Storing Solar Energy

Saad Ayub Jajja Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila saadjajja_2k9_60@yahoo.com

Abstract
This paper reviews the technologies and methods that are used for solar energy storage. Need for storing solar energy is discussed and stated that if storage techniques become commercially viable, solar power may become a major contributor to the national grid. Methods that are widely used are discussed along with some unconventional methods. While reviewing the different methods it was observed that storage methods fall under the broad categories of Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical storage techniques. The storage methods depend upon the type of application and the output required. This aspect is also analyzed in this paper and methods stated that are used for power quality, bridging power and energy management applications. Moreover roundtrip efficiencies for several energy conversion processes used in storage methods are also described.

Keywords
Energy storage, solar, renewable

1 Introduction
Solar energy has a huge potential to become a major contributor to the national grid. Vast tracts of lands receive enough sunlight throughout the year to become sites for solar power stations, both Photovoltaic farms and solar thermal plants. To get an idea of the potential of the solar energy consider the Hoover dam in the United States, its
[1]

reservoir covers nearly 250 square miles of desert ,and it generates 2GW of electricity[1]. The surface area of the lake is not related to the generating capacity of the dam but if same area was to be covered with a solar thermal plant the output would be 20GW [1] . Thats ten times the output of the hover dam. The greatest drawback of solar energy is its intermittent and fluctuating nature. This limitation is preventing solar power generation on a large scale. Load leveling is required to meet fluctuating demand of electricity throughout the day. Many methods exist that are used to store excess energy for power quality, bridging power and energy management applications Storage in the case of solar energy is very important because if the storage techniques become commercially successful then the third world countries like Pakistan can benefit a lot. Vast tracts of land receive enough sunlight to supply a considerable portion of the total energy demand. Poor countries can become energy independent reducing their dependence on foreign oil. This would be a huge relief for their economies. Therefore to increase the penetration of renewables and solar energy in particular to the conventional energy market, storage of energy is a necessary step. Incorporating storage techniques into existing solar facilities both photovoltaic and solar thermal plants will increase their reliability and their acceptance into the energy market. Storage facilities exist around the world in the previously mentioned types of plants and in

this paper all the methods that are used for storing solar energy are summarized.

2 Methods used for storing solar energy

The following methods are used around the world for storing solar energy. Both conventional and the latest developed methods are described. The working, basic equations governing energy conversion, roundtrip efficiency of the storage method and finally the usage around the world for a particular method are stated. 2.1 Flywheels Solar energy is first converted to electricity either using photovoltaic cells or solar thermal plants. The electrical energy is used to drive an electrical machine that functions both as a motor and a generator. The fly wheel is coupled with this motor/generator which stores the kinetic energy in a rotating inertia. The motor spins the flywheel when the solar plant is supplying electricity but when the sun is not shining the flywheel continues to rotate and the motor now functions as a generator. This ensures that the electricity output for a solar plant never drops to zero even if there is no sun shining. The energy that can be stored in a fly wheel is governed by Eq.1 = 2
2 1

time for which the rotor keeps spinning. The solution for the bearing friction is to use magnetic bearings that levitate the shaft hence eliminating friction and the use of expensive lubricants. The use of magnetic bearings and composite rotors enable the flywheels to rotate at very high speeds, hence storing energy for a longer period of time. Another advantage of using composites is that it increases the energy density for a flywheel system. Table 1[2] compares the maximum specific energy storable to the material of the rotor along with the energy that can be stored in two different types of batteries. Rotor wheel material Maximum specific energy storable (Wh/Kg) Aluminum alloy 25 Maraging steel 50 E- glass composite 200 Carbon fiber 220 composite S- glass composite 250 Polymer fiber 350 composite Fused silica fiber 1000 composite Lead- acid battery 30-40 Lithium-ion battery 90 -120 Table 1 rotor wheel material and maximum specific energy storable (Wh/Kg). The round- trip conversion efficiency of a large fly wheel system can approach 90 percent [2]. Recently Beacon power is installing fly wheels near Albany, New York that weigh up to a ton and can rotate at 16000 rpm [3]. 2.2 Compressed Air storage (CAES) During a low demand period of solar electricity facility a compressor is used to compress air and store it in a constant pressure or constant volume environment.
[2]

(1)

Where J is the moment of inertia of the flywheel and w is the angular speed. The maximum amount of energy that can be stored in a flywheel is limited by the mechanical stresses that result in the rotor due to centrifugal forces at high speeds. To counter this problem flywheel rotors are now being designed of composite materials like fiber- epoxy composites [2]. The bearings on which the flywheel shaft is supported give rise to friction and reduce the

