Distributed Storage

As solar and wind make up larger portions of the energy mix, energy storage is becoming an increasingly important piece of the puzzle in keeping electricity networks running smoothly. And as battery costs fall, new business models are emerging to increase the value of battery energy storage projects for both grid operators and project owners. Focusing on two leading countries – the United Kingdom and Australia – pv magazine looks at what’s in store for large-scale energy storage.

German scientists have applied a new combination of cathodes and electrolytes to improve the stability of lithium-metal batteries. They fabricated a device with an energy density of 560 watt-hours per kilogram and a Coulombic efficiency of 99.94%.

U.S.-based Xos offers a mobile charging station for commercial electric fleets, in order to provide power without making fixed infrastructure upgrades.

Japanese scientists have developed a new lithium-sulfur battery by using titanium oxide and titanium nitride to prevent the formation of polysulfides during the fabrication process. This allows the battery to retain 85% of its capacity after 500 cycles at 2 C.

China’s battery manufacturing industry is growing robustly in line with the rapid expansion of the electric vehicle market. The stationary storage sector currently lags behind developments in leading markets such as the United States and Europe, but strong growth is expected between now and 2030, driven by supportive policies. Fang-Wei Yuan, a senior analyst at InfoLink, examines the latest developments in China’s energy storage industry and looks at the announcements and product launches made at the Shanghai SNEC exhibition back in June.

Ambri plans to commercialize its calcium-antimony liquid metal battery chemistry and open manufacturing facilities to deliver projects in 2023 and beyond.

Multiple drivers are combining to allow battery capacity in electric vehicles to be used as a grid asset through vehicle-to-grid technology, writes George Hilton, senior analyst for energy storage at IHS Markit. Vehicle-to-grid tech could offer low-cost energy storage at a huge scale, but there are many barriers to overcome.

The two agreed to advance safe deployment and use of second-life battery energy storage systems.

A new report predicts lithium-ion technology to lead the Indian battery energy storage systems market by 2030 as prices for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and lithium nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery technologies fall.

Battery prices are falling, and renewable energy generation continues to expand, leading power plant developers to co-locate energy storage along with power generation assets.