Battery storage

The 420 MW/40 MW storage-plus-storage facility was deployed by the Danish energy company Ørsted on a 3,600-acre site alongside existing oil and gas installations in Texas.

The proposed solution is claimed to be able to mitigate potential fire risk, improve logistics and reduce costs. It consists of a series of interchangeable wide blocks that are said to be easily movable for simplified transportation.

A Danish consortium is seeking to store electricity from large scale renewable energy plants in the form of thermal energy in big tanks containing crushed, pea-sized stones made of basalt. The first 10 MWh demonstrator is planned to be developed in Denmark and to be powered by a wind facility. Another project is also under development in the United States and is planned to be linked to a solar plant.

Scientists investigating the aging mechanisms affecting today’s lithium-ion batteries observed that the loss of lithium over time is one of the main causes of performance loss. With this in mind, they developed and tested a “relithiation” process that promises to eliminate much of the cost and complexity from recycling battery components and materials.

Manufactured by Germany’s Fenecon, the modular battery has a storage capacity ranging from 8 kWh to 22 kWh. The product is claimed to allow predictive, grid-friendly charging and discharging.

Silicon Valley-based start-up Gridtential has secured $12 million in funds to develop what it calls the world’s first factory-ready, single-block, 24V, deep-cycle lead battery. The product is claimed to be ideal for personal mobility vehicles and renewable energy storage in homes and offices.

Contract Power Australia, a subsidiary of Pacific Energy, is set to design, construct, install and commission 42 MW of battery capacity for Fortescue Metals Group as part of its Pilbara Energy Connect project. The storage facility will be the largest grid-connected battery system in Western Australia.

The National Energy Administration has ordered grid companies to supply enough network connection points for all the solar and wind projects registered in 2019 and 2020, and said variable renewables should be supplying 11% of the nation’s electricity by the end of the year.

The “graphene revolution” is almost here. Australian scientists specializing in aluminum-ion batteries are now working with Brisbane-based Graphene Manufacturing Group to commercialize a technology that could transform energy storage.

Scientists in the UK used the latest imaging techniques to visualize and understand the process of dendrite formation and electrolyte cracking in an all solid-state battery. With new insight into the mechanisms by which these cracks form and ultimately lead to battery failure, the results could help direct the focus of future research into solid-state battery technology.