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We're holding a live Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Twitter right now with Robert Fares, PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at UT Austin, about his research in grid-level battery storage. Follow along with #AskUT and @davidwogan@robertfares@zaragozaaustin.
Update: I've embedded the discussion below.
.@RobertFares Your study explores using batteries to balance the power grid because there's currently no buffer. Why does it matter? #AskUT— Sandra Zaragoza (@ZaragozaAustin) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Very good question Sandra. To answer it I'll start by explaining why balancing the power grid is important. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Today, electricity is generated, delivered and consumed in real time. This is one of the grid's key limitations. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Today, electricity is generated, delivered and consumed in real time. This is one of the grid's key limitations. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin At every moment in time, there are power plants rapidly ramping up and down to balance power supply and demand #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin The problem is that large machines like power plants aren't very good at rapidly changing their electric output. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin When a power plant ramps up or down quickly, its efficiency decreases and its emissions increase. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Because batteries use fast electrochemical reactions, they can change their electric output much faster than a power plant
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin And unlike power plants, batteries can balance the grid without releasing emissions. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
@RobertFares What did your study determine? Are batteries a good solution?
— Sandra Zaragoza (@ZaragozaAustin) October 18, 2013
#energystorage
.@ZaragozaAustin The main goal of my study was to understand if using a new battery technology to balance the grid is economic right now.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin In order to be cost competitive, a battery has to be able to balance the grid for less than it costs a power plant to do so
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin My study analyzes a specific #EnergyStorage technology called a vanadium redox flow battery or VRFB for short. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Based on the historic cost of providing grid balancing, my study shows that VRFBs are nearly cost competitive. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin If the pros batteries have over power plants for grid balancing are demonstrated in pilots, they could see wider use.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
@RobertFares So what are the cons or the challenges to using VRFBs? #energystorage
— Sandra Zaragoza (@ZaragozaAustin) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin One challenge is that electricity markets move slowly. A normal power plant takes years to plan, finance and build.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Financing a large-scale VRFB has the same challenges as financing a power plant. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
..@ZaragozaAustin Furthermore, VRFBs are a relatively new and untested technology unlike most of the technologies we use on the grid today.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@RobertFares Are these batteries being tested? Where? #AskUT #Energystorage
— Sandra Zaragoza (@ZaragozaAustin) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Yes! The Recovery Act of 2009 and @ARPAE have helped pave the way for numerous U.S. #energystorage pilot projects. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin The U.S. Department of @Energy tracks VRFB pilot projects. Here's a list: http://t.co/t3Uekt0MEU #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@RobertFares @ENERGY How much power can a VRFB batter supply? Can it power my house for a day? #energystorage
— Sandra Zaragoza (@ZaragozaAustin) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Like any flow battery, a vanadium flow battery has a highly-flexible design that makes scaling up easy. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Here's a great @IEEESpectrum article that discusses the benefits of the flow battery design: http://t.co/rk9jEMrehl
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Existing pilot-scale VRFBs can store enough energy to power your house for months, and bigger systems could be built!
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin It's a common misconception that we don't have technology to store energy. We do-it's just not cost effective to use it.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@RobertFares How about we open it up to scientific blogger @DavidWogan? #energystorage #AskUT
— Sandra Zaragoza (@ZaragozaAustin) October 18, 2013
Thx! @ZaragozaAustin.
— David Wogan (@davidwogan) October 18, 2013
So @RobertFares, how do you put a price on #energystorage? Or a balanced grid? #AskUT
Good question @davidwogan. That's a tough one, and it's actually one of the main drivers behind my research. #energystorage #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan Competitive markets for wholesale electricity are a relatively new idea. For example, Texas' @ERCOT_ISO market started in 2001.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan These markets were designed around power plants that turn a fuel stock into electricity. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
@RobertFares So by fuel stock, do you mean a pile of coal (or #natgas)? #AskUT
— David Wogan (@davidwogan) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan Exactly! And the thing about power plants is they essentially never run out of fuel. They have a constant supply of coal/gas.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan #EnergyStorage, on the other hand, only stores energy for later use, so it has a limited energy supply.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan This fact makes integrating any form of #EnergyStorage with a normal electricity market difficult. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan Many researchers believe our existing markets don't capture the true value potential of #EnergyStorage.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan So figuring out the real value or price to put on a unit of #energystorage is tough.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
@RobertFares so is there a common unit of cost or other value you use to estimate the value of #energystorage?
— David Wogan (@davidwogan) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan The best way is to use existing electricity market prices. I used @ERCOT_ISO prices to understand the price of grid balancing
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan I showed that if a VRFB offers its service at current grid balancing prices, it is nearly a cost competitive technology.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan A tweak in the market rules or a cost-reducing advance in #energystorage technology could improve the economics.
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@davidwogan Thanks for asking did I answer your questions? #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
@RobertFares Yes. I'll turn it back over to you @ZaragozaAustin #AskUT
— David Wogan (@davidwogan) October 18, 2013
.@RobertFares Last question: Does this matter to an average person? Should it? #UTAustin #energystorage
— Sandra Zaragoza (@ZaragozaAustin) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Most of us have no idea what specific technology is balancing the grid at any given time. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin But one thing that matters to everyone is the looming threat of climate change. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin Grid #EnergyStorage is a key enabling technology for a fully decarbonized electric grid. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin The more batteries we get installed on the grid, the more we enable wider use of renewable energy. #AskUT
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013
.@RobertFares Thanks for taking the time to explain #EnergyStorage! For more information on Robert's work, visit http://t.co/EEwKUakPUt
— Sandra Zaragoza (@ZaragozaAustin) October 18, 2013
.@ZaragozaAustin You're welcome! And here's a link to the full article on my work in the journal Applied Energy: http://t.co/reE35btTb1
— Robert Fares (@RobertFares) October 18, 2013