This is a list of energy storage power plants worldwide, other than pumped hydro storage. Many individual energy storage plants augment electrical grids by capturing excess electrical energy during periods of low demand and storing it in other forms until needed on an electrical grid. The energy is later converted back to its electrical form and returned to the grid as needed.
Most of the world's grid energy storage by capacity is in the form of pumped-storage hydroelectricity, which is covered in List of pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations. This article list plants using all other forms of energy storage.
Another energy storage method is the consumption of surplus or low-cost energy (typically during night time) for conversion into resources such as hot water, cool water or ice, which is then used for heating or cooling at other times when electricity is in higher demand and at greater cost per kilowatt hour (kWh). Such thermal energy storage is often employed at end-user sites such as large buildings, and also as part of district heating, thus shifting energy consumption to other times for better balancing of supply and demand.
For a list of systems and forms of energy storage see energy storage and grid energy storage.
Table is by default sorted by operational storage capacity in MWh. Minimum capacity for inclusion is either 100 MWh or 100 MW, with a minimum of 1 hour of storage.
| Name | Type | Capacity | Country | Location | Year | Description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MWh | MW | hrs | |||||||
| Ouarzazate Solar Power Station | Thermal storage, molten salt | 3,005 | 510 | 3 / 7 / 7.5 | Morocco | Ouarzazate | 2018 | World's largest concentrated solar power plant with molten salt storage built in 3 phases - 160 MW phase 1 with 3 hours heat storage, 200 MW phase 2 with 7 hours heat storage and 150 MW phase 3 with 7.5 hours heat storage.[1] [2] [3] | |
| Compressed air storage, in-ground natural gas combustion | 2,860 | 110 | 26 | United States | Alabama, McIntosh | 1991 | 2nd commercial CAES plant. Stores compressed air in a salt cavern of diameter, with ten million cubic foot total volume. The cavern is pressurized to 1,100 psi, and it is discharged down to 650 psi. During discharge, 340 pounds per second of air flow out of the cavern. The plant also utilizes nuclear-sourced night-time power for compression and then produces peak power during the day by releasing the compressed air into a 110-MW gas-fired combustion turbine. The turbine unit also makes use of an air-to-air heat exchanger to preheat air from the cavern with waste heat from the turbine. The waste heat recovery system reduces fuel usage by roughly 25%. The system is fully operational within 15 minutes, uses a third of the fuel required for a fuel-only generating system, and can operate efficiently at low loads. The project is used for peak shaving.[4] [5] | ||
| Cerro Dominador Solar Thermal Plant | Thermal storage, molten salt | 1,925 | 110 | 17.5 | Chile | Antofagasta | 2021 | A concentrated solar power plant with 17.5 hours molten salt storage[6] | |
| Thermal storage, molten salt | 1,680 | 280 | 6 | United States | Arizona, Gila Bend | 2013 | Completed in 2013, the parabolic trough solar plant, with 6 hours storage by molten salt, is located near Gila Bend, Arizona. At the time it was the world's largest parabolic trough plant, and the first United States solar plant with thermal storage.[7] [8] [9] [10] | ||
| Moss Landing Vistra Battery | Battery, lithium-ion | 1,600 | 400 | 4 | United States | Moss Landing, California | 2020 | 300 MW / 1,200 MWh Phase 1 commissioned in 2020, 100 MW / 400 MWh Phase 2 in 2021[11] | |
| Silver City ESP | Compressed air storage | 1,600 | Australia | Broken Hill | 2030 | [12] | |||
| Extresol Solar Power Station | Thermal storage, molten salt | 1,125 | 150 | 7.5 | Spain | Torre de Miguel Sesmero, Badajoz | 2009 | A concentrated solar power plant with 7.5 hours molten salt storage[13] | |
| Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project | Thermal storage, molten salt | 1,100 | 110 | 10 | United States | Tonopah, Nevada | 2016 | A concentrated solar power plant with 10 hours molten salt storage[14] | |
| Thermal storage, molten salt | 1,031 | 134.7 | 7.5 | Spain | Granada, Guadix | 2009 | A thermal storage system absorbs part of the daytime heat absorbed by the solar field, heating a molten salt mixture of 60% sodium nitrate and 40% potassium nitrate. The heat is used to drive a turbine-generator when direct sunlight is not available, nearly doubling the available hours of operation. A full thermal reservoir holds 1,010 MWh of heat capability, enough to run the turbine for over seven hours at full load.[15] [16] | ||
| Sonoran Solar Energy Center | Battery, lithium-ion | 1000 | United States | Buckeye, Arizona | 2024 | Paired with 260 MW solar project[17] [18] | |||
| McCoy Solar Energy Project | Battery, lithium-ion | 920 | 230 | 4 | United States | Blythe, California | 2021 | Battery storage paired with 250 MW solar project[19] | |
| Manatee Energy Storage Center | Battery | 900 | 409 | 2.2 | United States | Juno Beach, Florida | 2021 | Paired with existing solar plant[20] [21] | |
| Huntorf CAES Plant | Compressed air storage, in-ground natural gas combustion | 870 | 290 | 3 | Germany | Huntorf, Elsfleth | 1978 | First commercial CAES plant, operational since 1978, using nuclear-sourced night-time power to compress and inject the air into two caverns of 310,000 m³ total volume. The 600 m cavern depth ensures the air's stability through seasonal temperature changes, and guarantees the specified maximum pressure of 100 bar. One cavern is cycled daily; the other serves as backup when the nearby nuclear power plant goes offline. | |
| Moss Landing PG&E Elkhorn Battery | Battery, lithium-ion | 730 | 182.5 | 4 | United States | Moss Landing, California | 2022 | 256 Tesla Megapack battery units[22] | |
| Slate Project | Battery | 561 | 140.25 | 4 | United States | Kings County | 2022 | Paired with 300 MW solar plant[23] | |
| Valley Center Battery Storage Project | Battery, lithium-ion | 560 | 140 | 4 | United States | Valley Center, California | 2022 | [24] | |
| Thermal storage, molten salt | 450 | 50 | 9 | South Africa | Northern Cape Province, Globershoop | 2015 | The Bokpoort Concentrated Solar Plant (CSP) Project, being contracted in 2014, comprises a solar field, a power block, a thermal energy storage system and related infrastructure such as grid interconnection and water abstraction and treatment systems. The solar field comprises loops of parabolic trough solar collector assemblies which will collect the heat from the sun. The solar collectors will be capable of heating the heat transfer fluid up to 393 °C. The power block comprises a solar steam generator and a steam turbine delivering 50 MW (net). | ||
| Victorian Big Battery | Battery, lithium-ion | 450 | 300 | 1.5 | Australia | Moorabool | 2021 | [25] | |
| Alamitos Energy Center | Battery, lithium-ion | 400 | 100 | 4 | United States | Long Beach | 2021 | [26] [27] | |
| Saticoy BESS | Battery, lithium-ion | 400 | 100 | 4 | United States | Saticoy | 2021 | [28] | |
| Dalian VFB | 400 | 100 | 4 | China | Liaoning, Dalian | 2022 | First phase,[29] second 100MW/400MWh phase under construction. The battery is made up of ten 20MW/80MWh Vanadium Flow Battery (VFB) energy storage systems deployed in Dalian city and connected to the main grid of Liaoning Province which has experienced stress during extreme weather events. This project is approved by China National Energy Administration, and the owner is a JV with the major shareholder being a local utility company, and the minor being Rongke Power.[30] [31] | ||
| Thermal storage, molten salt | 300 | 100 | 3 | South Africa | Northern Cape Province, Pofadder | 2015 | KaXu Solar One is a 100 MW parabolic trough plant. The power station will have a storage capacity of three hours and use molten salt to store heat energy. In the parabolic trough system, the sun's energy is concentrated by parabolically curved, trough-shaped reflectors onto a receiver pipe running along the focal line of the curved surface. This energy heats oil flowing through the pipe, and the heat energy is then used to convert water to steam and generate electricity in a conventional steam generator. | ||
