Energy Storage

French renewable energy developer Neoen has signed a seven-year agreement with Australian utility AGL to provide 70 MW/140 MWh of virtual battery capacity in New South Wales.

In other news, Airbus and Kawasaki Heavy Industries plan to work together to prepare a hydrogen-fueled ecosystem, while Storgrundet Offshore and Lhyfe want to build a 600 MW hydrogen production plant in Sweden. Furthermore, Canada-based First Hydrogen has identified four industrial sites in the United Kingdom and is advancing discussions with landowners to secure land rights to develop green hydrogen production projects.

A Spanish-Italian research group has developed a solid-state thermal-to-electric energy converter based on hybrid thermionic-photovoltaics (TIPV) for different applications. It consists of a three-terminal TIPV device made with a tungsten (W) thermionic cathode, a PV/anode structure made of an indium phosphide (n-InP) anode, and a photovoltaic cell based on indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs).

Developed by an MIT spin-off, the device is based on a standard, two-electrode electrochemical cell containing conductive polymers, a carbon-graphene hybrid, and a non-flammable liquid electrolyte. The battery cells were tested to perform for 12,000 cycles at 100% depth of discharge.

Developed by a Chinese-Swedish research group, the device is an ultra-thin chip that could be integrated into electronics such as headphones, smartwatches and telephones. It combines a Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage System (MOST) with a micro-fabricated system that includes a thermoelectric generator (TEG) with a low-dimensional material-based microelectromechanical system (MEMS).

A major Western Australian mine targeting the global vanadium battery market was this week found to be bankable, with feasibility studies confirming the project’s “strong commercial case for development,” its owner Australian Vanadium Limited said.

Water-from-air technology company Aqua Aerem’s Desert Bloom green hydrogen project received Major Project Status from the Northern Territory government last year. It has now announced a partnership with Japanese energy giant Osaka Gas that not only brings the 10 GW project closer to reality, but has also seen the company boost its ambitions to 20 GW in light of “quickly developing demand.”

US researchers have proposed the use of hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells to store renewable energy via compressed natural gas, with the levelized cost of storage potentially coming in at $70/MWh and $270/MWh. They said wells could also be used to store other renewable gases such as carbon dioxide or hydrogen in the future.

A startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has introduced ZincGel battery tech, which could offer significant savings for owners of two-wheel electric vehicles.

Bosch’s new solid oxide fuel cell prototype has an electrical efficiency of more than 60% and an overall efficiency above 85%. It also has a targeted power output of 10 kW and can produce up to 3 kW of thermal energy.