The future world demographics and quality of life for developing regions will be highly dependent on the availability of electrical energy.  As the world increasingly understands the environmental costs of fossil fuels, the demand for renewable energy will increase.  However, the critical limitation to the widespread adoption of renewables such as wind and solar power is large scale energy storage.  This review provides suitable background to understand how energy storage is an enabling technology for the power industry and critical to utilizing renewable sources of electricity.  The presentation includes selected examples where advancement in materials and processes have improved the prospects for wide-scale application of energy storage on the electrical grid and a glimpse into how the availability of �on-demand� power generation will take electricity into the fourth dimension (time).  Temporal management of electrical power and smarter two-way transmission of electricity is at the heart of smart grid technology.  Examples of how energy storage is improving the smart grid will be given.  Recent advances in turbine and tunneling technologies have led to the development of gravity power modules that work on the same physical principles as pumped hydro storage.  Compressed air energy storage (CAES) is also being improved by offering a unit that can be placed anywhere and eliminating the need for a combustion gas required to heat the expanding moisture-containing air.  Two examples of battery advances, the liquid metal batteries and improved flow batteries, are increasing the viability of this preferred storage approach.  These advances in energy storage are transforming the availability of large-scale energy storage systems and propelling the renewable energy towards a more central role for improving the availability and cost of electrical power.

Electrical grid energy storage: The key to improving production costs and propelling the growth of renewable electricity

246th National Meeting (2013)

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