| Buzen Substation | Battery, sodium-sulfur | 300 | 50 | 6 | Japan | Buzen | 2016 | [32] [33] | |
| Jiangsu Jintan Salt Cavern Compressed Air Energy Storage Project | Compressed air storage | 300 | 60 | 5 | China | Changzhou | 2022 | Using a salt cavern situated 1,000 meters underground[34] [35] | |
| Minety Battery Energy Storage Project | Battery, lithium-ion | 266 | 150 | United Kingdom | Minety | 2021 | [36] [37] | ||
| DeCordova | Battery | 260 | 260 | 1 | United States | Granbury | 2022 | [38] | |
| Rokkasho Aomari | Battery, sodium-sulfur | 245 | 34 | 7 | Japan | Rokkasho | 2008 | [39] | |
| Battery, lithium-ion | 250 | 250 | 1 | United States | 2020 | [40] [41] | |||
| Huanghe Hydropower Hainan Storage | Battery | 202.8 | 202.8 | 1 | China | Hainan, Qinghai | 2020 | Connected with adjacent 2.2 GW photovoltaic Huanghe Hydropower Hainan Solar Park[42] [43] | |
| Crossett Power Management | Battery | 200 | 200 | 1 | United States | Crane County, Texas | 2022 | [44] | |
| Flower Valley II | Battery | 200 | 100 | 2 | United States | Reeves County, Texas | 2022 | ||
| Gambit battery storage project | Battery, lithium-ion | 200 | 100 | 2 | United States | Angleton, Texas | 2021 | [45] | |
| Kunshan Energy Storage Power Station | Battery, lithium-ion | 198 | 111 | ? | China | Kunshan | 2020 | [46] | |
| Pillswood | Battery, lithium-ion | 196 | 98 | 2 | United Kingdom | Cottingham | 2022 | Uses Tesla Powerpack. Adjacent to Creyke Beck substation for Dogger Bank Wind Farm.[47] [48] | |
| Battery, lithium-ion | 193.5 | 150 | Australia | South Australia, Jamestown | 2017 | Tesla Powerpack is charged using renewable energy and delivers electricity during peak hours to help maintain the reliable operation of South Australia's electrical infrastructure. It initially provided up to 100 MW peak with a capacity of 129 MWh, and was expanded in July 2020 to 150 MW/193.5MWh.[49] [50] | |||
| Korea Zinc Energy Storage System | Battery, lithium-ion | 150 | 32.5 | South Korea | Ulsan | 2018 | Ordered by Korea Zinc, a metal smelting company, at a cost of €37.87 million. It is located at its Ulsan refinery near the southeast coast.[51] | ||
| Seosan PV ESS | Battery | 140 | 52 | South Korea | Seosan | Adjacent to 65 MW Seosan PV Farm[52] | |||
| Escondido Substation | Battery, lithium-ion | 120 | 30 | 4 | United States | Escondido | 2017 | ||
| Thermal Storage, Steam | 100 | 50 | 2 | South Africa | Northern Cape Province, Upington | 2016 | Khi Solar One is a 50 MW concentrated solar power plant with a power tower that uses large, sun-tracking mirrors (heliostats) to focus sunlight on a receiver at the top of a tower. Water is pumped up to the tower mounted receiver and is converted to steam, which, in turn, is used in a conventional turbine generator to produce electricity. The power station will include a facility to store steam, enabling it to generate electricity for two hours when the sun is not shining.[53] | ||
| Bat Cave battery storage project | Battery, lithium-ion | 100 | 100 | 1 | United States | Texas | 2021 | [54] [55] | |
| North Fork battery storage project | Battery, lithium-ion | 100 | 100 | 1 | United States | Texas | 2021 | [56] | |
| Name | Type | Capacity | Country | Location | Year | Description | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MWh | MW | hrs | ||||||||||||||||
| Edwards Sanborn Solar and Energy Storage Project | Battery | 2,165 | United States | Edwards, California | 2023 | Paired with 1,118 MW solar plant, 1,501MWh in Phase 1[57] | ||||||||||||
| Sierra Estrella project | Battery | 1000 | United States | Arizona | 2024 | |||||||||||||
