Battery storage—get ready it’s here!

Phil Yorio is the general manager of Micronesia Renewable Energy, Inc.-CNMI. (Contributed Photo)

The use of energy storage in various forms has been around most of our human existence in one form or another, one example going back to the 1300s is the use of stored or dammed waterways to control watermills for use in grain processing’s and irrigation. Energy storage is used so we can control the supply and demand of energy and now the battery storage systems in the next two years will become mainstream and change the renewable energy Industry forever.

Japan, Germany, the United States, and China have been sinking millions of dollars into this exciting technology over the last three years and it seems that it will be finally paying off. The problem with this technology in the past was the density of storage available and the price points, which were very cost prohibitive to install on renewable energy systems. But get very excited because now this exciting technology is not only affordable but makes sense to add to renewable energy systems to help save you a lot money in the years to come, and to be that added protection in power outages and any type of prolong exposure from downed utilities due to typhoons.

On the utility scale, solar energy farms and wind farms with a very high penetration of renewable energy their inherently variable nature brings additional challenges to the grid conditions such as cloud cover and changing weather conditions. When utility scale energy storage is added to the mix these systems delivers reliable and efficient energy to the grid with minimal voltage fluctuations from production through transmission and distribution to consumption. Battery technology such as lead acid gel delivers high performance, long service life, and low/zero maintenance requirements even in extreme conditions in Micronesia with the heat and humidity. This value proposition is designed to optimize energy efficiency, enable more flexible grid management, maximize investments, and provide peace of mind knowing energy balance is under control across the entire energy supply chain.

On the commercial and residential market solar companies are partnering with energy storage companies and coming out with hybrid systems that will not only store your excess energy produced during the day and delivering this energy to your electrical system once the sun goes down, but also this new technology is being produced with logic control where these systems will determine after programming when to dispatched the energy and under what conditions predetermined by the owner. This technology when it becomes mainstream will eliminate the heated battle that is going on throughout the renewable energy industry over net metering. Customers will have no need to export their over production of energy back to the grid as this energy will be stored for later in the day, capitalizing and benefitting from all the energy that your solar energy system produces.

Research and development from the pioneers of energy storage and the economies of scale is now able to deliver to the renewable energy industry what I believe to be the missing link needed to complete our need for energy independence from fossil fuel. This new and exciting technology will soon be mainstream and it could not come at a better time. (Phil Yorio, Special to the Saipan Tribune)