Panel Discussion

Recording of Tuesday, June 18, 2024 | The smarter E Europe Conferences 2024 | Conference Program | Language: English | Duration: 20:43 .

Experts Discuss Challenges and Opportunities in Renewable Energy Storage and Market Participation at Industry Panel

The discussion in the C&I (Commercial and Industrial) space highlights several challenges and innovations within energy storage systems. Lucas Zingale from Italy asks about compressed air storage, a technology dating back to the 1970s, which still faces issues like turbine freezing but is growing rapidly worldwide. Another significant point raised involves efficiency concerns where technologies such as lithium-ion batteries are preferred due to cost-competitiveness despite lower efficiency compared to alternatives like hydro power. James Olsen from Australia discusses regulatory advancements that enhance solar opportunities in his country and questions if similar regulations exist in Germany for multiple trading relationships. Laurent Talbot from Statkraft queries about grid booster models enabling market participation, with Transnet working on harmonizing these through European network codes for demand response. Business development expert Baris anticipates exponential growth in energy storage analogous to renewable energy expansion, raising concerns of potential negative effects such as investor return cannibalization due to market saturation. Giorgio Rivianakis brings up active battery management needing competitive strategies versus past fixed-price forecasts or government schemes, emphasizing supply chain pressures mainly driven by Chinese competition affecting prices globally. In summary, the panel addresses various facets of current challenges and future potentials within C&I energy solutions focusing on technological innovation, regulatory frameworks, market dynamics, and global competitiveness impacting strategic decisions in Europe’s evolving energy landscape.

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Speaker

Talk of session: Use Cases: New Challenges, New Opportunities - Explore the Potential

Energy storage is not an end in itself. The focus is usually on the economic benefits. Previous use cases are often not economically viable. In many cases, CAPEX and OPEX are still too high in relation to the yields. However, we are observing that the market is changing. New framework conditions and/or technical challenges offer opportunities for new types of storage use cases. The transformation of the energy system is giving rise to new use cases. For example, we are already seeing how grid bottlenecks are leading to critical conditions in the electricity grid. In response, transport grid operators are setting up battery storage systems known as grid boosters to test how they can use them to eliminate grid bottlenecks. But there are also many other storage options. This session will give you an insight into new projects and applications for storage systems.

Further Talks of this session: