Some problems in storing renewable energy

Ted Trainer

Energy Policy, 2017, vol. 110, issue C, 386-393

Abstract: Difficulties involved in some commonly advocated options for the storage of renewable electricity are discussed. As is generally recognised the most promising strategies involve biomass and pumped hydro storage, but these involve drawbacks that appear to be major limitations on the achievement of 100% renewable supply systems. Neglected aspects of the solar thermal storage solution are detailed, indicating that it is not likely to be able to make a significant contribution. Batteries, vehicle-to-grid, biomass and hydrogen based solutions also appear to have major drawbacks. Although other options not examined here might alter the outlook, the general impression arrived at is that the probability of achieving satisfactory storage provision enabling 100% renewable power supply are not promising. Provision of total energy supply from renewable sources would probably multiply the task by an order of magnitude.

Keywords: Energy storage; Renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517304925
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:110:y:2017:i:c:p:386-393

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.07.061

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().