Energy Storage Systems for Intermittent Renewable Energy Systems

The demand on other sources of energy especially renewable energy sources have significantly increased in the 21st century bringing to the forefront new problems. One of the main issues is that these energy sources provide intermittent renewable energy which acts as the main obstacle for their application; thus, different energy storage systems are viable to be used as an intermediate system between the generations of that energy to possible commercialization and supply of it. Consequently, energy storage systems are needed to meet all consumer demands periods i.e. base, intermediate and peak load demands. With such careful energy storage device usage, expanding the generation capacity by expanding the power plant is diminished as the supply and demand is met with surplus that is stored in these storage devices. Initially, the paper discusses the benefits of energy storage and its important role in power system operation, control and management. Additionally, the paper mentions briefly the main renewable energy sources i.e. wind, hydro, solar and geothermal power sources. The paper also discusses and assesses the different types of energy storage available for each of these renewable energy sources; Flywheel Storage, Pumped Hydro Storage, Compressed Air Energy Storage, Batteries Energy Storage Systems, Hydrogen Storage, Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage and Super-Capacitor Storage. Furthermore, the paper highlights the upcoming energy storage systems that are still being researched and compares them with the current ones in order to provide a technical aid on these imminent storage systems. The paper aims to not only educate people on the different storage options which are available for alternative energy systems but also to provide enough information so they can make an informed decision on which device to select to ensure that they obtain maximum performance from their renewable energy source.