Sizing and economic analysis of gravity storage

Energy storage plays a key role in providing more flexibility and balancing to the electric grid. With the increasing penetration of renewable energy technologies, there is a need to instantaneously match demand with supply. Energy storage has the potential to provide a back-up to intermittent renewable energy by storing electricity for use during more valuable periods. At this time, there are limited storage options, because several technologies are at very early stage of development. Pumped hydro energy storage is currently the most widely installed technology. This form of storage has some drawbacks which include the technology siting, as it cannot be implemented everywhere. This paper presents a concept that is similar to the existing pumped hydro storage technology. This concept is known as gravity storage, as it stores electricity in the form of gravitational potential energy. This storage option provides better operating characteristics and economically sounds solution over conventional pumped hydro storage, and can be placed almost anywhere electricity storage is needed. This paper proposes a methodology to optimally size the gravity storage technology and avoid system design failure. It also presents an economic analysis to investigate the value of this storage option. This work identifies the leveled cost of gravity storage and compares it to similar storage options. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.