and technical discussion of each of the five Exemplar Pathways, the chapters follow a similar structure:
REPLACING COAL FOR BASELOAD POWER Chapter 6: Large-scale Storage with Renewables 54 Chapter 7: Enhanced Geothermal 64 Chapter 8: Advanced Nuclear 72
REENGINEERING ELECTRICITY USE Chapter 9: Off-grid Electricity Access 80 Chapter 10: Smart Urbanisation 90
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LARGE-SCALE STORAGE FOR RENEWABLE
ENERGY
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Wind farm for electric power production and an electrical substation.
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THE FIRST EXEMPLAR Pathway is the one with the
shortest time-frame for implementation: the development
of large-scale storage facilities coupled to renewable energy
facilities such as wind or solar. It relies on existing storage
technologies currently deployed at the small scale or in
pilot plants at various sites. The goal would be to upscale, de-risk and
commercialise the technologies for widespread deployment.
OPPORTUNITIES The enormous potential of renewable energy sources is limited by their
intermittency and variability of supply. Large-scale storage technologies
will be critical to facilitate the integration of variable and dispersed
sources of renewable energy into the grid.
Among innovations in storage technologies, electrochemical batteries
offer several advantages. They can be sited anywhere, they are modular,
their rapid response times may be used concurrently with advanced
energy management applications and they can be placed near residential
areas due to their low environmental impact.
Within electrochemical batteries, flow batteries are among the
most advanced. Of these, the Vanadium Redox Battery — a type
of rechargeable, large-scale battery that employs vanadium ions in
different oxidation states to store chemical potential energy — has seen
important advances in development. Over the past 25 years, a design
based on vanadium and utilising sulfuric acid electrolytes has been under
investigation with testing and evaluations at several institutions in
Australia, Europe, Japan and North America.
The main advantages of the Vanadium Redox Battery are that it can offer
almost unlimited capacity simply by using larger and larger storage tanks;
it can be left completely discharged for long periods with no ill effects; it
can be recharged simply by replacing the electrolyte if no power source is
available to charge it; and, if the electrolytes are accidentally mixed, the
battery suffers no permanent damage.
CHALLENGES There a number of barriers to full commercialisation of flow batteries.
One priority is the reduction of manufacturing costs per kilowatt (kW)
by achieving higher electric current density and increasing stack
module sizes.
Another important research and development priority is to evolve
inexpensive, chemically stable ion exchange membranes not subject to
fouling by impurities in the electrolyte medium, thereby allowing lower
purity vanadium sources to be used for further cost reduction.
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There are also issues that need to be investigated around scale-up,
capital and cycle-life costs and optimisation; the volatility in the price of
vanadium pentoxide itself; and the low energy density of the electrolyte
presents a limiting factor on system portability.
In electric bus applications of Vanadium Redox Batteries, safety and
environmental concerns need to be addressed, particularly with regard to
electrolyte refuelling at public refuelling stations and potential electrolyte
spills in accidents.
Renewable energy spilling — where energy that is generated but not used
is discarded — is a problem that loses large amounts of current renewable
capacity because there is no adequate storage capacity. This challenge
must be overcome to bring renewable energies into baseload calculations
and developed at scale.
PATHWAY TO INNOVATIONResearch efforts and grid-scale battery demonstration projects should be
expanded and prioritised to profile the reliability and scope of renewable
energy combined with storage.
Larger-scale demonstration projects to establish the economic viability of
storage technologies specifically targeting promising options such as flow
batteries are needed.
Effective partnerships between existing utilities and technology developers
are one path towards commercialisation and wider implementation.
Incentives for storage implemented on a large scale would be effective
for better utilisation of renewable energy resources to prevent the poor
practices of ‘spilling’ the resource.
STORAGE: THE MISSING INGREDIENTEnergy from the wind and sunlight has great potential to provide us
with low-emissions electricity. Storage technologies that account for the
variability and intermittency of these energy sources could allow them to be
integrated into our power systems.
