Energy Storage Options and Their Environmental Impact

R E Hester, R M Harrison

• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781788016278
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Gestión medioambiental

Recent decades have seen huge growth in the renewable energy sector, spurred on by concerns about climate change and dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. One of the major difficulties raised by an increasing reliance on renewable resources is the inflexibility when it comes to controlling supply in response to demand. For example, solar energy can only be produced during the day. The development of methods for storing the energy produced by renewable sources is therefore crucial to the continued stability of global energy supplies.

However, as with all new technology, it is important to consider the environmental impacts as well as the benefits. This book brings together authors from a variety of different backgrounds to explore the state-of-the-art of large-scale energy storage and examine the environmental impacts of the main categories based on the types of energy stored.

A valuable resource, not just for those working and researching in the renewable energy sector, but also for policymakers around the world.

Mechanical Systems for Energy Storage – Scale and Environmental Issues. Pumped Hydroelectric and Compressed Air Energy Storage

DAVID J. EVANS,^* GIDEON CARPENTER AND GARETH FARR

ABSTRACT

This chapter introduces large-scale utility (bulk) energy storage in the form of pumped hydroelectric and compressed air energy storage. Both are mechanical energy storage technologies, converting electrical energy into potential energy, and both fall into the category of grid-scale energy management. Brief reviews and discussions relating to the general operational aspects and the legislative and environmental aspects of the two storage types are provided in the context of UK development. Both storage technologies offer the potential for better integration and penetration of renewable electricity sources and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

1 Introduction

International, national and regional energy policies aim to promote the use of renewable-based electricity (RES-E) to reduce carbon emissions and secure local power supplies. The European Union has set ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets of 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.¹ In addition, the United Nations set a target of doubling the renewables share in the global energy mix by 2030, from the 18% seen in 2010 to 36% in 2030.² The transition to and increasing the use of renewable energies such as wind and solar, which are by nature intermittent, will introduce increased natural variability into electricity generation and capacity. To meet patterns of demand that do not follow such variations in generation, there will be a need for fast-ramping, backup generation, supported by reliable forecasting and, importantly, increased bulk, grid-scale storage capacity for electricity generated from renewables.

The UK has made considerable progress in decarbonising electricity generation as it moves towards a low-carbon energy system to meet climate change targets. This process has involved increased deployment of renewable energy technologies and changes in electricity consumption, alongside decommissioning of ageing coal-, nuclear- and gas-fired power stations.^3–5

These rapid changes are presenting challenges for the future of the UK’s electricity system. The increase in renewables is leading to an increasingly decentralised generating system and higher amounts of generation intermittency from natural energy sources. The increase in intermittency requires flexible generation to balance the system. In the past, fast-response thermal generation has largely met this need. The UK National Infrastructure Commission has set out priorities for a future energy system identifying the role of interconnectors, energy storage and flexible demand as being key innovations that will enable a smart power system to secure supply and meet carbon targets.⁶ Importantly, it has been calculated that these innovations would save consumers up to £8 billion in system operating costs that would otherwise have been required for conventional investment in the energy system.

Although interconnectors will play an important role, increased energy storage will not only balance existing flexible generation, but will also enable greater amounts of renewables to be integrated into the system in the future. Technology developments and falling costs mean that battery storage is becoming increasingly common at a range of scales, although collectively their energy storage capacity remains small.

Energy storage involves converting energy from forms that are difficult to store to more convenient or economically viable storage forms. The energy can be stored in various ways, including chemical, electrochemical, thermal and mechanical storage. Some technologies provide short-term, small-scale energy storage options, whereas others represent grid-support, load-levelling and longer-term mechanical bulk (utility scale) energy storage options (see Figure 1). The two largest sources of mechanical energy storage are pumped hydroelectric storage (PHS) and compressed air energy storage (CAES):⁷

