Power Storage for the National Grid - Essay Example

Power Storage For The National Grid al affiliation Power Storage for the National Grid Summery The importance of electri as far as the performance of major sectors of the economy is concerned cannot go unmentioned. This report particularly reflects on the national grid system narrowing down specifically to that of the UK. This report gives an insight of how storing power of the nation grid play a very important role as far the effectiveness of power delivery to the consumers is concerned. This report also gives an exclusive attention on the benefits of storing power to the UK electricity consumers and the major power storage techniques that are already in play as far making power delivery better is concerned. There will also be reflections on the current studies that are undergoing to better the power storage in the UK. Introductions Major drivers of the UK economy are sectors like the industrial sector and the manufacturing sector. These sectors are very electricity dependent and thus it can be said that electricity is the major driver of the UK economy. In order to ensure that these sectors perform to their utmost efficiency there has to be comprehensive plan as far as the reliability of the Power from the national grid is concerned (Nationalgrid). One major way of guaranteeing the reliability of the power of the national grid is that UK power generators should have a comprehensive power storage plan for the national grid. Even with the very many sources of power like wind, hydro-generation, solar and many others, there is a minimal probability that without having a good storage plan for the national grid can there be reliability as far as power delivery, to the major sectors and also the domestic consumers is concerned will be as effective as it should be (Nationalgrid). One thing that can never go unmentioned are the benefits of storing power, this is due to the numerous good things that come with power that has been stored. Due to the increase in venturing into power production using wind, solar and other green means there is an unusual urge to have a good power storage system. To begin with, national grid power storage if well implemented will be very vital to the UK especially in its bid to achieve the use of greener forms of energy (Nelson 2012). This will guarantee the UK green-energy which will be a milestone since this is the long term goals of the power generators in the UK. Giving so much attention to the greener forms of energy will not only be good news to the environmentalist as far as reduction and minimization of the other environmentally unfriendly forms of power generation are concerned. This is very vital due to the fact that power generation take for example wind, is one form that one can say is very unreliable due to the fact it totally depends on nature as far as its effectiveness is concerned and thus nature sometimes is so unpredictable. There are some times of the year when there is so much wind that lead to so much power output even at a time when it is less needed thus if a comprehensive power storage plan is effected in the national grid it will ensure that the power produced by these forms of energy is stored and kept for future use (Nelson 2012). According to Paul (2011) power storage will also help to improve the quality of power delivered from the national grid. This will be achieved due to the fact that the power that will be transmitted from the national grid will be that which is removed from a storage source which is much easier to manage in terms of frequency regulation is concerned. Sometime power generated is very unstable as far as the frequency is concerned. Taking for example power generated through wind is one time whose output can change in seconds due to the nature of wind that is used during generation. Thus it is usually observed that in one minute the wind is down and hardly are the turbines in the wind farms being turned and thus the power output becomes very lower which is unable to meet consumer demands at that instant. While sometimes its observed that there is so much wind that in turn lead to so much in terms output to the extent that it has to be regulated in order to transmit it to the con summer. Paul (2011) believes that power storage will help mitigate some of these problems since from the power storage point the power that is delivered to the consumers will be very reliable not subjected to so much fluctuation as far as its magnitude is concerned. Bill (2009) believes that one big advantage that storage of power will have to the national grid is that delivery of power to the consumers will be very reliable. One thing that is absolutely unavoidable is the fact that power consumption is one thing that can never be constant since very many factors contribute to the use of electricity at each time. For example it is usually observed that during the summer when the temperatures are quite high there is usually so much power consumption due to the fact that many people have turned on most of their appliances like refrigerators and the air conditioners in order to manage this hot temperature especially during the day. This in turn leads to a rise in power consumptions what many can call peak season as far as power consumptions are concerned. Due to this increase in load there are usually a lot of problems as far as power delivery is concerned since some time that overall power output that is available in the national power grid is typically not enough and thus some consumer especially the domestic consumers usually experience so much power blackouts in the bid to manage that increase in power demand. Others are usually advised to avoid the use of some appliances so as to manage the rising demand with the limited power output at the national grid. With introduction of power storage this will no longer be an issue since in cases when there is a drop in the national grid power output the various power storage facilities will be put to run so as to deal with this shortage and this will be a good step to enhancing the economic growth due to reliable power according to be Bill (2009). Secondly, power storage will guarantee the efficiency as far power production is concerned in the UK. This is because the company will no longer be forced to produce only power that is needed by the consumer at that particular time as always in many situations. It is usually observed that more power generators usually produce power that can be used just at that time alone due to that unavailability of better storage facilities in order to store power. This has always made the power generators to work below their efficiency capabilities thus if a compressive national grid storage facilities are initiated then the power generators will always be working at an efficiency of 100% since the excess unused or unneeded power will be channeled to the storage facilities for future use. National power storage will be very vital as far as the maintenance of the major power stations is concerned. This will be achieved without difficult due to the fact during the maintenance of the power generators there will be so little to worry about as far delivery of power to the consumers is concerned. One good thing of maintaining of the power generating plants is that it will in the long run minimize