The energy world is excited about Form Energy, which has debuted a genuinely cheap ($20/kWh) battery that can discharge for more than 150 hours. But is there a market for long-duration storage yet?
What is the difference between "long-duration" and "high-capacity" in discussions like this? Is Form's technology just a way to build a battery with much lower $/kWh than e.g. lithium batteries, or is something else going on? Presumably one could (unwisely) buy a staggeringly expensive mountain of lithium batteries and with them build a facility able to source megawatts for hundreds of hours. Would that qualify as an LDES, or is there something else missing?
I'm guessing that beyond the cost difference, Form's batteries must also be very different from lithium in terms of energy density, operational complexity, or other factors, or else we'd be talking about them disrupting EV and residential markets as well.
Great article, but . . . Hemingway did NOT go bankrupt, it was a Hemingway CHARACTER that went bankrupt. A small point, I know, but when it comes to LDES the details matter. ;^)
At this point, it kind of looks like a race between LDES and advanced geothermal. Both may find markets, and for critical medium-scale facilities like hospitals, the Form battery would seem to have the upper hand.
We should be talking about "energy" storage, not just "electrical energy" storage. If the scope is so expanded, we'll recognize that the use of long-duration energy storage, even seasonal and multi-seasonal storage, has been growing in recent years and will continue to grow. For instance, geothermal heat pump systems rely on the ground, groundwater, etc. as a long-term store of thermal energy. (See: Borehole Thermal Energy Storage: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/borehole-thermal-energy-storage )
Geothermal heat pump (GHP) systems typically store thermal energy in the ground during cooling season and then extract that energy during the heating season. (Summer's heat is used to warm homes during the winter.) Also, about 46% of the solar thermal energy that hits the earth is absorbed by and thus stored in the ground. GHP systems draw down on the earth as a natural thermal battery when they provide heating. (This stored solar energy provides much more energy for GHP than does the "geothermal" energy coming from the center of the earth.) Because of this, it is often observed that GHP systems would be properly considered a form of "solar" energy harvesting systems -- just like "solar thermal" or photovoltaic systems.
In our traditional multi-grid, multi-fuel energy system (electricity + gas + oil, etc.) all of the thermal energy needed to heat homes and buildings must be imported from off-site. Thus, if we are to accomplish the Second Great Electrification of our society and "electrify everything," the electric grid will need to carry as much additional energy as is currently carried by the non-electric systems. However, by using geothermal heat pump systems to enable site-sourced renewable energy harvesting, we'll find that the electric grid's need to expand capacity will be dramatically reduced. GHP systems today typically have COP's (Coefficient Of Performance) ranging from 3.6 to 5 and higher. What that means is that for every kWh of electrical energy consumed, between 2.6 and 4+ kWh of thermal energy is sourced locally and need not be carried by the electric grid. As a result, the electric grid might need to replace as little as 25% of the energy currently distributed to homes and buildings by the gas and fossil fuel systems. Given this, it should be clear that grid planners should do their best to encourage GHP and thus reduce the requirement to expand grid capacity.
Thermal energy storage and site-sourced renewable thermal energy will be important factors in determining how much the electric grid's capacity must be expanded in future years. We should be focused on "energy" not just "electrical energy."
Great article and the prospect of a new LDES technology is very exciting. Although we tend to think that the role of LDES is in filling in for days, weeks, or even months when wind and solar are in short supply, they potentially have a nearer term role in soaking up super-surpluses of renewable electricity when the wind and sun are in ample supply. Batteries can soak it up and put it back on the grid at a later time, but with power prices generally low, that is an economic challenge for them.
If on the other hand, the power is used to make fuels (e.g., hydrogen, methanol, methane, ammonia, etc.) it can find other potentially more lucrative markets. Then when we get closer to that 80% renewable penetration figure, those fuels can be used as needed in the existing gas power fleet (perhaps slightly retrofit) to fill in when the renewables are short.
The message here is that these technologies exist, we need only get serious about carbon emission reduction to see them flourish.
Great article David - your point around the importance of understanding the market for LDES in the future was insightful. I hadn't seen this anywhere else.
It's seems to me that for LDES, and cleantech more broadly, the mantra "build it and they will come" often negates critical thinking around long-term product fit within the energy grids of tomorrow.
I was initially confused by your $20/kwh value thinking your were talking about energy delivered.
