A constructive technology assessment of stationary energy storage systems: prospective life cycle orientated analysis

Based on the presentation and discussion at the 3rd Winter School on Technology Assessment, December 2012, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), Caparica Campus, PhD programme on Technology AssessmentEnvironmental concerns over the use of fossil fuels and their resource constraints have increased the interest in generating electric energy from renewable energy sources (RES) to provide a sustainable electricity supply. A main problem of those technologies (wind or solar power generation) is that they are not constant and reliable sources of power. This results inter alia in an increased demand of energy storage technologies. Related stake holders show a big interest in the technical, economic and ecologic aspects of new emerging energy storage systems. This comes especially true for electrochemical energy storage systems as different Li-Ion batteries, Sodium Sulfur or Redox Flow batteries which can be utilized in all grid voltage levels, a wide range of grid applications as well as end user groups (e.g. private households, industry). A prospective and active Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA) can help to minimize potential mismatches, wrong investments, possible social conflicts, and environmental impacts of new energy storage technologies in an early development stage. It is insufficient to exclusively look at the operation phase to assess a technology. Such an approach can lead to misleading interpretations and can furthermore disregard social or ecological impact factors over the whole life cycle. Different energy storage technologies have to be evaluated in a prospective manner with a full integrated sustainability and life cycle approach to form a base for decision making and to support technology developers in order to allow distinctions between more or less sustainable battery technology variations. Therefore CTA is used as a scientific approach using several “neighbouring” engineering orientated disciplines e.g. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) or Life Cycle Costs (LCC) and their methodologies which were initially developed for other purposes. The aim of the presented PhD Thesis is to make an economic, technological and ecological comparison of Energy storage technologies based on a life cycle sustainability Analysis (LCSA), multi criteria Analysis (or evaluation) (MCA) and to develop a suitable LCSA-MCA model through a new combined highly interdisciplinary approach in frame of CTA.Dr.-Ing. Marcel Weil Prof. Dr. António Brandão Moni

Analysis of a controversial decision process: the case of the pumped hydro storage power plant Atdorf in Germany

Based on the report for the unit “Métodos Interactivos de Participação e Decisão A” (Interactive methods of participation and decision A), coordinated by Prof. Lia Maldonado Teles de Vasconcelos and Prof. Nuno Miguel Ribeiro Videira Costa. This unit was provided for the PhD Program in Technology Assessment in 2015/2016.A main problem of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) as solar and wind energy, which represent a main pillar of the German energy transition, is that they cannot supply constant power output leading to an increasing demand of backup technologies as pumped hydro storage. This study analyses in the first part the controversial large scale PHS project Atdorf in Germany. On the one hand this project is seen as a prerequisite for a successful energy system transition by the German government. On the other hand there is also a strong local movement opposing the project mainly due to environmental concerns. It is a difficult tightrope walk to immolate to a certain degree local interests of a few to achieve an ostensible higher goal as a sustainable energy system. Simultaneously an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) orientated approach was conducted to understand the interest of the multi-stakeholders involved in this controversial case and contributed to the development of the story viewed by the ones living it. The IPA was conducted in detail for the citizen action groug “Bürgerinitiative (BI) Atdorf) and offered the possibility to gather unexpected insight into the entire decision process. The Atdorf project remains in this sense very controversial and unveils several problems allocated to the entire process of the energy transition in Germany. It highlights how large infrastructural energy projects can become complex due to multiple stakeholder perspectives, beliefs and interests. The example of Atdorf was then used as a base to build a hypothesis for a dynamic behaviour model of the ongoing decision process. It could be concluded that the project is stagnating due to uncertain market conditions caused by increasing shares of public financed RES, missing regulation and clear targets in combination with local protests. This general model was used to develop a qualitative system dynamics model, illustrated by a causal loop diagram (CLD). Aim of the CLD was to identify leverage points that lead to incentives for new energy storage technologies and allow the achievement of a renewable energy based electricity system. Three leverage points have been identified; 1) amount of Renewable energy which is influencing almost all other components of the system including markets, need for balancing, investment decisions etc. 2) development and the composition of electricity whole sale markets have to be adopted including EU-Emission trading system to avoid backfire effects; 3) higher level of coordination of energy policies, regulation and related targets to provide a better frame for decisions. The identified points could be confirmed via interviews conducted with experts from energy economics. Most participants concluded that there is a severe market problem at the moment facing a high acceptance problem regarding large pumped hydro storage projects. In general the conducted research helped to gather a better understanding of complex decision making processes and unveiled the importance of right communication within large infrastructural projects as Atdorf.Lia Maldonado Teles de Vasconcelos, Nuno Miguel Ribeiro Videira Costa, António Brandão Moniz, Marcel Wei

Prospective system analysis of stationary battery systems under the frame of Constructive Technology Assessment

