Ingenieur Vol. 75 ingenieur July 2018-FA | Page 51

demand and use it to support capacity at times of
high demand. Today, about 3%-4% of the electricity
that is produced by utilities worldwide is stored,
almost all of it through a technique called pumped
hydro-electric storage (PHES) which involves
pumping water uphill during times of low demand
and/or low cost and releasing it downstream to
turn power-generating turbines during times of
demand and high cost.
Battery energy storage systems [BESS] in their
various forms constitute the most widely known
energy storage technology, which will impact
future electricity grid infrastructure development
and operation.
Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries are widely used in
consumer electronic devices such as laptop PCs,
as well as in electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
According to [Ref. 5: Global lithium-ion battery
market: Growth trends and application analysis,
Malavika Tohani, Frost & Sullivan, Feb. 2013],
the Li-ion battery market is expected to double
in the coming years to US$24 billion in global
revenue, and significant performance and cost
improvements are also expected in Li-ion batteries
in the coming decade.
For example, prices for complete automotive
Li-ion battery packs could fall from RM2000 –
RM2400 per kWh today to about RM650 per
kWh in 2025, while the life cycle could increase
significantly at the same time, potentially
making plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles cost
competitive with traditional internal combustion
engine vehicles on a total cost of ownership
basis.
For utility grid applications, the average cost of
owning and operating Li-ion BESS could fall from
about RM2000 per MWh [RM2 per kWh] to about
RM400 per MWh [40sen per kWh] by 2025. This
could make Li-ion BESS cost competitive for some
electricity grid applications, such as for providing
BESS-Solar PV hybrid distributed renewable
energy, based on the levelised cost of electricity
(LCOE), a standard measure of electricity costs.
LCOE measures the cost of electricity generated
by different sources accounting for present value
payment stream of the total cost of capital,
anticipated operating costs, fuel, and maintenance
over a technology’s useful life and is very useful
for comparing the prices of technologies with
different operating characteristics.
With growing electricity demand and top-
level Governmental concerns over carbon dioxide
emissions and climate change, there is growing
national and international pressure for ‘green
means’ of electricity production and usage. On
a world-wide scale, 13 billion tonnes of CO2 are
released annually from electricity generation
and seven billion tonnes annually through
transportation [Ref. 6: World Energy Outlook
2011, International Energy Agency, November
2011]. The electricity and transportation sectors
are now more committed to add more sustainable
energy sources and, in both sectors, these efforts
rely on energy storage:
For the electricity sector, BESS can help to:
• ac c ommo date variable elec tricit y
generation from renewable solar
photovoltaic;
• maintain capacity for peak demand; and
• manage frequency regulation.
For the transportation sector, advanced
batteries make electric and partially electric
vehicle adoption more competitive with petrol-
engine vehicles.
Grid-storage BESS
Grid-storage BESS are set to play an increasingly
important role in integrating solar photovoltaic
renewable variable generation as part of the
future Malaysian electricity grid infrastructure
‘fossil fuels-renewable energy mix’ portfolio.
The main role of BESS will be to deal with peak
demand capacity issues and as part of Smart
Grid applications. BESS in Smart Grid applications
can help with system frequency regulation and
guaranteed peak power services.
Grid-storage BESS enable peak load shifting,
higher utilisation of existing grid infrastructure,
efficient balancing of small fluctuations in power
output, as well as providing temporary power in the
event of outage. However, for these benefits to be
realised, energy storage must be cost competitive
with other methods of addressing these issues,
such as gas turbine power generation used for
peaking power applications and demand-side
management for demand response applications
(that is getting consumers and businesses to
voluntarily reduce usage during peak demand
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