What are the different types of energy storage systems?

There exist several methods to store renewable heat or electricity. In Fig. 1, we have classified these energy storage systems into four categories of mechanical, electrical, chemical, and thermal storages.

What types of energy storage can be used for short-term energy storage?

For short-term energy storage, there is also the possibility to use direct Electrical Energy storages (EES) such as Super Capacitors (SC) [13, 14] and Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) , which are mainly used as grid stabilisation units.

Why do we need energy storage technologies?

While renewable energy is one of the best options to serve this goal, the intermittent nature of renewable energy resources such as solar and wind (i.e. Spatio-temporal gaps between their supply and demand) creates a need for energy storage technologies.

What is the new type of energy storage?

The new type of energy storage is an Electro-thermal Energy Storage System (ETES) that uses FPSE and thermal storage materials for sensible heat storage. The proposed ETES does not use any critical materials, and it is easy to disassemble and recycle.

What is a large-scale grid storage?

The most common large-scale grid storages usually utilize mechanical principles, where electrical energy is converted into potential or kinetic energy, as shown in Fig. 1. Pumped Hydro Storages (PHSs) are the most cost-effective ESSs with a high energy density and a colossal storage volume .

What is thermal energy storage?

Thermal Energy Storage (TES) can store thermal energy directly and at a large capacity. The most common TES systems are direct sensible, latent heat, and thermo-chemical storages. Their energy source is either solar thermal or industrial waste heat, where the end-use of these systems is for heating, drying and cooling purposes .