In the near future, large-scale batteries installed close to the source of
electricity generation, or close to the end user, can also play a part in turning
clean and abundant, yet intermittent, energy sources into reliable, steady
forms of baseload power for our cities and industry.
To make this a reality, the Pathway to this goal developed by the Equinox
Process includes four key priorities:
A focus on reliability requirements, in concert with renewable energy
deployment, to ensure the effective and efficient integration of new,
cleaner sources of energy into the grid which maximally replace existing
fossil fuel production.
A series of demonstration projects for grid-scale storage techniques, with
an emphasis on battery storage in general and flow batteries in particular.
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Dynamic pricing and other demand management mechanisms that act to
alter energy consumption patterns in order to better balance the demand
and supply of electricity.
Penalising renewable energy ‘spilling’ through legislative action, with
promotion of battery storage as an incentivised alternative to spilling.
Demonstration projects
Demonstration projects of the grid-scale use of flow batteries (i.e. Vanadium
Redox) are best located in jurisdictions with a regulatory environment that
includes some of the policy actions outlined above, and where there is already
a high level of penetration of renewable energy within the overall supply mix.
Markets with limited capacity to sell excess power are also excellent locations
for energy storage demonstration projects.
The overall strategy for developing storage technologies to the point of
rapid commercialisation would require the innovation timeline to mirror
overall renewable penetration into global energy markets, so that production
and storage are deployed in tandem, especially in greenfield sites.
Domestically and internationally supported research efforts and small
grid-scale battery demonstration projects exist today, but these need to be
expanded geographically and given a higher priority. Bringing larger-scale
demonstration projects that specifically target flow batteries – and are
supported by an enabling regulatory environment – will be needed to
ensure widespread adoption. Examples include Japan’s experience with
Vanadium Redox Battery demonstration projects such as the JPower unit
at Tomamae, where such demonstration projects could be expanded in
the near term.
Potential players in demonstration projects
Changing the global energy system to the degree envisioned herein requires
political action, which could be encouraged by cooperation between
coalitions of stakeholder groups.
The involvement of electrical utilities – whose function is to provide reliable,
low-cost electricity to consumers – is also important. Renewable electricity
generation provides an important opportunity for enhancing supply and
greening the electricity sector. Utilities are at the functional core of the
deployment of large-scale storage and understand the necessary coupling of
renewable energy production with supply and demand management techniques
of which energy storage is an important part. If utilities are to make good
on their responsibilities for providing reliable electricity to consumers at an
appropriate cost – while also accommodating the larger and larger supply of
intermittent production – they will need to invest heavily in these techniques,
effectively building the energy delivery infrastructure of tomorrow. This in
some cases departs significantly from the state of affairs today.
However, utilities cannot be expected to deliver on all of their responsibilities
without the support of other stakeholders. With the appropriate policy and
legislative settings, the expertise and capital resources available to private
enterprise could help accelerate progress on technologies such as flow
batteries. If the private sector is encouraged to recognise the market
opportunities within this new energy system, they could be of enormous
help in the upscaling and commercialisation of storage.
High voltage equipment at an electricity generating station.
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A public awareness campaign is needed so that electricity consumers and civil
society groups can become more engaged. Such a campaign would enable these
players to more assertively make the case for investment in energy storage as
a critical enabler of intelligent renewable energy production that will deliver
reliable, cleaner energy, and provide domestic employment opportunities.
Ultimately all of these groups must support policy changes and public
investments required to lay the foundations for the kind of smart energy
infrastructure this proposal envisages.
