Page 37 - PEN Ebook March 2021

SMART ENERGY Smart Energy

Of course, there will be re-

sistance as there often is with
change of this magnitude. Mov-
ing money from legacy power
utilities to a barrage of clean
tech and renewable energy
upstarts won’t come easy. Even
for consumers like ourselves,
who have to shake off years

of muscle memory and habits Figure 1: RES Topologies.
will have to take part in making There is a 57% increase in global electricity
a difference for the greater good. Everyone has demand expected by 2050. So, while the wide-
skin in the game from consumers, politicians, spread adoption of renewable energy generation
lobbyists, old guard power utilities, clean air tech and storage continues to gain ground, it is not
companies, to name a few. That all said, renew- growing fast enough to meet this demand. As the
Renewable Energy able energy storage is the future and it’s here to world’s demand for electricity continues to grow,

world leaders are uniting to derail the produc-
stay.
Storage with GaN Brings But before we get deeper into the solution, let’s tion, distribution and use to be the same source
of dangerous CO in our environment.
2
Utopia Within Reach touch on the scope of the problem and the de- Fortunately, the creation of renewable energy has
pendence on electricity. Despite efforts to curb
our usage in recent years, global demand for
surged in recent years. In 2018, renewable energy
electricity grew 33% over the past decade. Fos- represented 27% of the energy pie and by 2050
By Paul Wiener, Vice President Strategic Marketing, GaN Systems
sil fuels were used to meet 70% of the growth, it’s projected to be 64% of the world electrical

a trend we all need to work together to reverse. power, ¾ of this coming from intermittent wind
While world leaders take center stage pushing Unlike traditional energy sources like oil and coal, and solar resources. Along with
out massive climate agendas and policies to bet- which rely on burning hazardous gases and ma- that growth, we’ve seen major
ter protect the environment, there is an untold terials into the atmosphere, renewable energy is strides in battery innovation
story unfolding about the renewable energy stor- energy derived from naturally-occurring sources and power semiconductors to
age industry and its role shaping our future and that can be constantly replenished such as solar, store that energy and make it
maybe even saving the planet. wind and hydroelectric power. While there has usable 24 hours a day.

been steady progress and momentum building
Yes, it’s a bold assumption but not unrealistic with the adoption of renewable energy storage For example, battery capacity
given the steady growth of renewable ener- use cases thriving in residential, commercial and added globally between today
gy storage in recent years and its lofty goals in industrial areas all around the world, we can’t and 2050 is projected to be a
reducing the global carbon footprint and our de- simply reverse engineer hundreds of years of 7X increase. The growth can
pendence on fossil fuels. The potential to make neglect that has put the world's environment on be attributed to battery pack
the world a better place is very real - reversing the brink of dystopia. prices drastically reducing 65%
the path from near dystopia to the doorstep of a down to 70 dollars per kilowatt
lush utopia. Figure 2: Bidirectional Round Trip Efficiency Comparison. hour over the next few years.

36 MARCH 2021 | www.powerelectronicsnews.com MARCH 2021 | www.powerelectronicsnews.com 37