UC Berkeley

Renewable energy–such as photovoltaics and wind power–is rapidly moving into the mainstream, with global solar capacity set to outproduce nuclear energy capacity for the first time. But a major holdup has been how to store the electricity produced by renewables; consequently, good, cheap, long-lasting battery storage has been the Holy Grail of R&D in this area. But how close are we in reaching this goal? To track progress, the authors have introduced a new, “two-factor” model of analyzing innovations in energy storage that accounts not only for total sales of a particular technology but also for the degree of investment in innovation, measured by looking at the number of new patents issued in energy storage technology.