Certain regions exist where these partnerships and coalitions are
especially important in the near term. One obvious example is areas with
already high intermittent energy penetration (about 10-20% of total
electricity production). Utilities and energy policymakers in these areas
are beginning to face the challenge of intermittency head-on. However, it
is also in these areas that intermittency is often resolved by contracting
suppliers of natural gas and coal to supplement supply, because these same
utilities often need more rapid solutions to increasingly problematic supply
variability. Rather than pursue inefficient short-term solutions such as
these (known as ‘firming agreements’) or allow renewable energy spilling
without penalty, these regions should be encouraged to forge partnerships
that utilise the necessary public and private resources to build a sustainable
renewable energy infrastructure that includes large-scale storage and
demand management. In other words, future development of the capacity
for generating electricity from renewable and intermittent sources must go
hand-in-hand with the development of adequate storage capacity.
Fast-growth cities are another opportunity for constructive partnerships
in large-scale storage. These regions are building their energy infrastructure
regardless, and are increasingly looking to bring on renewable supply
while making good on commitments to source supply close to home. If
resources are spent effectively to nudge their emerging energy infrastructure
toward long-term sustainability, the investment of human and financial
resources will be much less costly when compared with regions that have
long-established energy infrastructure, which may or may not be slated for
reinvestment. Fast-growth cities are ideal sites for large-scale energy storage
demonstration projects immediately.
End-of-line and remote areas are also good locations for energy storage to
provide large benefits to the reliability of supply. Large-scale storage could
be a very attractive option for increasing energy security in such regions, and
can bring wealth creation through storing and selling energy produced rather
than spilling it. Since they stand to gain so much from the development
of storage technologies, they too are ideal sites for the next wave of
demonstration projects that accelerates technological and policy progress in
energy supply and demand management.
Large-scale storage that accounts for variability and intermittency of wind and solar energy will enable better integration into power systems.
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TIMELINE ACTIONS PARTICIPANTS
2012-2020 Expand large-scale storage demonstration projects, especially battery storage Penalise renewable energy spilling through legislative action and offer storage (through demonstration projects, etc.) as an incentivised alternative to wasting renewable energy Further deployment of smart-grid technology. Implement dynamic pricing initiatives to balance demand and supply of electricity.
Coalitions of stakeholders in regions with already high (or mandated) increases in intermittent renewable energy penetration.
2020-2030 Establish a thriving market in energy storage through deployment of large-scale energy storage technologies on a global scale Increase penalties for energy spilling and discourage firming agreements with fossil fuel power plants (alternative energy storage methods must be available at reasonable cost in these circumstances).
Policymakers and electrical utilities in regions with expanding intermittent renewable energy penetration, where energy spilling is commonplace, or where supply and demand for energy is difficult or expensive to balance Private groups involved in building the energy storage infrastructure.
2030-2050 Encourage and make ubiquitous large-scale energy storage and intelligent supply and demand management as integral parts of domestic, as well as global energy systems Accelerate intermittent renewable energy deployment enabled by large-scale storage to the point of outpacing fossil energy production.
Energy policymakers in all regions, particularly in global energy governance forums Private groups involved in building renewable energy production capacities at an accelerated rate in all regions.
ACTIONS
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1 InterAcademy Council. Lighting the Way: Towards a Sustainable Energy Future 2007.
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES offer a great potential
for producing energy on a large scale with low greenhouse gas
emissions. The resource adequacy of renewables is generally
not an issue, although some parts of the world have more
geographical limitations than others. Even when practical
limitations are factored in, the remaining resource base remains enormous.
The challenges are how to capture these dilute, low energy-density,
intermittent, variable and geographically dispersed energy resources where
they are needed and when they are needed, at reasonable cost.
The variable and intermittent nature of renewable sources such as solar
power or wind means that they are currently only partially dispatchable
– making it difficult to integrate them into electricity supply grids. Large-
scale storage is therefore the critical technology required to enable solar and
wind to ‘mimic’ the characteristics of baseload generation, and subsequently
assume a greater role within the global energy supply mix.
Modern electrical grid systems have been designed primarily to
accommodate constant, baseload energy from sources such as natural gas
and coal-fired power plants, hydroelectric dams and nuclear power. At
current levels of penetration, the intermittency of renewables such as wind
and solar is generally manageable.
