In the 2019 FY Budget, the office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) included a $90M request to fund a new initiative it calls “Beyond Batteries.” The initiative is part of the DOE Grid Modernization Initiative, and focuses on new approaches to energy storage, which could include hybrid technologies such as pairing hydropower with solar or wind energy in order to provide a stable, dispatchable energy supply.
“Advances in these areas will allow for loads to be combined with generation from all sources to optimize use of existing assets to provide grid services, and increase grid reliability,” according to the report. The video below explains the initiative in detail.
The Grid-Scale Energy Storage Summit, set to take place on June 25and 26 in Charlotte, North Carolina, will bring together energy professionals to discuss how wind, solar and hydropower can work together to provide storage.