Energy Storage

The buzz about hydrogen fuel cells and “smart grid” technologies has been growing louder. But what does it mean, and how is it connected to clean energy?

First, clean technologies and renewable power are only part of solving the energy puzzle we face. In order to make these technologies more viable, we need to reduce our demand through energy efficient practices that enable us to use any power we generate more wisely.

But we also need to find ways of storing and distributing that power as effectively as possible. That’s because energy demand and energy generation are never constant and do not always coincide. Excess energy is produced during periods of low demand, but it is lost if it can’t be stored for use during peak demand. Similarly, energy produced in one location might go unused while another location is straining to meet demand with too little energy produced. Renewables won’t fix this problem at all.

Getting serious about clean energy also means getting serious about energy efficiency.

• Reduce peak demand strains for power generation
• Provide greater flexibility in utilizing all power sources (including renewables) when and where they are needed or appropriate
• Improve cost-effectiveness, reliability, power quality and efficiency
• Reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution.

Energy Storage Technologies

Improved technologies that allow us to capture excess energy and use it when needed.

Advanced Batteries

If you’ve heard about lithium-ion batteries, that’s an example of an advanced battery technology, though there are other varieties.

• More compact and efficient than lead-acid batteries
• Provide more energy with smaller unit
• Last twice as long as conventional batteries. Other varieties, like the sodium sulfur battery, can operate under much higher temperatures.

Flow Batteries

• High power and high capacity uses, like in a power grid
• Charge is circulated through the battery from a rechargeable and portable external unit that can be moved to where it’s needed on demand

Compressed Air Energy Storage

• Both stores and produces power
• Off-peak electricity forces air into an underground storage reservoir, such as a rock cavern or abandoned mine.
• Compressed air is released in high-demand times and heated by natural gas to produce electricity.

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Systems (SMES)

• Used to bridge periods of power instability or short-term interruptions, such as those that may occur while switching from grid electricity to a backup power supply.
• Store energy in the magnetic field created when current travels through supercooled conducting material.
• SMES produce immediate high power, but for a very short time. New R&D is underway to improve the cooling process, using either liquid helium or liquid nitrogen.

Hydrogen Cells

• The most abundant substance in the universe, but it must be derived from other sources. Current hydrogen production today is derived from a natural gas process, which is costly and releases carbon dioxide during production.
• Hydrogen is not energy-dense, meaning that energy production requires large volumes – large enough that storing and firing the volume mitigates the volume of energy produced.
• New technology is required to make hydrogen from renewable sources, and new technology is needed to store and transport it.

Energy Distribution

The "grid" often sounds like a vast interconnected system of power supply nodes, something like a world wide web of electricity that’s always there and able to supply power.

Not necessarily so.

The grid is more like a broadcast network rather than an on-demand system. Energy is produced at a central station and sent out to all customers whether they need it or not – and it’s not so much a grid as a web. Grids are sliced and diced differently depending on where you live, so your grid isn’t necessarily connected to or compatible with others.

The notion of a smart grid – or an interconnected distributed energy system –is a recent innovation. This concept is built on local generators that adjust to meet the peak demand of local lines and even just particular customers. This makes it possible to operate a network of distributed generators that provide power as needed.

Some envision that these technologies will evolve to like the personal computer, reaching the point where end users will be able to buy and operate their own electrical power systems from an interconnected grid of micro-generators.

Energy Efficient Technologies in Maryland

With significant business communities of established and emerging companies in fields such as information security, modeling and simulation, IT products and services, communications, and energy, Maryland has the resources to capitalize on innovation.

Maryland has a high concentration of key partners, researchers, and customers. Major contractors and engineering firms are located in and around Maryland and the Metro DC area – Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Northrup Grumman, and SAIC – as well as key federal agencies and facilities like the National Security Agency (NSA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Energy.

Maryland’s well-educated and high-tech workforce is positioned and ready to meet the challenges of developing new technology.

• Second among U.S. states in percentage of professional and technical workers (25.4%) in the workforce
• Second among the states in percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree higher (35.2%)
• More than 100,000 workers in Maryland support the design, manufacturing, and service sectors of the communications industry

Maryland is a research and development powerhouse—ranking second nationally in R&D funding from the federal government.

Federal, academic, and private institutions conduct research at leading facilities like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, the University System of Maryland, the National Security Agency, and more.