As renewables penetration expands in the long-term to significantly higher
levels, however, the intermittency issue may become more salient and may
require some combination of innovative grid management techniques,
improved grid integration, dispatchable back-up resources, and cost-effective
energy storage technologies.1
Over the next 30-70 years, sustained efforts will be needed to realise the
potential of renewable energy as part of a comprehensive strategy that
supports a diversity of resources options for energy over the next century.
OPPORTUNITIESA range of options exists for managing the variability of renewable resources,
each with strengths and weaknesses that differ across scale and situation.
These include the use of natural gas generation as a complement to wind
output generation, demand management or storage.
Here, we focus particularly on renewables coupled with large-scale storage,
because it has the potential to turn renewables into a serious contender for
providing energy on large-scale with characteristics that nearly match those
of baseload power. Increased storage in concert with the development of
Smart Grids could also reduce transmission costs and decrease transmission
system load. Ancillary services such as regulation, spinning reserve,
supplemental reserve, replacement reserve, voltage control and black start
services are also needed to intelligently smooth the integration of storage
into the system. iSTO
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2 Science 18 November 2011. Dunn, Bruce et al. “Electrical Energy Storage for the Grid: A Battery of Choices”. Derived from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Electrical Energy Storage Technology Options 2010, Palo Alto, California, USA. 3 Journal of Power Sources, September 1989: Bartolozzi, M. “Development of Redox Flow Batteries: A Historical Bibliography”. Science 18 November 2011: Dunn, Bruce. “Electrical Energy Storage for the Grid: A Battery of Choices”. Journal of the Electrochemical Society 1986. Skyllas-Kazacos, Maria et al. “New All-Vanadium Redox Flow Cell”.
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FLOW BATTERIES AND ELECTROCHEMICAL STORAGE SYSTEMSFour main types of energy storage technology for large-scale grid applications
are available: mechanical, electrical, chemical and electrochemical (see Figure 1
for a comparison of discharge time and power ratings).
In the ecosystem of energy storage technologies, discussions at the
Equinox Summit focused on electrochemical batteries and flow batteries
in particular – a storage technology that has the potential to address the
intermittency and variability characteristics of renewables.
Flow batteries have been receiving significant attention of late, and
several concepts are at advanced stages of research and development.
Since the 1970s, numerous types of flow battery systems have been
investigated, including iron/chromium, vanadium/bromine, bromine/
polysulfide, zinc-cerium, zinc/bromine and all-vanadium.
The all-vanadium (1.26 V) and zinc/bromine (1.85 V) systems are the most
advanced, and have reached the demonstration stage for stationary energy
storage. Interest in the all-vanadium system is based on having a single cationic
element so that the crossover of vanadium ions through the membrane upon
long-term cycling is less deleterious than with other chemistries.3
Flow batteries work by storing energy as charged ions in two separate tanks
Figure 1: Comparison of discharge time and power rating for various EES technologies. The comparisons are of a general nature because several of the technologies have broader power ratings and longer discharge times than illustrated.2
Figure 2: A 1-10 kWh VRB installed by UNSW in a Solar Demonstration House in Thailand in the mid- 1990s (top) and 5kWh VRB lab test battery (bottom).
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4 Electric Power Research Institute 2003. EPRI-DOE Handbook of Energy Storage for Transmission & Distribution Applications. 5 Electric Power Research Institute 2010, “Energy Storage Technology Options” white paper. 6 The Electrochemical Society Interface 2010: Doughty, D. H. et al. “Batteries for Large-scale Stationary Electrical Energy Storage”. Science 18 November 2011. Dunn, Bruce et al. “Electrical Energy Storage for the Grid: A Battery of Choices” The Electrochemical Society Interface Fall 2010: Nguyen, T et al. “Flow Batteries”.
