Here are the highlights from the conversation:

Floyd: “What does grid resilience mean?”

Speaking from a DOE perspective, Dr. Spoerke emphasized reliability, resilience, security and affordability. Regardless of changes to the grid infrastructure or challenges such as natural disasters or cyber-attacks, grid resilience is ensuring every American has access to electricity whenever it is needed.

Floyd: “What will help with grid resilience to add capacity and help the grid when it is under stress?”

Childers mentioned the need for better long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies. Lithium has been the incumbent technology, but the chemistry does not fit the long-duration aspects needed in front-of-meter applications. He named vanadium flow batteries as a strong contender for that LDES application. Dr. Singh agreed that lithium has limitations from a long-duration perspective but pointed to the opportunities in behind-the-meter applications and distributed storage.

Floyd: “How can we use energy storage to drive reliability and efficiency on the grid?”

Dr. Spoerke called energy storage a versatile tool that brings flexibility to the grid. He explained that with the load growth in the grid comes the advancement of a wide variety of energy storage capabilities, from batteries to other types of storage such as thermal, mechanical and different types of chemical storage.

He noted that we store a lot of fossil fuel energy right now, in the form of large gas tanks and piles of coal. Dr. Spoerke said, “What we’re trying to get after here is figuring out how do we move that to the next level where it’s more adaptive, where it’s more controlled and where it fits with the mix of generation sources that the country and the world are really headed towards.”

Floyd: “What does the future of microgrids look like?”

Dr. Spoerke stated that as the grid continues to evolve, individuals and communities take ownership of their energy generation and storage. While some utilities have a fast response repair team to address service interruptions, for others a battery energy storage system could bridge the gap without the intermittency being noticed. He believes “there (is) going to be opportunity for a mix of microgrids for places where that makes sense and where there’s connectivity issues, and especially where building extra transmission into those sites might not be cost effective or might even be feasible.”  Those opportunities will come about from the challenges imposed by the increasing power demands.

Dr. Singh commented on the complexity of integrating battery storage systems into both small-scale and grid-level applications. These integration challenges become exponentially harder at the grid level, compared to a microgrid, where the energy sources and communication requirements add layers of complexity. Dr. Spoerke acknowledged those challenges and framed them as opportunities for innovation within the industry. 

Floyd: “Will there be a place for carbon-based energy generation sources to power the battery in microgrids of the future?

Dr. Spoerke asserted that “if we want to become the best versions of ourselves as a civilization, that means taking advantage of all of the resources we have available in the right application space.” Doing so will involve utilizing solar and wind generation, nuclear energy and some element of fossil fuels.

Floyd: “If we were having this same panel discussion in the future, what would we be talking about around energy resilience?”

Dr. Spoerke expressed that while the fundamental challenge of ensuring reliable electricity remains the same, “we will have a new set of tools that will be better validated. They will be better tested. They will be better shown what they can do.” Dr. Spoerke referenced initiatives like the DOE’s Grid Storage Launchpad at Pacific Northwest National Lab that will accelerate innovation and help build confidence in new technologies. He also expects manufacturing and industrial workforce development to grow in the next five years.

Dr. Singh echoed this sentiment, describing the spectrum of power generation and energy storage around the world. His outlook is that “we’re going to see hopefully things that were only being used in the western world today being implemented in markets that were much more cost sensitive otherwise. So new technologies and then broader implementation and scaling of technologies we have today.”

Childers indicated that policy would play a role in shaping the future. He referenced moves toward deregulation, allowing the energy market to function more freely and efficiently.

Floyd commented that Stryten Energy and Dragonfly Energy are committed to strengthening U.S. manufacturing, scaling their capabilities and educating a new workforce to meet growing energy demands.

Key Takeaways:

At the end of the discussion, Floyd asked the panelists to share their key takeaways on scaling energy and grid resilience.  

• Singh believes that the technology for grid resilience and a sustainable energy future already exists, but the challenge lies in selecting the right solutions. His opinion is that “it’ll be up to the markets, government and industry to make that decision process as efficient as possible.”
• Childers would like to see faster progress towards “picking the winners” to scale up those energy storage solutions and bring costs down. He also sees movement into systems and integration design, which will drive standardization.
• Spoerke encourages everyone to find their opportunity to use their creativity, resources and energy to tackle these challenges and make a lasting impact. While the DOE is committed to supporting progress, the real change will come from individuals driving innovation. “This is the most exciting opportunity of your lifetimes to work on a system which is going to have legacy for generations.”

To hear more from the experts, click here to watch the recording on the Stryten Energy YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/2CJglsfOf4o.