1. PHS – This is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. Energy is stored in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower to a higher elevation reservoir. Typically, pumps are run by low-cost surplus off-peak electric power. During periods of high or peak electrical demand, release of the stored water through turbines generates electric power. Pumped hydroelectric storage is, however, a proven technology that can reliably deliver a large-scale and fast-responding storage capacity.⁸ It is the most common form of energy storage, with a capacity of 188 GW, representing 96% of the total global energy storage capacity.⁷ Geography, however, constrains the ultimate capacity for PHS and, as such, in most developed countries only limited prospects exist for further development, including in the UK,^9,10 although significant potential for hydro-storage capacity may still exist in many other areas around the world.¹¹
2. Conventional (diabatic) CAES, or adiabatic compressed air energy storage (ACAES) – This is essentially equivalent to PHS in terms of applications, output and storage capacity. CAES is the second commercially proven, large-scale electrical energy storage (EES) after PHS, but instead of pumping water from a lower to a higher reservoir during periods (generally off-peak) of excess power or energy produced by base gas-, oil-, nuclear- or coal-fired units, air is compressed and stored in an air store ‘reservoir’ (currently salt caverns). As with pumped storage, release of power can be very quick and at peak times, as the air is withdrawn and used in the generation of electricity. CAES is viewed increasingly as offering bulk storage potential and a solution to levelling intermittent renewables generation [wind-power and solar photovoltaic (PV) plants] and maintaining a system balance.^12,13 CAES technology is based on the principle of traditional gas-turbine plants and has some advantages over pumped storage, including the fact that its visible impact on the landscape is lower and there is more scope for building CAES facilities nearer the centres of wind-power production, especially in Germany and areas of the USA. Worldwide CAES capacity is 431 MW.⁸
   CAES is not, however, an independent system, as it requires gas for heating of air and has to be associated with a gas-turbine plant during electricity generation – it cannot be used in other types of power plant during generation.¹⁴ More importantly, the requirement for combusting fossil fuels and the associated emissions make CAES less attractive compared with other EES technologies.^15–17 However, advances in CAES technologies and linking to renewables generation (including offshore wind) offer the prospect of improved cycle efficiencies, with the reduction and possibly elimination of emissions.

Figure 1 Schematic of main energy storage systems by duration and power. Compiled from ref. ¹⁵, ¹⁶ and ¹⁵⁷.

The smaller contribution of grid-scale energy storage from CAES, with only two commercial facilities constructed and currently operational using solution-mined salt caverns, does not reflect physical or environmental limitations, more the lack of policy and economic drivers for energy storage in general and CAES in particular.¹⁸

This chapter considers the two main types of bulk, grid-scale, mechanical energy storage in PHS and underground (geological storage) CAES. Underground geological storage offers potentially very large volumes and is of five main types: salt caverns (solution mined or conventional mining), porous rock (aquifer or depleted hydrocarbon field), hard rock mined void, abandoned non-salt mine and lined-rock cavern.

In the UK, four PHS sites are operational and a further six planned, whereas only one CAES plant is planned in Northern Ireland, although others are being considered in Cheshire, all using salt-cavern storage (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 Location of operational and proposed PHS, hydroelectric and CAES facilities in the UK and referred to in the text.

Non-geological CAES options not considered here include above-ground or shallowly buried containers or pipes.¹⁹ Although such systems are attractive in that they permit the siting of CAES plants almost anywhere as no underground geological storage formation is required, they are estimated to be about five times more expensive than salt-based air storage caverns and porous aquifer-based air storage systems.²⁰ Other novel systems include energy bags secured to the sea bed,²¹ schemes linking wind turbines with energy storage in supporting legs,^22–24 or where power is converted directly from the rotor by means of gas/air compression within the rotor blades.²⁵

2 Pumped Hydroelectric Storage – Introduction to the Technology, Geology and Environmental Aspects

PHS is a well-established form of storage used by electric power companies in many countries for load-balancing, utility-scale electricity storage. Plants that do not use pumped storage are classified as conventio...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Contents
• Editors
• List of Contributors
• Energy Sources and Supply Grids – The Growing Need for Storage
• Mechanical Systems for Energy Storage – Scale and Environmental Issues. Pumped Hydroelectric and Compressed Air Energy Storage
• Electrochemical Energy Storage
• Electrical Storage
• Photochemical Energy Storage
• Thermal and Thermochemical Storage
• Smart Energy Systems
• Life-cycle Analysis for Assessing Environmental Impact
• Business Opportunities and the Regulatory Framework
• Subject Index