A Better Way to Store the Sun

Solar and wind energy hold tremendous potential, but intermittancy issues translates into low effective load carrying capability. To overcome this challenge, utilities supplement renewable energy sources with battery energy storage systems like lithium-ion, which provide brief four-hour bursts of power to make up for fluctuations. To improve ELCC scores for solar and wind, utilities need a mechanism to decouple energy storage from power conversion—i.e., they need to harvest and store energy from the sun or wind when they can and convert that stored energy into power that flows back into the grid as needed. Thermal energy storage technology, which provides the ability to store energy as heat (or cold) for later use, underpins such a system.