The imperative to create a consistent energy supply from renewable sources – and support the phasing out of fossil fuels – is inspiring investment in long-term energy storage innovation, a new report says.
The inaugural Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report 2021, from leading intellectual property firm Appleyard Lees, analyses patent filings across several key environmental issues facing the world, including long-term energy storage for power generated by sources such as wind and solar.
The report points to particular technology advances in compressed air energy storage (CAES) and pumped hydro-storage.
Paul Beynon, Senior Associate at Appleyard Lees said: “While renewable energy has the potential to address our energy needs – and support the recent commitments at COP26 to reduce emissions and phase out fossil fuels including coal – its drawback is achieving consistency of supply.
“This demands technologies that enable energy storage for months rather than weeks. Our research shows that this challenge is generating innovation and resulting patent applications in CAES and pumped hydro-storage.”
Compressed air energy storage – investing in efficiency, reducing energy loss
Innovation in this 40-year-old-plus technology is continuing, with an emphasis today on improving efficiency and reducing energy loss in the process.
With Japan and the US leading the way in patent applications, new developments are aimed at creating large-scale, low-cost energy via methods including adiabatic compression and expansion: harnessing thermal energy from the compression of air in a chamber and using it subsequently during the expansion of the air.
“Analysis of patent data suggests significant investment in CAES by Japanese firm, Kobe Steel, including technology to control the extraction of heat from gas during compression using heat exchangers, sensors and flow rate adjusters,” Beynon said.
Pumped hydro-storage – repurposing fossil fuel facilities
With China pushing ahead in patent applications, innovation in this so-called “oldest kind of large-scale energy storage” is on the increase.
And its need for large facilities has led to patent applications – such as those from the China University of Mining and Technology – relating to the conversion of underground mine space (potentially, previous coal mines) to house pumped hydro-storage plants.
Paul Beynon at Appleyard Lees said: “The need for sustainable, long-term energy storage is driving innovation in these traditional technologies and the challenge is identifying incremental improvements that create a commercial advantage for patent holders.”
“Overall, our inaugural Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report 2021 aims to by-pass the environmental rhetoric and highlight the true state of progress in developing new, sustainable technologies.
“The patent system requires public disclosure of new innovations, providing a valuable resource to identify the issues of the day and which ‘hot’ innovations could bring new advantages to the world.”
The Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report 2021’s focus on energy (along with plastics and agriculture) was chosen because of its prominence in the global green innovation conversation, as referenced in the OECD’s and United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Green Innovation Database, a global innovation catalogue that connects needs for solving environmental or climate change problems with sustainable solutions.
Appleyard Lees’ inaugural Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report 2021 is available to read here.
