A Survey on Energy Storage: Techniques and Challenges

Intermittent renewable energy is becoming increasingly popular, as storing stationary and mobile energy remains a critical focus of attention. Although electricity cannot be stored on any scale, it can be converted to other kinds of energies that can be stored and then reconverted to electricity on demand. Such energy storage systems can be based on batteries, supercapacitors, flywheels, thermal modules, compressed air, and hydro storage. This survey article explores several aspects of energy storage. First, we define the primary difficulties and goals associated with energy storage. Second, we discuss several strategies employed for energy storage and the criteria used to identify the most appropriate technology. In addition, we address the current issues and limitations of energy storage approaches. Third, we shed light on the battery technologies, which are most frequently used in a wide range of applications for energy storage. The usage and types of batteries are described alongside their market shares and social and environmental aspects. Moreover, the recent advances in battery state estimation and cell-balancing mechanisms are reviewed.