Assessment of energy storage technologies for case studies with increased renewable energy penetration

Abstract

This study aspires to assess state of the art storage technologies for fi ve different scenarios including an offshore wind farm, an onshore wind farm, an islanded grid, a microgrid in Egypt and a solar power system. The assessment has been based on two main evaluation tools: The Technology Readiness Level and Applicability Indicators. Based on the evaluated results, it was concluded that mechanical storage technologies are suitable for large scale systems due to their relative high capital cost and power range. Cryogenic Thermal, Molten Salt and Pumped Heat storage systems have achieved a high applicability score in all the case studies which makes them as a promising solution for the near future. Moreover, the development of small scale Pumped Hydro Storage (PHES) and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) systems would be very benefi cial since these energy storage systems are the most well developed and commercialized ones. It is also expected that during the next decade thermal storage technologies will play a signifi cant role in the storage scheme due their favorable power characteristics. Finally, efforts should be focused on the reduction of the cost of hydrogen storage because hydrogen storage technology is a promising solution and might compete with PHES and CAES in the future.