能源储存是可再生能源革命的支柱

全世界都在竞相提高可再生能源的产能

储能正迅速成为可再生能源拼图中的关键部分

开发长期的、可扩展的、环境友好的能源储存的竞赛已在全球开始

据油价网11月22日报道，可再生能源正在全球范围内爆炸式增长。世界各国正在以极快的速度增加清洁能源生产能力，与时间赛跑，以加强能源安全和应对气候变化。尽管环保人士和经济学家几十年来一直在警告，能源行业——事实上，全球经济——的未来在于可再生能源，而不是化石燃料，但行业和政策领导人一直在缓慢地适应，直到现在。  

近期全球经济遭受的冲击(疫情和军事冲突)的规模和影响之大，对能源市场、消费者的银行账户和生计造成了毁灭性打击。在冬季，仅英国就有2600万人预计将陷入能源贫困，而在发展中国家，其后果将更加严重。但在当前的全球能源危机中，也有一线希望。事实证明，这些冲击的毁灭性程度是推动世界克服顽固的以碳为基础的经济所固有的巨大惯性和阻力的动力。 

因此，全球许多领导人正在抓住时机推动绿色能源议程。截至今年，福布斯2000强企业中有40%的企业承诺实现净零排放目标。这是去年的两倍。与此同时，三分之二的欧盟国家(27个国家中的18个国家)在2022年5月至8月期间创造了太阳能发电的新纪录。根据Statkraft的预测，他们才刚刚开始。预测显示，到2030年，欧洲的太阳能发电能力将平均每年增加45吉瓦至52吉瓦，比去年的预测大幅增加。

虽然全球可再生能源行业发展迅猛对地球来说是个好消息，但脱碳议程面临着一些重大的成长烦恼。只有在可再生能源基础设施能够跟上的情况下，新增的可再生能源产能才是有用的。清洁能源不仅仅是风力涡轮机和太阳能电池板，它还涉及到电网容量和灵活性的提高。

归根结底，可再生能源的增长都是关于能源储存的。

事实上，一个净零排放能源的未来需要6太瓦时的巨大能源储存。一份新的报告预测，在2022—2026年期间，全球离网储能系统市场预计将增加62.2亿美元，增速为7%。问题是，目前，可再生能源行业在很大程度上仍依赖于锂离子电池的储能。这是一个问题，因为这些电池只能储存几个小时的能量，而且它们需要有限的、不可再生的稀土元素，而这些稀土元素在未来将变得越来越稀缺。 

由于锂离子电池的主要缺陷，目前全球正在竞相开发新的、更好的、长期的、可扩展和环境友好的储能技术。大量资金被投入到寻找最好的电池来为脱碳运动提供动力，包括来自《通货膨胀削减法案》的主要激励措施。

虽然有一长串有前途的能源储存选择，但最新的发展之一也是最令人兴奋的是二氧化碳电池。 这款意大利发明的电池正式进入美国市场，这要归功于夏威夷和海湾地区投资气候技术部署的Elemental Excelerator公司的资金。这种电池只使用水、二氧化碳和钢铁，而且效率高、价格实惠，而且不受地缘政治影响。根据电池制造商Energy Dome的网站，“这个储能过程只包括两种热力学转换：一种是压缩，一种是膨胀。这允许RTE高于75%“，这意味着电池可以高效工作几十年而不泄漏到大气中。  

二氧化碳电池可能是，也可能不是能源储存的未来，但它们是一个非常有前途的发展。现在迫在眉睫的问题是，这种技术能以多快的速度被大规模采用，以帮助可再生能源行业快速、可靠地发展，而不会使那种对不稳定的能源供应链的依赖持续下去，而正是这种依赖造成了当前的能源危机。 

李峻 编译自 油价网

原文如下：

Energy Storage Is The Backbone Of The Renewable Revolution

·     The world is racing to ramp up renewable energy capacity.

·     Energy storage is quickly emerging as a key piece of the renewable energy puzzle.

·     The race is on to develop long-term, scalable energy storage that is environmentally friendly.

Renewables are exploding. Countries around the world are adding clean energy production capacity at a breakneck pace in a race against the clock to shore up energy security and beat climate change. While environmentalists and economists alike have been warning for decades that the future of the energy industry – and, indeed, the global economy – lies in renewable energies and not fossil fuels, industry and policy leaders have been slow to adapt. Until now. 

The massive scale and reach of the recent shocks to the global economy (Covid-19 and the war) have been devastating to energy markets and to consumers’ bank accounts and livelihoods. 26 million people in the United Kingdom alone are expected to sink into energy poverty over the winter months, and the outcome will be even more devastating in the developing world. But there is a silver lining to the current global energy crisis. The crushing magnitude of these shocks has proven to be the push that the world needed to overcome the massive inertia and resistance built into a stubbornly carbon-based economy.

As a result, many global leaders in both the public and private sectors are seizing the moment to catalyze the green energy agenda. As of this year, 40% of Forbes 2,000 companies have committed to a net-zero target. That’s twice as many as last year. Meanwhile, two-thirds of countries in the European Union – 18 out of 27 – set new records for solar power generation between May and August of 2022. And according to projections from Statkraft, they’re just getting started. Predictions show that European solar capacity will see an average increase of between 45GW and 52GW each year leading up to 2030 – a massive increase over last year’s pre-war projections.

While it’s great news for the planet that the global renewable energy sector is going gangbusters, the decarbonization agenda faces some major growing pains. Added renewable energy capacity is only useful if renewable energy infrastructure can keep up with it. Clean energy isn’t just about wind turbines and solar panels; it’s also about increased grid capacity and flexibility. And at the end of the day, renewable growth is all about energy storage.

In fact, a net-zero energy future will require a whopping 6TWh of energy storage. A new report projects that the global off-grid energy storage system market is expected to grow by $6.22 bn during 2022-2026, accelerating at a rate of 7%. The problem is that, at present, the renewable energy industry is largely dependent on lithium-ion battery storage. This is an issue because these batteries can only hold onto energy for a matter of hours and they require finite, non-renewable rare Earth elements which are going to become increasingly scarce in the future.

Due to the major pitfalls of lithium ion batteries, there is currently a race to develop new and better energy storage technologies that are long-term, scalable, and environmentally friendly. Big money is being invested in finding the best kind of battery to power the decarbonization movement, including major incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act. 

While there are a litany of promising options for energy storage, one of the newest developments is also one of the most exciting: the CO2 battery. The Italian-invented battery is officially entering the U.S. market thanks to funding from Hawaii and Bay Area-based Elemental Excelerator, which invests in climate tech deployment. The battery uses just water, carbon dioxide, and steel, and is efficient, affordable, and scalable without geopolitical stickiness. According to the website of battery-maker Energy Dome, “the process comprises only two thermodynamic transformations: one compression and one expansion. This allows for RTEs of above 75%.” This means that the battery can operate efficiently for decades with no leakage to the atmosphere.

CO2 batteries may or may not be the future of energy storage but they are an extremely promising development in a field of almost nothing but extremely promising and exciting developments. Now the pressing issue is how quickly such a technology can be adopted at scale to help grow the renewable sector quickly and reliably without perpetuating the kind of reliance on volatile energy supply chains that created the current energy crisis.