Winter bills are skyrocketing right now and the geopolitical situation is as tense as it has been for a long time. Countries in Europe have a financial hangover from the pandemic, and soaring energy prices are causing significant upset with increasingly frustrated population bases. Now that Europe has taken meaningful strides away from oil and coal, the continent has turned towards natural gas as its saviour.
Natural gas is a stepping stone towards decarbonisation and is an undeniable upgrade on the polluting nature of coal and oil. Our reliance on Russia has become all too apparent in recent times, which is something that Putin has capitalised on. The Nord Stream 2 project has all but shown how heightened geopolitical tensions are in the region right now, which has allowed Russia to bypass Ukraine and continue supplying oil to the rest of Europe.
While the coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly made things exceptionally difficult as far as decarbonisation is concerned, Europe’s tensions with Russia indicate just how precariously balanced our future is as we look to put the use of oil and coal firmly behind us. In other words, we need to get much better at creating and storing our own energy, so we’re not reliant on the whims of dictatorial governments looking to do more harm than good.
Something that we’re all agreed on is that we cannot possibly continue to burn fossil fuels at the rate that we’ve been doing so in recent times. The planet is currently at a crucial juncture and if we don’t act quickly enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions, catastrophic climate change is something that will very soon become a reality.
One of the best ways of making our transition towards carbon neutrality is to improve our battery energy storage technology. If we’re to successfully decarbonise and avoid energy insecurity, then energy storage is our best solution. This enables us to store our clean power for long after it has been produced, thus reducing our dependency on oil and other fossil fuels. Energy storage has the added benefit of feeding back the grid when it’s overwhelmed, further alleviating the stress that our modern-day consumption is placing on our resources.
Unfortunately, energy storage technology is still in its infancy, and there’s a long way to go until we see seismic changes of the proportions we need to make a smooth transition away from fossil fuels. Predictions from the International Energy Agency show that our energy storage capacity will increase to around 56% globally, which is at least a step in the right direction.
It’s also an indication that the sector is on the cusp of something very special, and innovators like AceOn and our partners have a crucial role to play as the technology becomes more widespread. We predict that lithium-ion batteries will continue to dominate, while new technologies will undoubtedly come into play, such as cryogenic batteries.
Whatever happens in the next decade or so, we’re confident that battery energy storage will be at the forefront of any significant strides we make towards a greener and more sustainable planet in the future. For more information about our battery energy storage projects or to work with us, give our Telford office a call today on 01952 293 388.
