To achieve China's goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 and achieving a true carbon balance by 2060, it is imperative to implement large-scale energy storage (carbon sequestration) projects. In underground salt formations, the salt cavern constructed by the leaching method is large, stable, and airtight, an ideal space for large-scale energy storage. Currently, salt caverns have been widely used for natural gas, crude oil, hydrogen, compressed air, and other energy storages. With the demand for peak-shaving of renewable energy and the approach of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, salt caverns are expected to play a more effective role in compressed air energy storage (CAES), large-scale hydrogen storage, and temporary carbon dioxide storage. Herein the innovation of this paper lies in conducting a comprehensive review of the history, current status, and future development trends of salt cavern energy storage (SCES) technology. Firstly, we provide an overview of natural gas and oil storage in various types of salt caverns worldwide and assess the future prospects for CAES and hydrogen storage. Secondly, we propose a novel model for carbon dioxide storage in salt caverns based on the carbon cycle to effectively address the spatiotemporal disparity between carbon capture and utilization. In the future plans, salt caverns will play a crucial role throughout the entire carbon cycle by facilitating carbon storage, compressed air storage, and hydrogen storage. Additionally, we introduce the concept of utilizing sediment space for large-scale energy storage purposes. Finally, we anticipate the future development of salt caverns for energy storage in China to focus on large-scale, integrated, and intelligent projects, emphasizing their significance in achieving enhanced efficiency and sustainability. Accordingly, this review promotes thorough knowledge of SCES, provides guidance on operating large-scale SCES projects, encourages energy engineers to focus more on SCES research, and provides an overview of advanced technology. This review also provides an important basis and reference for the development and expansion of the SCES industries. 

The role of underground salt caverns for large-scale energy storage: A review and prospects

Climate change is expected to intensify the effects of extreme weather events on power systems and increase the frequency of severe power outages. The large-scale integration of environment-dependent renewables during energy decarbonization could induce increased uncertainty in the supply–demand balance and climate vulnerability of power grids. This Perspective discusses the superimposed risks of climate change, extreme weather events and renewable energy integration, which collectively affect power system resilience. Insights drawn from large-scale spatiotemporal data on historical US power outages induced by tropical cyclones illustrate the vital role of grid inertia and system flexibility in maintaining the balance between supply and demand, thereby preventing catastrophic cascading failures. Alarmingly, the future projections under diverse emission pathways signal that climate hazards — especially tropical cyclones and heatwaves — are intensifying and can cause even greater impacts on the power grids. High-penetration renewable power systems under climate change may face escalating challenges, including more severe infrastructure damage, lower grid inertia and flexibility, and longer post-event recovery. Towards a net-zero future, this Perspective then explores approaches for harnessing the inherent potential of distributed renewables for climate resilience through forming microgrids, aligned with holistic technical solutions such as grid-forming inverters, distributed energy storage, cross-sector interoperability, distributed optimization and climate–energy integrated modelling. Increasing grid penetration of renewables coupled with intensifying climate extremes under climate change presents superimposed risks to future power systems. This Perspective analyses the critical factors influencing the resilience of renewable power systems under climate risks and proposes climate-resilient solutions towards a net-zero future. 

Resilience of renewable power systems under climate risks

As governments and non-state actors strive to minimize global warming, a primary strategy is the decarbonization of power systems which will require a massive increase in renewable electricity generation. Leading energy agencies forecast a doubling of global hydropower capacity as part of that necessary expansion of renewables. While hydropower provides generally low-carbon generation and can integrate variable renewables, such as wind and solar, into electrical grids, hydropower dams are one of the primary reasons that only one-third of the world’s major rivers remain free-flowing. This loss of free-flowing rivers has contributed to dramatic declines of migratory fish and sediment delivery to agriculturally productive deltas. Further, the reservoirs behind dams have displaced tens of millions of people. Thus, hydropower challenges the world’s efforts to meet climate targets while simultaneously achieving other Sustainable Development Goals. In this paper, we explore strategies to achieve the needed renewable energy expansion while sustaining the diverse social and environmental benefits of rivers. These strategies can be implemented at scales ranging from the individual project (environmental flows, fish passage and other site-level mitigation) to hydropower cascades to river basins and regional electrical power systems. While we review evidence that project-level management and mitigation can reduce environmental and social costs, we posit that the most effective scale for finding balanced solutions occurs at the scale of power systems. We further hypothesize that the pursuit of solutions at the system scale can also provide benefits for investors, developers and governments; evidence of benefits to these actors will be necessary for achieving broad uptake of the approaches described in this paper. We test this hypothesis through cases from Chile and Uganda that demonstrate the potential for system-scale power planning to allow countries to meet low-carbon energy targets with power systems that avoid damming high priority rivers (e.g., those that would cause conflicts with other social and environmental benefits) for a similar system cost as status quo approaches. We also show that, through reduction of risk and potential conflict, strategic planning of hydropower site selection can improve financial performance for investors and developers, with a case study from Colombia.