| Tongliao Wind Solar Storage Hybrid Project | Battery, lithium-ion | 960 | 320 | 3 | China | 2022 | Paired with 1,700 MW wind capacity and 300 MW solar capacity[58] | - | Project brine4power EWE Gasspeicher | Battery, salt water, polymers, redox flow | 720 | 5.83 | 120 | Germany | Lower Saxony, Jemgum | EWE Gasspeicher plans to build the battery by employing the well-known redox flow battery principle – in which electrical energy is stored in a liquid – along with new, environmentally friendly components in underground salt caverns. These kinds of caverns are currently used to store natural gas. EWE Gasspeicher is collaborating on the project – brine for power – with the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, which developed the innovative components. It uses salt water and recyclable polymers (plastics). [59] [60] --> | ||
| Holtsville Energy Storage Project | Battery, Li-Ion | 440 | 110 | 4 | United States | Holtsville, New York | 2025 | Holtsville Energy Storage, LLC is a proposed 110 MW / four-hour battery energy storage facility in Brookhaven, New York, with enough storage energy capacity to power 18,366 homes, bringing numerous positive impacts to the local community and economy. The proposed facility, expected to be operational by 2025, will store energy that will be dispatched during peak demand hours and during emergency outages.[61] Site Plans were unanimously approved by Brookhaven Town Planning Board on January 23, 2023.[62] | ||||||||||
| Oakland | Battery | 145 | 36.25 | 4 | United States | 2022 | ||||||||||||
| Advanced Clean Energy Storage | Electrolysis of Water | 300,000 | 220 | United States | Delta, Utah | 2025 | Initially, some hydrogen gas production will be supplemented with natural gas. There are plans to use 100% hydrogen in 2045.[63] Rather than converting the hydrogen gas into electricity via an electrochemical cell, this system will use a hydrogen-capable gas turbine combined cycle power plant.[64] Hydrogen gas will be stored in salt caverns rather than conventional storage tanks. | |||||||||||
| Name | Type | Capacity | Country | Location | Year | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MWh | MW | hrs | ||||||
| Mustikkamaa heat storage | Thermal storage, hot water in rock caverns | 11,600 | 120 | 96 | Finland | Helsinki | 2022 | Helen Oy is commissioning an 11.6 GWh capacity and 120 MW thermal output for its water cistern under Mustikkamaa (fully charged or discharged in 4 days at capacity), operating from 2022 to offset days of peak production/demand;[65] [66] |
| Reuter West | Thermal storage, hot water tank | 2,600 | 200 | 13 | Germany | Berlin | 2022 | Vattenfall's Reuter West[67] combined heat and power (CHP) station near Berlin had a 56Ml "thermos" tank added, for storing up to 200MW as hot water that can then be fed to Berlin’s hot water consumers. It will be heated by otherwise unused electricity from renewable sources.[68] The existing plant has a hot water capacity of 120MWth using by-product heat from the electrical generation.[69] |
| Thermal Storage, Solar heat radiated to soil | 1.5 | Canada | Okotoks, Alberta | Drake Landing Solar Community began operation in 2006. Solar thermal energy is collected in flat plate glazed collectors, pumped to a bore field where the heat is radiated to soil. That process is reversed to utilize the heat in 52 single family (detached) homes. In 2012, DLSC set a world record by heating the 52 homes with 97% renewable energy. The borefield that stores the heat is approximately 100 feet wide in each direction and 120 feet deep. | ||||
| Nissan Technical Center North America Inc. | Thermal storage, ice | 22.8 | 1.425 | 16 | United States | Michigan, Farmington Hills | The Ice Thermal Storage System provides load shifting to the building. On most days, the building can be cooled solely by the ice system, but a chiller is included, which covers peak cooling demand. | |
| JC Penney Headquarters | Thermal storage, ice | 53.1 | 4.425 | 12 | United States | Texas, Plano | The system offsets the peak demands of electrical use by making ice each night to cool the building the following day. | |
| Redding Electric Utilities - Peak Capacity, Demand Response, HVAC Replacement Program | Thermal storage, ice | 6 | 1 | 6 | United States | California, Redding | Ice storage system assists building cooling during daylight hours. | |
