How to solve old electrical transmission lines limits? Either build more lines, or Invest in Battery and Pumped Storage Hydro.

New York pushes energy storage to solve renewable power's biggest problem

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo this month announced an ambitious plan for deploying energy storage, a technology that can mitigate renewable power's most persistent problem: how to use it when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing.

From article, (New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo this month announced an ambitious plan for deploying energy storage, a technology that can mitigate renewable power’s most persistent problem: how to use it when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing.

Cuomo, a Democrat, announced his energy storage goals Jan. 2 as part of a "comprehensive agenda to combat climate change" that also calls for increased development of offshore wind, new energy-efficiency targets, and a reiteration of his pledge for the state to obtain half of its power from renewable energy by 2030.

To reach the renewable power target, Cuomo wants to deploy 1,500 megawatts of energy storage by 2025.

That's a bigger target than California's first-in-the-nation 1,300-megawatt mandate, although New York’s deadline is five years later, when storage technology is expected to be cheaper.

About 800 megawatts of battery energy storage is deployed across the U.S. currently, according to Burwen.

 Cuomo is putting money behind his energy storage goal. He committed $200 million from the NY Green Bank, which supports clean energy projects through funding mostly provided by private capital from banks.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will invest an additional $60 million in pilot storage projects.

Energy storage is becoming cheaper and more diverse, from various kinds of batteries and pumped hydro to thermal storage. It is not a power source. Rather, a battery or other storage resource carries excess energy that is produced when demand for electricity isn't peaking.

“Because renewables are intermittent, you could use storage to store that clean electricity when it’s produced, and use it when it's most needed,” said Anne Reynolds, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York. “That will allow the grid to deploy more renewable energy more quickly.”

The state generates about 25 percent of its power from renewables, halfway to its 50 percent goal by 2030. Most of the state’s renewable energy is hydropower, with 3 percent coming from wind and solar.

Reynolds said most of New York’s renewable power is generated upstate, and old transmission lines limit how efficiently that energy can be transported downstate.

“If we can invest in storage, that will mitigate the need for some of that quite old transmission,” Reynolds said.)

For More Info