But I believe you're talking about the battery capacity.
For example, the 24kwh battery in my Leaf may have cost $12,000 which works out to $500/kwh.
There is a nice summary article on energy storage in the New Yorker of April 25, 2022.
What is the difference between "long-duration" and "high-capacity" in discussions like this? Is Form's technology just a way to build a battery with much lower $/kWh than e.g. lithium batteries, or is something else going on? Presumably one could (unwisely) buy a staggeringly expensive mountain of lithium batteries and with them build a facility able to source megawatts for hundreds of hours. Would that qualify as an LDES, or is there something else missing?
I'm guessing that beyond the cost difference, Form's batteries must also be very different from lithium in terms of energy density, operational complexity, or other factors, or else we'd be talking about them disrupting EV and residential markets as well.
Great article, but . . . Hemingway did NOT go bankrupt, it was a Hemingway CHARACTER that went bankrupt. A small point, I know, but when it comes to LDES the details matter. ;^)
At this point, it kind of looks like a race between LDES and advanced geothermal. Both may find markets, and for critical medium-scale facilities like hospitals, the Form battery would seem to have the upper hand.
We should be talking about "energy" storage, not just "electrical energy" storage. If the scope is so expanded, we'll recognize that the use of long-duration energy storage, even seasonal and multi-seasonal storage, has been growing in recent years and will continue to grow. For instance, geothermal heat pump systems rely on the ground, groundwater, etc. as a long-term store of thermal energy. (See: Borehole Thermal Energy Storage: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/borehole-thermal-energy-storage )
Geothermal heat pump (GHP) systems typically store thermal energy in the ground during cooling season and then extract that energy during the heating season. (Summer's heat is used to warm homes during the winter.) Also, about 46% of the solar thermal energy that hits the earth is absorbed by and thus stored in the ground. GHP systems draw down on the earth as a natural thermal battery when they provide heating. (This stored solar energy provides much more energy for GHP than does the "geothermal" energy coming from the center of the earth.) Because of this, it is often observed that GHP systems would be properly considered a form of "solar" energy harvesting systems -- just like "solar thermal" or photovoltaic systems.
In our traditional multi-grid, multi-fuel energy system (electricity + gas + oil, etc.) all of the thermal energy needed to heat homes and buildings must be imported from off-site. Thus, if we are to accomplish the Second Great Electrification of our society and "electrify everything," the electric grid will need to carry as much additional energy as is currently carried by the non-electric systems. However, by using geothermal heat pump systems to enable site-sourced renewable energy harvesting, we'll find that the electric grid's need to expand capacity will be dramatically reduced. GHP systems today typically have COP's (Coefficient Of Performance) ranging from 3.6 to 5 and higher. What that means is that for every kWh of electrical energy consumed, between 2.6 and 4+ kWh of thermal energy is sourced locally and need not be carried by the electric grid. As a result, the electric grid might need to replace as little as 25% of the energy currently distributed to homes and buildings by the gas and fossil fuel systems. Given this, it should be clear that grid planners should do their best to encourage GHP and thus reduce the requirement to expand grid capacity.
Thermal energy storage and site-sourced renewable thermal energy will be important factors in determining how much the electric grid's capacity must be expanded in future years. We should be focused on "energy" not just "electrical energy."
Great article and the prospect of a new LDES technology is very exciting. Although we tend to think that the role of LDES is in filling in for days, weeks, or even months when wind and solar are in short supply, they potentially have a nearer term role in soaking up super-surpluses of renewable electricity when the wind and sun are in ample supply. Batteries can soak it up and put it back on the grid at a later time, but with power prices generally low, that is an economic challenge for them.
If on the other hand, the power is used to make fuels (e.g., hydrogen, methanol, methane, ammonia, etc.) it can find other potentially more lucrative markets. Then when we get closer to that 80% renewable penetration figure, those fuels can be used as needed in the existing gas power fleet (perhaps slightly retrofit) to fill in when the renewables are short.
The message here is that these technologies exist, we need only get serious about carbon emission reduction to see them flourish.
Great article David - your point around the importance of understanding the market for LDES in the future was insightful. I hadn't seen this anywhere else.
It's seems to me that for LDES, and cleantech more broadly, the mantra "build it and they will come" often negates critical thinking around long-term product fit within the energy grids of tomorrow.