The compressed air is passed through expansion turbine to generate electricity at night time or when there is a cloud cover. The energy is stored in a pressure volume relation. If the air pressure and volume at the start of the compression are P1 and V1 respectively while P2 and V2 at the end of the compression, the work done to compress the gas is given by Eq.2 provided that the gas law PVn = constant is obeyed. =
2 2 1 1 1

world. 300MW compressed air plants exist in Israel and Morocco along with a 150 MW plant in Germany [2]. To support a new rapidly developing wind power generation plant near Fort Dodge, IA a $200 million compressed air storage project is planned for completion in 2007. The plant will use energy from a 100MW wind farm to store compressed air in an underground aquifer and then blend it with natural gas to fire turbines for power generation [2]. 2.3 Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) During day time when a solar plant is producing surplus electricity, pumps can used to pump the water to reservoirs situated at a higher elevation. During night time or when the output from the solar plant is dropping for some reason like cloud cover, the water at higher elevation can be passed through hydraulic turbines converting its potential energy to mechanical output. Generators are coupled with turbine shafts to convert this mechanical energy to electricity hence keeping the output of the solar power plant constant. In 1977 there were 57 billion watts and 271 billion kWh of installed pumped hydro storage capacity in the US [4]. The pumped Hydro storage is more developed as compared to the compressed air storage. PHS can have roundtrip efficiencies of 75% and may have capacities that exceed 20 hours of discharge capacity [5] . 2.4 Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) When current flows through a conductor magnetic field is produced around that conductor. If current flows through a coil, energy is stored in the magnetic field of the coil. The energy that can be stored in a coil if a current I flows through the coil is given by Eq.3 = 2 2
1

(2)

W is the work done to compress the gas which is also equal to the energy that is stored in the compressed gas. The compressed air can be stored in different types of environment. In a constant volume environment the compressed air is stored in underground caverns or depleted oil and gas fields. For constant pressure storage the compressed air may be stored above the ground in variable volume tanks that maintain a constant pressure even when air is vented through them. One million cubic feet of air stored at 600 psi has an energy storage capacity of about 0.25 million kWhe for a constant volume system while an energy storage capacity of 0.10 million kWhe in the case of a constant pressure system [2]. The advantage of using a constant pressure system is that electric power output remains constant as the air is removed from the storage. The output decreases as the air is removed from a constant volume storage system. The main advantage of using Compressed air storage is that the storage media i.e. air is abundant and free of any cost. The efficiency of the complete process depends upon the efficiencies of several components involved like that of the motor which is driving the compressor. But the overall roundtrip efficiency of 50 percent has been estimated [2]. Compressed air storage systems exist at many places around the
[3]

(3)

Where L is the inductance of the coil (H) and I is the current in the coil (A). To get the current flowing in the coil voltage must be applied to the ends of the coil. The relation between voltage (V), current (I) and resistance (R) is given by Eq.4. = +

(4)

L is the inductance of the coil. To store energy in a steady state in the coil the current is constant and the term di/dt in the Eq. 4 becomes zero. Therefore the voltage that is required to circulate the current in the coil only depends upon the resistance of the coil. Resistance for most conductors is temperature dependent; it drops with a decrease in the temperature. There exist some materials called super conductors whose resistance drops to zero when the temperature is sufficiently low. When resistance drops to zero no voltage is required to circulate the current in the super conducting coil. The coil can now be shorted and the current continues to flow in the coil indefinitely and hence the energy remains stored within the coil indefinitely. The commonly used coil is made up of niobium titanium alloy and has a critical temperature of 9K. To maintain the coil in a super conducting state the coil is immersed in liquid helium at 4.0K within a vacuuminsulated cryostat [2]. A power electronic converter connects the SMES to the grid and controls the flow of energy in a bi directional way. For a solar power facility that has SMES storage can supply electricity during the periods of low light intensity. SMES has a rapid charge and discharge cycle and has a huge potential to store vast amounts of energy. In 1980s, a grid connected 8- kWh SMES was built with funding from Department of Energy, and was operated by Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Oregon USA [2]. The roundtrip efficiency for the charge and
[4]

discharge cycle is high at 95% [2]. The main reason for such a high efficiency is that it has no moving parts and it has a very long life of operation. 2.5 Ultra Capacitors Capacitors store charge and energy. A capacitor behaves as a battery, charging and discharging but there arent any electrochemical processes involved in a capacitor. The charge that a capacitor can store depends upon the type of dielectric material. The energy that can be stored in a capacitor is given by Eq. 5. = 2 2 (5) Where C is the capacitance and V is the voltage applied across the capacitor. Now the capacitance C depends upon the variables, Area (A) and thickness (d) of the dielectric as shown by Eq.6 = (6) Where () is the dielectric constant. The charge that can be stored in traditional capacitors is very low because the capacitance of these capacitors is very low. The capacitance is increased by using porous electrodes and a liquid electrolyte with an ion conducting separator separating the two electrodes. The electrodes are composed of micro pores and it is in these pores that the charge is stored. The porous structure of the electrodes immensely increases the surface area for storing the charge. Such type of capacitor is called a double layer capacitor. The electrodes are mainly carbon while the electrolyte is Potassium Hydroxide. When voltage is applied to the electrodes, the positive and negative ions of the electrolyte move towards the respective electrodes. The separator keeps the two electrodes electrically isolated while allowing the ions to pass through it. The possibility of using carbon nano tubes as electrode materials is being explored. The leading manufacturers
1

