2011 memory chest

como un chasquido de dedos....

Su madre siempre le dice que cuando no te das cuenta de lo rápido que pasa el tiempo es porque te haces vieja… los años no pasan en balde y supongo que Alicitas no es la excepción que cumple la regla!! Esta semana se han cumplido dos años desde que una muchachita enamorada de Berlín cambio su residencia al norte de África. Aun se acuerda del día que aterrizo, lloviendo chuzos de punta, con un cansancio horroroso de las fiestas de despedida y navidad y una pena que no le dejaba sonreír. Dos años que han pasado volando, tan rápido como un chasquido de dedos.

Alicitas no sabía lo que le esperaba, pero tenía claro que no lo quería volver a casa… La seguridad de la cercanía de los suyos en caso de que algo pasase era tentador… pero no suficiente!! Sin embargo, hay que reconocer que fue mejor de lo esperado!! La burbuja en la que se sumergió hizo que una pequeña sonrisa volviera a aparecer en su rostro….

Echando la vista atrás, cual último programa del año, y recordando lo que ha sucedido en 2011 se le agolpan multitud de buenos recuerdos, viajes en buena compañía, aventuras en solitario, felices momentos en familia, bodas, nacimientos, deseados futuros nacimientos y celebraciones varias que siempre se quedaran en su memoria… será verdad que lo malo tiende a olvidarse?? Pero tan rápido?? Seguramente no… solo hace falta rascar un poquito para que comience a echar de menos a la gente que decidió cambiar y salir de Sevilla: sin K. pero sobretodo sin C. y L. los findes de semana ya no seran lo mismo…, quien andará a su lado en las montañas sin M.?, quien le corregirá su cada vez mas oxidado alemán sin P.?  Quien le animara a publicar y celebrarlo con tequilas sin F?, quien prepara el mejor de los postres para sus fiestas sin PP.?, quien será la chica del equipo contrario de baloncesto sin A.? y quien le ayudara a sobrellevar los desaires de DG ENV sin C (la más eficiente Briguitte Jones que se haya conocido nunca…)??

Esta tarde organizara de nuevo para una autentica Weihnachtsbäckerei… la brillante idea que Alicitas tuvo hace un año parece que ha quedado sólidamente anclada en la unidad… y en esta ocasión no son solo una decena de perdidos alemanes en el norte de África bebiendo Glühwein en manga corta y cocinando galletas con ingredientes españoles improvisados, sino una veintena con un evento pensado al detalle…  extraño… pero las navidades siempre acaban por traer a Alicitas momentos de añoranza, alegría y tristeza entremezclados….

Frohe Weihnachten, Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, Feliz Navidad and Boun Natale!!!

YO DE MAYOR QUIERO SER COMO TU!!!

Aunque siempre me quejo de Sevilla, reconozco que su gente es de lo mejor que he conocido!! Entre los sevillanos hay una pareja de adopción a los que les tengo un especial cariño, son J.M. y A.

Tal vez sea, porque ahora A. vive por los nortes de Europa mientras que a J.M lo tengo más cercano, por lo que cada vez me despierta una mayor admiración. Llegue a Sevilla hace dos años sin conocer a nadie y gracias a un amigo de la familia encontré a estos chicos que fueron las personas que mas me ayudaron durante mis primeros meses en la capital andaluza y las que se convirtieron al principio en todo mi apoyo aquí. Esta entrada del blog es, en esta ocasión para A.

A es un economista con un CV impresionante, de los que escasean por España, con un carácter abierto cual gaditano y un aspecto físico irlandés!! Sin duda alguna: un tipo curioso!!! Este  economista de vocación con másters internacionales, impresionante repertorio de idiomas a un nivel superior al B2 en todos ellos (ingles, francés, italiano, alemán y ahora holandés) y, una pasión por la lectura y los viajes que le hacen saber de temas diversos a cual más pintoresco!!! Hablar con A. y conocer sus ideas bien fundadas en prácticamente todo lo que argumenta es sin duda un verdadero placer!!!

Sin embargo, su ejemplar curriculum no es lo más admirable de A. Para mi es su carácter!! A. tiene la virtud de ver el lado bueno de las cosas por escondido que se encuentre, de echarte un piroto en su justa medida siempre que te ve, de transmitirte alegría aun en los días lluviosos y de acordarse de tus problemas aun cuando hace muchos días que no sepa de ti. Sus amigos me cuentan que no le conocí en su mejor momento, pues estaba pasando una situación difícil tanto a nivel personal como profesional, y ahora pienso que tal vez fuese así…. porque ahora se le ve mucho más animado (si es posible!!!).

