Can thermal storage fire up the net-zero transition?

This detailed analysis in Energy Monitor analyzes an important domain within energy storage – thermal storage.

While storage brings to mind batteries (electrochemical storage) most of the time, there are many other energy storage avenues – mechanical storage (think hydroelectric power plants and pumped storage, or even flywheels), chemical storage (power can be converted to hydrogen which can then act as an energy store), electrical storage (capacitors), or even magnetic storage (superconducting magnetic energy storage).

Outside of electrochemical storage mainly through batteries, with the current advancements in technology, only some – mechanical storage, thermal storage and chemical storage (especially through hydrogen or ammonia) appear poised to provide large scale energy storage solutions globally.

It is in this context that the analysis referred to in the beginning provides an overview of the thermal energy storage options and how thermal energy storage is placed vis a vis other energy storage avenues.