/pdf/balancing-renewable-energy-and-river-resources-by-moving-20uunpxv.pdf

Balancing renewable energy and river resources by moving from individual assessments of hydropower projects to energy system planning

The combination of latent heat storage (LHS) technology with the Organic Rankine Cycle represents a widely recognized solar thermoelectric conversion means. However, this technology is hindered by the instability of solar energy and the poor thermal conductivity of thermal storage materials. This study addresses the challenges posed by solar energy fluctuations by implementing a sinusoidal heat source condition during the heat release process of LHS system. Furthermore, a comprehensive approach is taken to enhance heat transfer, incorporating both active methods such as rotational conditions, and passive methods using metal nanoparticles and high-performance fins. The Taguchi method is employed to optimize rotation speed, heat source amplitude, and half-period of the latent heat storage unit, and the resulting heat release performance is compared between different structures and the optimized structures. The findings from optimal design analysis reveal that rotation speed has the most significant influence on mean heat discharging rate and solidification time, followed by the heat source amplitude and half-cycle period. There is a notable interaction between heat source amplitude and half-cycle period. Compared to the initial structure, the optimal structure identified through the optimal design shortens the solidification time by 11.18%, increases the mean heat discharging rate by 13.04% and raises the average temperature response by 18.82%. Furthermore, the addition of Al2O3 nanoparticles further enhances heat discharging properties. Specifically, the presence of 2.5% and 5% Al2O3 nanoparticles shortens unit solidification time by 9.52% and 18.83% and increases the mean heat release rate by 7.69% and 17.26%. It is noted that the incorporation of rotating-fit nanoparticles partly compensates for the limitations of increased viscosity and particle settlement associated with metal nanoparticles, although it does not fully address the challenges related to reduced heat storage/release. 

Design optimization on solidification performance of a rotating latent heat thermal energy storage system subject to fluctuating heat source

Half of the African population currently lacks the minimum levels of electricity access defined by the International Energy Agency. However, given the limited fossil fuel dependency and need for energy infrastructure expansion, there are expectations that at least some African countries could avoid fossil fuel dependency altogether and move directly to renewable energy (RE)-based electricity systems. In this Perspective, we present trends in Africa’s RE development and access on a national level and discuss the respective country-specific capacities to lead the transition to sustainable RE for all. If all existing wind, solar and hydropower plants operate on full capacity and all proposed plants are implemented, 76% (1,225 TWh) of electricity needs projected for 2040 (a total of 1,614 TWh) could be met by RE (82% hydropower, 11% solar power and 7% wind power). Hydropower has been the main RE resource to date, but declining costs for solar photovoltaics (90% decline since 2009) and wind turbines (55–60% decline since 2010) mean solar and wind have potential to lead sustainable RE pathways going forward, while also protecting freshwater ecosystems. Efficiently combining the advantages of hydropower with wind and solar will be a more sustainable alternative to hydropower alone. As resource potential differs among countries, transnational electricity sharing is recommended to distribute resources and share nationally produced peak capacity. Comprehensive investigations should further assess and monitor socioeconomic, political and ecological impacts of RE development. Regions with low electricity generation and minor reliance on fossil fuels have the capacity to avoid fossil fuel dependence and directly transition to renewable energy systems. This Perspective explores the capacity of African countries for this transition while meeting growing electricity demands. 