La pena de A., es que este chiquillo es caro de ver… y creo que esta impresión no la tengo yo sola!!! A. con su carácter abierto pero ‘reliable’ es capaz de juntar a más de 20 personas con tan solo mandar un email, hacer que la gente de alrededores se acerque a Sevilla para comer con él o llegar a  dejar de lado una comida familiar por verle. Yo, personalmente, también le tengo que agradecer que este finde me haya sacado de mi burbuja en Sevilla rodeada de guiris (con los cuales me encanta estar) para pasar unas horas rodeada de Españoles!!!!

Las horas con estos andaluces han sido la mar de interesantes. Nos hemos juntado para comer a eso de las 2 de la tarde, la mayoría han aparecido mas tarde de las 3h, y nos hemos levantado de la mesa para ir a por el café hacia las 6h de la tarde!! Typical Spanish, si señor!!! Bueno, pues como corresponde en estas ocasiones, las largas sobremesas son la ocasión perfecta para arreglar España!!! Que falta nos hace!!!

Hoy es, además, como todo el mundo sabe, un día especial ya que se celebran las elecciones generales. Estos actos políticos en la sociedad española y en una comida entre amigos dan lugar a todo tipo de comentarios, bromas e indirectas, y más si la abajo firmante es defensora de un partido minoritario. Aunque cuando esta mas que cantado el resultado de las elecciones, me llama siempre la atención como entre bromas e indirectas cada uno se decanta por su partido favorito… defender programas políticos discutibles/mejorables, oratorias que dejan que desear, comparaciones con otros países, etc., etc. han sido la base de una comida más que interesante!!!

En fin, parece que van saliendo ya los primeros resultados, y ahora es cuando vuelvo a mi mundo sevillano, que como me dice siempre A. cada uno tenemos uno… es gracioso, pero después de pasar un día español 100%, me voy a ver los resultados de las elecciones, como si de un partido de la selección de futbol se tratase (con cena incluida), rodeada de guiris, ya que los españoles preferimos verlos en la soledad de tu casa con la radio de fondo y sin prestarle mucha atención…. Kommisch, oder???

Así que ya sumergida en ‘mi mundo sevillano’ solo me queda agradecerle a A. el haber venido y mas el haberme invitado a pasar este finde con todos ellos!!! A. por favor, no cambies!! Porque yo de mayor quiero ser como tú!!!

Starting from scratch, once again

http://www.multimedia.ethz.ch/lectures/mtec/2011/spring/351-0514-00L

ESSAY: SHALE GAS IN EUROPE

The last findings of shale gas in UK as well as the well-known reserves in Poland, Germany, France and other European countries bring in the limelight the discussion about the exploitation of unconventional natural gas in Europe. The exploitation of unconventional gas has advantages and disadvantages but up to know remains weakly regulated. The uncertainness in the predictions on the well sizes, the challenging extraction technology and the need for further environmental impact assessment avoid finding a common agreement among the member states.

Introduction

Shale gas is a non-conventional gas that in the recent past is catching the attention of the energy markets. Shale gas is still a natural gas, but it is trapped in sedimentary layers with low permeability or porosity and requires special extraction methods, including horizontal drilling over long distances and artificial manufacturing of the parent rock.

These deposits are rather well distributed geographically, but today they are only best known and exploited in USA, whose production already accounts for 12%. Some predictions foresee that world reserves may represent more than four times conventional gas resources and in Europe new and large reserves in UK and Poland, as well as other much more smaller in southern France, Germany, Hungary, and Turkey were found. However, in Europe the feasibility of the exploitation, the economic benefits and the environmental costs of shale gas are still open questions and the main targets of this essay.

Shale gas properties and technology of the extraction

Two main obstacles for the exploitation of shale gas in Europe are the business model and the environmental impacts. The European reserves are well spread out and the exploitation would require a large number of boreholes which means high environmental impacts in the regions where the reserves are located. Moreover, these platforms require a large land space to be operated that seems to be an additional disadvantage due to the high population concentration in Europe.

