how grid energy storage works - electrical energy storage systems
The importance of power grid energy storage in any ordinary day, the power company plans to send electricity the next day.
They try to predict what customers will do, mainly by reading the history of use on the same day of the previous year.
They then adjusted the numbers to the current weather forecast for the next day.
"It is not possible to accurately predict the demand for electricity at some point," said John Boyers, who manages the Sandia National Laboratory energy storage project.
In this case, utilities use more or less power than customers.
This mismatch will cause ripples in the grid, including changes in the frequency of communication, which will damage the electronic equipment if not controlled.
Regional power manager or independent system operator (ISOs)
And try to close the gap by asking some power plants to change the amount of electricity they generate.
But nuclear power plants and fossil fuel plants can't do that very quickly.
Their slowness has exacerbated the mismatch between power supply and demand.
Now, think about what happens on a sultry day in Los Angeles when people across the city are using air conditioning.
These are peak demand conditions, and when most customers use the most power, this happens for a few hours in 5 to 10 days a year.
The facility, known as peaker plants, is now in use.
These expensive fossils
Fuel plants are idle all year round and emit more air pollution than large coalfired plant.
"We don't want to do this in [smoggy]
Cities like Los Angeles, but we do that anyway . "
If there is a shortage at the peaker plant, utility companies will pay electricity to big customers such as aluminum smelters.
"If there is no effect, you will have a power outage and rolling downtime," Gyuk said . ".
At the same time, the old substation is overloaded.
They carry more current than they should handle, and the metal structure heats up.
"This is not a recommended practice," Boyes said . ".
If the grid sounds stressful, you haven't seen anything yet. Read on.