Energy Storage 'needed to avert blackouts'

At a meeting in London recently, Delegates of the Electricity Storage Association have warned that Britain ans Ireland's national grids will need radical expansion to avoid blackouts over the next ten years. Brad Roberts of the ESA told the meeting that the US Department of Energy accepted the need for various storage mechanisms to help with system balancing, improved transmission and reduced generation using fossil fuels.

Options for storage are: hydro, large-scale batteries, flywheels, compressed air. These can stabilise short-term fluctuations.

Source: IET