Batteries developed for grid stabilization

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edatoakrun

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Utilizing batteries to store electricity economically on a large scale may now be very close.

This could make intermittent renewable energy sources such as Wind and Solar much more useful, and sound the death-knell of expensive, inefficient, and CO2-pollution-intensive “peaker” fossil fuel generation.

The FT article below (free registration required) is the first I've seen from a (reputable?) source that a cost-effective application using a dedicated battery design may be near.

Alevo, a privately held Swiss company, says it has managed to solve many of the problems usually associated with large-scale batteries, and can transform power grids by providing a cost-effective way to meet demand at peak times with lower pollution than other technologies.

It is spending an initial $350m on its new plant in North Carolina, rising to $1bn-plus by 2016, and hiring 500 people next year, with plans to increase staffing to 2,500 in three years...

The difficulty of storing power is one of the energy industry’s greatest challenges, and it is becoming more acute with the rise of varying sources of electricity such as wind and solar...

Power grids typically cover variability in demand and supply by using gas-fired “peaking plants”, which are a more expensive source of power than most fossil fuel plants used for baseload electricity, or by varying the output from those baseload plants, which makes them less efficient than if they are run steadily...

Its technology uses lithium, like most typical rechargeable batteries, but Alevo says it has made a breakthrough in using an inorganic electrolyte, which is non-flammable and removes the risk of overheating.

It expects to deliver power at a lower cost than gas peaking plants, and to make the grid more efficient with lower average costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The batteries are heavy, and would not work for electric cars, but weight is less of an issue for fixed installations on a power grid.

Their greatest advantage, the company says, is that they can be charged and discharged tens of thousands of times without losing capacity, and their performance can be given a warranty for 20 years or longer.”

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2ea8fbe8-5dec-11e4-897f-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=engage/email/topic/reg/topics/crm&utm_source=reg&utm_medium=email&utm_term=topic&utm_campaign=topics&siteedition=uk#axzz3HpTulyrO" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Related topic:

Repurposing of LEAF batteries in stationary applications.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15816" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
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