3 Importance of Energy Storage Explained
The importance of energy storage is based on its role in cost saving, environmental protection, efficiency optimization, and facilitation of technological advancement. These can be summarized into three areas of importance; economic, environmental, and sociological; which are also the pillars of sustainable development.
In this article, the importance of energy storage is discussed, as follows;
1). Economic Resilience (as part of the Importance of Energy Storage)
Energy storage helps to achieve economic resilience through waste reduction and facilitation of renewable options [1].
Energy storage systems act as backup for power plants and electric generators, thereby reducing energy waste from these facilities, and saving the overall cost of operation.
Through energy storage, the efficiency of industrial processes can be increased, since it reduces the total amount of energy that is expended (both useful energy and waste energy) in the course of industrial operations.
Energy storage encourages and facilitates other sustainable practices like energy recovery, energy conservation, sustainable production and recycling.
These practices establish circular economic conditions, which are known to be more productive, conservative and resilient than the unsustainable conditions of a linear economy [5].
Given the socioeconomic value of energy resources like fossil fuels, energy storage can be seen as a major way to prevent resource depletion by conserving excess energy and reducing the need to extract more resources.
Lastly, energy storage benefits the economy by protecting environmental and human resources through the mitigation of environmental pollution and hazard risk. This prevents economic losses that could occur as a result of labor shortages due to health hazards, as well as environmental remediation and carbon tax costs.
2). Environmental Sustainability
Energy storage is good for the environment due to its tendency to support ecologic sustainability.
Inefficient energy cycling is a major cause of environmental degradation in the ecosystem, accounting for losses in biomass and energy [4].
Energy storage mitigates the depletion of natural resources, as well as the rate and scale of energy resource exploration, which causes degradation in the form of oil spills and air pollution, among others.
Climate change, greenhouse emissions, global warming, and general reduction of air quality are all mitigated through energy storage [2].
Other types of environmental pollution like thermal pollution, are also mitigated when efficient energy storage is in place.
Energy storage can be seen as a measure of waste management in the energy sector, since it supports the recovery and use of waste energy.
Lastly, energy storage is important to the environment for its role in supporting the advancement of renewable energy technologies like solar and wind.
Solar panels/power plants and wind farms have seen considerable growth in recent years with the introduction of improved batteries for storage of power [3].
3). Social Stability (as part of the Importance of Energy Storage)
The social importance of energy storage can be attributed to its ability to contribute to improved quality of life for the human populace.
One of the ways in which energy storage can improve the quality of life is through the creation of employment opportunities.
While it could be argued that wasteful energy consumption also creates jobs in the energy sector, the jobs created in energy storage are more sustainable and beneficial to the society in the long run.
Energy storage also improves the quality of life by reducing the effects of environmental pollution on human health. When energy is used conservatively, the risk of pollution is reduced, along with its negative socioeconomic impacts.
Lastly, energy storage is important to the society for its role in supporting the energy transition and technological advancement.
Artificial intelligence, smart grid, microgrid, renewable energy systems and electric cars are among the technologies supported by energy storage. These are all meant to serve as tools for the advancement of society.
Conclusion
The importance of energy storage can be summarized into;
1. Economic Resilience
2. Environmental Sustainability
3. Social Stability
References
1). Kabeyi, M. J.; Olanrewaju, O. A. (2022). “Sustainable Energy Transition for Renewable and Low Carbon Grid Electricity Generation and Supply.” Front. Energy Res. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2021.743114. (Accessed 31 October 2022).
2). Jones, C.; Gilbert, P. J.; Stamford, L. (2019). “Assessing the Climate Change Mitigation Potential of Stationary Energy Storage for Electricity Grid Services.” Environmental Science and Technology XXXX(XXX). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06231. (Accessed 31 October 2022).
3). Raji, A.; Gwabavu, M. (2021). “Dynamic Control of Integrated Wind Farm Battery Energy Storage Systems for Grid Connection.” Sustainability 13(6):3112. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063112. (Accessed 31 October 2022).
4). Raza, S. A.; Ali, M.; Khamis, B. (2020). “Environmental degradation, economic growth and energy innovation: evidence from European countries.” Environmental Science and Pollution Research 27(10). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09142-z. (Accessed 31 October 2022).
5). Sariatli, F. (2017). “Linear Economy Versus Circular Economy: A Comparative and Analyzer Study for Optimization of Economy for Sustainability.” Visegrad Journal on Bioeconomy and Sustainable Development 6(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/vjbsd-2017-0005. (Accessed 31 October 2022).
