Assessment of various energy storage methods for implementation in hot and arid climates

Global warming plays an increasing role in our world, as the share of renewable energy sources in the overall production of electricity has witnessed exponential growth over the past years. Consumer demands are required to be met at any moment at a feasible price. However, storing energy in hot and arid climate regions is a sensitive matter as it is critical to consider appropriate technologies to implement for avoiding unnecessary causalities caused by extreme temperatures. This study compares 13 different energy storage methods, namely; pumped hydro, compressed air, flywheels, hot water storage, molten salt, hydrogen, ammonia, lithium-ion battery, Zn-air battery, redox flow battery, fuel cells, supercapacitors, and superconducting magnetic storage to be implemented in hot arid regions in terms of water usage, energy density, location dependency, and temperature degradation. A survey was conducted based on prior criteria to compare all 13 energy storage methods. The study concluded that the highest rankings for energy storage techniques are obtained for; Zn-air battery, superconductors, and flywheels with overall rankings of 7.18, 6.73, and 6.61, respectively. In contrast, some of the rankings are very close to each other implying the potential application of several methods in hot climates.