Dealing with Intermittency – Storing Electric Power

Renewable energy, which is intermittent by nature, cannot be switched on/off on demand. Hence, storage of renewable energy is necessary. The ideal storage system would respond rapidly to change in demand, be cheap and be able to store large amounts of energy. Various storage systems are discussed here (hydropower, compressed/liquid air, batteries, supercapacitors and flywheels) and none of these storage systems fulfil all these criteria. Consequently, multiple storage systems will be needed going forward. A philosophical question arises as to where the cost of energy storage should be allocated. It is argued here that it should be a cost for the distribution net rather than a specific type of power generation.