Iron redox battery as electrical energy storage system in the Spanish energetic framework

The energy storage technologies will play a crucial role in the near future under the use of efficient electric energy sources and renewable energies such as wind and solar energy. This sort of energy usually suffers from intermittent problems in distributed generation systems. To overcome this problem, electricity storage systems provide solutions to improve dispatchability and reliability. The different electrochemical storage systems are presented when considering their applications and comparing advantages and disadvantages. Based on this description and the possible applications of each technology, a particular case is considered in the framework of the Spanish energetic system. An iron redox battery (one of the most promising technologies) is analyzed from an economic point of view determining important aspects as the payback of the investment or the IRR. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.