International Journal of Applied Engineering Research.

ISSN 0973-4562, Volume 9, Number 2 (2014) pp. 177-184

Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

Need and Comparison of Energy Storage Technologies

A Review
Neetu Meena1, Vishakha Baharawani2 Alka Dubey3,
Urmila Brighu4 and Jyotirmay Mathur5
1,2

M.Tech Student, Renewable Energy, MNIT Jaipur.

M.Tech Student, Chemical Engineering, MNIT Jaipur.
4,5
MNIT Jaipur, JLN Marg Malaviya Nagar, Jaipur, INDIA.
3

Abstract
In todays world, there is a continuous global need for more energy
which, at the same time, has to be economical, cleaner and greener
than the energy produced from the traditional energy technologies. For
a sustainable future, the energy should be derived from non-fossil
sources; ideally, it should also be reliable and safe, flexible to use,
affordable, efficient and limitless. Energy derived from such sources is
both environmentally and economically feasible as well as
advantageous. Electricity generated from renewable sources, has
shown a remarkable growth worldwide, but it can rarely provide
immediate response to cater to the spontaneous energy demands as
these sources cannot deliver a regular supply of energy which is easily
adjustable according to the needs of the consumers i.e. there exists a
gap between supply and demand. This calls for the practical
application of energy-storage systems. An evaluation is made of the
various prospects of the candidate storage technologies such as
pumped-hydro, flywheels, hydrogen (for use in fuel cells), and
batteries. The study has been divided into three sections, namely
introduction explaining the need of energy storage, classification of
different types of energy storage technologies along with their present
global use and the comparative study of different available
technologies for energy storage.
Keywords: Energy storage; pumped-hydro; flywheels; hydrogen fuel
cells; batteries etc.

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1. Introduction
Energy continues to be a key element to the worldwide development. Due to the oil
price volatility, depletion of fossil fuel resources, global warming and local pollution,
geopolitical tensions and growth in energy demand, alternative energies, renewable
energies and effective use of fossil fuels have become much more important than at
any time in history [1-3]. Current and future markets in fossil fuels are subject to
volatile price changes in oil and natural gas. National and international energy/
environmental crises and conflicts are combining to motivate a dramatic paradigm shift
from fossil fuels to reliable, clean and efficient fuels. Using renewable energy sources
seems a promising option; however, there are still some serious concerns about some
renewable energy sources and their implementation, e.g. (i) capital cost and (ii) their
intermittent nature in power production [46]. Renewable energy resources such as
wind and solar energies cannot produce power steadily, since their power production
rates change with seasons, months, days, hours, etc. The cost issues depend mainly on
how research and development can be success- fully carried out in these areas.
Extensive public and private researches and development efforts to achieve
technological breakthroughs are required to bring these technologies to commercial
maturity. Therefore, in order for the renewable energy resources to become completely
reliable as primary sources of energy, energy storage is a crucial factor [7, 8]. Energy
storage and power management are becoming increasingly important as many
countries are placing greater emphasis on electrical production from renewable
sources. As the contribution of electricity generated from renewable sources (wind,
wave and solar) grows, the inherent intermittency of supply from such generating
technologies can only be addressed by a step-change in energy storage. Quite simply,
energy-storage technologies will be vital to a future clean-energy landscape, ensuring
secure and continuous supply to the consumer from a more distributed and intermittent
supply base [9]. Storing energy allows
To accommodate the minutehour peaks in the daily demand curve;
To store the surplus electricity generated over night (i.e. during off-peak hours)
to meet increased demand during the day;
To store the electricity generated by renewable so as to match the fluctuating
supply to the changing demand.
Through such applications, it is also considered that energy storage can be multibeneficial to both utilities and their customers it provides (i) Improve system efficiency
(ii) Energy conservation to reducing the use of fuel (iii) provided energy security i.e.
reliability of supply (iv)Decreased environmental impact.

2. Classification of Energy Storage Technologies

Electrical energy storage includes a broad range of technologies, which either directly
or indirectly provide electrical energy storage via an electrical input and output. The
principal technologies are

Need and Comparison of Energy Storage Technologies A Review

Mechanical ES

Pumped Hydro
Flywheel
CAES

Electrochemical ES

Electrochemical Batteries
Hydrogen fuel cell

179

Figure 1: Classification of Energy Storage Technology.

