InnoBlog: studying energy storage

Throughout my first year at IST, Portugal, I enroled in courses that specialise in different areas of energy storage. From these experiences, I understood that albeit energy storage is a niche field in itself, there are sub-specialisations that you could further pursue. I learned in-depth about hydropower and its role in economic energy storage solutions. I also learned about thermal energy storage solutions such as phase change materials.

In addition to technical skills, I also had the opportunity to participate in entrepreneurship activities. We had to work in teams and come up with a pitch on an energy storage-based start-up solution. It was a learning curve for me as I got to experience from A to Z how business works, especially in the field of energy storage. This was done by interviewing various people in the industry. The experience helped me get some key insight and forecast about the positive growth of this market.

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During the first year, I also learned about battery technologies from industry experts who shared their insights on the current market growth. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created in the past couple of years in the US and EU alone.

I could witness the demand for energy storage solutions when I attended the EIT InnoEnergy Master School Connect event in Stockholm, Sweden. Most of the companies that we got to network with, were companies specialising in some form of storage whether it be in terms of battery technology, thermal storage, pumped hydro solutions or even consultancy!

Even to date, companies are investing in storage projects such as Wärtsilä which has secured 2GWh Li-ion battery storage contracts for US-based plants. Similarly, the Netherlands is also testing storage solutions to improve power quality and mitigate bottlenecks. Enervenue is battling for metal-hydrogen technology commercialisation. The world’s biggest battery storage system (Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility) is back in full operation. The UK has reinforced the role of energy storage in their recent Energy Bill. Australia is also bolstering the role of flow battery and pumped hydro storage solutions for strategic growth.

These trends are an indication that we are on the right track to minimising the energy capacity gap. As I get ready to start my second year of studies, I am quite excited to see the plethora of opportunities that will continue to arise and the potential to unlock higher deploy ability of renewables in the next couple of years.

By Sharon Santhosh, EIT InnoEnergy Master’s in Energy Storage Student

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Meeting EIT InnoEnergy Master School team, learning about career prospects and interacting with our universities, will give you the confidence and clarity you will need to thrive from day one! The event will close with a Q&A session offering you an opportunity to directly interact with all presenters!

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