The relevance of energy storages for an autarky of electricity supply ...

demand by 1.1 TWh from 5.3 TWh to 4.2 TWh within the Constant scenario and by
1.4 TWh from 7.2 TWh to 5.8 TWh within the Growth scenario.
Storing electricity in huge storage facilities like Pumped Hydroelectric Storage,
CAES or Hydrogen Storage are only some options. With an increased diffusion of
PV in households and on office buildings, also small scale storage units like batteries
could become more interesting. These could not only be used to store electricity from
the own PV system. With the help of Smart Grids, these small storage units could
also be fed with excess electricity from the grid, if storage space is available. A
similar scheme is also discussed for electric vehicles, which will become
increasingly important and competitive in 2050 within personal transport according
to the feasibility study. With Smart Grids the batteries of these cars could also be
used to store excess electricity. Extensive research is done on the option of
combining wind power and hydrogen production to store energy. HyWindBalance,
for example, a German project, has its focus on this topic.
The results of this Master Thesis can be used for further assessment into several
other directions. A detailed evaluation could assess the realistic potential for
additional Hydropower Storage (how many new storage basins, which dimensions,
which capacity, where) or the potential for Hyodrogen storage and CAES storage
(based on geological information for storage options like caverns). Another question
could assess, which share of the storage demand could be reduced with Smart Grids
and small scale storage units. Finally, it has to be again stated that this evaluation has
a systemic approach and therefore does not include economic aspects like market
prices for electricity. Further assessment could also focus on costs for infrastructure
or on economic aspects regarding the market. A EU-wide assessment of the energy
storage discussion could also deliver new interesting insights.
To sum up, this Master Thesis shows that energy storage plays an important role, but
can only be one part of a well-thought-out Load Management and Load Shifting
System with Smart Grids and strong grids across the boarders, if the share of
electricity from Renewable Energy Carriers is constantly increasing in the future.
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