From the technological point of view, the extraction of the European shale gas is much more challenging. Shale gas is extracted using a hydraulic process where water and chemicals are injected at high pressure into a well to fracture rocks and release trapped gas. Typically the area that should be drilled before finding the well is quite large. This means that a greater number of wells are required compared to conventional gas production and consequently that the costs of the extraction are much higher. Extraction rates and cost of production depend on a range of factors such as the quality of the area to be drilled, the technology used and the quality of the operator. For example, the production is higher if the area is dried, the horizontal drilling extends further out, the well is not deep or the operator is efficient.

Global gas prices play an important role in determining the economics and hence, overall levels of unconventional gas production. Estimations foresee that European extraction and production costs will be higher than those of other gas supply sources and that the shale gas is unlikely to make a significant contribution in meeting gas demand in UK by 2020 although other European countries, as it is the case of Poland that has the potential to produce larger amounts of gas.

Apart from the economic restrictions (commented below) other factors can limit the development of shale gas in Europe:

- the availability of the gas sites that can be found in protected areas

- the geology of the sites, that are deeper and further away than those in USA

- the lack of a flexible, ready available sector in Europe to support shale gas operators

- the local opposition concerning the impacts of drilling on the local community and in particular concerning the contamination of ground water

- the water scarcity in the drilling site where water should be injected and the environmental restrictions

- the higher concentration of the population in Europe making impossible the model of multi-spot drilling

- the difficulties in transportation to market as the amount of gas to be delivered would increase notably into the pipelines. One solution is the generation of electricity where the gas is produced and transmitted as electricity

Environmental impacts

The environmental impact of the shale gas should be assessed through a LCA method. An LCA assessment estimates and evaluates the environmental impacts of a product in each of the product's phases. The product's phases for the shale gas consist in the extraction, production, distribution and use phases.

The whole life-cycle of the shale gas is characterized by unavoidable environmental impacts. Firstly, the shale gas extraction is a high land occupation due to drilling facilities, equipment, gas processing and transportation facilities. Secondly, there are major environmental impacts due to the air emissions of pollutants, groundwater contamination due to uncontrolled gas or fluid flows due to blowouts or spills, leaking fracturing gludi, and uncontrolled waste water discharge. Fracturing fluids content hazardous substances, and flow-back in addition contains heavy metals and radioactive materials form the deposit.

The fugitive emissions form hydraulic fracturing processes can have a huge impact in the GHG balance. Existing data consider that the emission of methane from shale gas relative to its energy content are as low as those of conventional gas transported over long distances or as high as those of hard coal over the entire life cycle from extraction to combustion. Moreover, the methane intrusions of aquifers are not yet assessed but if considered, the GHG emissions along the entire fuel chain are expected to be higher than coal and oil.

Results are communicating by using several indicators. In each selection one weighting is followed and consequently slightly different results can be obtained. Carbon footprint is one indicator based on the emission of CO2 and compounds based on carbon that are released to the atmosphere. There are several equivalences to account the environmental damage of the emission of others gases different from CO2 and it is especially useful to evaluate the environmental friendliness of fossil fuels. In this sense, several authors reported that if methane leakages from hydraulic fracturing are including, along with emissions from forest clearing and water transport the carbon footprint of shale gas is slightly worse than coal. However, these results depend on multiple parameters and further investigations are needed.

The substitution of coal by shale gas seems not to have no obvious potential in terms of environmental benefits. The latter may occur in the case of more strongly polluting fossil resources, notable coal and oil and in the case that shale gas extraction proves to have lower environmental impacts.

Economic impacts

As commented in the introduction, there are several important reserves in Europe that, for the better and worse, are seen as a new era for the European gas market. These findings came across with the inauguration of the Nord Stream pipeline that takes natural gas directly from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea and bypassing Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States and consequently bypassing the disputes that have periodically halted the flow of Russian gas to the rest of Europe.

Depending on the resources, the estimated amount of shale gas can play a more or less significant role in the European gas market. Drilling for shale gas is controversial, especially from the ecological point of view and the fear to cause subsidence and contaminates ground water. The technique, anyway, is only in the past decade that it has become economically and technologically viable and today there is a fear that new, and exploitable, supplies of gas could reduce prices to the point where investment in alternative cleaner energy sources, such as renewable sources does not make economic sense.

