Applied research in energy storage

The development and incorporation of energy storage into large electricity networks, micro-grids and partially or fully islanded energy supplies have numerous applications as the sustainable energy generation uptake increases. The vagaries of sustainable energy supplies are driving energy storage in two distinct directions. Firstly there will be large scale energy storage such as pumped land or sea-based hydro-energy that can absorb excess renewable energy for later discharge when there is a deficit in dispatchable energy available. As an alternative to such large industrial scale units, there is also a potential to develop smaller but numerous distributed smaller energy storage systems that are based on inertial or electro-chemical battery storage. These developments present huge opportunities to change the way sustainable energy uptake continues. Integrated energy storage into electrical supply networks has the ability to alter the way national, regional tied trade blocks and global energy linkage will occur in the future