Energy Storage in Urban Areas: The Role of Energy Storage Facilities, a Review

Positive Energy Districts can be defined as connected urban areas, or energy-efficient and flexible buildings, which emit zero greenhouse gases and manage surpluses of renewable energy production. Energy storage is crucial for providing flexibility and supporting renewable energy integration into the energy system. It can balance centralized and distributed energy generation, while contributing to energy security. Energy storage can respond to supplement demand, provide flexible generation, and complement grid development. Photovoltaics and wind turbines together with solar thermal systems and biomass are widely used to generate electricity and heating, respectively, coupled with energy system storage facilities for electricity (i.e., batteries) or heat storage using latent or sensible heat. Energy storage technologies are crucial in modern grids and able to avoid peak charges by ensuring the reliability and efficiency of energy supply, while supporting a growing transition to nondepletable power sources. This work aims to broaden the scientific and practical understanding of energy storage in urban areas in order to explore the flexibility potential in adopting feasible solutions at district scale where exploiting the space and resource-saving systems. The main objective is to present and critically discuss the available options for energy storage that can be used in urban areas to collect and distribute stored energy. The concerns regarding the installation and use of Energy Storage Systems are analyzed by referring to regulations, and technical and environmental requirements, as part of broader distribution systems, or as separate parts. Electricity, heat energy, and hydrogen are the most favorable types of storage. However, most of them need new regulations, technological improvement, and dissemination of knowledge to all people with the aim of better understanding the benefits provided.