Sustainable pathways towards universal renewable electricity access in Africa

Abstract Renewable energy system development and improved operation can mitigate climate change. In many regions, hydropower is called to counterbalance the temporal variability of intermittent renewables like solar and wind. However, using hydropower to integrate these renewables can affect aquatic ecosystems and increase cross-sectoral water conflicts. We develop and apply an artificial intelligence-assisted multisector design framework in Ghana, which shows how hydropower’s flexibility alone could enable expanding intermittent renewables by 38% but would increase sub-daily Volta River flow variability by up to 22 times compared to historical baseload hydropower operations. This would damage river ecosystems and reduce agricultural sector revenues by US$169 million per year. A diversified investment strategy identified using the proposed framework, including intermittent renewables, bioenergy, transmission lines and strategic hydropower re-operation could reduce sub-daily flow variability and enhance agricultural performance while meeting future national energy service goals and reducing CO 2 emissions. The tool supports national climate planning instruments such as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by steering towards diversified and efficient power systems and highlighting their sectoral and emission trade-offs and synergies. 

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Designing diversified renewable energy systems to balance multisector performance

In the light of economic growth in Ghana and the corresponding increase in electricity demand, power generation has been inadequate to meet the increasing demand. This has resulted in excessive pressure in the Ghanaian power system culminating in load shedding since 2012. As part of efforts to resolve the power supply deficit, construction of new generating units has begun, which are expected to come into operation within the year. These proposed generating units are mostly thermal and renewable energy units (predominantly wind and solar PV). The variable and intermittent nature of wind and solar PV (also known as variable renewable energies), introduce additional operational challenges in the power system. Against the backdrop of this challenge, questions arise on how the stability of the Ghanaian power system could be maintained especially as these renewable energy units are expected to be increased by the year 2020. In an effort to deal with this problem, the sole transmission system operator in Ghana, the Ghana Grid Company has proposed plans to reinforce the transmission system so as to accommodate the new generating units, especially the renewable energy units. This paper therefore reviews the measures being implemented to strengthen the Ghanaian transmission system. First and foremost, it identifies some of the expected technical challenges that may arise from the integration of renewable energies in Ghana's transmission system. The paper further presents the strategies being adopted to deal with the challenges and also discusses briefly the ‘Grid Optimization before Reinforcement before Expansion’ principle and proposes its adoption in the Ghanaian power system as an effective network planning strategy.

Strengthening the Ghanaian transmission system to accommodate variable renewable energies

Jointly managing water and energy systems, rather than treating each system independently, is recognised as an approach that can lead to a more cost-effective and reliable supply, which is particularly critical in water-rich and developing countries. This has motivated the development of various integrated water-energy simulators, each one catering for specific modelling needs through the use of specific sets of modelling assumptions, e.g., representing water and energy with balance equations, or dedicated river flow and power network equations. In this context, it becomes critical to assess the effectiveness of different modelling assumptions to improve the design of water-energy simulators. In particular, it is important to develop a methodology that can identify, based on a systematic assessment process, the portfolios of modelling assumptions that better capture the uncertain future conditions in the water and energy sectors, e.g., climate-driven stresses and shocks such as water scarcity, temperature rise, etc. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) integrated water-energy system simulation methodology designed to adapt and quantify different modelling assumptions under various weather-related conditions (e.g., water scarcity and high temperatures). The models were developed to capture the characteristics of non-pressurised water systems (e.g., channels and rivers) and electricity systems. The methodology is used to investigate typical modelling assumptions (e.g., temporal resolutions and water and power system models) and novel approaches to model the impacts of high temperatures on generation capacity to capture the effects of extreme weather on power generation. The methodology is demonstrated on the Ghanaian integrated water-energy system. The results highlight the benefits in terms of computational costs and modelling accuracy, of the customisable simulation, and provide guidance to select adequate modelling assumptions.

Quantifying the Impacts of Modelling Assumptions on Accuracy and Computational Efficiency for Integrated Water-Energy System Simulations Under Uncertain Climate

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Designing diversified renewable energy systems to balance multisector performance

Strengthening the Ghanaian transmission system to accommodate variable renewable energies

Quantifying the Impacts of Modelling Assumptions on Accuracy and Computational Efficiency for Integrated Water-Energy System Simulations Under Uncertain Climate