Energy Storage

Proposed by Egyptian scientists, the proposed GIS technique considers a pumped-hydro project’s head and elevation difference, the penstock-length distance from the base plant, the site’s slopes and slope of the ground surface, the distance to the national grid and road networks, and the soil suitability. It also takes into account constraints such as land use and restrictions.

The French energy company blamed interconnection costs along with global supply chain and production issues, and tariff and trade disputes.

The lack of an incentive regime for battery projects and the like – whether a fixed feed-in tariff or market-driven contracts-for-difference program – is likely to see the COP26 host miss its 100%-clean-power-by-2035 commitment, according to K2 Management.

London-based – and apparently Moby Dick-inspired – Queequeg Renewables has revealed plans for a slew of solar projects and a string of battery plants which will provide grid balancing services.

Australian startup Gelion is seeking to commercialize a non-flow zinc-bromide battery based on a stable gel replacing a flowing electrolyte. According to the manufacturer, the device is safe, robust and recyclable.

Austrian researchers have demonstrated a chemical looping system can be retrofitted into biogas plants. It is said the new tech can produce high-purity hydrogen for fuel cells on an industrial scale. The scientists concerned said their system could produce hydrogen, on a decentralized basis, for €5/kg.

Newcastle University engineers have patented a thermal storage material that can store large amounts of renewable energy as heat for long periods. MGA Thermal is now manufacturing the thermal energy storage blocks as storage for large-scale solar systems and to repurpose coal-fired power stations.

U.K. researchers have developed a battery with a photocathode made of vanadium dioxide, which is used to harvest light and store zinc ions and zinc oxide as a charge transport layer. The device showed an efficiency of around 1.2% and capacity retention of around 73% after 500 cycles.

U.S. researchers have concluded that wind and solar generation resources that were sized at 1.5 times along with three hours of energy storage would meet all but 200 hours of demand scattered throughout any given year.

An increasing share of residential solar arrays now include energy storage batteries. In part one of this two-part series, pv magazine reviewed the backup power features of batteries. In this part, costs, benefits and timing are evaluated.