Investment in LDES surges with renewables growth
US, Spain and Germany lead deployment of long-duration energy storage amid growing need for flexibility and dispatchable renewable power
Investment in the long-duration energy storage (LDES) sector has hit $2.5bn in 2021 after nearly tripling in the last four years, as the deployment of intermittent renewables creates demand for more flexibility on power systems around the world. More than 5GW of LDES capacity across about 230 projects is operational or has been announced, according to the LDES Council, an industry group the members of which include BP, Germany’s Siemens Energy, services company Baker Hughes and Bill Gates-founded venture capital group Breakthrough Energy. Global capacity has the potential to rise to 1.5-2.5TW by 2040 in an expansion requiring $1-3tn, the LDES Council says in a report produced with consultanc
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