Most discussions around energy storage tend to focus on battery storage solutions, but we should also remember that there are numerous forms of energy storage available even if a deep dive on all is a limitation in this format. From an electronics perspective, energy can be stored in the form of electrochemical potential in rechargeable batteries, as voltage in capacitor and supercapacitor devices, as well as current in magnetic devices (i.e., inductors and transformers).
Dynamic energy can be stored in both kinetic (i.e., flywheels) and potential forms (i.e., water reservoir on top of a mountain). Energy is stored in one form for either convenience, efficiency, or cost purposes, even if it is eventually converted into electrical energy. An example of this can be thermal energy stored in heated salts for extraction later, and boiling of water to spin a turbine, also known as a form of phase-change material energy storage. It is not uncommon to use compressed air as a form of energy storage, even for utility-scale applications [2].
While the definition may not be as clear, there can be more direct forms of energy storage and utilization, such as repurposing the “waste” heat from a large data center to be pumped directly into nearby households exposed to severe cold weather in winters.
Given that energy storage covers a vast expanse of components and applications, it is important to breakdown just what is implied by certain solutions in terms of their anticipated performance and design nuances, to ensure they are optimally utilized and safely executed. In this discussion, we shall compare/contrast a variety of solutions, but only after we first define some key terminologies and understand the important factors to consider when looking into various energy storage components and solutions.
It should be noted there are some aspects of energy storage that apply universally, and there are some that are very component- and/or application-specific. For instance, there is no Moore’s Law to energy storage as it is mostly at the whim of chemistry and physics. The point is energy storage density only doubles roughly every decade, where the semiconductor world is more accustomed to densities doubling every 18 to 24 months.
From a design perspective, this involves consideration with the expectation of extremely disaggregated development schedules and roadmaps for energy storage, where elements on the load side (e.g., system power budgets/densities) advance on a timetable more closely aligning to those associated with a Moore’s Law-like trajectory.
From the universal perspective, load demand only tends to increase over time. Hence, this tends to put an increasing demand on the energy density of the energy storage solution(s), though the overall impact very much depends on the application. Even if the trend is universal in nature, the methodologies for dealing with the trend can vary greatly.
For instance, critical backup power for a data center or building will be architected and distributed very differently from safety capacitors used to filter and shunt energy in a common-mode
electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter. Narrowing the window of consideration to only energy storage in power supplies still provides a wide consideration of energy storage solutions, design parameters, and therefore reliability impacts as well. In power supplies, energy storage devices may also act as critical safety devices, and therefore be subject to specific standards for design de-rating, test/qualification requirements, and assumptions for thermal impacts on component lifetime calculations.