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e
e
of solutions, one to store the electrolyte for the positive electrode reaction
and the other to store electrolyte for negative electrode reaction – all using
one common electrolyte. To discharge, the electrolyte flows to a redox cell
where the electron transfer reactions take place at inert electrodes, producing
electric current; and all this with only two moving parts.5
The simplicity of the electrode reactions contrasts with those of many
conventional batteries that involve, for example, phase transformations,
electrolyte degradation, or electrode morphology changes. Perhaps their most
attractive feature is that power and energy are uncoupled, a characteristic that
many other electrochemical energy storage approaches do not have.
This gives considerable design flexibility for stationary energy storage
applications. The capacity can be increased by simply increasing either the
size of the reservoirs holding the reactants or increasing the concentration of
the electrolyte. In addition, the power of the system can be tuned by either:
1) modifying the numbers of cells in the stacks;
2) using bipolar electrodes, or
3) connecting stacks in either parallel or series configurations. This
provides modularity and flexible operation to the system.6
Moreover, since the electrodes themselves do not undergo any reaction,
they do not suffer from any changes that can lead to deterioration. This is
important because it means that these batteries could have significantly
longer cycle lives than conventional batteries such as lead-acid and lithium.
Figure 3: Schematic of the various components for a redox-flow battery. The cell consists of
two electrolyte flow compartments separated by an ion-selective membrane. The electrolyte
solutions, which are pumped continuously from external tanks, contain soluble redox couples.
The energy in redox-flow batteries is stored in the electrolyte, which is charged or discharged
accordingly. In practice, individual cells are arranged in stacks by using bipolar electrodes.
The power of the system is determined by the number of cells in the stack, whereas the energy is determined by the concentration and volume of electrolyte. In the vanadium
redox-flow battery shown here, the V(II)/V(III) redox couple circulates through the negative
compartment (anolyte), whereas the V(IV)/V(V) redox couple circulates through the positive
compartment (catholyte).7
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7 Science 18 November 2011. Dunn, Bruce et al. “Electrical Energy Storage for the Grid: A Battery of Choices”. Chemical Reviews 2011: Yang, Z. et al “Electrochemical Energy Storage for Green Grid”. 8 SEI Technical Review, June 2000: Tokuda, N. et al. “Development of a Redox Flow Battery System”. 9 Environmental Health Perspective 2007: Holzman, D.C. “The Vanadium Advantage: Flow Batteries Put Wind Energy in the Bank”. 10 Ibid. 11 EPRI 2003 - see 4. 12 See 3.
The use of solutions to store energy also makes the batteries relatively easy
to recharge by conventional charging methods, or even by replacing the
electrolytes in use, like refilling a fuel tank – discharged electrolyte can just be
replaced with freshly charged electrolyte.
In the case of Vanadium Redox Batteries, not only can the vanadium
electrolyte be recycled (it may be used semi-permanently) but it can operate
at room temperature, significantly increasing life cycle.8 Uniquely, simply
raising the volume of electrolytes in the external storage tanks can increase
the storage capacity of flow batteries – allowing very low incremental costs
for increased storage capacity. Capital costs per kWh of installed capacity
therefore drop significantly as a function of storage time, while the long cycle
life means replacement costs are also very low compared with other types of
batteries. Vanadium Redox Batteries produce very little waste, particularly
when compared to other technologies. Additionally, the most acidic component
of a Vanadium Redox Battery is the sulfuric acid in the electrolyte, meaning
these batteries contain one-third the acidity of a lead–acid battery.9
An important consideration – considering recent controversies over rare
earth minerals supplies on which many technologies rely (including wind
turbines and other advanced battery technologies) – is the global supply of a
resource such as vanadium. It’s worth noting that the U.S. Geological Survey
has estimated the world’s vanadium supply is far more than what would be
necessary to supply storage for total global electricity production.10
Over the past two decades, demonstration projects using Vanadium Redox
Batteries have been developed around the world. In Denmark there is a
15 kW/120 kWh unit operating in a Smart Grid configuration. Australia’s
Hydro Tasmania has developed a 200 kW/800 kWh unit on King Island, and
JPower is operating a 4 MW/6 MWh unit in Tomamae, Hokkaido in Japan.11
By far the largest projects are concentrated in the USA, Japan, Europe, China
and Australia. It is valuable to note the range of applications for Vanadium
Redox Batteries, from smaller
scale off-grid applications to
the potential of megawatt-
scale integration into the grid.