2.1. Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Technology
This is the oldest kind of large-scale energy storage being used since the 1890s and
currently accounts for 9.5% of the global storage capacity with some 90GW of
capacity installed [10-11]. These systems have installed capacities in the GW range
and are typically used for load levelling on a daily basis. Many plants are built so far
worldwide in U.S., Japan, Ireland, U.K., Germany, South Africa, etc. [12]. The
Tianhuangping pumped storage hydroelectric project is the biggest of its kind in Asia.
It has a total installed capacity of 1800MW [14].
2.2 Compressed Air Energy Storage System (CAES)
It is the only other commercially available technology (besides the PHS) capable of
providing very large energy storage deliverability (above 100 MW with single unit)
[14]. They are used to store energy during periods of low demand and release the
stored energy during periods of high demand (i.e. load-shifting). These systems are a
mature storage technology for high power, long-term load-levelling applications,
which is suited to build storage systems in the range of several 100 MWh or more[P.
Denholm,2008].
2.3 Flywheel Energy Storage System
Flywheels have been used to store energy for thousands of years. The basic principal
of flywheel technology is that of kinetic energy stored in rotating cylinders supported
by magnetic bearings and operating in a vacuum to eliminate frictional losses
[Lazarewicz M,2005]. Beacon installed a 20MW flywheel plant used for frequency
regulation in Stephentown, New York, United States. In addition, this technology has
already been operating in remote high-penetration systems in Australia, Antarctica and
Europe improving power quality. The islands of la Graciosa and Flores in the Azores
and the Coral Bay in Western Australia among others are relevant case studies [13].
2.4. Electrochemical Storage
During discharge, electrochemical reactions at the two electrodes generate a flow of
electrons through an external circuit. During the charging process, the electrochemical
reactions are reversed via the application of the external voltage across the electrodes
[21].

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2.4.1. Electrochemical batteries

The main difference between different battery systems is the materials used as
electrodes and electrolyte, which determine the specific characteristics of the batteries
[19]. Lead acid batteries, invented in 1859, are the oldest and most widely used
rechargeable electrochemical devices. There are two major types of leadacid
batteries: flooded batteries, which are the most common topology, and valve-regulated
batteries, which are subject of extensive research and development [4, 20]. It is a
popular storage choice for power quality, UPS and some spinning reserve applications.
[15]. 36 megawatt (MW) energy storage and power management system is announced
by Duke Energy Texas, United States [21]. Nickel batteries were invented around
1900, almost as old as the leadacid battery [6]. The nickel based batteries are mainly
the nickelcadmium (NiCd), the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) and the nickel-zinc
(NiZn) batteries. Nickelcadmium batteries are widely-used to a moderate extent in
both mobile and stationary applications [10]. The largest stationary NiCd battery
operates in Alaska, USA, as a local backup system. Sodium Sulphur (NaS) technology
has been developed over a period of more than 30 years [10]. It presents good
potentials to be applied in micro grid applications for power regulations [1]. NaS
battery is one of these types and it has already been employed in power systems for
more than 20 projects in Japan and many other worldwide constructions since 1980s.
China has recently declared an installation of the first industrial NaS battery station
(100/800kWh) in the world Expo 2010 Shanghai and hence became the second country
which has mastered the large scale manufacturing technology for industrial
applications [1]. Another NaS energy storage technology is in the island of Graciosa in
the Canary Islands, where a stand-alone renewable energy network is currently being
developed. As regards the EES facilities on the island, two 500 kW NaS battery units
have been installed for large-scale storage [13].The sodium nickel chloride battery is
better known as the ZEBRA battery. This technology has mostly been used in electric
vehicles and submarines [13]. The first commercial lithium ion batteries were
produced by Sony in 1990. Lithium-based batteries are widely used in small
applications, such as mobile phones and portable electronic devices [1]. A
12MW/3MWh Li-ion battery was installed in Chile in 2009. The battery serves for
frequency regulation and contributes to the efficient management of fluctuations in
demand [14]. A nominal 50-kWh bank of Li batteries packaged is installed at a mall in
downtown Port Angeles, Washington, United States. Electrochemical flow cell
systems, also known as redox flow cells, convert electrical energy into chemical
potential energy by means of a reversible electrochemical reaction between two liquid
electrolyte solutions. In contrast to conventional batteries, they store energy in the
electrolyte solutions [10]. The cell has two compartments (positive half-cell and
negative half-cell) separated by a membrane, which prevents cross mixing of the
electrolytes [21].