breakdowns and failure of the major power generating plants. This will add up to the efficiency of the power at the national grid. During maintenance of the power plants there will be less to worry about since the power storage facilities will be running and that will in turn will be a big boost to power supply since there will be no power blackout during this time of maintenance. So far it can be impressive to note that in the UK appreciable progress has been made as far as storage of power is concerned and this will to a great extent yield nothing but only positive results to the economy. To begin with, in the UK there is so much advancement that has been made to store power using the compressed air energy storage. This facility is currently working to help mitigate the problems that are associated with the power blackouts. The plant is known as the High view power storage that is found in London as a good evidence of how the UK is ready to meet the ever growing power demands by ensuring compressive power storage for the national grid. (High view power) explains that this compressed air technology works using the principle that normal air that is freely found in the atmosphere is sucked up into very large tanks where it is then moved to a purifying chamber where the unwanted impurities are removed. According to (High view power) the clean air is then taken through a process of compression and it is compressed at very low temperatures of up to -200 degree Celsius until it changes the form of gas to liquid. It is this liquid air that is then stored in large tanks to be used, During times when there is an extra demand of power then the stored liquid air is subject to heat which the changes its state to gas during this process a lot of pressure is released by the liquid air that is then channeled to drive big turbines that then generate electricity according to (High view power) This process has one big advantage in that they used up gas is used again and again thus making it very environmentally friendly. The UK is still more than focused to ensure that the energy storage remains a priority as far as making the power from the national grid reliable. This is evident by the numerous plans that are currently being closed looked at if they could be implemented so as to ensure further reliability of the power from the national grid. To date the UK is considering venturing into the use of the electrochemical superconductors. This is one method that the UK is considering putting into practice since it has proved to be a very reliable method of power storage especially for the national grid currently being tested in Japan. Mercy (2009) explains that this technology works on the principle that the high-power-density storage of the capacitors is achieved by reducing the plate separation and this can be achieved by the use of electrochemical double layering. One very important thing to note in this method is that it can also be achieved by ensuring that the carbon electrodes that will be used are made to have a large surface area. One big reason why this method has gained the attention of the UK is that the super capacitors that are used in this method are very efficient as far storage of power is concerned. It is estimated that the ability of these super capacitors to work effectively can be as high as 95% according to Mercy (2009). Also important to note is the fact that it these super capacitors use organic electrolyte which intern guarantee high energy density. Thus if implemented will be a big boost to the current energy storage plans of the UK (Mercy 2009). Secondly, according to the Henry (2011) government of the UK also plans to venture into the use of super conducting magnetic energy storage. This is a method that works on the principle that “energy is stored in the magnetic field of a DC current that is flowing through a superconductor” This is a technology that is currently under trials in Germany and thus it will be a good idea to apply it in the UK since it has just too many advantages. The main advantage being the power storage efficiency is far too high coupled with the excellent high frequency of storage its one method that the UL should implement soon so as to help with National grid power storage (Henry 2011). Case-studies on power storage There is quite a good number a good number of ongoing studies as far as getting new storage methods are concerned. According to (Nationalgrid) currently there surely ongoing studied to see the technology of the flywheel can find an application in the field of grid power storage. Flywheels work on the principle that the kinetic energy that is stored during the rotation of the cylinders that are usually supported by magnetic bearing. This is in most case set up in a vacuum so as to try and reduce friction that might be expressed by the moving parts. One major advantage of this method is that it can be used to achieve other high-energy and high-power storage devices. One thing why the researchers are looking at the use of flywheel to store power is that they have a very long lifetime and thus compared to other forms like the batteries they have a very big advantage (Nationalgrid). Currently not so much has been done as far as making this technology available in the market but the researchers have looked into the power management of flywheels and it has proved to be very effective especially in frequency management. Currently the researchers are looking ways into improving its design so as accommodates better magnets like the super magnets and also improve the bearing so as to reduce frictional loss according to (Nationalgrid). Conclusion Electricity is one of the greats mans inventions and it has made man reach and achieve the impossible thus to further enjoy the good things that come with electricity then there should be a good storage plan for the power in the national grid. One of the things that come with reliable and efficient power has been good progress in major economy key drivers, so it’s high time all stakeholders in the energy sector work hand in hand to enable the success of power storage. Bibliography UK home page, n.d., Nationalgrid. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from www.nationalgrid.com/uk/ Donald, R. 2008, September 15, Reinventing the flywheel ; Giant electricity storage and generation units might help power grids run more smoothly, The Boston Globe, pp. 17-18. Home | Highview Power Storage, n.d., High view power storage. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://www.highview-power.com/wordpress/?page_id=1320f Henry, M 2011, January 27, Energy Storage System enhances smart grid supply.(Electrovaya Advances Smart Grid Storage Market with Lithium Ion Energy Storage System), Product News Network, 45, 12-15. Mercy, J. 2009, November 6, NPC Newsmaker Program - Renewable Energy: Grid, Power Experts to Discuss Compressed Air Storage, Energy Weekly News, pp. 11-13. Nelson, R. 2012, March 3, Electrochemical Energy Storage for Green Grid, Transmission & Distribution World , 57, 19-21. Paul, T. 2011, April 20, Secretary Chu Announces $130 Million For Advanced Research Projects ARPA-Es 4th Round Of Funding Focuses On Rare Earth Alternatives And Breakthroughs In Biofuels, Thermal Storage, Grid Controls, And Solar Power Electronics, States News Service, pp. 11-13. Read More