Conference on Massive Energy Storage for the Broader Use of Renewable Energy Sources
Renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, could supply a significant amount of electrical energy, but integration of these sources into the electrical grid system poses major challenges due to their intermittent nature and unpredictable availability. Current technologies permit the storage of energy in relatively small quantities (~ 100 to 200 kWh) that may be sufficient for some transportation and residential applications. The storage needs for renewable energy sources as well as the energy storage needs associated with smart grid applications are likely to be much larger in magnitude (~ 20 to 1,000 MWh).
The solutions that are likely to succeed will necessarily be inter-disciplinary and this conference will be a catalytic venue for such cross-pollination of ideas. The proposed conference topics include most of the potential technologies currently under consideration for energy storage -- and these include storage in the form compressed and liquefied gases, electrochemical storage systems, and/or other phase changes in media. This conference deals with energy storage in massive quantities that will broaden the use of renewable energies. Of specific interest are the physics, chemistry, thermodynamics and engineering of the methods and the processes in which such storage can be achieved in an economical manner particularly in the face of worldwide increase in the cost of materials. Thermal energy stored at higher temperatures will help improve the thermodynamics of Rankine and Brayton cycle applications. Some of the technologies are now mature enough to look into the engineering aspects of the implementation that deserve scrutiny.
This represents an urgent societal technical need that is likely to gain more prominence as sustainability and grid management become ever more important. The U.S. and other governments are starting to pay more attention to the issues on hand and the topics of this conference are likely to gather more attention as industry and governments target energy efficiency and environmental impact with more vigor. This conference will be unique since it brings the focus necessary on massive electrical energy storage (EES) as well as thermal energy storage (TES). Funding from NSF will be used to support some of the keynote and invited speakers and graduate students from academic institutions.
Renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, could supply a significant amount of electrical energy, but integration of these sources into the electrical grid system poses major challenges due to their intermittent nature and unpredictable availability. Current technologies permit the storage of energy in relatively small quantities (~ 100 to 200 kWh) that may be sufficient for some transportation and residential applications. The storage needs for renewable energy sources as well as the energy storage needs associated with smart grid applications are likely to be much larger in magnitude (~ 20 to 1,000 MWh). Intellectual Merits: The solutions that are likely to succeed will necessarily be inter-disciplinary. This conference was designed to be a catalytic venue for such cross-pollination of ideas. The conference topics included most of the potential technologies currently under consideration for energy storage such as compressed air and hydroelectric, electrochemical storage systems, and other phase changes in media. The conference dealt with energy storage in massive quantities that will broaden the use of renewable energies. Of specific interest were the physics, chemistry, thermodynamics and engineering of the methods and the processes in which such storage could be achieved in an economical manner particularly in the face of worldwide increase in the cost of materials. Thermal energy stored at higher temperatures will help improve the thermodynamics of Rankine and Brayton cycle applications. Some of the technologies were found to be mature enough to look into the engineering aspects of the implementation. Broader Impacts: This area represents an urgent societal technical need that is likely to gain more prominence as sustainability and grid management become ever more important. The U.S. and other governments are starting to pay more attention to the issues on hand and the topics of this conference are likely to gather more attention as industry and governments target energy efficiency and environmental impact with more vigor. The U.S. NSF, DOE Sun Shot program and ARPA-E all have very aggressive goals for solar photovoltaic as well as solar thermal programs for power generation. Both technologies can benefit from advances in energy storage technologies. This conference was unique since it brought the focus necessary on massive electrical energy storage (EES) as well as thermal energy storage (TES). The conference was organized by Engineering Conferences International (ECI) and co-sponsored by the Center for Energy Initiative of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Funding from NSF was used to support keynote and invited speakers and graduate students from academic institutions and to create a proceedings volume of the presentations given at the conference. This proceedings volume is posted online at http://dc.engconfintl.org/massive_energy/.
