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A Battery to Prop Up Renewable Power Hits the Market
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/532311/a-battery-to-prop-up-renewable-power-hits-the-market/[font face=Serif][font size=5]A Battery to Prop Up Renewable Power Hits the Market[/font]
[font size=4]A startup has started selling a battery that helps solar and wind power operate in remote locations.[/font]
By Kevin Bullis on November 14, 2014
[font size=3]A new kind of battery that stores energy from solar and wind power cheaply and cleanly has hit the market. It is by far the cheapest of a new generation of large, long-lived batteries that could make it possible to rely heavily on intermittent, renewable energy sources.
Aquion Energy, a company spun out of Carnegie Mellon University, recently delivered the first of its batteries to operators of small power grids, or “microgrids,” that can operate independently of the centralized grid.
…
Aquion’s batteries use sodium ions from saltwater as their electrolyte. Electrical current moves through this brackish liquid from positive electrodes based on manganese oxide to negative ones based on carbon. The batteries are large and operate slowly, but they are also manufactured cheaply, using repurposed manufacturing equipment. Last week Aquion announced $34.6 million in funding to help it scale up production.
The batteries cost about as much as lead-acid ones, which are sometimes used now, but they last twice as long, effectively cutting the long-term costs in half (see “Demo: Storing the Sun”). Other long-lived batteries exist, but they cost far more than lead-acid batteries.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]A startup has started selling a battery that helps solar and wind power operate in remote locations.[/font]
By Kevin Bullis on November 14, 2014
[font size=3]A new kind of battery that stores energy from solar and wind power cheaply and cleanly has hit the market. It is by far the cheapest of a new generation of large, long-lived batteries that could make it possible to rely heavily on intermittent, renewable energy sources.
Aquion Energy, a company spun out of Carnegie Mellon University, recently delivered the first of its batteries to operators of small power grids, or “microgrids,” that can operate independently of the centralized grid.
…
Aquion’s batteries use sodium ions from saltwater as their electrolyte. Electrical current moves through this brackish liquid from positive electrodes based on manganese oxide to negative ones based on carbon. The batteries are large and operate slowly, but they are also manufactured cheaply, using repurposed manufacturing equipment. Last week Aquion announced $34.6 million in funding to help it scale up production.
The batteries cost about as much as lead-acid ones, which are sometimes used now, but they last twice as long, effectively cutting the long-term costs in half (see “Demo: Storing the Sun”). Other long-lived batteries exist, but they cost far more than lead-acid batteries.
…[/font][/font]
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