Batteries: Today's Energy Solution

[Archimid]

Second link claims 20MW 80 MWH in cargo container. Not too bad. hundred of these in a football stadium could power one of several millionstrong midwestern towns that i wander past. Probably best to colocate with large consumers to cut down prices for xmission and xformer yards.

With such mobility and compactness eventually these batteries should be as close as possible to their load/charger to minimize transmission losses. Thanks for bringing up this technology.

[Jim Hunt]

More on vanadium redox flow batteries

Further to our conversation over at aTTP's place:

There’s even one of those in North Cornwall. Note that redT insist on calling it a “containerised vanadium redox flow machine“!

http://www.V2G.co.uk/2017/11/redt-flow-machine-connects-to-centrica-local-energy-market/

[sidd]

Peakers, storage and batteries: duration matters

"I can beat a gas peaker anywhere in the country today with a solar-plus-storage power plant,"

" Hohenstein advocated a "duration portfolio" approach that uses energy storage to shave peak load. "

"When solar penetration is lower than about 11%, the potential of four-hour storage is lower than it would be with zero solar deployment because solar penetration of 11% or less flattens the load curve. Above 11% penetration, however, NREL found that solar power creates a "peakier" load curve that increases the potential of four-hour storage."

"the cost of energy storage is highly dependent on the number of hours of duration needed."

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/unlayering-peak-demand-could-accelerate-energy-storage-adoption/546098/

sidd

[Sigmetnow]

India is getting its own giant battery gigafactory for electric vehicles

“Our plan is to be the largest Lithium-ion Battery manufacturer in India, and we aim to be the first mover in one of the world’s largest markets. The interest this project is generating especially in the Indian automobile sector is very exciting.”

They are talking about a factory with a capacity of up to 30 GWh per year, which is comparable to what Tesla and Panasonic are producing at Gigafactory 1 at the moment. ...

https://electrek.co/2019/01/21/india-battery-gigafactory-electric-vehicles/

[Archimid]

Colorado's largest Tesla Powerpack




I thought this was a very insightful interview.

[oren]

I thought this was a very insightful interview.

I agree, showcases the thought processes on the (rather conservative) utility side, and the benefits of a battery system.

[Sigmetnow]

Lithium from California’s Salton Sea brine?  Interesting, if true.

Tesla is in talks to buy lithium from Warren Buffett’s geothermal wells in California, report says

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy is looking to potentially extract large amounts of lithium from its Salton Sea geothermal plants and Tesla is reportedly in talks to be a customer.

https://electrek.co/2019/01/25/tesla-talks-lithium-warren-buffett-geothermal-wells-california-report/

[Sigmetnow]

Even compared to the Tesla Model S and X, the Model 3 battery design is quite different.

Tesla Model 3 Battery Current Collector: Radically Different Design
https://insideevs.com/tesla-model-3-battery-current-collector-design/amp/

[Sigmetnow]

Tesla acquires ultracapacitor and battery manufacturer Maxwell for over $200 million

But Tesla’s acquisition of Maxwell might have little to do with ultracapacitors.
The automaker might be more interested with Maxwell’s dry electrode technology that they have been hyping recently.
Maxwell claims that its electrode enables an energy density of over 300 Wh/kg in current demonstration cells and they see a path to over 500 Wh/kg.

This would represent a significant improvement over current battery cells used by Tesla and enable longer range or lighter weight, but that’s not even the most attractive benefit of Maxwell’s dry electrode.

They claim that it should simplify the manufacturing process and result in a “10 to 20% cost reduction versus state-of-the-art wet electrodes” while “extending battery Life up to a factor of 2.”

https://electrek.co/2019/02/04/tesla-acquires-ultracapacitor-battery-manufacturer/

A paper on Maxwell’s electrode:
Electrochemical Performance of Dry Battery Electrode

Maxwell Technologies unique heritage solvent-free dry electrode process4 used to commercialized Ultracapacitor electrodes can be adapted to existing lithium ion battery chemistries and advanced materials. Maxwell dry electrode manufacturing demonstrative benefits over conventional slurry wet coating process includes, (i)environmentally benign due to elimination of toxic solvent, (ii) lower cost by reducing capital and operating expenditures, resulting from elimination of solvent recovery and recycling system, (iii) improved energy and power density afforded by unique dense high loading electrode microstructures.

http://ma.ecsdl.org/content/MA2018-01/3/365.abstract

I’m reading suggestions that ultracapacitors could be used to improve regenerative braking, by temporarily storing power when the battery cannot take it (e.g., when the battery is already at 100% charge, or on a long downhill stretch early in a trip).  Or for bursts of power.  And that the dry battery electrode could be of benefit in next generation solid state batteries.

