Co Author: Joseph Carbonara is a project manager
in research and development at Con Edison
When Thomas Edison flipped the switch to his
first dynamo in the 19th century, the genius-wizard
launched a multitrillion-dollar industry. Making and
delivering electricity leaped from infancy to cocky
adolescence with speed unseen in new ventures.
Edison and his fellow entrepreneurs toyed with but
never mastered storing electricity on a mass scale.
Depending on the utility pundit, energy storage
could be the next frontier in electricity. This is
because utility infrastructure is built to
accommodate the highest energy usage of the year,
typically the hottest day of the summer. That means
an investment in infrastructure to accommodate, for
a brief period, energy usage that can be as much as
three times what it is on average.
Energy storage in general has been kind of a Holy
Grail for utilities. Generation and demand are
instantaneous. Utilities are looking at ways to
buffer them.
"Energy storage is no longer an idea and a theory -
it's actually a practical reality," Steve Hellman,
president of Eos Energy Storage, recently told The
New York Times. "You're seeing a lot of commercial
activity in the energy storage sector."
In the spring of 1963, Con Edison proposed a
pump-storage facility on Storm King Mountain.
The technology was simple: Approximately 8 billion
gallons of water would be pumped 2 miles from the
Hudson River to the top of the mountain 50 miles
north of New York City every night when electric
costs were low. The water would be stored in a
reservoir and released during the day, hurtling
through turbines, when electric costs were at their
peak.
Con Edison argued that the growth of air
conditioners and other appliances required
considerably more, and affordable, electricity.
When Con Edison's plans were published, opponents
argued that the plan would cause the death of a
scenic canvas for Hudson River School artists,
destroy a striped bass breeding ground and create an
eyesore that would change the river forever.
Opposition in courtrooms and riverfronts helped
defeat the company's plan for pump storage seven
years after it was born, and the story of Storm King
Mountain gave birth to the environmental law
movement.
Environmental sensibility has matured in 50 years.
The quest for safe energy storage has kept pace.
An Eos Energy Storage battery, scheduled to be
installed in a Con Edison facility early in 2014,
was chosen for its safety. The zinc-air core is its
cornerstone, as are its nontoxic, stable chemicals.
The exact location has not been chosen yet. It will
depend on size and availability of an appropriate
space and interconnection considerations.
Con Edison had rejected a hydrogen battery for its
potential volatility and the New York City Fire
Department's reluctance to certify its safety. The
company considered using the hydrogen battery in a
remote, non-urban community, but even rejected that
because of safety and environmental concerns.
Eos' Znyth cells are in the laboratory, delivering
capacity and energy efficiency that make them
attractive for a closer look by our R&D department.
Unproven is the claim of Eos' $160 per kilowatt-hour
price point and 30-year life. The cost and life of
the Eos cells are the focus of Con Edison's research
into energy storage.
Con Edison also has invested in a zinc-based battery
research project from Urban Electric Power, recently
installed at the City University of New York to help
reduce the Harlem school's peak energy demands. New
York State Energy Research and Development Authority
also is an underwriter of the program.
Con Edison continues to review energy storage
technologies as they are developed. A key feature
for our congested urban environment and possible
installation within buildings is the use of nontoxic
chemicals and intrinsically safe technologies and
chemistries. Also important are life cycles,
cost-effectiveness, maintenance requirements, size,
efficiencies, discharge rate and depth of discharge.
Con Edison has been working closely with Eos during
the development of their technology to ensure that
the final product fits the needs of the utility
industry.
Troy DeVries is Con Edison's director of research
and development and Joseph Carbonara is a project
manager in research and development at Con Edison.
First Published In:
EnergyBiz Magazine January/February 2014
http://www.energybiz.com/article/15/01/frontier-energy-storage-holy-grail