DRAX
Ten times more energy storage needed for Britain to reach net zero climate target
Across Great Britain, Europe and the US, the need for energy storage is set to soar as more renewables such as wind and solar power, connect to the grid in efforts to meet the net zero carbon targets required to address the climate emergency, according to analysis by Imperial College for Drax Electric Insights.
Britain’s energy storage capacity alone will need to grow to around 30GW or more over the next 20 to 30 years, from 3GW today.
Dr Iain Staffell of Imperial College London and lead author of the quarterly Electric Insights reports said:
“Energy storage is one of the most important issues in the energy industry – it has the potential to dictate the pace, scale and cost of the energy transition. Along with other technologies, such as interconnection and flexible generation, energy storage helps integrate more renewables onto the system, which makes it easier to manage the grid and enables greater decarbonisation at lowest cost.”
Imperial’s analysis shows that, for the current GB electricity mix with a quarter of power coming from variable renewables, every unit of intermittent renewables added to the system requires an additional 0.2 units of energy storage capacity to smooth out intermittency and keep the grid stable.
