[Answered] Highlight the hurdles in enhancing energy storage capacity to match renewable power generation capacities.

Introduction: Contextual introduction.

Body: Explain some hurdles in enhancing energy storage capacity to match renewable power generation capacities.

Conclusion: Write a way forward.

Energy storage is not just about integrating intermittent wind and solar output. Battery solutions, which can be deployed rapidly and with pinpoint precision, can be used to make the overall grid more efficient and resilient, regardless of the generation sources.

Hurdles in enhancing energy storage capacity:

  • High Cost: The costs of either battery storage or energy storage via hydrogen are huge – and even if the costs of batteries can be reduced, big questions about the space, security and safety of such storage installations remain.
  • Grid modernization:The growth of battery storage goes hand-in-hand with grid modernization efforts, including the transition to smart grids. Batteries help to unlock the full potential of smart technologies, and vice versa.
  • Incomplete definition of energy storage:Energy storage is having an identity crisis, with stakeholders and policymakers around the world wrestling with how to define fast-acting battery storage.
  • The use of fossil fuels means that the power supply can be adjusted instantaneously to meet changing demand. In contrast, wind and solar energy are variable, which prevents them from becoming major energy sources in an economy that requires constant, on-demand electricity.
  • Investments in gridlines are required to transport renewable energy from where it is produced to where it is needed.
  • One of the biggest obstacles is limited supplies of lithium and cobalt, which currently are essential for making lightweight, powerful batteries. According to some estimates, around 10% of the world’s lithium and nearly all of the world’s cobalt reserves will be depleted by 2050.
  • There are leakage problemsassociated with hydrogen. Hydrogen is highly inflammable and requires special containers and pipes to transport safely. Still, some of the gas leaks into the atmosphere causing environmental damage.

As all energy sources have negatives, so the government must keep this in mind that fossil fuel will be needed for the energy generations in the coming decades.

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