Alliance for Rural Electrification announces storage strategy
The Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) has launched the Energy Storage Campaign, an initiative which aims to inform decision makers in developing countries and emerging markets on the added value of using storage technologies in off-grid renewable energy solutions and as grid backup for rural electrification.
"Energy storage is currently in the spotlight", says Marcus Wiemann, ARE Secretary General. "Batteries can ease the path towards deeper penetration of renewable energy technologies by ensuring reliability, efficiency and price-competitiveness of electricity services. There is no doubt that this technology will play a key role to achieve universal access to electricity."
During the campaign, which will last for six months, ARE will approach energy sector decision makers and local stakeholders through several workshops, business delegations and webinars to assess their country's or community's energy needs, fill information gaps and share best-practices on energy storage.
The pillar of this initiative is the position paper "Using batteries to ensure clean, reliable and affordable universal electricity access" developed by ARE jointly with its members. This document includes useful recommendations, applications of the different types of battery technologies, as well as successful case studies from India, Bangladesh, Jordan, Peru and Mozambique.
This paper explains how vital this technology is for population and businesses located in rural areas of developing countries and emerging markets. Three of the main benefits of energy storage are:
"¢ Energy Storages can be used for grid backup and off-grid systems and can play two major roles: short-term and/or long-term management.
"¢ A vital part of energy storage is based on different chemical battery families. Their specific features are based on versatile technologies that can be designed to play a wide range of roles perfectly fitting local conditions.
"¢ By proper design and maintenance, the system's performance can be improved and this also leads to economic savings over its lifetime, which puts higher upfront costs for energy storage technologies into perspective.
ARE's main recommendations to energy decision makers:
"¢ Developing and enforcing a well fitted regulatory framework is critical to ensure the market's sustainable development and consumer's trust.
"¢ A well tailored framework should be complemented via awareness creation campaigns and technical assistance to the operations sector (manufacturers, installers, operators, recyclers).
"¢ Establishing policy targets for batteries and energy storages as such, as it is done for renewable energies, could help stimulate the sector's development.
"¢ The achievement of these targets should be stimulated with the establishment of specific support schemes and assistance to the financing sector.
