Name: Priyanshu Bansal

Entry No: 2019UME0196

Topic: Energy Storage
Basic Introduction:
Energy Storage is a process in which we store energy and use this stored energy whenever
we want. The device which stores energy is called an accumulator or battery. We can keep energy
in many forms such as mechanical, electrical, chemical, biological, thermal, electrochemical, etc.
we choose the storage method, which is economically cheaper and according to our
application.[W1] [B1]
First, we need to understand what are the different sources of energy and a little bit of
history about how they changed with time
Wood:
In the nineteenth century, 84 % of the energy worldwide, roughly 1018 megajoules, or
about one yottajoule (YJ), was supplied by wood, charcoal, and crop residues. Still, it emits
carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur oxides (SOx), and nitrogen oxides (NOx)
which are not suitable for the environment because of the greenhouse effect. And its energy
per unit weight is less than other sources [B1]
Coal:
Coal is another source of energy. There are different types of coal according to carbon
content and Oxygen content. We can easily observe this by referring below. Graph this is based
on us doe data:

Figure 1: Oxygen and Carbon content in different types of coal-based on US DOE data. [B1 (vi)]
Coal has more energy per unit mass and is relatively cheaper than oil and natural gases, but it
also emits carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur oxides (SOx), and nitrogen
oxides (NOx) which are not suitable for the environment because of global warming effect[W2]

Petroleum:
Petroleum or crude oil is a fossil fuel similar to coal. It has some advantages, such as it is
liquid and has more specific energy other than any fossil fuel, and it is cheaper to extract
petroleum than coal. It has become a world commodity and is shipped all over the world.
But same to other fossil fuels, when we burn them, it produces carbon monoxide (CO),
carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur oxides (SOx), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) which are not suitable for
the environment [W3][B1]
Natural Gas:
Natural gas is a naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbon gases mainly consisting of
methane (CH4). It is found associated with liquid fossil fuels and in coal beds. It is colorless and
odorless, so a sulfur smell is added to detect leaks. It is also called fossil gas. It produces less
CO2 compared to coal per unit energy. but again, it is limited, and it emits CO2, which causes
the greenhouse effect. [W4][B1]
Renewable source:
Renewable power is produced from renewable sources such as wind, sunlight, rain,
tides, waves, etc. renewable sources are replenished on a human timescale. Some examples of
renewable power are hydropower, wind power, solar energy, bioenergy, geothermal energy,
etc
Most of the processes are eco-friendly and have almost no greenhouse gas emissions.
Still, these energies require high infrastructure costs initially, and with time renewable
processes are becoming more efficient and effective. [W6]
Nuclear:
Nuclear power is generated by nuclear reactions such as atomic fission, decay, and
nuclear fusion. The present majority of nuclear power is produced by nuclear fission of uranium
and plutonium in nuclear power plants. Because power generated per fission is high than fusion
and decay, it emits almost zero greenhouse gas, but nuclear waste is the problem. but it
provides more energy per unit of fuel [W6]

India Installed Power Capacity

2022
1.70% 5.600%
12.70%
10.20% 51.60%

11.80%
0.10% 6.30%

Coal Gas Diesel Hydro Wind solar nuclear other

Figure 2: India Installed Power Capacity 2022 based on Central Electricity Authority (CEA)
Need for energy storage:
As per my understanding from [B1], [B2], and article [W7], energy sources can not
produce constant energy. It varies with time for renewable sources, and for coal and fuel, we
can generate const power, but some fluctuations are there. And apart from that, energy
demand varies as well as in the daytime but also season based in summer power required is
higher than winter.
One of the cheapest solutions to this problem is just storing enegry sources in bulk such
as coal, natural gas, wood, etc. When we need more supply, we burn more fuel and match the
energy demand. Still, it is not a permanent or stable solution because this process takes some
time and makes it inefficient. It is not apllicable with renewable sources such as solar , wind,
hydro, etc. Hence, we need energy storage to make this process efficient and applicable to any
energy source.

