Environmental Management for Sustainable Development Report

This report analyzes the sustainability of renewable energy storage systems, focusing on their merits, demerits, and commercial availability, contrasting them with conventional battery storage. It explores the environmental impacts of these systems, including waste management considerations and product lifecycles. The report discusses Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) and Pumped Hydro as alternatives, evaluating their benefits and challenges, and provides cost-effective recommendations for solar-PV and Wind-Turbine energy storage. It also examines the scope for future development in the field of energy storage, highlighting the need for efficient and sustainable solutions to reduce environmental impact and enhance the utilization of renewable energy sources.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
Environmental Management for Sustainable Development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to analyze the sustainability of renewable energy storage systems.
This report will contain the merits and demerits of energy preserving techniques along with their
commercial availability rather than the conventional storage system of battery. Apart from that,
the impacts of these energy preservation systems and reutilization on the environment will be
discussed. Additionally, the implementation of waste management involving these energy
storage systems will be also discussed along with the life cycle of the products. Finally, cost-
effective recommendations for efficient energy storage for solar-PV and Wind-Turbines systems
and scope of development in the field of energy storages will be discussed in the report.

2ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Introduction:
Renewable energy can be defined as the energy which is collected from renewable
resources like tides, sunlight, rain, wind, geothermal heat and wind. The four major areas where
renewable resources are used are electricity generation, transportation and rural energy services.
The term ‘energy storage’ refers to the capture or preservation of produced energy to use the
energy in future. It is crucial to understand that non-renewable sources of energy like fossil fuels
are both energy sources an energy storage system. In order to reduce the environmental impact,
the oil of gas industries of US must follow the Environmental Management System (EMS). The
EMS can be defined as a frame work that enables an organization to achieve environmental goals
through evaluation, constant review and improvement in its environmental performance
(Teichmann, Arlt and Wasserscheid 2012). In order to gain environmental sustainability, the
methodology that should be followed b the oil and gas industries are as follows:
 Identification of the environmental impact
 Formulation of an environmental action plan
 Selecting and implementing measures
 Evaluation of the result
 Finally, disclosure of the information
Considering the fact that the mentioned industry is heavily investing in the renewable energy
field and energy storage systems, it is crucial for the industry to gather sufficient information to
critically evaluate the energy storage systems. This report will contain the merits and demerits of
energy preserving techniques along with their commercial availability rather than the
conventional storage system of battery. Apart from that, the impacts of these energy preservation

3ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
systems and reutilization on the environment will be discussed. Additionally, the implementation
of waste management involving these energy storage systems will be also discussed along with
the life cycle of the products (Hartmann et al. 2012). Finally, cost-effective recommendations for
efficient energy storage for solar-PV and Wind-Turbines systems and scope of development in
the field of energy storages have been discussed in the report.
Discussion:
Discuss the positive and negative aspects of energy storage systems.
In this era of modernization, highly improved energy storage technologies offer the
consumers with a good number of environmental and economic benefits. While initially, the idea
of energy storage system was confined to AA batteries, due to the investment of Advanced
Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) department, the concept of energy storage has
broadened (Chen et al. 2013). Production of renewable energy is majorly associated with solar
power and wind. In spite of the fact that these sources of energy are renewable and clean, these
are not reliable since power from these energy sources cannot be produced if the wind stops
blowing or during the absence of the Sun. Considering the fact that these two sources of energy
are gaining importance to the energy economy of the world, it is crucial to invest on technologies
that allow energy producers to store energy so that they can be released when required. This, in
turn, will ensure a continuous flow of energy at the time of high demand, even when solar and
wind energy is unavailable.
The electric grid, that is, the interconnected network which delivers electricity from
suppliers to the consumers, does not possess any storage. However, an energy storage technology
used by several countries is pumped hydropower. This system pumps water to a reservoir located

4ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
uphill when electricity is available in an excess amount and then lets the water flow downhill
when through turbines in order to generate electricity when it is required. However, one of the
chief problems with this energy storage system is that this system can only be used in a limited
amount of areas. The Government of UK is trying to develop new energy storage systems which
will be able to store a vast amount of energy, will be highly cost-effective and can be deployable
at any location across the world (Hartmann et al. 2012). This, in turn, will enhance the usage of
renewable electricity to a great extent.
Apart from the above mentioned benefit, some of the crucial benefits of the energy
storage system are as follows:
 Security: Energy storage system enables a highly efficient grid, which is more resistant
to disruptions.
 Economy: Effective usage of energy storage system will enhance the economic value of
solar power and wind which in turn, will strengthen the competitiveness of the country in
the clean energy race.
 Environment: Enhancement in usage of renewable energy will decrease carbon dioxide
emission which will be beneficial for the global environment.
 Jobs: Increment in the usage of renewable sources of energy due to effective energy
storage system will open new income sources for rural land owners along with the
government in the form of tax revenues from solar and wind development areas
(Maranom, Rizzo and Tiano 2012). Other job opportunities will include manufacturing,
construction, engineering, finance and transportation associated with energy source
systems.

5ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The above mentioned factors are some of the examples of Energy storage system, this
technology does possess certain disadvantages that include:
 Loss of energy due to round tip inefficiencies
 Additional complexity and cost
 Additional requirement of space and infrastructure
Some of the negative aspects of using battery storage system are as follows:
 The unfair treatment to demand response is one of the most crucial issues across the
world. Some of the companies are favored compared to their competitors which create
entry barriers for new players.
 Certain monetary issues are faced by the contractor operators while finalizing the contract
associated with energy storage systems. According to the rule of the government of UK,
contractors need to spend a specific amount of money in order to access a long term
contract (Evans, Strezov and Evans 2012). If the money spent by contractors is lower
than the specific amount, the contractor will surely suffer a loss. This dilemma has
demotivated the contractors to invest in energy source system.
2. Commercial availability of energy storage systems which can be used to support some of
the renewable energy applications, other than batteries
In spite of the fact that battery storage technologies are widely in use across the world,
especially in Germany and California, batteries cannot solve the issues faced due to growing
penetration of intermittent wind and solar technology. Usage of batteries as renewable energy
storage system will either become too expensive or incapable once the penetration of the
renewable starts growing in the major economies. In 2015, more than 221-megawatt storage

6ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
capacity had been installed in the USA (Larcher and Tarascon 2015). This amount is about three
times more than what had been installed the previous year. Thus the steady growth of
commercial availability of the renewable source of energy can be noticed. In order to replace
usage of batteries as energy storage system, two new energy storage systems are emerging as a
potential solution with long-term benefits. These two technologies are Compressed Pumped
Hydro and Air Energy Storage.
Compressed Air Energy Storage
The second largest energy storage system that is expected to have high commercial value
by the end of 2020 is Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES). In 2012, a Boston based firm
opened a pilot plant of 2-megawatt/500-megawatt per hour and in 2013, its representatives had
made several trips to Australia in order to talk with renewable energy developers, utilities and
government representatives about the mentioned technology. According to Peter Rood, the
development officer of CAES, the energy storage system will work efficiently when the utility
scale will be between 10 megawatts and 100 megawatts. This system needs ground storage
which can be both men made or natural and is able to store the output of wind energy (Harsha
and Dahleh 2015). Apart from that, it can act as a storage bank for thousands of rooftops saving
solar energy.
CAES helps wind energy to act as a gas-fired power station. This is done by providing
peak generation and baseload when required along with storing the excess energy that is
produced in very windy days in order to use later after a week or even after a month as required.
Thus it can be clearly understood that the mentioned energy storage system is not only able to
replace gas turbines but is perfectly capable to make competitive performance with combined

7ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
cycle gas turbines when the price of gas will be highly expensive. It is crucial to building wind
plus storage for the upcoming years since a lot of thermal energy generating systems is ageing
gradually. A general CAES is able to provide nearly 20 megawatts to 40 megawatts of storage
for high power generating of 1 megawatt. In case of a wind project of 100 megawatts, an ideal
facility needs to provide 200 to 400 megawatt of power per hour of storage (Larcher and
Tarascon 2015). This facility can be provided by CAES at a quarter of the price of the battery.
Apart from the above mentioned facilities, CAES can also act as a solar bank which in turn
enables the households to store excess energy so that the energy can either e used when needed
or be sold to other users to gain financial advantages.
Pumped Hydro
Another option of energy storage system which can replace batteries is pump hydro. It is
the energy storage system that has been invented by National University of Australia and Energy
Institute of Melbourne. Australia had pumped hydro as the key element in Hydro Scheme of
Snowy River even in 2013, but the new strategic implication is to create a pump hydro which can
be operated away from natural water resources and by using natural contours between two
reservoirs which are at individual groundaltitudes. Several sites in Australia including Eastern
Seaboardhave implemented pumped storage. According to several researchers, one of the best
approaches is to pump seawater up to the coastal cliff tops like the Japan Pilot facility (Díaz-
González et al. 2012).
The pump hydro was initially made to support nuclear and coal along with ameliorating
their inability to meet the changes in demand quickly. The irony is that same technology is now
used in order to reduce the usage of non-renewable use of energy. Some of the benefits of pump

8ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
hydro are a reduction of overall electricity price, enhancing the usage of renewable energy and
enhancing greed operations. It has been found that pumped hydro be produced from a pair of
dams which are located near each other and have different elevation (Pickard 2012). However,
scientists noted that the cost of this system is much more during the production of power through
turbines, pumps, tunnels and pipe compared to the storage of energy that is lake and dams.
According to the researchers, not only that pumped hydro energy storage systems are
flexible, efficient, they are commercially available on a large scale. In fact, pumped hydro can be
considered as the only storage technology that is available in large scale compared to its
competitors that include high-temperature thermal storage, compressed air and advanced
batteries, due to its cost efficiency and technologically advanced features (Alam et al. 2013).
Currently, across the world, more than 200 large pumped hydro energy storage systems are
present and the total capacity of power storage exceeds 130 gigawatts.
3. Environmental impact of the above mentioned Renewable energy storage system
It can be clearly understood that renewable source of energy does impose a huge number
of sustainable positive impacts on the environment that include decreased rate of carbon dioxide
emission, an efficient grid which is highly resistant to disruption, a new source of income for
rural landowners along with greater usage of clean energy. Other environmental impacts of the
above mentioned power storages are discussed below.
 Environmental impact of pumped hydro storage
Pumped Hydro Storage, when compared to other major power storages has both
unavoidable and significant social and environmental impacts. However, the impact of the
mentioned power storage depends on the size of project. Somme of the unavoidable impact of

9ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
pumped hydro includes water flow changes, water levels downstream of dam along with
flooding of dam. Environmental impact can be further classified into three major parts, namely,
Physical impact, biological impact and socio-economic impact (Steffen 2012). Physical impact
of Hydro Pump include frequent and rapid water level changes, changes in filling of the
reservoirs over the year, reduced permanent wetted littoral zone on short-term, changes in
circulation patterns, changes in ice formation an water temperature, stability of the reservoir
banks and finally , changes in landscape (Rehman Al-Hadhrami and Alam 2015). The biological
impact of Hydro power storage includes higher risk of spreading of species, lower visibility of
the water, increment in mortality rates for higher species. When it comes to socio-economical
changes, some of the major changes evidenced are increment of aesthetic and recreational values
and increment in reservoir fishing practices.
 Environmental impact of Compressed air energy storage
Being one of the most developed renewable power storage technology, Compressed Air
Energy Storage has several environmental concerns that need to be assessed before
implementing the system. Unsustainable construction of the CAES facility not only results in the
uneconomic facility but also can impose several harms to the environment. On the other hand, if
CAES is constructed and implemented efficiently, it has the capability to impose several
beneficial impacts on the environment. According to researchers, the environmental impact
associated with the operation as well as the construction of CAES is less severe than that of the
conventional electrical generating facilities (Singh, Singh and Kumar 2016). Therefore this
power storage can be considered to be amenable to conventional mitigation strategies. On the
other hand, uncontrolled leakage of air from underground reservoir due to lack of maintenance
not only results in disruption of potable, heavily used aquifers but also render a costly facility

10ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
useless. When it comes to the negative impact of CAES on the environment, some o the major
impacts include emission of air pollutant, excessive consumption and discharge of water,
excessive fuel consumption, land usage and noise pollution. Apart from that the local
meteorology, geology along with the aquatic and terrestrial ecology also gets affected due to
CAES. When it comes to the emission of air pollutant, CAES utilizes two third less amount of
fuel compared to that of a standard gas turbine. It emits one-third of the total amount of
pollutants emitted by a standard gas turbine. The air pollutant generated by CAES is within the
Ambient Air Quality Standards (Ming, Kun and Daoxin 2013). However, scientists are working
on further minimizing the generation of air pollutants from CAES. When it comes to water
discharge by CAES, overflow from the cooling systems, and blowdown from compensating
water reservoir, water discharge from treatment operations, sewage discharges and oily wastes
from plant service drains and fuel storage are some common phenomenon which must be
minimized to reduce the negative impact of CAES on the environment (Barbour et al. 2016).
4. Cost-effective recommendations for efficient energy storage for solar-PV and Wind-
Turbines systems:
Considering the fact that lithium ion batteries are considered to be the best option to go
for when it comes to solar energy storage, some other options are also available which are more
affordable compared to the lithium-ion batteries. One of the much affordable options of solar
energy storage is the Lead Acid batteries. This technology is used in off-grid energy systems
and has short life as well as lower DoD compared to other types of batteries. However, these
batteries are popular due to their high affordability and are chiefly used in home energy storage
sector. Another solar energy storage known for its affordability includes the saltwater energy
storage. Though costlier than lead acid energy storage, this energy storage system is a new

11ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
entrance in the global market (Castillo and Gayme 2014). Unlike the two above mentioned
batteries, this storage system relies on salt water electrolytes. Hence, saltwater batteries can be
easily recycled. This can be considered as an added advantage for this energy storage however,
being a brand new technology this energy storage system untested. When it comes to wind
turbines storage, the compressed air storage system can be considered as the most cost effective
and efficient option. This technology is used to compress air and store them in underground
caravans for future usage.
5. Evaluation of the future development in the field of energy storage system
Considering the fact that usage of no-renewable sources of energy is decreasing with
time, an increasing penetration of huge amount of low cost wind turbine and solar energy
generation can be evidenced. According to the researchers, the usage of solar energy will grow
by more than 20 percent and that of the wind energy will increase by 5 percent till the end of
2020 (Chen et al. 2013). One of the major goals is to develop a more efficient electric grid so
that more amount of energy can be developed. Considering the fact that wind and solar energy
sources are highly variable, in order to keep the grid stable, scientists across the world are
working on developing tool for computing and controlling the grids. Apart from that, scientists
are also looking for ways to develop better batteries which will be able to store a huge amount of
energy even after fulfilling the criteria of being cost effective. In addition to that, experiments on
developing renewable fuels are going on. For instance, two of the most recognized scientists of
China, Chris Chidsey and Hongai Dai are working on developing ways of using solar energy to
split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen an use clean hydrogen gas as a energy resource
for vehicles (Steffen 2012).

12ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it can be clearly understood that renewable energy storage
systems are highly crucial to enhance as well as maintain the usage of renewable sources of
energy across the world. Considering the fact that till now, majority of the developed, developing
and under-developed countries still uses nonrenewable sources of energy which are finite
resources, it is crucial to promote the usage of renewable sources of energy. For enhancing the
usage of renewable energy, concentration on bulk production of solar energy converters, without
getting satisfied with the current technologies available is required. However, without efficient
energy storage system, the bulk production of renewable energy will be highly ineffective.
Several countries do not rely on the renewable energy due to its unavailability during the
required time. This issue can only be eradicated by implementing effective power storages
mentioned in the discussion which will be able to store a huge amount of energy for future use.

13ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Reference list:
Alam, M.J.E., Muttaqi, K.M. and Sutanto, D., 2013. Mitigation of rooftop solar PV impacts
and evening peak support by managing available capacity of distributed energy storage
systems. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 28(4), pp.3874-3884.
Barbour, E., Wilson, I.G., Radcliffe, J., Ding, Y. and Li, Y., 2016. A review of pumped
hydro energy storage development in significant international electricity markets. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 61, pp.421-432.
Castillo, A. and Gayme, D.F., 2014. Grid-scale energy storage applications in renewable
energy integration: A survey. Energy Conversion and Management, 87, pp.885-894.
Chen, H., Zhang, X., Liu, J. and Tan, C., 2013. Compressed air energy storage. In Energy
Storage-Technologies and Applications. InTech, pp. 12-15
Connolly, D., Lund, H., Mathiesen, B.V., Pican, E. and Leahy, M., 2012. The technical and
economic implications of integrating fluctuating renewable energy using energy
storage. Renewable energy, 43, pp.47-60.
Díaz-González, F., Sumper, A., Gomis-Bellmunt, O. and Villafáfila-Robles, R., 2012. A
review of energy storage technologies for wind power applications. Renewable and
sustainable energy reviews, 16(4), pp.2154-2171.
Evans, A., Strezov, V. and Evans, T.J., 2012. Assessment of utility energy storage options for
increased renewable energy penetration. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(6),
pp.4141-4147.

14ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Harsha, P. and Dahleh, M., 2015. Optimal management and sizing of energy storage under
dynamic pricing for the efficient integration of renewable energy. IEEE Transactions on
Power Systems, 30(3), pp.1164-1181.
Hartmann, N., Vöhringer, O., Kruck, C. and Eltrop, L., 2012. Simulation and analysis of
different adiabatic compressed air energy storage plant configurations. Applied Energy, 93,
pp.541-548.
Larcher, D. and Tarascon, J.M., 2015. Towards greener and more sustainable batteries for
electrical energy storage. Nature chemistry, 7(1), p.19.
Larcher, D. and Tarascon, J.M., 2015. Towards greener and more sustainable batteries for
electrical energy storage. Nature chemistry, 7(1), p.19.
Marano, V., Rizzo, G. and Tiano, F.A., 2012. Application of dynamic programming to the
optimal management of a hybrid power plant with wind turbines, photovoltaic panels and
compressed air energy storage. Applied Energy, 97, pp.849-859.
Ming, Z., Kun, Z. and Daoxin, L., 2013. Overall review of pumped-hydro energy storage in
China: Status quo, operation mechanism and policy barriers. Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Reviews, 17, pp.35-43.
Pickard, W.F., 2012. The history, present state, and future prospects of underground pumped
hydro for massive energy storage. Proceedings of the IEEE, 100(2), pp.473-483.
Rehman, S., Al-Hadhrami, L.M. and Alam, M.M., 2015. Pumped hydro energy storage
system: A technological review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 44, pp.586-
598.

15ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Singh, A.K., Singh, S. and Kumar, A., 2016. Hydrogen energy future with formic acid: a
renewable chemical hydrogen storage system. Catalysis Science & Technology, 6(1), pp.12-
40.
Steffen, B., 2012. Prospects for pumped-hydro storage in Germany. Energy Policy, 45,
pp.420-429.
Suberu, M.Y., Mustafa, M.W. and Bashir, N., 2014. Energy storage systems for renewable
energy power sector integration and mitigation of intermittency. Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Reviews, 35, pp.499-514.
Teichmann, D., Arlt, W. and Wasserscheid, P., 2012. Liquid organic hydrogen carriers as an
efficient vector for the transport and storage of renewable energy. International Journal of
Hydrogen Energy, 37(23), pp.18118-18132.