Poland's shale gas

The resources discovered in the recent past in Poland are estimated to be enough for the next 300 year Polish domestic consumption and seem to be the largest ones in Europe. Poland is in the side of the shale gas exploitation and it is regarded as the chance to turn Poland and to a less extent Europe partially independence from the gas producers countries such as Russian or the Golf region. Becoming partially independent and especially in the Western Europe would bring the Russia's business model into question. This change has to an extent already starting. Almost without anyone noticing, the European gas market has been changing, not in Russians favor. When Ukraine stopped the flow of Russian gas westward in the winter 2009, a combination of existing European contingency and emergency plans were set up. Britain has now a terminal for LNG and reduced demand for imported gas in the US; thanks to the development of shale gas there, has increased stocks of LNG for delivery elsewhere. The opening of Nord Stream adds a further dimension, with the potential to increase reliability of supplies and keep prices down, can be seen as enhancing Europe's security. This combination can hardly be welcome to Gasprom as it could force lower prices and fewer customers.

However, although the exploitation of the polish shale gas can bring some benefits there are some barriers to be overcome, especially if compared to the shale gas production in US. In this sense, large shale gas resources do not necessarily mean large scale production due to technical and economic factors. Assuming large scale productions, the overall gas supply will increase, which can have a similar effect that the discovery of large amounts of conventional gas reserves, having similar impacts of the policies.

This fact has already had a large effect on global European and US gas prices. Although it is difficult to isolate the impact of increasing shale production on global gas prices from other factors such as demand reduction due to the recession, the promotion of renewable energy resources and/or the increase in LNG liquefaction capacity, it is likely to have played a role in reducing gas prices. In addition it is likely to have an impact on the policies to secure the gas supply although it is not certain due to the high energy demand from developing countries, such as China and India. Finally, it will be necessary new regulations, particularly environmental ones concerning the usage and disposal of water, that may be delayed the production of shale gas in Europe.

UK's shale gas

As commented previously, depending on the estimations of the size of the wells shale gas, the impact on the gas market would be significantly different, at least in the near future. As shown in this essay, the positions of the countries owing shale gas reserves are considerably different and it is partially due to the uncertainty over the likely levels of unconventional gas production.

UK's shale gas estimations are considered to be large enough to cover the British domestic consumption for the next 19years. This fact means that British shale gas production will not avoid the natural gas dependence and consequently these findings are not seen as a solution to become more independent. However, the question now is what these findings can have an impact on the renewable energy sector. Recently UK government prioritized the investments on nuclear and renewable energy sources, but the investments in renewable are not stable. Offshore wind is expensive and returns are only achieved in long term. The exploitation of shale gas can make investments on gas facilities much more attractive shifting the current investments from renewable to gas sources stopping its development.

Policy

The current policy tools do not cover properly the specific risks of hydraulic fracturing. Therefore, the development of a coherent and strict European legislation, before allowing the extraction of these wells is highly recommendable. Nine major gaps can be identified:

1.      Lack of a mining framewok directive

2.      Insufficient threshold in the environmental impact assessment directive for NG extraction

3.      Declaration of hazardous materials not mandatory

4.      Approval of chemicals remaining in the ground not required

5.      No BREF on hydraulic fracturing

6.      The waste water treatment requirements are insufficiently defined, and the capacities of water processing facilities are probably insufficient if underground injection and disposal is to be banned

7.      Insufficient public participation in decision-making at regional level

8.      Effectiveness of water framework directive insufficient

9.      LCA not mandatory

Discussion

More general questions of shale gas production is framed in geopolitical issues. Should Europe import natural gas or should we develop these new types of operations? Nowadays, there is no a general agreement on the European shale gas exploitation. On one hand, some voices raise in favor of developing these new technologies as the possibility may have a significant impact on the dominant position held by certain oil and gas producing countries, particularly in the Golf region and Russia.

On the other hand, the environmental impacts of the extraction is relative high in comparison to other fossil fuels and the low social acceptance and economic considerations make the extraction of shale gas to be thoroughly evaluated.

A decrease in the gas prices, caused by the higher amount available in the European market, can increase  the demand of this energy source increasing, consequently, the GHG emissions and compromising the European objectives by 2020 (20% reduction of GHG emissions). In addition, the decrease in the gas prices can shift current investments on renewable energies towards gas investment decelerating the development of these technologies and postponing their implementation in our society

But over the long term, despite the unfavorable environmental impact assessments related to the exploitation of this unconventional gas, the constantly rising demand for energy, the persistence of tensions related to security of supply and the geographic distribution of the deposits all but ensure that these reserves will be extracted.

Conclusions

Shale gas extraction and production is becoming an issue of concern in Europe. The last news about the new reservoir discovered in UK and the technologic advances that made the extraction and production of shale gas possible bring into question the future European gas market.

