Old Power Stations Become Fabulous Green Assets, Reveals聽IDTechEx
The Rise of Old Power Stations
Power stations are usually ugly. In addition, coal, oil,聽and gas power stations are turning out to be expensive write-offs for power companies, particularly facilities that are not very old. The new IDTechEx report, 鈥淪tationary Energy Storage Without Batteries: Grid, Microgrid, UPS, Trackside 2021-2041鈥� has the answer 鈥� repurposing as energy storage.
Raghu Das, CEO of analyst聽firm聽IDTechEx explains,聽鈥淲e all know that renewables increase聽intermittency聽so we need more and more energy storage 鈥� delayed electricity.聽Cost reduction of solar聽generation聽is聽the聽fastest and its increasing share means two problems 鈥� dead at night,聽feeble聽in winter.聽Wind power can be dead for weeks in some regions and that only adds to the problem. Lithium-ion batteries currently聽favored聽for stationary storage self-leak over weeks let alone seasons and they are not the easiest to scale to GW levels聽or improve to 20-year life, easy recycling or even best safety.鈥�
That leaves other forms of battery and various battery-less solutions. They not only come to the rescue;聽they can hugely assist with the stranded assets of the clean-up from fossil-fueled聽power stations to hydro dams and pumped storage on waterways that are drying up.
Redox Flow Batteries
He聽finds that聽Redox聽Flow Batteries聽(RFB)聽will produce聽a聽better聽Levelised聽Cost of聽Storage聽(LCOS)聽than lithium-ion in some of the new demand scenarios.聽Fewer聽expensive materials, longer life, repairable,聽and no fade over the years are part of that calculation. See more in the IDTechEx report, 鈥淩edox Flow Batteries 2021-2031鈥�.
For聽stationary energy storage,聽RFB聽may have the second-largest聽sales聽in 2031聽after lithium-ion batteries.聽The world is聽running聽short of pumped storage sites聽and their approval and erection is pitifully long. Lithium-ion batteries suffer ongoing shortages of raw聽materials聽and, like pumped storage,聽their environmental credentials are increasingly questioned.聽Lift-off in solar-house batteries and electric vehicles will aggravate lithium-ion shortages.
Seasonal storage with no leakage calls for battery-free solutions with IDTechEx seeing great potential for gravity storage in various forms聽when they are proven.聽It could even employ聽on-site the聽trashed smokestacks and cooling聽towers聽of obsolete power stations聽making them less ugly.聽Compressed air underground聽should also聽be聽successful for聽long-term聽storage聽but it needs special locations.聽The Siemens Gamesa thermal storage looks excellent for聽hours to聽days of storage, with no troublesome materials.
However, IDTechEx聽is聽careful to point out that although聽the primary need is聽for聽delayed electricity, there is some scope for using electricity to make stored low-grade heat that is then used as heat because it has neither the capacity nor聽the temperature to be聽converted聽back into electricity. There is also the option of using surplus electricity to make chemicals such as hydrogen or for long-term storage, more appropriate chemicals.聽However, neither option will efficiently run electrics, from vehicle charging to聽climate control聽and industrial needs聽when聽they are聽required聽at a later time.