Based on the report for the unit “Project IV” of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment under the supervision of Dr.-Ing. Marcel Weil and Prof. Dr. António Brandão Moniz. The report was presented and discussed at the Doctorate Conference on Technologogy Assessment in July 2013 at the University Nova Lisboa, Caparica campus.The ongoing German energy transition causes a higher demand for reliable energy storage in the future. This increasing demand for sustainable, cheap, safe and efficient energy storage systems has caused a stronger public debate about the potential benefits of grid battery storage according to sustainability. This circumstance led to the preposition that there is a need for the development of a proper ex-ante assessment strategy to support technology uptake. The developed approach represents a framework for prospective system analysis (PSA) using the heuristics of constructive technology assessment to identify consequences, application possibilities or threats in the technological trajectory of grid battery storage. Within this framework PSA is used to quantitatively assess economic, environmental and social aspects along the entire life cycle of electrochemical energy storage technologies in order to identify hotspots according to sustainability. The Analytic Hierarchic Process (AHP) supports multiple methods in data collection and enables the analyst to combine results from PSA with qualitative actor notions about technology according to the “world” where it is embodied. In this sense AHP enables to achieve an optimum construct of technology from a stakeholder view point. The developed approach represents an efficient research strategy to shape technology in a sustainable way in frame of „Responsible Research and Innovation“.Marcel Weil; António Brandão Moni

Historic and potential technology transition paths of grid battery storage: Co-evolution of energy grid, electric mobility and batteries

Scarcity of fuels, changes in environmental policy and in society increased the interest in generating electric energy from renewable energy sources (RES) for a sustainable energy supply in the future. The main problem of RES as solar and wind energy, which represent a main pillar of this transition, is that they cannot supply constant power output. This results inter alia in an increased demand of backup technologies as batteries to assure electricity system safety. The diffusion of energy storage technologies is highly dependent on the energy system and transport transition pathways which might lead to a replacement or reconfiguration of embedded socio-technical practices and regimes (by creating new standards or dominant designs, changing regulations, infrastructure and user patterns). The success of this technology is dependent on hardly predictable future technical advances, actor preferences, development of competing technologies and designs, diverging interests of actors, future cost efficiencies, environmental performance, the evolution of market demand and design and evolution of our society.Based on the report for the course on “Social Factors of Innovation A” (2014-15) of the PhD program on Technology Assessment (PDAT) under the responsibility of Prof. António B. Moni

Battery storage systems as balancing option in intermittent renewable energy systems - A transdisciplinary approach under the frame of Constructive Technology Assessment

Different battery storage technologies are considered as important flexibility option in the face of increasing shares of renewables in the grid. A challenge is to support decision-making by providing a broader perspective on battery technology development, choice, and implementation. The tailored approach in the frame of Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA) in combination with system analysis allows it to explore actor visions and expectations about battery storage and to use this information to provide quantitative information about the consequences of these. Research results combine the perspectives of technology and non-technology related actors (enactors and selectors) to create new and broader knowledge to provide “better” technology. Major implications identified for battery storage are missing business models, uncertain regulations, and doubts about their techno-economic viability. A highlight is a proof that expectations about technology characteristics in orientation to sustainability criteria are settled within concentric perspectives by using the Analytic-Hierarchy-Process (AHP). Enactors focus on economic and technological criteria which reflect the concentric bias of this group. In contrast, selectors perceive environmental and social criteria as more important. The consensus among actors regarding criteria importance is not existent to moderate which indicates that more research is required here. System analysis is used to quantify actor preferences obtained through the AHP. Li-Ion-batteries (LIB), lead-acid-batteries (VRLA), high-temperature-batteries (NaNiCl and NaS), and Vanadium-redox-flowbatteries (VRFB) are evaluated through e.g. life cycle assessment and costing for four different application fields (decentralized storage, wind energy support, primary regulation and energy-time-shift (ETS-includes compressed-air-energy-storage (CAES) and pumped-hydro-storage (PHS)). Preliminary rankings indicate that most LIBs can be recommended for all application areas, wherein decentralized storage is considered to offer the highest potentials for battery storage. VRLA and NaS achieve rather low scores whereas ranking of VRFB is highly dependent on the considered use case. PHS and CAES dominate all assessed energy storage technologies in the ETS application case

