Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) is beginning a research programme that aims to make grid-scale energy storage cheaper to speed up the integration of storage with renewable energy in Canada.
The Energy Storage for Grid Security and Modernisation Programme hopes to find a way to slash the cost of grid-scale storage from C$1,000 (US$963) to C$500(US$481)/kWh and double the operating lifetime of storage systems from seven to 15 years.
The NRC said energy costs for Canadian consumers will rise over the next 20 years as the country’s grid undergoes maintenance and upgrades. Implementing grid-scale energy storage as part of the upgrades would reduce costs for customers in the long term.