| | JULY 20228 IN MY OPINIONThe world is at a tipping point of an energy revolution. Until now carbon intensive industry has allowed us to reach the present development stage. But global warming is quickly increasing. This pressures for a swift change to electrify and decarbonize our society at a pace never seen before while continuously investing in renewable energies.For this mix, renewables will be a keystone. Existing flexibility provided by centralized power plants will be lost and decarbonization will require new flexibility to cope with daily and seasonal volatility. Energy storage will become a central piece of the energy mix puzzle. Without storage, much more renewables would be need, increasing curtailment and respective levelized cost of storage (LCOE).The automotive sector is moving towards electrification, demanding great developments on Li-ion batteries. Technology is improving while costs are decreasing. This tendency is expected to continue both with incremental (e.g.: reducing Cobalt in NMC batteries) and disruptive (e.g.: solid state batteries) developments. Challenges include energy density, cost reduction, and fast charging capabilities. Static storage has different challenges with its own requirements. Other solutions may be more efficient. The energy sector will need fast reacting solutions but also storage to last for days or longer. Players will need new tools for grid management, asset management, and dispatch as well as disruptive approaches to project financing and adapt to more uncertain ROI.Below are some of the key development paths to tackle in the future:Future Grid Needs:Presently, most energy storage projects deployed (not considering Hydro-storage) have less than four hours of energy. The projects are mainly focused on direct renewables integration, island applications and need for grid resilience with faster response time requirements. Until now Li-ion batteries are responding to these challenges due to their relatively large operation span.Moving from a system with 30 percent renewables to 75-90 percent will demand new approaches from operators and decision makers to have the capacity backup required, existing and new system services, system black start guaranteed, inertia, voltage, etc.By Andre Botelho, Head Energy Storage, EDPBIG OPPORTUNITIES WITH GREAT CHALLENGES UP AHEADAndre Botelho
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