Citizen concerns and acceptance for novel energy technologies

The authors would like to thank the Helmholtz project “Energy System 2050” for the financial support. A special thanks belongs to the whole group of the research topic 4 which has supported the work in several ways. For the development of the survey we would like to thank Prof. Dr. Michael Braun from GESIS and for hosting the survey the platform SoSci-survey (www.soscisurvey.de).The introduction of new energy technologies in the context of the transformation of energy systems has repeatedly led to acceptance problems. These can have a decisive impact on the success of individual projects or the introduction of entire technologies. Therefore, three new energy technologies have been selected for an acceptance examination of the population: hydrogen filling stations, stationary battery storage systems, and production facilities for biofuels, which will contribute to the decarbonisation of the energy sector in the future. Based on interviews with experts, a survey was developed to: analyse the acceptance based on the citizen concerns for the selected technologies, the attitude towards financial support, the perceived influence on the implementation process, and the current state of knowledge regarding the respective technology. The first analysis points to a certain acceptance of the selected energy technologies among the population in Germany. The work provides a first cornerstone for a more detailed explanation of the acceptance genesis for new energy technologies.Michael Brauninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Energy storage systems in the future German electricity system: A foresight approach

Germany has ambitious targets to produce 35 % of the needed electricity from Renewables mainly based on wind and solar power by 2020 and over 80 % by 2050 within the so called “Energiewende”. Energy storage is seen as a potential option to assure the safe RES system integration to achieve these goals. There is a high uncertainty and the resulting public discourse about the future demand and the most suitable type of storage technology is driving further development of these technologies. A literature review of 9 studies and 10 expert interviews are carried out in line of a foresight exercise on to tackle these uncertainties. The estimations of reviewed studies are based models with a market perspective on energy storage demand. Most model-based scenarios are built on top down logics, where processes at lower levels (technology, micro-economic sphere) are determined by dominant macro dynamics. Different technologies are only considered partially or in an aggregated way. The reviewed studies showed that there is a high potential storage on every time scale starting from the year 2030 to 2040. Analysed potentials vary depending on RES diffusion and excess rate assumptions between 0 to 44 GW. Reviewed studies strongly integrate shared visions about system developments and formal analyses and provide important and valuable information about potential future implications. But they only partially account, due to practical reasons, wider benefits, stakeholder opinions and continuous changes. They account also discontinuities in the technological innovation process of energy storage. Stakeholder interviews provided additional and helpful insights to the literature review. The stakeholders framed alternative potential future developments that could influence the market success and need for energy storage until 2050. Most important factors named where policy measures, new market models and decentralization of the energy system. As in literature there is a big uncertainty among experts about the right storage technology and if energy storage is in general the best option among other measures as grid reinforcement, flexible demand and flexible power plants. It remains impossible to provide suggestions regarding the development of single storage technologies.Karlsruhe Institute of Technologyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Weighting factor elicitation for sustainability assessment of energy technologies

In this paper, an approach for sustainability assessment of innovative energy technologies is expanded by multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods to aggregate indicator results and support decision-making. One of the most important steps for MCDA is to determine weighting factors for individual indicators. Thus, a workshop was performed to elicit weighting factors for sustainability assessments of energy technologies from developers of such technologies and energy system modellers from academia. These stakeholders expressed their preferences with respect to sustainability criteria using the Simple Multi Attribute Rating Technique (SMART). A triple bottom line approach of sustainable development was used as the basis for the aggregation of indicator results. This approach is based on Life Cycle Costing, Life Cycle Assessment and social indicators. Obtained weighting factors were applied to an integrative sustainability assessment with the aggregation method Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE). Hydrogen-based mobility as an important technology to foster decarbonization in the transport sector is used as a case study for the application of the derived weighting factors. A conventional vehicle, powered by fossil fuel, is compared with a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) for the year 2050. Different options (pipeline, compressed gaseous hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, liquid organic hydrogen carrier) are discussed for the supply of hydrogen. The results for this weighting factor set are compared with an equal weighting scenario of the three sustainability dimensions and indicators within one sustainability dimension. The FCEV, using pipelines for hydrogen supply, came out first in the assessment as well as in all sensitivity analyses

Assessing the social acceptance of key technologies for the German energy transition

Background The widespread use of sustainable energy technologies is a key element in the transformation of the energy system from fossil-based to zero-carbon. In line with this, technology acceptance is of great importance as resistance from the public can slow down or hinder the construction of energy technology projects. The current study assesses the social acceptance of three energy technologies relevant for the German energy transition: stationary battery storage, biofuel production plants and hydrogen fuel station. Methods An online survey was conducted to examine the public’s general and local acceptance of energy technologies. Explored factors included general and local acceptance, public concerns, trust in relevant stakeholders and attitudes towards financial support. Results The results indicate that general acceptance for all technologies is slightly higher than local acceptance. In addition, we discuss which public concerns exist with regard to the respective technologies and how they are more strongly associated with local than general acceptance. Further, we show that trust in stakeholders and attitudes towards financial support is relatively high across the technologies discussed. Conclusions Taken together, the study provides evidence for the existence of a “general–local” gap, despite measuring general and local acceptance at the same level of specificity using a public sample. In addition, the collected data can provide stakeholders with an overview of worries that might need to be addressed when planning to implement a certain energy project