The ACCESS Insight: Battery is crucial for accelerating the energy transition. Here’s why.
As the world increasingly swaps fossil fuel power for emissions-free electrification, particularly variable renewable energy sources, energy storage is becoming vital to accelerate the energy transition. One of the most common types of energy storage is the battery. Its applications have been renowned, particularly for mobile applications such as mobile phones and electric vehicles. In the most recent energy transition era, batteries are the go-to technology for stationary applications such as small-scale or utility-scale batteries.
In the energy transition era, with the increasing use of variable renewable energy such as solar and wind energy, battery plays a key role y increasing system flexibility. They can store energy generated from solar and wind power per need. As a result, the demand for battery energy storage is expected to grow. Demand for stationary applications accelerating energy transition will increase from 2GW in 2017 to 175 GW by 2030.
Several battery technologies have been used for stationary applications. Lead acid has previously dominated static applications with hundreds of years of application history. However, in the last decade, benefitting from mobile phones and electric vehicle applications, Li-Ion technology is expected to have the highest market share in the future. According to Bloomberg, the increased market share will also bring the cost of battery storage (Li-Ion) down to below 200 USD per kWh by 2030.
Another exciting technology that can rival Li-Ion for stationary applications is flow batteries, as flow batteries have a very high energy throughput and lifecycle. Regardless of the technology, battery installation is expected to grow to enable more renewable energy penetration, thus accelerating the energy transition.
Muhammad Husni Mubarok, MSc, is Technical Officer (Rural Electrification) for the ACCESS Project – UNDP. Here, he gives expert insights into the world of batteries.
Q. What are the main types of batteries today, and how are they different?
Li-ion is currently the most common technology in both mobility and stationary application. Li-Ion’s most potent trait is its high energy and volumetric density, superior to other technology. In addition, it has a high roundtrip efficiency, relatively high lifecycle, and low self-discharge rate, making it favourable for stationary applications to store energy from solar and wind power.
Q. What are batteries made from, and how do they work?
The battery is electrochemical storage that converts chemical energy to electrical energy and vice-versa through a chemical reaction. The battery’s most basic components are the three main components to allow such a reaction to occur. The first two components are two different terminals (typically metal), anode and cathode. Another component is an electrolyte, which separates the two terminals. When chemical reactions occur between the two metals and electrolytes, ions from one metal can flow to other ends. Connecting a conductor (e.g., an electrical wire) allows electric currents to flow through the conductor.
Q. Are batteries a safe means of storing energy?
Batteries are generally a very safe means of technology to store energy, as their application has been proven for hundreds of years. Batteries, nonetheless, possess safety risks such as overheating, fires, and explosions. That is why we must ensure that we only use batteries that have met the highest safety standard certification.
Q. What happens to battery waste? Can used batteries be recycled to form part of the circular economy?
The battery can be recycled at the end of its lifetime. Li-ion, for example, has been claimed to achieve 95% of the recycling rate, while lead acid has been renowned for reaching 90% of the recycling rate. Hence, the battery has a very high potential to be a part of a circular economy as we can prolong the lifecycle of its component as long as possible.
Q. How can batteries help electrify rural electrification and energy transition sectors?
Extending the grid will be very expensive to provide electricity access for rural areas. Hence, distributed generation is frequently used. Initially, using diesel generators, most recently, renewable energy is being used as the energy source, particularly solar and wind energy. But solar and wind are intermittent energy sources. This is where the battery comes into play; for a standalone solar/wind system (or a hybrid of both) without other generation sources, we must have energy storage.
The most common method is solar/wind coupled with battery energy storage. The battery forms an electrical grid and provides backup power during nighttime and when the sun/wind can not meet the load. Storm (and battery inverter) is crucial; it is (along with battery inverter) the heart and brain of the solar/wind-battery standalone system commonly used for rural electrification. We can enable more solar and wind energy penetration by using the battery, supporting the energy transition.
Author: Salman Nursiwan, Monitoring and Outreach ACCESS Project