Emerging Technology Tracking System Archive

Batteries have been used in the electric utility industry for decades. Large utility scale batteries applications, however, have been slow to develop, in part due to technological limitations and the costs of delivering utility scale power to the grid. As those technologies have improved, utility scale batteries have finally reached a point where they can successfully integrated onto the ERCOT grid and provide various services in select applications to enhance the reliability of the grid.

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) refers to a technology that stores compressed air in a limestone cavern to be used later as an energy source. For utility scale applications, the air is stored during low use periods (off-peak) and later released during periods of higher usage (on- peak) to generate energy.

Flywheel energy storage systems store kinetic energy by spinning a compact rotor to a very high speed. When energy is required back onto the utility grid the rotor's inertia allows it to keep spinning and the kinetic energy is converted to electricity and fed back onto the grid.

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaics (PV) or concentrated solar power systems. This emerging source of electric power can be produced at the residential, commercial, and utility-scale levels. With the abundance of sunshine in Texas and as installation costs decrease, solar power has the potential to see rapid deployment across the ERCOT grid.

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into electricity using wind turbines. The ERCOT region produced 26.8 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in wind power in 2010. This is an increase of 30% from the previous year. The irregularity of wind, however, presents operational challenges for the ERCOT grid. With new technology, wind generation is expected to increase the delivery of electricity onto the grid.

Interested parties may submit issues and comments pertaining to each Emerging Technologies type by using the Issue Submission or Issue Comment Form provided on this page. Completed forms should be submitted to ETIP@ERCOT.com.

CCET facilitates electric industry, technology company and university collaboration for the purpose of enhancing the safety, reliability, security, and efficiency of the Texas electric transmission and distribution system through research, development and commercialization of emerging technologies. This page contains relevant information related to the Synchrophaser renewable energy Department of Energy project and reports.