Energy Storage Solutions for Future Energy Systems

Energy storage technologies help to absorb energy and release it at a later time when it is needed. Hence, energy storage makes surplus energy usable, and is, therefore, equivalent to energy sources like fossil fuels and their market competition. Fluctuating renewable energy sources combined with energy storage systems are able to provide demand adapted energy. Storage can be used wherever there is a quantitative mismatch between the supply and demand of energy in need of compensation. While physics differentiate between different forms of energy, energy technology differentiates between different forms of delivery to the consumer: electrical current, mechanical (kinetic) energy, chemical energy carriers, or thermal energy. In order to describe the different energy storage technologies some technical properties need to be defined: capacity, power, efficiency, storage period, and cost. The field of energy storage will certainly remain innovative and challenging in the future.