Balancing etc. Costs Exceed £100m in January
As we have been predicting over the last 6+ years and particularly in our analysis of the first lockdown, costs to the grid of balancing, stability, grid constraints and similar matters continue to rise, exceeding £100m in January. Most of this went to renewable generators, the majority of whom will be closing in the next few years. We can deliver these services much more cost-effectively.
20GW Storage by 2030 – Spanish Target
Spain has understood the need for storage at a scale comparable with that of renewable generation, and is now targeting 20GW storage by 2030. This complements their royal decree (the original in Spanish, and translated into English, as reported in our November newsletter) that all new renewable generation must include storage. It is evident that this GW scale need should be met with GW scale solutions like ours, not MW scale solutions like batteries. And our storage delivers additional benefits to both grid operators and renewable generators.
REA Energy Storage Steering Group
Mark Howitt has been elected to the Energy Storage Steering Group of the Renewable Energy Association; he is already on their Larger Scale Storage Group. This adds to the industry’s growing recognition of authoritative expertise, such as his being appointed United Nations (UNECE) expert in energy transition technologies, economics, regulation and politics (invitation here), and being a regular consultee for government, Ofgem and National Grid reviews.
CAES in Brazil
Antonio Jorge, Director of Social and Environmental Innovation and Strategy for EISA has published an article on Engie Brazil’s website (also distributed on LinkedIn, and translated here) which looks at the need and options for “Energy storage for a carbon neutral future”. It’s an excellent article which identifies CAES as a significant technology for them.
Thought Leadership Blog
Calculating the Need for Storage
Countries and grids calculate their need for storage in very complicated multi-scenario models based on huge assumptions as to what will be rolled out in future. Using the UK’s National Grid’s annual Future Energy Scenarios as an example, every year their estimate of the storage needed by 2050 increases over the previous year’s estimate. This begs two questions:
- Is there a simpler way to calculate storage requirements;
- If forecasts are increasing continually, what is the end point to which they are trending?
In this month’s blog, Mark Howitt answers those questions clearly and simply.
