Storage remains the challenge for renewables

Transforming the energy situation so that renewables provide the majority of the world’s usable power requires one essential missing element: energy storage.

Public perception is that solar energy is expensive and cannot meet evening demand, need to be effectively countered. It is a fact that over the years, cost of delivered solar energy has come down drastically and it is already cheaper than diesel generators’ based electricity on certain areas of the globe but to be really cost-efficient the proper storage media still need to be developed and integrated. What society really wants and needs is energy on demand.

Plans to increase solar and wind installations by 2030 and beyond will result in long-term massive expansion of renewable energy. In Germany alone, penetration will grow from today’s 20 percent to 35 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2050.

What we urgently need is a means of storing energy at large scale and low cost that can be adapted anywhere. And it’s important not to confuse lightweight mobile energy storage with large scale stationary storage. If solar and wind power are to break out of their present tiny niche positions, they will need to achieve systems parity with traditional energy supplies.  This means that the cost of conversion plus the cost of storage will have to be similar to the cost of providing energy on demand from the energy stored in chemical or nuclear fuels.