An interdisciplinary review of energy storage for communities: challenges and perspectives

Parra, David; Swierczynski, Maciej; Stroe, Daniel I.; Norman, Stuart A.; Abdon, Andreas; Worlitschek, Jörg; O'Doherty, Travis; Rodrigues, Lucélia Taranto; Gillott, Mark C.; Zhang, Xiaojin; Bauer, Christian; Patel, Martin K.

Abstract

Given the increasing penetration of renewable energy technologies as distributed generation embedded in the consumption centres, there is growing interest in energy storage systems located very close to consumers. These systems allow to increase the amount of renewable energy generation consumed locally, they provide opportunities for demand-side management and help to decarbonise the electricity, heating and transport sectors.

In this paper, the authors present an interdisciplinary review of community energy storage (CES) with a focus on its potential role and challenges as a key element within the wider energy system. The discussion includes: the whole spectrum of applications and technologies with a strong emphasis on end user applications; techno-economic, environmental and social assessments of CES; and an outlook on CES from the customer, utility company and policy-maker perspectives. Currently, in general only traditional thermal storage with water tanks is economically viable. However, CES is expected to offer new opportunities for the energy transition since the community scale introduces several advantages for electrochemical technologies such as batteries. Technical and economic benefits over energy storage in single dwellings are driven by enhanced performance due to less spiky community demand profile and economies of scale respectively. In addition, CES brings new opportunities for citizen participation within communities and helps to increase awareness of energy consumption and environmental impacts.

Citation

Parra, D., Swierczynski, M., Stroe, D. I., Norman, S. A., Abdon, A., Worlitschek, J., …Patel, M. K. (in press). An interdisciplinary review of energy storage for communities: challenges and perspectives. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 79, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.003

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 2, 2017
• Online Publication Date: May 25, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 17, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: May 25, 2017
• Journal: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
• Print ISSN: 1364-0321
• Electronic ISSN: 1364-0321
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 79
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.003
• Keywords: Energy storage, Community, Renewable energy technologies, Interdisciplinary review
• Public URL: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/42890
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032117306263