Safety and sustainability advisory service DNV GL has launched GRIDSTOR, an initiative aimed at driving forward the development and implementation of grid-connected storage to help integrate renewables by encouraging the adoption of industry standards.
GNV DL is inviting partners to participate in the GRIDSTOR Joint Industry Project consortium, which it hopes will create a recommended practice for storage. The three main areas examined will be safety, operation and performance. The project will emphasise high energy batteries first and foremost but will look at those three key aspects of all types of energy storage, including flywheels, pumped hydro and super-capacitors.
Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis
- Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
- In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
- Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
- Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual
Or continue reading this article for free
GNV DL first conceived the project, which will begin in January 2015 once 15 partner companies are found, in January of this year, following a survey it conducted on energy storage. Those 15 companies will include stakeholders across the industry, such as suppliers, system integrators, end users and regulators.
This and front page image: DOE Global Energy Storage Projects Database managed by Sandia National Laboratories
Recently, academics, industry participants and politicians alike have argued vociferously for the adoption of industry standards in energy storage for some time. British politician Alan Whitehead MP said at an event hosted at the UK's upper house of government, the House of Lords that electricity storage could be the “glue” that holds electricity networks together in the near future, while representatives of battery and energy storage companies including AES Corporation and FIAMM put forward a similar view at an industry event in April. Also in April, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced on its website that the country’s Industrial Standards Committee (JISC) had proposed the setting of international standards for redox flow batteries.
DNV GL wants its GRIDSTOR programme to remain “open source, accessible and usable by everyone”. The organisation claims that GRIDSTOR will be regularly updated and will include extensive peer-reviewing.
Global director for energy storage at DNV GL, Ali Nourai, said:
“With the rise of renewable energy sources into the grid, the need for a comprehensive energy storage framework recommended practice is stronger than ever. The successful deployment of tomorrow’s smart electricity grids requires clarity and widespread agreement on rules and regulations for energy storage systems.
“Through GRIDSTOR we will combine our technical market expertise with interdisciplinary resources to achieve unified consensus and create market standardisation, enabling all stakeholders to accelerate and expand their energy storage implementation.”
British politician Alan Whitehead is among leading figures to recently call for greater standardisation of the energy storage sector. Image: Fergus March.
