Germany could save millions in fuel costs by increasing energy storage capacity, energy research center Ember said on Thursday (September 26).
According to Imber, Germany could have avoided nearly €2.5 million in natural gas imports in June this year alone if it had an additional 2 gigawatts of battery storage capacity – a 20% increase over current levels – in its energy system. The additional battery capacity would have converted midday solar energy into the evening, displacing 36 gigawatt-hours of fossil fuel energy.
Energy storage technologies capture electricity generated from intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind during times of high generation for use when supply is low.
The research center stressed that the start of energy storage should be in line with the rapid growth of electricity generated from solar and wind energy technologies in Germany and the European Union.
Solar has the largest percentage of installed capacity in Germany’s electricity system as of 2023 at 33.24%, while wind makes up the third largest share at 28.12%, according to Energy technologyParent company Global data.
While Germany’s increased deployment of renewable energy has reduced its dependence on Russian imports, a lack of energy storage and grid improvements has prevented the country from fully harnessing the benefits of renewables.
In December, Germany put energy storage on its political agenda for the first time, detailing a Policy framework Through it, it hopes to reach a deployed storage capacity of 5 GW/57 GWh by 2030 and 60 GW/271 GWh by 2050.
The country currently has 1.8 gigawatts of stored energy, and is expected to deploy an additional 3.7 gigawatts by 2027. To increase the stability of its grids, the country has developed a plan He plans To develop new hydrogen-ready gas-to-energy plants, and the accompanying capacity to ensure income was discussed.
‘Germany could save millions in fuel costs through more energy storage, says Imber’ Originally created and published by Energy technologywhich is a trademark of GlobalData.
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