Need and Comparison of Energy Storage Technologies A Review

181

2.4.2. Hydrogen Storage

A hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and water [1618] and a reversible hydrogen fuel cell could also use electricity and water to produce
hydrogen and oxygen. There are a number of concepts of hydrogen fuel cells; the
principles technologies include Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEM-FCs),
Alkaline Fuel Cells (AFCs), Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells (PAFCs) and Regenerative
Fuel Cells (RFCs) [16]. It is important to note that hydrogen- based storage
technologies are considered as one of the promising technologies in load shifting
applications (load shifting delays renewable energy delivery from non-peak to peak
utility demand). Actually, several demo projects have been developed as a proof of
concept concerning stand-alone systems with wind, photovoltaic generation and
hydrogen storage [18].

3. Comparison of Energy Storage Technologies

Energy storage technologies are compared on the basis of capital cost, energy density,
life time (cycle and calendar life), duration of supply when once fully charged and the
response time. Comparison is shown in Table.1. From table1 it can be concluded that
efficiency of flywheel, electrochemical batteries and pumped hydro is high i.e. 70- 90
%. Capital cost of some of electrochemical batteries, pumped hydro systems, fuel cell
is very high, whereas energy density of Li-ion battery and fuel cell is very high but
they are not mature technologies and having high capital cost. Pumped hydro, CAES,
Fly wheel and some of electrochemical batteries like NaS & ZEBRA is having long
life whereas CAES having more response time and flywheel is having high self
discharge as storage duration is very less. The relatively low energy density of pumped
storage systems requires either a very large body of water or a large variation in height.
Table 1: Comparison among candidate storage technologies [1,14,15]
Storage
Efficiency Capital Energy
Technology
Cost Density
$/KW KWh/m3
75-85%
6000.2-2
Pumped
2000
Hydro
50-89% 400-800
12
CAES
20-50% 10,000
600
Hydrogen
Fuel Cell
93-95% 250-350 20-80
Flywheel
70-79% 300-600
75
Lead Acid
60-65%
500<200
NiCd
1500
70-75%
300<350
NiMh
1000
85-90%
1200- 250-620
LI-ION
4000

Life
Life Time Suitable Response
Time (Calender) Storage
Time
(Cycle)
Duration
>500 50-100yrs Hrs-Months Secs-Min
No Limit 25-40yrs
>1000
5-15 yrs

Hrs-Months 1-15Mins
Secs-Mins ms-Min

105 -107 >=20yrs

200-500 3-15yrs
1500
15-20yrs

Mins- Days ms-Secs

Mins- Days
ms
Mins- Days
ms

300-500

5-10yrs

Hrs-Months

>4000

8-15yrs

Mins- Days ms-Secs

ms

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NaS

80-90%

NiNaCL
(ZEBRA)
Redox Flow
Battery

85-90%
75-85%

1000<400
3000
150-300 150-200
6001500

20-35

2*103 - 12-20 yrs Secs-Hrs

4.5*103
103 12-20yrs
Secs-Hrs
2.5*103
>13*103 10-20yrs Hrs-Months

ms
ms
<1ms

4. Conclusion
A brief review of energy storage technologies and their characteristics has been
evaluated in this paper. Today lots of energy storage technologies are available. Some
of them are developed and some are developing. The cycle efficiencies of flywheel,
PHS, CAES, batteries, flow batteries are highly valuable having high cycle efficiency
above 60%. PHS and CAES is well developed, and reliable, but problem with this
technology is that it needs sites to build two reservoir separated by at least 100m. Liion batteries with energy densities of 620kWh/m3 and 800 kWh/m3 seem to be very
capable technologies for advanced EES integration in the built environment. Along
with these technologies, NaNiCl batteries are also expected to play an important role in
buildings because of their high cycle life time and high peak power capability.
However, there is still scope for improvement of the technologies properties, so as to
increase the systems efficiencies, lower the costs and extend the lifetimes.

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