Battery Storage
Large-scale batteries that store electricity for later use, helping balance supply from intermittent renewable energy sources.
Definition
Battery storage systems capture electricity when it's abundant -- often from solar or wind generation during peak production hours -- and release it later when demand is high or generation drops. This helps solve one of the central challenges of renewable energy: the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow exactly when electricity is needed.
Grid-scale battery storage has grown rapidly as costs have fallen, and is increasingly paired directly with new solar and wind projects to smooth out their output and make renewable electricity available around the clock.
In Practice
A solar farm paired with battery storage can keep supplying electricity into the evening hours after the sun has set, by releasing power stored during the day.