Article
Energy storage
Tracking the technologies that will transform the power sector
The world's population is expected to grow by two billion people by 2050 and global energy demand is expected to roughly double during the same period. Concurrently the power sector is on the brink of a major transformation as more stakeholders look into the possibility of moving away from traditional fossil-energy-based centralized power systems towards the potential of renewable-energy-based distributed generation. However, the penetration of renewable technologies has been hampered by their costs - the utility industry should consider overcoming these challenges.
The impact of energy storage is far-reaching, as not only does it address the issues that have limited renewable energy’s penetration, it fundamentally alters the longstanding relationship between utilities and their customers. The disruptive potential of storage is unlike other energy technology in that it pervasively extends across the value chain in a way that stakeholders will impact and be impacted by its adoption. If the decision is to adopt, there is a need to translate the technical parameters of storage into financial implications to understand the bottom-line impact. If the decision is to not adopt, there is still a need to respect the interdependencies of the ecosystem and evaluate potential impacts to the business and operating model. Either way, the potential of storage requires that stakeholders develop robust strategies that decrease the risk and increase the opportunity.
Energy storage