The future of energy is starting to take shape and is looking increasingly centred on a renewable electric based approach. With ongoing mass digitisation and introduction of smart systems to everyday life, there’s no doubt that our world will need a lot of electricity to function. The scale of our electricity demand will mean that it will have to be produced through sustainable means. Whilst this relates to the creation of the energy source itself, we are already witnessing the “phasing out” of carbon fuels in everyday consumer products eg. the UK government’s ban of all gas boilers in new UK homes by 2025 not to mention the 214,000 registered electric cars on our roads (as of May 2019).
With electricity set to fuel the smart digitisation of society, industry and infrastructure, there is a hugely anticipated need for energy storage capability to store large amounts of electricity for longer and discharge it in real time based on current needs. Batteries are going to step up and play a pivotal role in supporting our mass-digitisation efforts in the near future which is why Siemens has focused on creating products such as the Junelight home energy storage system.
Meeting The Needs Of Tomorrow’s Smart Grid
Domestic energy storage solutions are most certainly going to experience huge growth and this is largely dependent on the long-forecasted move towards a smart grid. Our current energy grid was set up over a century ago and relies on the transmission of regionally produced electricity to homes for consumption. The problem with this model is that we consume more electricity today than a century ago and the modern day home is practically dependent on electricity. The demands placed on our current grid are so great that have just continued to build carbon burning energy plants in order to keep up with this demand.
The smart grid will utilise digital consumer information on usage habits to make electricity consumption smarter. One aspect of this is consumers being able to gain real-time information the price of power at different times of the day and use energy when it is cheap. With most experts predicting a fully up and running smart grid by mid-century, it is essential that energy storage battery technology is at a point where units can store large capacities of power for longer without wearing out too quickly.
Renewable Energy In The Grid
A massive component of the smart grid of tomorrow is the successful integration of renewable energy sources into the system which can be relied upon to contribute power when they can. The fundamental concept of a smart energy grid is the effective management and distribution of power according to consumer needs. Solar and wind energy are seasonal reliant and as such, the power that these systems produce will be in intervals and not consumed the second it is produced. Rather, it will be produced, pooled, stored and then utilised to fill power gaps when the grid’s energy deliverance capacity is at full. Again, advanced electrical storage solutions become critical in this type of scenario because until this new electricity is used, it needs to be stored for potentially long periods of time until it is needed.
High capacity electricity storage is also the first step in solving the increasingly difficult logistical challenge of building smart cities to sustainably accommodate a growing population. The issue is that we can’t build a smart city rigged to a smart grid without large-scale power storage facilities in place already holding enough power to start the process.
Leading The Way
Although the challenge is daunting, Siemens is already making great strides ahead and in 2018, partnered with AES to create Fluence, one of the world’s leading large scale power storage companies. With a decade of valuable experience providing sustainable energy solutions across the world, AES is an invaluable partner perfectly placed to complement the engineering expertise of Siemens. We are confident that we will deliver a mass storage solution which facilitates sustainable smart habitation within the next few years.