To date there are more than
20 multi-kW to MW scale
demonstration projects in
place around the world.12
ELECTROCHEMICAL BATTERIES AND OTHER ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMSBesides flow batteries,
various electrochemical
storage technologies abound.
In general, they possess a
number of desirable features,
including pollution-free
operation, high round-trip
efficiency, flexible power
and energy characteristics to
Figure 4: 200 kW/800 kWh Vanadium Redox Battery installation at the Kashima-Kita Electric Power station in Japan (installed in the mid-1990s).
SOU
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KY
LLA
S-K
AZ
AC
OS
High powerE.C. capacitors
Ni-Cd
Li-ion Long durationfly wheels
Zinc-airbattery
Rechargeable
NaSbattery
Flow batteries
Pumpedhydro
Metal-airbatteries
CAES
Long durationE.C. capacitors
Lead-acidbatteries
Better forenergy
managementapplications
Better for UPS and powerquality applications
100 300 1 000 3 000 10 000
Capital cost per unit power ($/kW)
Cap
ital c
ost p
er u
nit e
nerg
y ($
/kW
h-ou
tput
)C
ost/c
apac
ity/e
ffici
ency
10
100
1 000
10 000
High powerfly wheels
Figure 5: Commercial characteristics of different battery technologies.
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13 See 2. 14 Electricity Storage Association, USA. See http://www.electricitystorage.org/technology/storage_technologies/technology_comparison 15 Developed by the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy, 2011. Data from The Electricity Journal 2010: Culver, W. J. “High-Value Energy Storage for the Grid: A Multi-Dimensional Look”.
meet different grid functions, long cycle life, and low maintenance. Batteries
represent an excellent energy storage technology for the integration of
renewable resources. Their compact size makes them well-suited to use
at distributed locations, and they can provide frequency control to reduce
variations in local solar output and to mitigate output fluctuations at wind
farms. Although high cost limits market penetration, the modularity and
scalability of different battery systems provide the promise of a drop in costs
in the coming years.13 See Figure 5 for commercial characteristics of different
battery technologies.14
Electrochemical battery technologies provide direct conversion between
chemical and electrical energy, allowing for storage of any source of electricity.
While they promise considerable commercial value and an effective mitigation
of intermittency they are, however, less commercially advanced than other
storage systems such as lead-acid batteries or pumped-storage hydroelectricity.
ENERGY STORAGE FOR GRID APPLICATIONSFigure 6 captures the commercial viability requirements and cost effective
aspects of different storage solutions for grid applications.
Besides electrochemical batteries, there are many different types of energy
storage, each suited to specific types of application. Historically, however, they
have all shared a common trait: a very high price due to the low production
volumes of each technology. This is beginning to change. Advances in battery,
flywheel, compressed-air and fuel cell technologies, as well as new and creative
approaches to pumped storage, are lowering the cost of energy storage. More
importantly, thanks to renewables, a market for storage has now emerged and
this is attracting investment that is allowing more widespread field-testing
and a scale-up in production that will lead to significant cost reductions.