of ultra capacitors are Maxwell Technologies in the US and EPCOS in Germany [6].Ultra capacitors typically work for over 100,000 cycles with an energy efficiency of 90% [6]. 2.6 Batteries The simplest form of the storage technology that exists is the battery. It is commonly used around us from cars to wrist watches. The operation of a battery is a simple charge and discharge cycle. Excess energy is stored in the form of electric potential in the battery and later used to drive a current through any circuit. The lead acid battery is the most developed of the battery technologies but its main disadvantage is its low energy storing capacity 0.5100 MW [6]. A sealed lead acid battery has charge and discharge cycles ranging from 200 to 300. The main reason for such few charge and discharge cycles is the corrosion of the positive electrode and it happens most frequently at higher temperatures. 3 Thermal storage In thermal storage the energy coming from the sun in the form of heat is directly stored without converting it into electricity. All the methods that are discussed up till now use suns energy and convert it into electrical energy before storing it in an appropriate form. Thermal storage can be divided into two categories (i) phase change and (ii) sensible heat storage. Only the phase change storage method is discussed because only this is widely used in the solar power generating facilities around the world. 3.1 Phase Change storage The energy is stored as latent heat of change of phase of the storage medium. The idea behind this method is to melt a substance with a high latent heat of fusion and then get the stored energy in these compounds back through heat exchangers. For example solar thermal power plants operating around the world use concentrated sunlight to melt salt. The molten salt is
[5]

stored in huge well insulated tanks. During night when the sun is not shining, there is no sunlight to generate steam this is when the molten salts come to help. The molten salt is passed through a heat exchanger and water is converted to steam which is passed through steam turbines to generate electricity. Another example of the phase change storage is converting water to steam and storing this steam in steam accumulators which during night discharge steam to the turbines. 4 Chemical storage methods Perhaps the most exciting and newly developed methods that are used for energy storage fall under this heading. The methods that I describe here are recently developed at the leading research institutes of the world. The first method I describe was recently discovered by MITs Daniela Nocera. In this method the solar energy is used to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen which are later combined in fuel cells to produce clean energy. The key to this method is the production of hydrogen and oxygen using suitable catalysts. The new catalysts that are developed to get oxygen consist of Cobalt metal, Phosphates and an electrode. Platinum catalysts are used for obtaining hydrogen. The main advantage of splitting water like this over the traditional electrolyzers is that the newly developed catalysts functions at room temperature and in neutral PH water, making this method easier to implement [7]. Many compounds that can absorb heat and can remain stable for a long period of time are being considered for energy storage applications. Recently researchers at MIT have understood the working of such a compound that absorbs energy and remains stable. Its called fulvalene diurethenium. It undergoes a structural transformation on absorbing the suns energy which puts it into a high energy state and can remain stable indefinitely. Then on a small addition of a catalyst it

comes back to its original shape; releasing energy [8]. Now that scientists have understood the workings of energy storing chemicals, they can make other chemicals from cheap materials that mimic the same effect. Another advantage of such energy storage compounds is that we can have solar fuels that can be transported to where we need them. 5 Applications The storage methods described in this paper cannot be used for a single purpose. Every method is suited for a particular application to maintain a constant electric supply from the solar facility. Table 2 summarizes the methods according to their practical applications in the grid as determined by the time of their charge and discharge cycles. Power Quality Flywheels, Ultra capacitors and SMES Bridging Power Batteries Energy High energy management batteries, PHS, CAES and thermal storage Table 2 storage methods and their practical applications in the grid. 6 Conclusions Given that some of the methods that I describe in this paper mature sufficiently over the time like the chemical methods, solar energy could provide the answer to the energy crisis that we face today. But having commercially viable methods is one thing but implementing them where we need them is another. Take Pakistan for example, we are already an energy deficient country and the solution is that we need to go for the abundant energy sources. Persuading the energy policy makers to go for abundant renewable sources like the solar is the task that we need to complete. We being the engineers and technical people need to convince the policy makers about the advantages of the renewables and assure
[6]

them that the intermittent and fluctuating supply of renewables can be regulated by using storage techniques. Storage methods, in short are a ticket for the renewables to the global energy market.

References
[1] Sunshine Solution by Jeffrey Winters. Mechanical Engineering The magazine of ASME. March 2004. [2] Wind and Solar power systems :Design, Analysis and Operation by Mukund R. Patel 2nd Edition. [3]http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0 1/25/advancing-the-flywheel-for-energystorage-and-grid-regulation/ [4] Solar cellsfrom basics to advanced systems Chenning Hu and Richard White. Pg.125. [5] The role of Energy storage with renewable Electricity Generation by Paul Denhlom, Erik Ela, Brendan Kirby and Michael Milligan. Technical report NREL/TP-6A2-47187 January 2010. National renewable energy laboratory. [6] Integration of alternative sources of energy Felix A . Farret and M. Godoy Simoes --IEEE Press [7] Major discovery from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen0731.html -

[8] Catching Suns Heat web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/solar-storage1026.html

[7]