NAATBatt’s interest in solar PV is driven in large part by our expectation that as the cost of solar PV panels fall, and as the price of centrally-generated power increases, the rise of distributed, renewable energy generation is nearly inevitable. But large scale distributed, PV electricity generation is only possible if storage is used in conjunction with it in order to address its inherent variability. NAATBatt therefore sees the sun as driving one of the largest, long-term potential markets for advanced electrochemical energy storage technology.
An interesting story in the press recently may portend another major driver of the storage market, this one also driven by the sun. NASA reports that in July 2012 the earth narrowly missed being hit by a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) event, which would have devastated the electricity grid, had it hit the earth directly. The CME crossed a point in the earth’s orbit that the earth had occupied only a week before. Had the CME occurred one week earlier, the earth would have suffered a direct hit.
Analysts believe that a direct hit by an extreme CME such as the one that missed Earth in July 2012 could cause widespread power blackouts. Most people wouldn't even be able to flush their toilet because urban water supplies largely rely on electric pumps. A study by the National Academy of Sciences found that the total economic impact of such an event could exceed $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina. Multi-ton transformers damaged by such a storm might take years to repair.
According to NASA, based on historical data, the chance of the earth suffering a direct hit from a CME event within the next 10 years is about 12%.
What is clear from the NASA report is that the grid as currently design[ed] is fundamentally flawed. It is not robust enough to survive an extreme CME event, the occurrence of which is statistically probable within the next 50 years. Failure to address this flaw would be catastrophic to human society as we know it today.
The Sun May Promote Adoption of Storage Technology in More Ways Than One
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