Why Europe mustn't be short-sighted on long duration energy storage

In an exclusive interview at European Sustainable Energy Week, Julia Souder, chief executive of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council, stresses the value and potential of storage in the energy transition.

For a successful transition, it is no secret that storage will be needed. Its value case for balancing intermittency and ensuring the smart integration of renewable energy sources onto the grid has been well documented.

Long duration energy storage (LDES) in particular is being recognised as a prerequisite for mitigating curtailment and creating a low carbon energy system.

However, there is yet a wide gap that needs to be bridged to get LDES to the levels needed for a fully renewable system.

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According to Souder, driving change in the market will be key: “We need to change and update the markets so that [we can] capture all the benefits of long duration energy storage: the black start capability, the load volume, the inertia.”

Such benefits of LDES, she states, “adds value to a reliable system, whether it's behind the meter, an island innovation, industry or urban centre. All components of our economy need long duration energy storage to provide that service of clean power 24/7.”

Watch the rest of the interview with Julia Souder to hear her insights on the levels of LDES needed to reach net zero targets, the importance of having a specific LDES target in Europe and how the diversity of storage technologies – and awareness thereof – will be key for storage to succeed.