Adequate storage is the next big hurdle in Australia's renewable energy transition. 

Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, has this week released its Renewable Energy Storage Roadmap, which shows that storage capacity must grow significantly over coming decades to keep pace with rapidly rising electricity demand, which is projected to increase as building and transport industries electrify.

The report indicates that the national electricity market (NEM) could require a 10 to 14-fold increase in its electricity storage capacity between 2025-2050.

It also found that while traditional storage technologies (such as batteries and pumped hydro) will continue to play a key role, all forms of energy storage must be considered to meet Australia’s growing demand across multiple sectors.

In response to common challenges around decarbonisation and technology readiness, the roadmap examines the role of storage for seven sectors, highlights specific challenges and technology options, and finds that individual sectors favour different storage technologies.

CSIRO Chief Executive Larry Marshall noted new technologies would be needed to increase penetration of renewables and stabilise the grid while we start to build utility scale storage capacity.

“Over the long-term storage will accelerate the integration of renewables, enhancing grid stability and reliability, and supporting decarbonisation of industries,” Dr Marshall said.

“There is no silver bullet for reaching net zero so we need multiple shots on goal, like from renewables, batteries, hydrogen, thermal storage, pumped hydro, sustainable aviation fuels and a host of new science-driven technologies.

“Reaching net zero is a wicked challenge, we need a robust pipeline of projects that use diverse technologies supported by industry, government, research and community stakeholders to ensure that no industry and no Australian is left behind," he said.

The roadmap builds on prior publications and scenarios to estimate storage demand across multiple use cases and Australian jurisdictions. It also extends the discussion to new technology areas (for example hydrogen and thermal energy storage), pointing out sector-specific requirements, technology summaries and recommendations for scale-up.