| Glendale Water and Power - Peak Capacity Project | Thermal storage, ice | 9 | 1.5 | 6 | United States | California, Glendale | This project installed a total of 180 Ice Thermal Energy storage units at 28 Glendale city buildings and 58 local small, medium-sized, and large commercial businesses during a one-year installation process. | |
| State Government of North Carolina | Thermal storage, chilled water | 20.8 | 2.6 | 8 | United States | North Carolina, Raleigh | 2.68 million gallon, chilled water, Thermal energy storage tank. Built partially buried and serving the district cooling system for 25 state government buildings. | |
| University of Arizona | Thermal storage, ice | 18 | 3 | 6 | United States | Arizona, Tucson | The university placed three separate orders for energy storage tanks and they were added to two of their three existing central plants in 2004, 2006 and 2007. There are 205 tanks in total at the two plants. | |
| Thermal storage, chilled water | 24 | 3 | 8 | United States | Florida, Orlando | Chilled water thermal energy storage system that is integrated into the existing district cooling system for the university. | ||
| Redding Electric Utilities - Peak Capacity, Demand Response, HVAC Replacement Program Phase 2 | Thermal storage, ice | 12 | 6 | 2 | United States | California, Redding | Ice Energy and REU will collaborate on the second phase. The program to install Ice Bear units within the northern California territory aims to reduce peak electricity load demand by up to 6 MW over five years. REU expects to have the thermal energy storage program completed in 2017. Skyway Machine, a local Redding manufacturing company, will provide final assembly of the new Ice Bear units. | |
| Technology | Name | data-sort-type="number" | Energy MWh | data-sort-type="number" | Power MW | data-sort-type="number" | Hours ! | Description | Country | Location ! | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility | 1600 | 400 | 4 | United States | Moss Landing, California | [70] | |||||
| Sodium Sulfur Battery In Abu Dhabi | 648 | 108 | 6 | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | [71] | |||||
| Dalian VFB - UET / Rongke Power | 800 | 200 | The battery arrays approved by the China National Energy Administration will be made up of ten (10X) 20MW/80MWh Vanadium Flow Battery (VFB) energy storage systems connected to the main grid of Liaoning Province. After full commissioning, the VFB energy storage system will be able to peak-shave approximately 8% of Liaoning Province's expected peaking capacity in 2020. In addition, the large-scale battery will form an additional load center, which will enhance grid stabilization including securing the power supply and providing black-start capabilities in the event of emergency. This project will be deployed in two phases, each with 100MW/400MWh. The first phase will be finished around the end of 2017 and the second will be finished around the end of 2018. This project is approved by China National Energy Administration, and the owner is a JV with the major shareholder being a local utility company, and the minor being RONGKE POWER. | China | Dalian | ||||||
| Huntorf CAES Plant | 870 | 290 | First commercial CAES plant, operational since 1978, using nuclear-sourced night-time power to compress and inject the air into two caverns of 310,000 m³ total volume. The 600 m cavern depth ensures the air's stability through seasonal temperature changes, and guarantees the specified maximum pressure of 100 bar. One cavern is cycled daily; the other serves as backup when the nearby nuclear power plant goes offline. | Germany | Huntorf | ||||||
| Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station | 40,000 | 3,600 | China | Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei Province | [72] | ||||||
| Beacon New York Flywheel Energy Storage Plant | 5 | 20 | The flywheel plant is used for frequency regulation in the NYISO service area. It consists of 200 individual spinning masses. | USA | New York |
This article contains text from the United States Department of Energy, DOE Energy Storage Database, a work in the public domain.