Toward a green grid for delivering solar and wind-based electricity

The use of coal, oil and other fuels to generate electricity is not very feasible as it contributes to global warming and is in limited supply, has increased interest in generating electrical energy from clean, renewable resources such as solar and wind power. But solar and wind are not constant and reliable sources of power, since wind power fluctuates from moment to moment and solar power is generated only in the daytime.

This situation poses a significant challenge for electrical grid operators because other power plants need to compensate for this variability. So, to overcome this situation a team of researchers has suggested several technologies that can be used for energy storage for the green grid.

·         This includes High Tech Batteries, that can efficiently store electricity in the form of chemicals and reversible release it on demand.

·         Others are redox flow and sodium-ion batteries, which could provide a low cost, high efficiency way to store energy.

Several countries are planning to start research activities related to energy storage and development and implementing these new technologies.

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