Li-ion energy storage demonstrates its capabilities in real-world electricity supply projects

摘要

Energy storage systems are now playing a vital role in electricity supply networks worldwide, helping to balance supply and demand, enabling more flexible grid management and ensuring optimised energy efficiency. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are just one of a number of technologies for energy storage. Other options include mechanical, chemical, electrical and thermal storage technologies such as pumped hydro, compressed air and flywheels, as well as a number of other battery electro chemistries. Each one has its technical and economic merits but the major benefit of the Li-ion battery is its combination of flexibility and performance. Li-ion battery systems can be designed to suit applications from kilowatts to megawatts and can be installed at any level of the grid. They have the flexibility to perform a number of other roles, including peak shifting, load levelling and frequency regulation. They also have high energy efficiency, long and reliable lifetimes, are responsive and have high energy density, meaning a lot of energy storage capacity can be packed into a relatively small footprint. Plus, because lithium is one of the lightest of the elements, Li-ion batteries are lightweight, which is helpful during delivery, installation and at end-of-life recycling. Li-ion batteries can play an important role at every step of the energy supply chain: generation, transmission, distribution and consumption (Figure 1).