Shale gas is characterized by higher environmental impacts than other fossil fuels, due to the land use, the use of chemicals for the extraction, the location of the reservoirs and the cracking produced in the soils. Ground water contamination is the main fear of this technology.

However, the opportunities that the shale gas exploitation brings to ensure, at least until a certain extent, the energy security in supply in Europe and to decrease the gas prices are the main driving forces that ensure that these reserves will be commercialized.

Sources

Publications parliament of UK 20/01/2011

Impacts of sale gas and shale oil extraction on the environment and on human health

Independent: Poland's shale gas dilemma for Europe 27/09/2011

Other news published at EU level: ENDS, European voice, etc…

 

CIUDADANA...... DE DONDE??

Venir a la ciudad que me vio nacer siempre desordena mis ideas y tal vez es por eso que la frecuento tan poquito… esta vez no podía ser de otra manera. Aterrice el mismísimo día del Pilar a horas en las cuales la mayoría de la duplicada población de la ciudad aun no se había acostado y/o retirado a sus casas para vestirse con el traje típico y salir de nuevo a la calle. Este año fue una excepción para mi por dos razones, la primera estaba en casa en un día, supuestamente, tan especial para nosotros después de unos 4 o 5 años y la segunda no me iba a poner ninguno de los trajes que siguen magníficamente colgados en el armario… pero lo que de verdad me llamo la atención, es que no solo no echaba de menos el traje baturra sino que me sentía como una extranjera en mi propia ciudad!!!  Cosa que se dio cuenta hasta la funcionaria de correos al solicitar mi papeleta de voto de correo y recordarme como si fuera lo mas normal del mundo que "tu hija mía de algún sitio serás, no??"

La cosa no paro allí, sino que fue a peor con el transcurso del tiempo…. La brevedad de mi estancia me obliga a quedar de manera acelerada con mis diferentes grupos de amigos: del colegio primario, universidad, de la familia, de actividades de ocio, etc.… este cambio de personajes actualizándote su vida en pocos segundos e intentando analizar la información recibida en micromilésimas de segundo me pone los pelos de punta… lo peor de todo viene cuando en el transfondo de la conversación se entrevé el abismo que existe entre sus progresos (se casan, tienen niños, tienen niños, tienen niños… de 3 a 0 años y en camino los tenemos de todos los gustos y colores!!!!) y el estancamiento de mi vida…. y ya, para rematar la faena llega el típico consejo de "tienes que venirte a tu tierra para asentar la cabeza: formar una familia"…. Ufff, si tu supieras que ya no se cual es mi tierra….

Eso si, donde me he sentido identificada ha sido en la manifestación de "los indignados"  Triste verdad?? Pero parece que la indignación es uno de los pocos sentimientos comunes a todos, independientemente de tu origen o lugar de residencia…. parece entonces, que a lo mejor a lo que nos estamos enfrentando es un problema global donde deberiamos tener una sociedad global y donde no merece la pena tener un sentimiento de pertenencia a un región, sino simplemente ganas de mejorar nuestra situación, que es parecida a la de todos los demas… ufff, quién diría que yo, que soy totalmente contraria a la globalización por lo insostenible que es y todos los impactos medioambientales que causa, iba a pasarseme este pensamiento por mi cabecita llena de pajaros... y llegar a sentirme más identificada con ser una ciudadana del mundo que de algún sitio concreto…. Aysss, si al final J.M. iba a llevar razón!!! ;-))

ESSAY: ENERGY STORAGE

The energy storage is mainly an economic decision. Without storage, an industry must develop and maintain an entire delivery network capable of meeting the highest peak of the year at any given moment. It means that the generation and consumption of the energy would be ‘just-in-time’, whereas with storage the industry must build up just what is considered to be a heavy but possible load.

Although electricity can not be directly stored, it can be transformed in other forms and converted back to electricity when needed. The additional value of the electricity during the peaks of demand must, therefore, cover the cost of the storage. Therefore, not all the systems for storing energy are suitable at any point.