Innovation around
‘process’ storage – a way
of intelligently managing
loads in the commercial
and industrial sectors to
mimic the functions of
storage – presents another
Time scale 3.6 ms 1 hr 10 hrs 100 hrs 1 000 hrs
Cost $/kW
Super capacitors
SMES
Flywheels
Batteries
CAES
Pumped hydro
1 cycle 1 sec 1 min
Current $250–350/kW
$350 Current $500/kW Advanced
$3 000/kW–$5 000/kWCurrent Advanced
$1 500/kW–$3 000/kWLead acid $1 750–2 500/kW
Sodium sulphur $1 850–2 100/kWFlow battery $1 545–3 100/kW
Current Advanced
$600
$1 000
Current
Current
$750/kW
$4 000/kW
Power qualityapplications
Stabilityapplications
Enhanced loadfollowing
Load levellingPeak reduction
Spinning reserve
Reliability,investment,
deferral,renewable energy
Seasonalstorage
Benefit breakeven$/kW
$400–1 000/kW
$400/kW
$600–1 000/kW
$800–2 000/kW
$400–1 100/kW
$400–700/kW
Figure 6: Characteristic times for energy storage and cost benefit data.15
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16 Independent Electricity System Operator, Ontario, Canada, 2011: Modernizing Ontario’s Electricity System: Next Steps: Second Report of the Ontario Smart Grid Forum. 17 Electricity Storage Association, at: http://www.electricitystorage.org/technology/storage_technologies/technology_comparison
promising option. At the same time, forecast higher electricity prices will
improve the economics of these technologies and approaches.17
Not all storage systems can be applied to electric power utility that integrates
scalable renewables generation. When considering baseload integration, there
are several critical storage metrics that need to be considered. A comparison of
how capable each storage system is for grid application is shown in Figure 8.
Vanadium Redox Battery technology, as described earlier, favours applications
with a high energy to power ratio (kWh/KW), namely applications requiring
several hours of storage. They are capable of discharging at maximum design
power for a period of 4-10 hr. In terms of footprint and space requirements,
they scale with system ratings with relatively large footprint. For typical grid
applications, the Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB) systems are best suited to
load-shifting applications involving shifting 10 hours of stored energy from
periods of low value to periods of high value. They are generally not suited to
applications such as grid angular stability, grid voltage stability, grid frequency
excursion suppression, and regulation control.
As shown in Figure 7, no single energy storage system can match the multiple
device requirements for large-scale grid applications. We describe briefly an
alternative storage system, the Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage
(SMES), to illustrate how its capabilities complement those of the VRB system.
10 kW 100 kW 1 MW 10 MW 100 MW
Storage power requirements for electric power utility applications
Sto
rage
tim
e (m
in)
10
100
1 000
1
0.1
0.01
0.001
Commoditystorage
Rapid reserve
T&D facility deferral
Customer energymanagement
T voltageregulation
Renewable energymanagement
Power qualityand reliability
Transmissionsystemstability
10 h
1 h
1 m
1 s
100 ms
Area controland frequency
Responsive reserve
Figure 7: Storage power requirements for electricity power utility applications.16
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18 Ibid.
STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES MAIN ADVANTAGES (RELATIVE)DISADVANTAGES
(RELATIVE)POWER
APPLICATIONENERGY
APPLICATION
PUMPED STORAGE High capacity, low cost Special site requirement
CAES High capacity, low cost Special site requirement, need gas fuel
FLOW BATTERIES:PSB, VRB, ZNBR
High capacity, independent power and energy ratings
Low energy density
METAL-AIR Very high energy density Electrical charging is difficult
NAS High power and energy densities, high efficiency
Production cost, safety concerns (addressed in design)
LI-ION High power and energy densities, high efficiency
High production cost, requires special charging circuit
NI-CD High power and energy densities, high efficiency
OTHER ADVANCED BATTERIES High power and energy densities, high efficiency
High production cost
LEAD-ACID Low capital cost Limited cycle life when deeply discharged
FLYWHEELS High power Low energy density
SMES, DSMES High power Low energy density, high production cost
E.C. CAPACITORS Long cycle life, high efficiency Low energy density
Legend: Fully capable and reasonable
reasonable for the application feasible but not practicable or economic
not feasible
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Figure 8: Storage power requirements for electricity power utility applications.18
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19 IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy 2010: Ali, M. H. et al “An Overview of SMES Applications in Power and Energy Systems”. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 See 6. 23 See 8.
