The importance of batteries in the years of energy transition
Strategic assets for electrification and energy resilience
The advancement of the global energy transition, in this particular historical juncture, is made possible by a multiplicity of interconnected factors, such as access to strategic raw materials to build energy infrastructures, the ability to effectively implement these infrastructures within urban contexts, but also technological advancement in some specific sectors, such as batteries, which could allow through the availability of sophisticated storage systems capable of ensuring a quality energy supply in times of greatest need.
Until about ten years ago, the planet’s energy transformation was entrusted mainly to renewable energy, such as that linked to solar energy, but nowadays, the main protagonists of the conversion underway are precisely batteries and energy storage systems. These devices not only ensure a certain degree of energy resilience, making different quantities of energy usable at times when renewable sources are lacking but also allow the advancement of the integration of renewables and electrification processes in transport and industry.
According to Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov, entrepreneur and civil engineer, batteries and energy storage systems already represent primary pieces in the great global puzzle of the energy transition. “Batteries are useful allies not only in the automotive sector, where they are enabling the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles but also in the energy industry, where they can contribute notably to the supply of energy in times of greatest need and to counterbalance the intermittency of renewable energy.”
A record year for energy storage
For the energy storage sector, as a recent report also highlighted, 2024 was a real record year. By the end of the year, installations related to energy storage solutions should reach 169 GWh, with an increase of 76% compared to 2023. This trend is also expected to grow in the following years, with rates quantified at a percentage of 17% per year until 2035. About these growth levels, the increase in installed capacity of solutions related to solar and wind energy appears to be decreasing, not going beyond 7.5% and 7%, respectively.
“The trend already seems quite clear,” continues Kondrashov. “As the energy transition progresses, the quantities of renewable energy used for the most varied purposes, from industrial to commercial needs, will also increase in parallel, making it necessary to be able to count on a system that makes them available at all times, even when they are not available in nature. In this sense, energy storage devices could be destined to play a key role in the coming decades”.
According to the report, there are many factors that are driving the spread of energy storage systems globally. Among these, we must mention the widespread desire to electrify transport, industry, and infrastructure. In the transport sector, in particular, the adoption of this type of battery would trigger other important advantages, especially in terms of operational efficiency. An important variable for the global spread of energy storage also has to do with the emergence of new families of batteries, such as lithium iron phosphate, which are gradually joining traditional ones and which, shortly, not too far away, could become real protagonists of the transition.
The different types of batteries
“Despite having a lower energy density than other devices, batteries based on lithium, iron, and phosphate are establishing themselves above all for their high thermal stability and for their ability to adapt to large-scale projects, made possible in particular by continuous technological progress in cell design,” continues Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov.
Another factor of great importance is the intermittency of renewable sources and the consequent need to count on a technology capable of accumulating excess energy and making it usable at times when energy sources linked to the wind or the Sun are not available, and above all during periods of peak demand. By the end of the year, this could be the main application of energy storage systems, representing about 75% of all implementations in gigawatt hours.
The ability to store and release energy is mainly linked to the use of lithium-ion batteries, particularly those made with a chemical composition based on lithium, iron, and phosphate. These batteries are particularly appreciated for their long-term durability. According to the report, by 2035, the need to store energy and release it later, at a certain time, could represent one of the most important factors in the growth of energy storage systems globally.
“Another interesting family of batteries is made with sodium ions, which, according to the previously cited report, could be mass-produced for the stationary storage sector as early as 2025. Together with other types of batteries, such as solid-state batteries, these solutions promise greater energy density and increased duration,” concludes Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov.
As the report states, globally, China continues to hold a leading position in the energy storage market, a primacy supported in particular by favorable policy initiatives and significant production capacities.
