The Electricity Storage Network (ESN) has warned that the benefits of the burgeoning UK solar industry will be lost unless effective energy storage technology is developed and deployed.
The ESN believes that, despite the UK installing more than 500MW of solar in the first quarter of 2013, the UK is falling behind its European neighbours. In Germany the government has set aside €25 million to help incentivize energy storage solutions alongside solar arrays.
Speaking ahead of the upcoming conference Energy Storage UK ’13, Anthony Price, ESN’s director said: “The opportunity is now. If the government does not support the use of storage as part of the solution to meet our power shortfall, we will lose this opportunity, and live to regret it.
“What is low cost now will take us down power’s one-way street. It will be difficult and costly to reverse. Our plans for the Smart Grid show we need storage and we must seize this opportunity now.”
The intermittent nature of renewable generation provides challenges for the National Grid, which is sometimes forced to turn to polluting backup generators if demand outsrips supply. Economic and efficient storage technologies would allow for a fast-acting and responsive grid system that is truly low-carbon.
via Lack of energy storage threatens to undermine UK solar’s benefits | Solar Power Portal.
Lack of energy storage threatens to undermine UK solar’s benefits
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