Energy Storage Applications in Renewable Energy Systems

Electricity remains a key element for world development, and the increase in the demand for electrical energy in the industrial, commercial and residential sectors, the predicted exhaustion of fossil fuel reserves (e.g. oil, coal), the environmental risks of nuclear energy, the effects of global warming in addition to other environmental issues makes it necessary to develop alternative/renewable and non-conventional sources for the electrical energy generation. Electricity generation, based on renewable non-conventional sources, can play an important role in global energy security and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The use of these renewable energies can help to reduce energy consumption based on fossil fuel, which is the biggest source of CO \(_{2}\) emissions. Some of these alternative sources, e.g. wind, and photovoltaic, suffer from seasonality and intermittency, which represents a challenge to guarantee the adequate quality and dispatchability of the source. This limitation can be reduced and/or eliminated with the use of an Energy Storage System (ESS), allowing the energy system to be managed optimally.