SOLVING EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA INDUSTRIAL ENERGY STORAGE CHALLENGES
Advanced energy storage provides an integrated solution to some of Africa’s most critical energy needs: electric grid modernization, reliability, and resilience; sustainable mobility; flexibility for a diverse and secure, all-of-the-above electricity generation portfolio; and enhanced economic competitiveness for remote communities and targeted micro-grid solutions.
I believe Storage technologies will strengthen and stabilize the East Africa & Horn of Africa grids by providing backup power, leveling loads, and offering a range of other energy management services. Electric vehicles (EVs) are also poised to become an integral part of this new grid paradigm as their batteries both draw power from and supply it back to the grid (when beneficial) – while eliminating tailpipe emissions.
Recognizing that specific storage technologies best serve certain applications, our Energy key players across the two regions ought to pursue a diverse portfolio of energy storage research and development (R&D) to assure a continuous, affordable, and sustainable electricity supply. They should form R&D partnerships to leverage resources and accelerate progress throughout the entire technology development cycle. This approach will facilitate effective teamwork by the existing labs (if we have any in our regions), industry, academia, other national and state agencies and organizations—helping increase the commercial adoption of grid energy storage and EVs.
Challenges facing energy storage adoption
Governments across the two regions (East Africa and horn of Africa) should investment in early-stage research 2022 onwards to help significantly advance energy storage technologies that our energy/power industry is unlikely to develop on its own. Continued research activities with industry at specialized facilities should hold significant potential to further improve energy storage performance and cut costs. Continued R&D efforts should target further progress to boost industry acceptance and enable the next generation of energy storage systems. Advances could accelerate growth in both utility-scale storage and EV ownership. As energy storage systems demonstrate their viability, policies and regulations may encourage broader deployment while ensuring systems maintain and enhance their resilience.
East Africa power pool needs to recognizes four key challenges to the widespread deployment of electric energy storage: –
Performance and Safety
Grid operators must be confident that energy storage systems will perform as intended within the larger network. Advanced modeling and simulation tools can facilitate acceptance—particularly if they are compatible with utility software.
Cost-Competitive Systems
Actual energy storage technology (e.g., the battery) contributes 30%-40% to total system cost; the remainder are attributed to auxiliary technologies, engineering, integration, and other services.
Regulatory Environment
Energy storage systems provide different functions to their owners and the grid at large, often leading to uncertainty as to the applicable regulations for a given project. Regulatory uncertainty poses an investment risk and dissuades adoption.
Industry Acceptance
Energy storage investments require broad cooperation among electric utilities, facility and technology owners, investors, project developers, and insurers. Each stakeholder offers a different perspective with distinct concerns.
For grid applications, electricity must be reliably available 24 hours a day. Even second-to-second fluctuations can cause major disruptions that could potentially cost billions of dollars. New approaches to maximize energy storage capacity are essential to bring intermittent renewables into the grid and effectively manage electricity generation to meet peak demand. As a region, we as engineers together with relevant bodies need to seek ways to enable a smarter, more flexible electric grid across the two regions by advancing research on novel materials and system components that resolve key challenges for energy storage systems.
R&D Focus Areas for Energy Storage
Materials. Improved energy storage system costs, service life, durability, and power density are made possible by innovative materials that enable new battery chemistries and component technologies, such as low-cost membranes for flow batteries, sodium-based batteries, high voltage capacitors, wide bandgap materials, and devices for power electronics.
Power Technologies. Storage systems can be designed with a broad portfolio of technologies, each with its own performance characteristics that makes it optimally suitable for certain grid services. Established large-scale technologies, such as pumped hydro and compressed air energy storage, are capable of long discharge times (tens of hours) and high capacity. In contrast, various electrochemical batteries and flywheels are positioned around lower power applications or those suitable for shorter discharge times (a few seconds to several hours).
Power Electronics. Power electronics, such as switches, inverters, and controllers, allow electric power to be precisely and rapidly controlled. Energy storage and power electronics improve a power supply reliability and responsiveness.
Grid Analytics and Policy. Analytical and multi-physics models to understand risk and safety of complex systems, optimization, and efficient utilization of energy storage systems in the field. Validated data sets support development of codes and standards to optimize use of storage resources across the U.S. electricity infrastructure.
| Key Grid Energy Storage Technologies Batteries. Electrochemical battery types include lithium-ion, sodium sulfur, lead acid, and flow batteries. These batteries vary in energy density, power performance, lifetime charging capabilities, safety, and cost. Pumped Hydroelectric Storage. Water pumped from a low reservoir to a high one is later released through a hydroelectric turbine to generate electricity as needed. Compressed Air Energy Storage. Compressed air is stored in an underground cavern until it is heated and expanded in a turbine to generate electricity. | Thermal Storage. Heat is captured and stored in water, molten salts, or other working fluids for later use in generating electricity, particularly when intermittent resources (e.g., solar) are unavailable. Hydrogen. Hydrogen can be stored and used later in fuel cells, engines, or gas turbines to generate electricity without harmful emissions. Flywheels. Electric energy is stored as kinetic energy by spinning a rotor in a frictionless enclosure. Flywheels are useful for applications such as power management. |
Safety and Reliability Testing. Advanced simulation and modeling and real-world demonstration projects increases the understanding of safety and reliability of energy storage systems.
Wishing all engineers across East Arica and the Horn of Africa a merry festive season and a promising new 2023 full of possibilities to re-engineer our continent better and smarter.
Compiled by: Samwel Kariuki
Date: 14th Dec 2022
Samwel Kariuki 