Flexible Renewable Storage Potential
FLEXIBLE RENEWABLE STORAGE
2019 U.S. Energy Output by Facility Type (MWh)
700,000,000
288,000,000
Gas system has 2.5 times the energy of hydro
facilities and about 1,500 times the energy
delivered from current large-scale utility batteries
Existing facilities can be used to store renewable
natural gas and methanated hydrogen
NWN's Mist storage can hold 6 million MWh of
energy that can be delivered whenever needed
To replicate that with a Lithium-ion battery, that's
$2 trillion at today's prices5
1.
2.
3.
4.
461,000
5.
Natural Gas Withdrawals from Hydroelectric Generation
Underground Storage
Outflows from Utility Scale
Batteries
30
Source: EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report - Withdrawals are calculated and aggregated from
a weekly regional report.
To convert natural gas volumes to MWh for comparison, this figures uses a national average heat
content of 1036 btu/cf and a direct energy conversion of 0.29307 MWh/MMBtu.
Source: EIA 923 Form - Hydroelectric and battery generation are pulled from generator level data
identified with prime movers "HY" and "BA", respectively. Net generation is aggregated for
hydroelectric generators and gross generation is aggregated for batteries.
The figure for hydroelectric generation is the total net generation from hydroelectric facilities and
does not distinguish between what can and cannot be stored.
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy19osti/73222.pdf
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