'Store electricity today to use later' is top advice from energy experts

National and international infrastructure is needed to store intermittent energy from solar and wind power, say experts from industry and academia.

At a recent event by Energy Futures Lab and the Grantham Institute entitled, “Where is energy storage going?” experts from industry and academia explored the topic in-depth with an audience of policymakers and business leaders.

Watch a film of the event below.

In the drive towards a fossil fuel-free future there is a lot of focus on how to generate electrical energy to power homes, transport and businesses.

Harnessing clean, renewable sources of energy from the sun and wind is attractive, however the power output from these sources can be variable since it’s not always sunny and the wind isn’t always blowing.

Experts agree this problem will need reliable solutions to store electrical energy to ensure a consistent source of electricity, and to keep down the costs of generating this supply.

The event panel featured Professor Anthony Kucernak, Professor Goran Strbac and Dr Sheridan Few from Imperial, alongside Cathy McClay of National Grid and Dr Mark Barrett of the UCL Energy Institute.

The discussion was opened by Professor Joanna Haigh, Co-Director of the Grantham Institute with the chair being occupied by Professor Anthony Kucernak. Panellists gave their views on the present state of energy storage technologies, and what the future holds for research, development and deployment in this area.

They covered topics including the need of flexibility, future technological changes, the “hidden” costs and the importance of transmission in the equation.

Discussion with the audience probed particular policies and technologies, including the potential for smart meters to reduce energy demand at key times of the day, and the possible effects of electric vehicles as sources and drains on domestic power, to the potential of district heating and community energy projects.

The Grantham Institute released a briefing paper entitled Electrical energy storage for mitigating climate change, which explores, in lay terms, the opportunities for technology and policy to support the development of energy storage, which can be downloaded from the Grantham Institute website.

The panel and following questions and answers were filmed and available on YouTube:

The social media posts of the attendees have been collected into a Storify so you can follow the event as it unfolded: