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Mena 1:00 Team R15 RESPONSIBLE DEPLOYMENT OF VANADIUM REDOX FLOW BATTERIES This section will discuss the circumstances in which the deployment of a vanadium redox flow battery can improve the sustainability of an energy grid. The first subsection will describe how the un-strategic deployment of the technology can lead to a net rise in emissions and create a less sustainable energy grid. The second subsection will describe how a strategically deployed vanadium redox flow battery in Pullman, Washington, was able to help create a more sustainable energy grid. How Bulk Energy Storage Can Increase an Energy Grid’s Emissions Although vanadium redox flow batteries can help promote a sustainable grid by providing bulk energy storage, it is important that the technology is deployed within the proper context. A paper from the journal Environmental Science & Technology demonstrated, through a complex set of models, that implementing bulk grid storage in many places across the US can lead to increased emissions of CO2 and other harmful gasses [14]. The models used to analyze each energy grid took into account several factors, including energy costs throughout the day, the sources of energy each grid relied on, and the spending habits of energy companies [14]. This seemingly counterintuitive finding is largely a consequence of energy companies partaking in the practice of energy arbitrage. Through this practice, energy companies are able to increase profits by taking advantage of the difference in energy prices throughout the day. Energy companies will tend to buy energy at night when the energy is cheaper because the demand is low. Energy companies will then store that energy and release it during the day, when increased demand drives up the price of that energy. Thus, by the process of energy arbitrage, bulk energy storage allows energy companies to increase their profits [15]. While this may make vanadium redox flow batteries and other bulk energy storage an economically sustainable investment for energy companies and grid operators, this can have damaging consequences for the environment. Often times, the energy that grid operators store at night does not come from renewable sources but instead comes from emission releasing sources, like coal of natural gas power plants. When this energy is stored in a battery, some of the energy is lost due to the imperfect efficiency of batteries. This means that introducing a battery to a grid that heavily depends on coal or natural gas results in more emissions being released to the environment to send the same amount of energy to the grid because some of the produced energy is lost in the batteries, requiring more fuels to be burned. This is how the researches behind the paper published in 6 University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering First-Year Conference Paper 29.03.2019 Environmental Science and Technology were able to find that grid energy storage can lead to increased carbon emissions when implemented on grids lacking green energy infrastructure. Other factors influenced their analysis, but the practice of energy arbitrage by energy companies best demonstrates how grid energy storage systems, like vanadium redox flow batteries, can be economically viable investments for energy companies but have negative consequences on the environment. The researches behind the Environmental Science and Technology paper note that although bulk energy storage can have environmental consequences, when deployed and utilized responsibly they can have their intended impact of reducing carbon and other gaseous emissions. The following subsection demonstrates how a vanadium redox flow battery was able to provide the grid energy storage needed to promote a more sustainable and efficient energy grid. Real World Demonstration of a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery This potential of the vanadium redox flow battery is already being displayed in Pullman Washington. Pullman is the site of a battery with 4-megawatt-hours of storage capacity that was installed in 2015 [16]. When installed, it was the largest of its kind, bigger than any battery within North America and the European Union [17]. Since, then larger batteries have been put in place at different locations, but its size at the time of implementation was groundbreaking. The battery was not intended to be a pilot of the technology but was instead very much considered to be a grid asset. The battery is mainly used for load shifting, frequency regulation, and voltage regulation. Load shifting is when the consumption of high wattage loads is moved to different times. Frequency regulation is when a power grid operator manipulates the frequency within a system whenever it gets too high or too low. Voltage regulation is when a power grid operator manipulates the voltage within a system whenever it gets too high or too low. The battery also supports the manufacturer Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, who bought the battery, offering an uninterruptible power supply and black start [16]. Black start is the process of restoring an electric power station or a part of an electric grid to operation without relying on the external electric power transmission network to recover from a total or partial shutdown. During power outages, Schweitzer will use the batteries as a backup electrical source instead of diesel-fired generators. Electricity from the batteries is available almost instantly, while the generators take about 15 minutes to fire up. The batteries could power Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories factories for about three hours [16]. During extremely hot or cold days, when demand for electricity is high, Avista, the energy company in charge of the battery, will also draw on the energy stored in the batteries to level out spikes in demand. According toPDF Image | VANADIUM REDOX FLOW BATTERIES FOR GREEN ENERGY
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