中国储能网讯：日前，美国储能协会（ESA）负责人对美国前能源部长朱棣文（Steven Chu）提出的有关储能技术局限性的评论做出了回应。
美国储能协会（ESA）首席执行官Kelly Speakes-Backman对此表示，人们应该注意到储能技术价格的持续下滑，同时也需要在研发方面投入更多的资金以提高其能力。
曾在奥巴马政府任职的朱棣文表示，特斯拉公司首席执行官伊隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）在南澳大利亚州部署的锂离子电池储能系统的成本是产生同等发电量的现有水力发电厂成本的40倍左右。他表示，虽然部署电池储能系统的成本在未来十年可能会减半，但这种方法的成本永远不会低到可以适应可再生能源生产的大幅度季节性变化。
而Speakes-Backman表示，她与朱棣文曾经达成一致意见，电池储能将能够提供日常使用的电能，甚至可能提供多日。
她也同意他的一个看法，即季节性储能将需要采用不同的技术，其中可能包括电力-天然气储能。
Speakes-Backman说，“然而，在目前的市场设计和公共政策下，季节性储能市场并不存在，研发投资可以帮助使季节性储能技术成本更低，因为市场和政策的发展对季节性储能所带来的属性进行了评估。”
她还指出，目前已经在使用电池储能来补充或替代现有的发电能力，提供电网稳定服务，并提供现场备份，以强化相应技术的快速进展。
她说，“值得注意的是，储能技术成本比大多数预测下降的速度要快得多，所以这个市场的评估者和观察者在评估储能成本时必须要灵活。过去四年来，电池储能的安装成本下降了50％，而且这个速度在未来几年可能会持续下去。当然，其结果就是储能项目的经济竞争将会更加激烈。
我们刚刚从Xcel Colorado公司的咨询报告中了解到，在2023年之前交付的风电和储能组合电力价格为21美元/兆瓦时，太阳能和储能组合的电价为36美元/兆瓦时。这个报告表明开发商在不久的将来能够获得成本更低、更多的储能电源。”
Speakes-Backman接着补充说，“随着储能技术价格继续下滑，春业绩范围和持续时间将会继续扩大。这意味着新的兆瓦级电池储能项目将会持续供电更长的时间。事实上，目前电池储能在经济上没有补贴，持续时间长达8小时。”
她总结说，在美国各地安装的储能设施的成本越来越低，在亚利桑那州、北卡罗莱纳州和夏威夷等多个州的公用事业综合资源计划（IRP）证明电池储能是一种经济资源。
而人们可以理解的是，燃料电池技术领域的运营商对于朱棣文的评论表示认同。
负责运营燃料电池能源网络的Blueterra的能源顾问Jeroen Buunk表示，燃料电池能够解决电池储能以外的问题。
他说，“虽然电池储能在未来的电力系统中将扮演重要的角色，但在冬季电力短缺的情况下，电池储能部署并不能满足用电需求，仍然需要调整能源生产来度过电力短缺的时期。而采用燃料电池则很完美，从长远来看，氢燃料电池具有很大的潜力，可以用过量的电能来产生氢气，通过电解，在电力不足的时候作为燃料电池的燃料。”
尽管朱棣文提出了这样的看法，但专家对可再生能源渗透率不同的季节性储能的必要性也存在一些分歧，美国国家可再生能源实验室的报告证明了这一点。（中国储能网独家编译，转载请注明来源）
原文如下：
Energy Storage Association chief responds to former US energy secretary comments
02/01/2018
By Diarmaid Williams
International Digital Editor
The head of the Energy Storage Association (ESA) in the US has responded to comments made by former energy secretary Steven Chu about the limitations of storage technology.
Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA told Power Engineering International, that commentators should note the continuing decline in the price of the technology, and also the need to invest more in research and development to bolster its capabilities.
Professor Chu, who served during the Obama administration, was reported in the Australian as saying that the huge lithium-ion battery built in South Australia by Tesla boss Elon Musk had cost about 40 times as much as an equivalent power plant using an existing hydro-electric dam. He said while the costs of building battery plants were likely to halve over the next decade, the approach would never be cheap enough to accommodate the big seasonal shifts in renewable power production.
Speakes-Backman told PEi she was in agreement with Professor Chu when he stated that batteries will prove capable of providing daily storage and potentially even multi-day storage.
She also concurred with him that seasonal storage will require different technologies, which could include power-to-gas storage.
“However, under present market designs and public policy, there is not a market for seasonal storage R&D investments can help make technologies for seasonal storage cheaper, as markets and policy evolve to value the attributes that seasonal storage provides. “
Speakes-Backman also pointed out that battery storage is already being used today to complement or replace existing wires and generation capacity, provide grid stabilization services, and provide onsite backup for resilience, before emphasising the relatively rapid progress being made, in tems of costs and technical development.
“It is important to note that the cost of storage has dropped much faster than most predictions, and so evaluators and observers of this market must be nimble in their assessment of storage costs.”
“The installed cost of battery grid storage fell 50 per cent in the last four years, and this rate is likely to continue for the next several years. The result, of course, is that storage project economics are increasingly competitive.”
“We’ve just seen from the Xcel Colorado all-source solicitation reported median bids (meaning half are lower) for combined wind & storage PPAs at $21/MWh and solar & storage PPAs at $36/MWh for delivery before 2023. The Xcel Colorado bids show just how much cheaper developers expect it to get in the near future.”
The ESA chief went on to add that ‘as prices continue to decline, performance range and duration will continue to expand.’
“This means new megawatt-scale battery storage projects are arriving with longer durations. In fact, battery storage is being deployed economically without subsidies today,in durations up to 8 hours.”
The ESA chief concluded comments by noting that installations are already economic across the US, as evidenced by utility Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) in states as diverse as Arizona, North Carolina, and Hawaii selecting battery storage as an economic resource.
Professor Chu’s comments were understandably better received by operators in the fuel cell technology sector.
Jeroen Buunk, energy consultant at Blueterra, which operates the Fuel Cell Energy Network, told Power Engineering International that fuel cells were capable of solving issues, beyond the capability of batteries.
"Although batteries will have an important role in the electricity system of the future, they won’t be a solution for covering the electricity needs during long-time electricity shortages in the winter. There will still be a need for adjustable energy production to cover the periods of electricity shortage."
"Fuel cells would be perfect to that. I would add to Professor Chu's comments that, in the long-term, hydrogen fuel cells have a lot of potential. Excess electricity could be used to produce hydrogen via electrolysis and in times of electricity shortage used as fuel for fuel cells."
Despite Chu’s assertions, there is some disagreement among experts on the necessity of seasonal storage under varying levels of renewable energy penetration, as evidenced in National Renewable Energy Laboratory reports.
