power storage needs government nudge - electricity storage

LONDON (Reuters)-
A senior executive at S & C Electric said that power storage is the holy grail of the power industry, and because of market and regulatory barriers, it is still several years away from widespread deployment, its projects include enabling families to use solar energy at night.
The goal of the United Kingdom is to build a broad network of data linking energy producers, suppliers and consumers to improve efficiency, reduce costs for households and businesses, and help achieve carbon dioxide reduction
A network like this, often referred to as a smart grid, has the potential to change the way electricity is generated, distributed, and consumed, especially lowcarbon energy.
Through effective storage associated with the smart grid, power suppliers can better manage the power generated by wind and solar energy in order to provide power on windless or cloudy days, and electric vehicle users canpeak times.
"Everyone says storage is the holy grail of what we need, but until recently governments have completely ignored it," said Andrew Jones, managing director of S & C European electric power, the unit where the employee is locatedowned U. S.
Chicago's parent company has been operating since early 1900.
The United States, Germany and Japan started earlier in developing storage technologies and are currently working on projects of different sizes.
In Germany, for example, Siemens is developing large
As part of an effort to produce storage capacity, electricity passes through water and splits into oxygen and hydrogen.
Hydrogen can be stored and transported without any carbon emissions and can be used for power generation and heating, fuel vehicles or access to gas pipelines as an additional ingredient.
Other storage types include pumped hydropower, electro-chemical storage via battery, and thermal storage
Water storage for heating systems.
S & C Electric has won several contracts in the UK to provide grid technology for solar panels and wind farms, including one of the largest onshore wind projects.
The company has also launched a pilot project to enable households to use solar energy at night.
The combination of storage and renewable energy will eliminate peak demand, which may lead consumers to pay less for energy, Jones said.
Despite the existence of some technology, the storage market, especially in the UK, Jones said, due to the high development costs and the lack of government subsidies and policies, s. economy has been hampered by policies that support renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Last month, Ernst & Young reported that Britain could upgrade its distribution network through smart grid technology, inject £ 13 billion into its economy and create up to 10,000 jobs.
But the government and the power industry have not invested more in electricity storage, Jones said.
"The government obviously has to show the market that storage is part of the smart grid puzzle," he said . ".
"Some manufacturers still need incentives to reduce costs.
Venture capitalists take (cautious)
Because they don't know where it will go, they think about the market.
"In June or July, the government will publish its preliminary analysis of storage development barriers as part of a review of the different approaches to help balance the energy use of the power system.
The government has developed plans for every household and business to install smart meters by 2019, a system that allows them to monitor energy needs.
A £ 0. 5 billion fund was launched in 2010 and monitored by the gem energy regulator to support projects sponsored by distribution network operators to try out new smart grid technologies, operations and business arrangements.
Part of the problem, Jones said, is that generators, distributors, transmission companies and suppliers have different functions, which makes it difficult for them to justify the return on investment in storage.
"So in the UK, we say Ofgem is creating a broken value chain to create competition, but it could actually be a damage to the rules of competition," he said.
Ofgem understands the issue and is reviewing the best way forward, Jones said.
A possible option is a feed-
In terms of storage development tariffs, he said.
"If the government does say (storage)
"The market and give incentives to reduce costs, then I think you will see a lot of storage being deployed in the next few years," Jones added . ".