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Assertion: Seasonal energy storage will be an important part of a 100% clean energy power grid

Seasonal energy storage, which involves capturing and storing energy over extended periods to balance seasonal variations in supply and demand, is crucial for a 100% clean energy grid. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind have significant seasonal fluctuations in output in many parts of the world.1 Seasonal storage systems can capture and store excess energy produced during periods of high renewable generation and release it when production dips, aligning supply with seasonal demand fluctuations.2

Many studies have shown that seasonal energy storage will be necessary for the “last mile” of decarbonization. Combining renewable energy and short-term energy storage can reliably sustain an energy grid with 90-95% clean energy but may struggle to reach 100%. Seasonal storage is one of the more cost-effective ways to finish the final 10%.3 Other potential strategies — such as a new wave of nuclear energy, rapid advancements in enhanced geothermal, and interregional long-distance transmission lines — are all important but face unique challenges that may make them more expensive or challenging to implement.

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Footnotes​

  1. International Energy Agency. (2023, April). Managing Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Renewables. https://www.iea.org/reports/managing-seasonal-and-interannual-variability-of-renewables ↩

  2. Guerra, O. J., Zhang, J., Eichman, J., Denholm, P., Kurtz, J., & Hodge, B. M. (2020). The value of seasonal energy storage technologies for the integration of wind and solar power. Energy & environmental science, 13(7), 1909-1922.Chicago ↩

  3. Petkov, I., & Gabrielli, P. (2020). Power-to-hydrogen as seasonal energy storage: An uncertainty analysis for optimal design of low-carbon multi-energy systems. Applied Energy, 274, 115197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115197 ↩