[sidd]

Batteries are limited in charge rates, but that limit is considerably better for ultracapacitors. The downside is that ultracapacitors have small storage capacity caompared to batteries. So i see a role for them during hard braking, where the power generated by the EM brakes exceeds charge capacity of the battery. The ultracap sponges up the excess and dribbles it out at a rate the battery can absorb.

sidd

[Archimid]

Reposting a repost of a post, my emphasis:

This morning, Tesla announced it was acquiring Maxwell, a super capacitor manufacturer for about $200M in an all stock deal. I've already seen some reporting of this getting it all wrong, so here's my take.

This isn't about the super capacitors. This isn't about acquiring talented research scientists. It is all about the battery cell manufacturing technology that Maxwell has successfully transferred from their super capacitor manufacturing. This manufacturing technology (note, no new battery cell chemistry breakthroughs are here at all) allows any lithium ion cell to significantly increase:
Energy density
Power output at high energy capacities
Longevity
And it can do all three of the above simultaneously while being significantly cheaper to manufacture. Here's the Maxwell paper that describes the results.

A lithium ion battery is simple in concept. You start with an aluminum sheet that acts as the cathode electrode. You create the cathode by mixing a bunch of elements together (nickle, magnesium, cobalt, etc.) along with a liquid solvent to form a slurry paste. You then compress this slurry onto the aluminum sheet through high pressure rollers. You then dry the new composite sheet in an oven and drive off the liquid solvent. You do this process again, this time with a copper sheet and your anode material (typically graphite with some silicon these days), and then you combine these two composite sheets together along with a polymer separator and you've got a battery cell (view this for a really quick overview).

The liquid solvent adds challenges in that it interacts with the cathode and anode chemistries in undesirable ways. And it is expensive since you have to heat the composite in giant ovens and recover the driven off solvent vapor (can't vent into the air!).

What Maxwell claims to have is a process to mix and bond the cathode and anode ingredients WITHOUT needing a wet solvent. They use some kind of proprietary polymer binder and a dry process. So the end result is a better performing cell, in every which way possible (energy density, power density and longevity), AND it reduces manufacturing cost since you don't need high energy drying ovens and solvent recapture systems.

So, what's this mean? I think this means Tesla got a bargain for $200M in stock. Gotta scoot, more later.

From: https://rivianauto.club/xf/threads/teslas-battery-cell-technology-acquisition-maxwell.54/


Higher power density AND lower manufacturing emissions if no ovens are needed.  Excellent.

[oren]

Batteries are limited in charge rates, but that limit is considerably better for ultracapacitors. The downside is that ultracapacitors have small storage capacity caompared to batteries. So i see a role for them during hard braking, where the power generated by the EM brakes exceeds charge capacity of the battery. The ultracap sponges up the excess and dribbles it out at a rate the battery can absorb.

sidd

Indeed. And I think the same applies for hard acceleration. The ultracapacitor acts as a cache for the slower battery, protecting it from surges.

[sidd]

Re: the same applies for hard acceleration.

Perhaps for  short acceleration times, remember that braking times from 60 to zero are smaller than acceleration times from zero to 60 so power in from brakes is greater than power out during acceleration

The best braking times are 2.7-3 sec on performance cars with performance tires. Acceleration times from 0-60 in a performance car like a tesla is about twice that.

sidd

[GrauerMausling]

Re: the same applies for hard acceleration.

Perhaps for  short acceleration times, remember that braking times from 60 to zero are smaller than acceleration times from zero to 60 so power in from brakes is greater than power out during acceleration

The best braking times are 2.7-3 sec on performance cars with performance tires. Acceleration times from 0-60 in a performance car like a tesla is about twice that.

sidd

For current / future electric cars I don't think that it is necessary. Even for my car with a 'small' battery of 28 kWh the recuperation works for up to 80 (88?) kW. For the upcoming generation I guess we are talking about 200 kW - as the normal charge rate is already 150 kW.
Even the 80 kW are quite a lot and for 'normal' braking this will not be exceeded. Only for emergency braking this will not suffice. As this will not occur to often I don't see how this would justify to add ultra caps.

[NeilT]

Given that battery capacity is on the rise for the family car, I can see it as a problem which will, eventually, go away.  Where it is an issue is in heavy trucks where downhill braking can become a real issue and even moderate braking due to an issue on the road can produce extremely high levels of energy.

[sidd]

Rather than capacity, the actual limit is safe charging rates, which as was pointed out, is also increasing.

sidd

[Sigmetnow]

News from a few days ago.  New here?

New Battery Cell Patented By Tesla: Faster Charging, Lower Cost

Even though the news about a new patent comes after a few years of relative silence from Jeff Dahn, people affiliated with the battery industry knew that something was cooking for years. It was well-known (within the battery industry, at least) that Jeff, together with his group, was working on a solution that uses additives to the electrolytes within Li-ion batteries. Designed to increase the performance of the chemistry within the cells, these additives are a key ingredient in this research and the subsequent patent application. And now, after years of research, the group applied on a patent for this technology and made it public last night. The technology is called ‘Novel battery systems based on two-additive electrolyte systems’ and it promises an impressive leap in battery tech.

The documentation attached to the patent application reveals how Dahn and his team were able to prove that using several additives to Li-ion batteries can improve the battery performance, lifetime expectancy, but also, cut the production costs associated with Li-ion battery cells as well. If you dug deeper into the matter, you’ll find out that, generally, five additives are needed. However, Dahn and his team came up with a solution where only two are used to deliver the same results. Quite fascinating!

https://insideevs.com/new-battery-cell-patented-by-tesla/

[Sebastian Jones]

The worlds largest battery will now be in Abu Dhabi rather than Australia- 5 times the size of South Australia's Tesla installation. Another difference? It is not a lithium battery.https://cleantechnica.com/2019/02/03/sodium-sulfur-battery-in-abu-dhabi-is-worlds-largest-storage-device/

[Sigmetnow]

Shell continues green energy acquisitions with home battery/EV charger company Sonnen

Shell has announced its acquisition of Sonnen, a German company that specializes in home energy storage. Mostly known for its home battery packs, Sonnen also expanded into home EV charging last year.

https://electrek.co/2019/02/15/shell-sonnen-ev-battery/

Big Oil buying a battery producer? Let’s hope they intend to grow the business, not quash it.

[sidd]

Sonnen make a good product for home applications. Shipping time is a lot shorter than Tesla powerpack.

sidd

[Bruce Steele]

My power wall supplier says it will be months or maybe even a year until they can deliver, ostensibly due to a battery shortage. Not that I am going to change my mind but it would be interesting to know how well Sonnen can be programmed to deal with Time Of Use electricity plans mandated for all Calif utilities within the next year. That is one of the primary benefits of a power wall system and app.

[sidd]

Sonnen has very sophisticated charge controller, i think it will do what you want. I used to have the fone number for a sonnen guy, but i think he has moved on. Call em up.

sidd

[Archimid]

New refillable batteries could fuel an electric car revolution


https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/amp/ncna974556

Like the lithium-ion batteries that power most electric vehicles on the road today, flow batteries release energy through chemical reactions between the ends of the battery and a substance known as electrolyte. In a lithium-ion battery, the electrolyte sits between the ends of the battery; when it’s depleted, it has to be recharged. In a flow battery, the electrolyte is pumped from a tank through the battery; when it’s depleted, it can simply be swapped out for a fresh batch.

[vox_mundi]

Team Develops Thermoelectric Device that Generates Electricity Using Human Body Heat
https://phys.org/news/2019-03-team-thermoelectric-device-electricity-human.html

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in South Korea developed a thermoelectric module that generates electricity using human body heat. The module, which is 5 cm in width and 11 cm in length, can convert body heat energy into electricity and amplify it to power wearable devices.

It has been confirmed that when six devices are modularized in a bundle, they can generate up to a commercialization level of 2~3 milliwatts (mW). Unlike disposable batteries, they can continuously generate energy from the human body temperature.


Morpheus: ... The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to turn a human being into this.

[Sciguy]

Semi-solid state batteries (I didn't even know such a thing existed) have achieved improvements in energy density over traditional lithium ion batteries:

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Are-Semi-Solid-State-Batteries-A-Gamechanger.html

The EV battery race intensified this week with the announcement that a startup financially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy had released a lithium ion battery that stores more energy than the 250 Wh EV industry benchmark.

The company, 24M, said its semi-solid state nickel-manganese-cobalt battery had achieved an energy density of 280 Wh and that its approach to battery building would allow it to hit a target of 350 Wh by the end of the year. The target was set by the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium that, together with the Department of Energy, provided 24M with US$7 million in funding back in 2016.

[Archimid]

24M Delivers First Commercial Scale, High Energy Density SemiSolid Lithium-ion Batteries

http://24-m.com/pressrelease/

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – February 26, 2019 – 24M announced today it has developed and delivered commercially viable, high energy density lithium-ion cells. Using its novel SemiSolid lithium-ion battery design in its pilot facility, 24M achieved energy densities exceeding 250 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), the current state-of-the-art industry benchmark for EV applications. These deliveries represent a significant milestone in the 24M mission to scale its unique, capital-efficient, low-cost approach to advanced lithium-ion battery manufacturing
...

