Edition 6 of ARENA Insights highlights the technologies ARENA is supporting that provide flexible capacity, which is the term used to describe how variable renewable energy sources can be ‘smoothed’ to provide secure and reliable electricity.
Insights extract
This edition focuses on technologies that provide flexible capacity, which is the term used to describe the smoothing of variable renewable energy sources to provide secure and reliable electricity.
Large scale energy storage, including utility-scale battery storage (USBS) and pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) are two examples of flexible technologies helping to balance demand with variable renewable energy production. They can also support secure and reliable electricity through services such as frequency regulation, voltage control, and allow sections of the grid to operate in ‘island’ mode for short periods.
Together with Demand Response, flexible capacity technologies will be key to managing an energy system increasingly powered by renewable energy.