Figure 3 Daily mean demand for electricity from smart meters customers for 12 months (June
2011 to May 2012 inclusive ref[J1]
This graph shows the mean electrical energy demand in the study conducted on a sample of
people using 30 min interval data in North East and Yorkshire in the UK[J1]
Types of energy storage systems:
Now we come forward to different types of energy storage systems. There are many
types of energy storage systems that are possible. Some examples are given below:
1. Fossil Fuel Storage
2. Mechanical energy storage
3. Electrical Energy Storage
4. Electromagnetic Energy storage
5. Biological Energy storage
6. Electrochemical Energy storage
7. Thermal Energy Storage System
8. Chemical Energy Storage System[W1]

Now we will study these systems one by one

 Fossil Fuel Storage:
Fossil fuel storage is one of the techniques for storing energy. In this case, we reserve
fossiel fuel like coal, natural gas,petrolium product, etc. When we require more electricity, we
burn this fuel in the power generation plant and produce power.
It is cheaper to store energy, but it cannot produce power according to the demand
simultaneously because it takes some time. And it also produces greenhouse gases which cause
global warming[B1] [W1]
Mechanical energy storage:
There are broadly two types of energy storage in mechanical energy storage. The first
one is based on potential energy-based energy such as gravity storage, Hydro Power storage,
spring energy, etc. The second one is based on kinetic energy storage such as compressed air
flywheel.
In gravity storage which is the potential energy-based system, we use a gravity battery
in which we store energy in the form of high weighted mass at a higher altitude. By decreasing
altitude, we can convert this energy to electric power by a generator and restore energy by
increasing altitude. it is an almost 80 percent efficient method
In hydropower storage, we use the potential power of water in the reserver. When
demand is less for energy, we reserve water in dams. When the need for electricity is high, we
open the reserve of the dam and produce electricity. This process may take some minutes to
generate electricity.
As we know, water is evaporated from the sea in the presence of solar light and then
converted to clouds and rain or snow at a higher elevation and then flows in the form of a river.
We make dams for storing this high elevated water and use it as an energy storage system
In a spring energy storage-based system, we store energy in the form of spring's
potential energy. It is used in toys in which we provide power by rolling key, and rolling key will
increase the potential energy of spring inside the toy, and it starts to do something releasing
energy in the form of some work.
In a Compressed air energy storage system, we store energy in the form of compressed
air inside a reserver(cylinder) and use this compressed air to generate electricity whenever we
require power. It is generally done by compressor and turbine. We can see the schema of this
system below
A

El in El out

Figure 3. Schema of Compressed Air Energy Storage System(Here M: motor, G: generator, C:

compressor, R: reserver, E: expansion)
For the calculation of the amount of energy stored in the reserver, we can use this formula
given below[B1]

𝑃1 𝑃1
𝐸 = 𝑃1 . 𝑉1 [ln ( ) − 1 + ]
𝑃𝑎 𝑃𝑎

Where Pa: Pressure of Surrounding, P1: Pressure in Reservoir, V1: Volume of the reservoir [ref B2
pg 151]
In the Flywheel Energy Storage System, we store energy in the form of rotational kinetic
energy by accelerating the rotor at high speed in a vacuumed container to avoid loss due to air
friction. When we require energy, we reduce the speed by connecting this system with a
generator and producing electrical power. This system can have high specific energy of 360–500
kJ/kg and rotors of flywheel made of high strength material such as carbon-fiber composites
because it rotates at high speed. Here is the equation for calculating how much energy your
system has given below
1
𝑊 = × 𝐽𝑚 × 𝜔2
2

Where Jm: Moment of inertia of the rotor, 𝜔 = angular velocity ref[W8]

Electrical Energy Storage System:

In this energy storage system, energy is stored in the form of charge or electrical power.
When we require electrical energy in any system, we can directly use electrical energy with no
conversion. It is a fast process, but the specific energy for this process is less than other
methods such as chemical, mechanical, thermal, etc. Some examples of this system are
capacitors and supercapacitors. Supercapacitors have more charge density compared to the
capacitor.[W1][B2]
Electromagnetic Energy storage
In this type of energy storage system, we store energy in the magnetic field. For
example, in a Superconducting magnetic energy storage system, the power is stored in the
magnetic field created by the flow of electric current in a coil made of superconductor and cooled
down to superconducting critical temperature. [ref W9]

Biological Energy storage

It is a natural energy storage system present in animals and plants in the form of
glycogen and starch. It is the most efficient storage system.[W1]

Electrochemical Energy storage

In this type of system or called batteries, electrical energy is converted to chemical
energy, which can also be converted to electrical energy. It is a very efficient process. We can
achieve almost 80 to 90% efficiency in these processes. batteries are divided into different
categories according to their specific energy, such as primary batteries, secondary batteries,
etc., and now we have Li-ion batteries, which have 100-265 Wh/kg specific energy and smaller
size, which is quite a good for the commercial purpose[ref W10]
 We can understand the basic principle of electrochemical cells in the figure below. There
are two electrodes, an anode, and a cathode, present inside the electrolyte. There is a flow of
charge by flow of ions in this solution by which chemical is converted into electrical energy and
vice versa by charging.

