Newswise — Overcoming obstacles to deploying stationary electrical energy storage (EES)—a critical enabling technology for effectively and economically integrating renewable energy methods into the electrical grid—is the focus of a new project undertaken by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), in support of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity (DOE-OE) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
The stationary EES project is the newest undertaking for TMS Energy, a strategic initiative of TMS to provide leadership, facilitation, and resources that generate and support effective energy solutions based on the innovative development and use of materials.
Funded by Sandia National Laboratories, the project’s first phase will commence on July 21-22 when TMS convenes experts representing academia, industry, and government to participate in the Advanced Materials and Devices for Stationary Electrical Energy Storage Workshop in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The TMS project will address these challenges by facilitating a roadmapping process that examines the following specific storage technologies:• Flow batteries• Na-batteries, including both solid and liquid electrolyte batteries• Li-ion batteries, emphasizing differences in requirement matrices between transportation and stationary applications• Lead-carbon and other traditional batteries, with an assessment of their suitability for stationary applications,• Technologies for power applications, supercapacitors, and flywheels• Emerging technologies and new concepts
While offering great potential for expanding current energy resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power generation, renewable energy technologies pose significant challenges for integration into the electrical grid because of their intermittent nature. EES “smooths out” this variability when the wind turbine stops turning or the solar panel has no sun to capture by providing a means to store energy for back-up power, load shifting, transmission and distribution deferral, and energy arbitrage needs. Most EES technologies, however, currently face significant economic and technical challenges for market entrance.
Complementing the ideas and strategies that emerge from this event will be the findings of the July 19-20 Utility Industry Needs for Stationary Electrical Energy Storage Workshop, organized primarily by Sandia with support from TMS. The workshop end product will be a technical roadmap identifying the highest impact materials research and development opportunities related to stationary EES.
A final report is set to be published in late October, with preliminary findings due to be presented to the DOE in late August. Workshop participants were identified through a collaborative process involving TMS, ASM International, the Materials Research Society, the Electrochemical Society, and the American Ceramic Society, with guidance from the DOE-OE and ARPA-E.
For more information on TMS Energy, visit our website at energy.tms.org
About TMS TMS is the professional organization encompassing the entire range of materials science and engineering, from minerals processing and primary metals production to basic research and the advanced applications of materials. Included among its professional and student members are metallurgical and materials engineers, scientists, researchers, educators and administrators from more than 70 countries on six continents.
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