SMES SYSTEMSSuperconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) systems store energy in
the magnetic field created by the flow of direct current in a superconducting
coil which has been cryogenically cooled to a temperature below its
superconducting critical temperature. Since energy is stored as circulating
current, energy can be drawn from an SMES unit with almost instantaneous
response, with energy stored or delivered over periods ranging from a fraction
of a second to several hours.19
SMES was originally envisaged for large-scale load levelling. However,
its rapid discharge capabilities allowed its implementation in electric power
systems for pulsed-power and system-stability applications. SMES systems
have attracted the attention of both electric utilities and the military due
to their fast response and high efficiency (a charge-discharge efficiency in
excess of 95%).20
This fast response makes SMES suitable to provide benefits to many
potential utility applications. Some of the core applications include energy
storage of up to 5 000 MWh, instantaneous load following, stabilisation of
system oscillations, spinning reserve capacity and so on. As with VRB, the
power utility integration characteristics of SMES denote constraints and
limitations if they are deployed as stand-alone solutions; yet the combination
of VRB with SMES has the potential to complement the comparative
disadvantage of each technology.
CHALLENGESThere a number of barriers to full commercialisation of flow batteries like VRB
systems, particularly in scale-up, capital and cycle-life costs and optimisation.
Despite the apparent advantages for redox-flow batteries, application of this
technology to stationary energy storage is still uncertain.
One principal reason is that redox-flow systems have been limited to
relatively few field trials. In contrast, other battery technologies have
benefitted from extensive experience in the development of products for
portable electronics and automotive applications. A related disadvantage of
flow batteries is the system requirements of pumps, sensors, reservoirs and
flow management.21
A priority for the expansion of like VRB systems is the reduction of
manufacturing costs per kW by using low-cost materials or by achieving
a higher electric current density (current or power output per unit area of
electrode in the cell stack).22 Increasing current density means more power can
be generated per unit area of membrane and electrode material, so the cost per
kW can be reduced. This requires the development of low-cost membranes,
and electrodes with lower electrical resistance and good electrochemical
performance –research areas already receiving considerable attention around
the world. Manufacturing costs can, however, also be reduced by automation
and increased production volume, but this can only happen when the energy
storage market is fully developed.
Another important research and development priority is in the ionic
exchange membrane, which is the most expensive component of the entire
apparatus. Developing inexpensive, chemically stable membranes not subject
to fouling by impurities in the electrolyte medium will not only lower the cost
of the batteries, but also allow for lower purity – and less expensive –vanadium
oxide materials to be used in producing the electrolyte.23
Wind turbines can produce energy on a large scale with low greenhouse gas emissions.
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24 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 27 June 2011: Skyllas-Kazacos, Maria et al. “Progress in flow battery research and development”.
A further challenge is volatility in the price of vanadium pentoxide. While
historical prices have been acceptable, fluctuations in recent years have created
uncertainty for prospective investors and customers. Current vanadium
production is linked to demand from the steel industry, and any spikes in this
demand have impacted global vanadium supply and prices. Recent investment
in new vanadium mines in Canada, the USA, Australia and elsewhere is
expected to stabilise both the supply and price of vanadium globally.
For full-vanadium systems, the low energy density of the electrolyte
presents a limiting factor on system portability. Without significant advances,
applications in transportation are minimal. Though this is not the only type of
flow battery – vanadium-halide and mixed acid systems for instance have been
proposed for use in buses or vans.24
CONCLUDING REMARKSFlow batteries are among many storage solutions that can enhance and
amplify the value of intermittent and variable renewable resources for
baseload integration. They are illustrative examples of what niche they
can fulfil in terms of power and energy requirements for grid applications.
Electricity energy storage alone does not solve all the problems
associated with the grid integration characteristics of renewables.
Transmission and distribution systems, and ancillary services, are
responsible for managing the flow of electricity. However, storage
provides a well-established time dimension solution, critically
strengthening power quality and reliability from renewable generation.
STORAGEFOR
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Workers set up an electrical substation in Santiago, Chile.
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