High-tech batteries for power utilities: Load leveling and peak shaving are attractive reasons for power companies and customers alike to encourage development of advanced batteries

As electric utilities respond to mounting pressures to provide electricity more efficiently, reliably, and cheaply, they may in the near future be turning to one of the oldest electrical devices: the storage battery. A far cry from Volta's pile, the batteries under development for utility applications will eventually store megawatthours of energy.