Figure 4: Electrochemical cell connected to a load

Thermal Energy Storage System:

There are two types of thermal energy systems first one is storing thermal energy with
the use of sensible heat in various solids or liquid materials, and the second one is by the use of
latent heat by changing the phase of material
Sensible Heat Storage System: In this energy storage system, we take a cheaper
material with high specific heat, then increase its temperature by giving it energy and keeping
this material in an isolated drum. We use this as the heat source in power cycles to generate
electricity whenever we want energy from this system. In this case, we use sensible heat of the
material. It is the heat absorbed by the material with increasing temperature. We can see the
amount of energy storage by this formula :[B1]

𝑞 = 𝜌𝐶𝑃 𝑉∆𝑇

Where 𝑞 = 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝐶𝑃 = 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒, 𝑉 =

𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙, ∆𝑇 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒
No matter how much-isolated the system is, there is some energy loss due to radiation and
conduction. Heat loss depends on the surface area of the storage system. Hence, we use a
storage system that is closed to spherical.
Latent Heat Storage System: We use latent heat of material to store energy in this
system. Latent heat is the heat required to change the phase of a given material. So we chose a
cheaper material with high specific latent heat. Similarly to the sensible heat system, there is
also heat loss, so we use a container close to spherical the amount of heat stored in LHSS we
can calculate with the given formula:[W11]

𝑄 = 𝑚𝐿
Here 𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝐿 =
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙
If we see thermodynamically, we can see that we are increasing entropy of the system with
phase change with keeping Gibbs free energy 0, so the equation becomes :[B1 ]

∆𝐺 = ∆𝐻 − 𝑇∆𝑆 = 0
Where ∆𝐺 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚, ∆𝐻 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑝𝑦, 𝑇 =
𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 , ∆𝑆 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚
Further, we can divide it into two types of materials used for this purpose: Inorganic
Phase Change Materials and Organic phase Change Materials ref[B1 chapter 3]
An example of this system is a steam accumulator in which we store steam at a high
temperature to store energy
Chemical Energy Storage System:
In this energy storage system, we use power to generate fuels that can be used for
generating power when there is energy demand. We can divide these systems into two types
1. Power to gas
2. Power to liquids
In power to gas, we use energy to generate gas fuels such as Hydrogen, Methane, etc. we can
convert water to Hydrogen and Oxygen by electrolysis process with the use of electricity and
get methane one step further by reaction with Hydrogen to CO2 by Sabatier reaction because
methane is easier to transport and the power plants are mature with methane compare to
Hydrogen
In Power to Liquid, we use power to generate liquids because liquids are easy to store and
transport compared to gas. First, we generate Hydrogen gas by electrolysis and then convert it
into methanol and ammonia.
Now we can compare different energy storage techniques with their storage capacity and
discharging Time [W1]

Figure 5: comparison between different energy storage techniques with their storage capacity
and discharging Time ref[J2]
References:
Websites:
[W1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_storage
[W2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal
[W3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum
[W4] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/natural-gas/
[W5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy
[W6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
[W7] https://sinovoltaics.com/energy-storage/batteries/why-do-we-need-energy-storage/
[W8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel_energy_storage
[W9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_magnetic_energy_storage
[W10] https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/where-do-lithium-ion-batteries-stand-2020/
[W11] https://www.vedantu.com/formula/latent-heat-formula
Books and journals :
[B1] Energy Storage Fundamentals, Materials and Applications Second Edition by Robert A.
Huggins
[B2] Energy Storage Systems and Components by Alfred Rufer
[J1]: G. Powells, H. Bulkeley, S. Bell, E. Judson, Peak electricity demand and the
the flexibility of everyday life, Geoforum 55 (2014) 43–52.
[J2] Power to Gas: The Case for Hydrogen White Paper; California Hydrogen Business Council:
Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2015.