ge taps into the coolest energy storage technology around - electrical energy storage systems
The development of energy storage technology will become one of the decisive features of the 21 st century energy situation.
This will enable countries to achieve a low-carbon economy by incorporating renewable energy into their electricity networks, reduce peak electricity demand and improve power generation efficiency in various forms.
This will be a huge market that will make the utility business unrecognizable for decades.
Battery technology has made headlines so far, although 99% of the world's energy storage capacity is currently in the form of pumped water and electricityelectric power.
There is a good reason for this-due to the popularity of electric vehicles, the rapid increase in battery capacity and the beginning of a decline in costs have made this technology more and more feasible.
At the same time, most of the places suitable for pumping already have it, the new facilities are not cheap, there are also geographical limitations where you can put them-the three + quarters of pumped storage capacity in Europe are only distributed in eight countries.
As the name suggests, the Peaker power plant is only used at peak demand.
Because they have to stop and start as required, their efficiency is much lower than the base charge plant that has been generating electricity-like all fossil-fuel power plants, they generate a lot of waste heat.
High view's technology will help GE's peaker plant in two ways-freeing up stored energy and enabling them to respond more quickly to the surge in demand and reduce start-up --
From 10-
Between 20 minutes and 2 to 5 minutes.
"It's like a turbo. charged ramp-
Because our system supplies power when the peaker plant is warmer, it's time for us, "said Matthew Barnett, head of business development at high view.
LAES will also improve the efficiency of the peaker plant, allowing the plant to produce more power with the same amount of fuel, as the high view unit will be able to produce electricity next to the peaker plant, using gas-
In the process of adding the waste heat of the factory.
"It will work like a hybrid car, and in a hybrid car you have a smaller engine and an electric motor," Barnett added . ".
There is no reason why it cannot be modified on a non-liquid air storage device
Peaker power stations will also improve their efficiency, thus opening up the potential of huge markets in China and India.
This is not GE's first foray into energy storage-the company also uses battery storage with some wind turbines, and the grid can also allow turbines to store electricity without absorbing all the energy generated if the wind speed grows rapidly
Then, when the wind does not blow out, the turbine can continue to provide energy using this stored power to smooth the power change and provide frequency regulation.
But Barnett is not worried that Haway's LAES technology will lose to the battery, nor about other options such as super capacitors and Ferris wheels.
"There is room for all the different technologies-they often work at different times --scales.
There may even be mixed items where you will see liquid air next to the battery or front wheel.
Germany and Japan have launched plans to support energy storage, as have New York and California, one thing is for sure-energy storage as the core part of the power system is coming-it's closer than you think.