Distributed Storage

The first Model Y electric cars have rolled off the assembly line at the US electric car manufacturer’s first European factory.

Elsewhere, the Fraunhofer ISE research institute has unveiled a new tool for high-resolution power-to-X kinetic analysis, and German entities have signed partnership agreements with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

Scientists in Germany have identified the main challenges that are preventing aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) from becoming a mainstream storage technology for power grid applications. According to their analysis, the two main hurdles that must be overcome in future research are the increase of the specific energy of the full Zn-ion cell and the prevention of the parasitic hydrogen evolution reaction occurring during the Zn electrodeposition step.

Vattenfall, SSAB and LKAB have reached the halfway point in the construction of a rock cavern storage facility in a coastal city in northern Sweden. The 100-cubic-meter facility is being constructed 30 meters below ground and will begin storing green hydrogen next year.

An international research group has developed a solid oxide fuel cell that may be used in vehicles. The monolith device has an active cell area of around 18 cm2 and was built through common manufacturing processes. It was found to achieve a high power density of 5.6 kW/L, which the scientists said is comparable with that of the best performing fuel cells based on ceramic anodes.

Australia’s biggest power producer AGL has secured planning approval for a 500MW/2GWh grid-connected utility scale battery to be developed at the site of its coal-fired Liddell power plant in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

In other news, Ford has accelerated its EV push in Europe with seven new models, Samsung SDI is building a pilot line for solid state batteries, Northvolt is planning its third battery gigafactory in northern Germany, whereas Porsche has unveiled new electrification plans.

A Dutch-Danish research group has provided a proof of concept for the use of Blatter radicals in electrochemical energy-storage applications. It tested these compounds in a small electrochemical cell that was found to remain stable over 275 charge/discharge cycles.

According to the new provisions introduced by the French government, owners of PV systems with a capacity of up to 500 kW will pay a grid fee that is 40% of the current rate. As for heat pumps, their owners will pay only 20% of the fee.

Researchers in Spain have designed a pumped thermal energy storage system that uses supercritical carbon dioxide as a heat pump and a heat engine. The proposed system is claimed to achieve an efficiency of 80.26% and an LCOS of €0.116/kWh.