In the wake of recent catastrophic storms in the Caribbean, along with devastating fires and mandatory power shutoffs in California, billionaire investors and venture capital firms are viewing renewable energy storage systems as a stable bet in an unstable future.
Energy storage systems enable commercial enterprises and power-sensitive facilities, such as hospitals, to continue running when traditional power sources and generators fail or are unable to function. In addition, clean energy batteries have proved to be an environmentally safer, lower-cost alternative to carbon-based fuels.
In the early-1990s, lithium-ion energy storage systems replaced nickel cadmium batteries to serve the burgeoning cellphone and consumer electronics markets.
They lose capacity the more they're charged and discharged, eventually needing replacement, and on occasion have exploded or caught fire.
Cost drives energy markets, and clean energy storage systems have gained momentum as technologies have advanced and manufacturing costs have dropped, particularly for lithium-ion batteries.
Unlike other grid-scale storage technologies, lithium ion has benefited from the manufacturing scale of both consumer electronics and electric vehicles markets.
In the future, according to Finn-Foley, utilities will have the opportunity to aggregate and distribute alternative energy assets from homes and businesses solar, demand response, and battery energy storage to create virtual power plants, in effect mimicking conventional generation through unconventional means.
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