As the electricity demand is expected to continue growing up, storage can be a key point to give flexibility to the electricity market. In addition, energy storage plays an important role in the development of the renewable energies. The production of renewable energy is desirable because of the environmental improvements, the increase in the energy security (supply becomes more independent from third countries with low political stability) and the improvement in the competitiveness. However, renewable energy resources have two problems. Firstly, most of the renewable energy sources usually take place in locations far away from the centers of consumption (especially those concerning to wind farms) being necessary the construction of new grids. The construction of the grids takes much longer that the construction of the wind farms and this Lag-time opens a door to the storage technologies to use locally the energy generated. Secondly, the generation of power, generally speaking, occurs when the power demand is low.  By storing this power, it can be released during the peaks of demand. Both facts will make renewable energy more cost-effective and promote its acceptance in the coming years

Without storage, the electricity market is threatened with

a)      Raised volatility: higher and more unpredictable prices which lead to reduced investment by manufacturing and service industries in that region

b)      Reduced reliability: lower assurance that high quality power will be continually available rises the cost of the electricity and the risk of damaging the facilities

c)       Threatened security: problems of secury of supply where backups are much likely to occur and increase the damage of sabotage

However, if the energy storage technologies are further developed and successfully applied, those previous challenges can be overcome and a more efficient market that costs less to operate and that is more responsive to market changes and reliable in the event of disruption is achieved.

As commented, not all the locations should be provided with the same energy storage. At present, a number of technologies are commercially viable, while others are expected to be in the next future.

Pumped-hydro storage is the oldest and largest of all the storage technologies. It consists of two reservoirs, one located at a low level and other at higher level. During the off-peak the water is pumped from the lower reservoir to the higher one, where it is stored. During the on-peaks, water is released producing electricity in the water-turbines placed under the waterfall. Due to the high construction cost, long construction times and the requirement of large amounts of land, this technology is only suitable in certain locations.

Compressed air energy storage consists in compressing air into a underground reservoir during the off-peaks and releasing this air during the on-peaks. The air goes through a gas turbine generating the electricity. This technology together with the pumped-hydro storage is the only one that is commercially available to provide large capacity of storage

Regenerative fuel cells are capable of storing and releasing energy through a reversible electrochemical reaction between the two electrolytes. In this technology the electricity is stored into chemical energy and the release of the potential energy occurs within an electrochemical cell with a separate compartment for each electrolyte (separated by an ion-exchange membrane).

Battery is a technology used as utility-scale energy storage and that relies on different electrochemical reactions. However, all of them are composed of two electrodes separated by an electrolyte. During the discharge, ions from the anode (first electrode) are released into the solution and deposit oxides on the cathode (second electrode).

Superconducting magnetic energy storage is an emerging technology where the energy is stored in the magnetic fields created by the flow of direct and current in a coil of cryogenically cooled, superconducting material. It has a high operating cost and therefore best suited to provide constant, deep discharges and constant activity.

Flywheels stores energy through accelerating a rotor up to a high rate of speed and maintaining the energy in the system as inertial energy. Advanced composite materials needed to lower the weight of the rotor. The energy stored in the rotor is proportional to its momentum but the square of the angular momentum. The advantages of this system are the compactness of the system and the lower operate and maintenance costs.

Thermal systems are high-technologies based in the storage of energy either as ice-based systems to cool down commercial and buildings during the high temperatures or as a molten-salt based for steam production. Both kind of systems are not yet fully developed and seems to be the most suitable ones to extend the ability of solar and other renewable energy resources.

Hydrogen is still in the development stages as well, but will be an integral component of any future economy. The hydrogen can be stored in a gas, liquid or carbon-based form, which is then released through a chemical or physical reaction to power a fuel cell. Most storage systems can be used for both stationary and vehicle applications.

Independently of the energy storage technology they bring competitiveness to the market. Especially the large scaled storage facilities are expected to improve the reliability of the grid, allow a faster recoup of the investments and decrease the market risks. Due to the capacity of absorb energy during the off-peaks and release while it is needed the beneficial effects of the energy storage technologies will be accumulated as long as they are incorporated into the market. These benefits will be, among others:

-          Better energy management allocating the energy between the low-cost off-peak and the high-cost peaks

-          Provide power to assure a continuity of service during the switch-on and switch-off of the power facilities

-          Maintain the grid stability, voltage, power quality and reliability

To sum up, the development and implementation of the most suitable energy storage technology for each location is a must in the coming years. This implementation should be carried out at the same time that the energy network is renovated or construction and it will bring down the electricity prices by improving the management of the energy market, increase the security of supply and its quality in terms of stability, power and reliability, and allow the development of the renewable energy sources.

Acknowledgement

I thank all of you who want to post a comment!! ;-)

Sources
Enery storage, ESC white paper of the energy storage council, 2002, among others...