A Review of Energy Storage Technologies: For the integration of fluctuating renewable energy

A brief examination into the energy storage techniques currently available for the integration of fluctuating renewable energy was carried out. These included Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage (PHES), Underground Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage (UPHES), Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), Battery Energy Storage (BES), Flow Battery Energy Storage (FBES), Flywheel Energy Storage (FES), Supercapacitor Energy Storage (SCES), Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES), Hydrogen Energy Storage System (HESS), Thermal Energy Storage (TES), and Electric Vehicles (EVs). The objective was to identify the following for each:
1. How it works
2. Advantages
3. Applications
4. Cost
5. Disadvantages
6. Future
A brief comparison was then completed to indicate the broad range of operating characteristics available for energy storage technologies. It was concluded that PHES is the most likely stand-alone technology that will be utilised in Ireland for the integration of fluctuating renewable energy. However, the HESS, TESS, and EVs are the also very promising, but require more research to remove uncertainty surrounding their benefits and costs.
For some countries, CAES could be a more suitable technology than PHES depending on the availability of suitable sites. FBES could also be utilised in the future for the integration of wind, but it may not have the scale required to exist along with electric vehicles. The remaining technologies will most likely be used for their current applications in the future, but further developments are unlikely.