By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Utility Dive (UD) had an interesting piece on the recent Department of Energy (DoE) grants that are aimed at finding longer-duration batteries, which are important as more renewables join the grid.

Right now, according to UD, lithium ion batteries don’t provide enough storage capacity (typically four hours) to really be a sufficient for the widespread battery storage that is necessary as renewables increase their penetration throughout the country.

As they should, the DoE is now investing government funds in research-and-development (R&D) to find alternatives.

UD reports:

Last month, the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) awarded just over $28 million to 10 projects that aim to push the limits of energy storage duration. ARPA-E’s Duration Addition to electricitY Storage (DAYS) program aims to push the duration of energy storage systems out to 100 hours.

One hundred hours, just a little more than four days, is an exponential leap from current durations but the role of ARPA-E is to focus on early stage technologies that are not yet commercial or quite ready for the private sector.

“Wind and solar will clearly be the cheapest forms of electric energy in the future,” Paul Albertus, the director of the DAYS program, told Utility Dive. So, “it is pretty clear that over the next 10 years or so” the need for longer duration energy storage is going to grow, he said.

What’s most interesting, however, is a point made later in the article about the grid. People tend to forget that until battery storage catches up, the grid is still the “storage device” of choice for most renewable energy users. As Alex Eller, senior research analyst at Navigant Research, told Utility Dive:

“It comes back to the fact that grid is built on plants that can run forever, given enough fuel. Until they are not there anymore, that is your long term storage,” Eller said.

More:

DOE energy storage grants look to the day when renewables rule the grid