Editorial: On the waterfront: Offshore and seaside energy storage for rapidly growing coastal populations

摘要

Over half of our world's population lives near the sea. Fourteen of the seventeen largest cities in the world are coastal. Current planetary urbanization trends suggest that this growth will only continue. A fundamental tenet of energy distribution is to place generation as close to load as possible. Long transmission is costly and reduces energy system efficiencies. Offshore natural resources present tremendous clean energy generation opportunities. Offshore energy generation also circumvents issues of space restriction and human sensory proximity. The sea bears its energetic bounty in many forms. Its sun, wind, waves, currents, and thermoclines offer well known opportunities for energy harvesting. Such opportunities are not presented without obstacle however. Marine engineering has historically been a high stakes and expensive game. Beyond this, one of the largest challenges that also faces the terrestrial variants of these generation opportunities is the lack of dispatchability. Enter energy storage. The categorically unique energy storage solutions detailed in this Special Issue are all linked by a common thread of clean coastal/offshore energy enablement.