24M also delivered similar NMC cells with energy densities above 280 Wh/kg to an industrial partner. With these cells, the higher energy densities were achieved by optimizing 24M’s SemiSolid electrode technology, which eliminates the use of a pore-clogging binder, enabling higher active material densities than can be achieved with conventional electrodes. The demonstration of this technology is a major milestone on the 24M roadmap to achieving even higher energy densities (>400 Wh/kg) using its capital-efficient manufacturing process.

I have to wonder who is the industrial partner who received these batteries. Maybe Porsche?

[Sigmetnow]

How the Tesla big battery kept the lights on in South Australia

Our initial report has now been underscored by a detailed study from the Australian Energy Market Operator, which looked at why more than 1,190MW of load was shed in three states, why Queensland operated for nearly an hour and a half in an insecure state that could have gone pear-shaped very quickly, and why renewables-dominated South Australia had the most secure grid during the events.

The report underlines a few important points.

One, is that the Tesla big battery, again, proved itself to be an exceptionally valuable asset in the face of such events. It was the quickest to respond and showed a versatility un-matched by any other asset, and its efforts ensured that South Australia’s was the only state grid not to suffer widespread losses or operate in an insecure state, despite its high share of renewables.

Point two is that Australia’s ageing and slow-moving legacy assets reacted poorly, and it is increasingly clear that they are going to create headaches for the market operator as it manages the energy transition, and seeks to perform the energy equivalent of the shift from analogue to digital.

Three: new technologies such as wind farms and rooftop solar inverters are also throwing curve balls, with unexpected responses to different situations.

And four; the market operator and the rule-maker need to act quickly and decisively to bring in rules that are useful to the latest technology, and not those of the last century. ...

https://reneweconomy.com.au/how-the-tesla-big-battery-kept-the-lights-on-in-south-australia-20393/

[Sigmetnow]

Battery swap!

Spacewalkers hook up new batteries outside International Space Station

Astronauts Anne McClain and Nick Hague floated outside the International Space Station Friday to complete the installation of powerful new batteries in the lab’s solar power system, a complex task that began in 2017. Another set of batteries will be installed during another spacewalk next Friday.
McClain and Hague began their six-hour 39-minute excursion at 8:01 a.m. EDT, floating out of the Quest airlock to kick off the 214th spacewalk since station assembly began in 1998.

Their task was to finish a job already started by flight controllers remotely operating the station’s robot arm: replacing six massive nickel-hydrogen batteries on the port, or left, side of the station’s power truss with three more powerful 300-pound lithium-ion batteries.
…
The station’s solar array truss stretches the length of a football field and features eight huge solar wings, four on each end arranged in pairs.

The arrays power the station’s myriad systems when the lab is in sunlight and at the same time they re-charge four sets of massive batteries mounted in integrated electronics assemblies, or IEAs. When the station moves into orbital darkness, the batteries kick in to keep the station powered.

“We go through a sunrise-sunset about every 90 minutes on station, so we don’t have the benefit of having the sun all the time,” said Mary Lawrence, the spacewalk flight director for the upcoming EVAs. “So we need a place to kind of store energy.

“As we transition from sunlight into darkness, the power seamlessly switches between solar array power and battery power. So these batteries are critical systems.”

The station’s eight electrical power channels originally were supported by 48 nickel-hydrogen — NiH2 — batteries, six per channel. Twenty-four batteries, in two sets of 12, were mounted at the bases of the two solar array wings on the starboard, or right, side of the station’s main truss with two sets of 12 on the port side.

NASA is in the process of replacing all 48 of the old nickel-hydrogen batteries with 24 smaller, more efficient lithium-ion — Li-Ion — batteries carried up to the station aboard Japanese HTV cargo ships.

“It’s an ongoing maintenance operation, it’s one we put in place several years with the purchase of the lithium-ion batteries, stepping up the technology,” Todd said. “Just like your rechargeable batteries at home, eventually over time they’re not going to recharge as well, they’re not going to hold as much charge when it comes to putting loads on them.

“Over the life of station, we knew this was going to happen, we knew the batteries were going to have to be replaced, so we started last year on the starboard side.” ...

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/03/22/space-station-eva-52/

[Archimid]

World's Biggest Battery to Boost Solar in Texas Oil Country

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-13/texas-may-get-a-new-boast-amid-plans-for-world-s-largest-battery

The 495-megawatt storage system would be built in tandem with a solar farm of the same size in Borden County, Texas. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc., which operates most of the state’s grid, posted the details in a chart that shows the state’s battery storage will surge more than sixfold to 584 megawatts when the projects are completed in 2021.

You all gonna get a kick out of this:

The project underscores how Big Oil’s demand for power in the fossil fuels-rich Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico is, in a twist, boosting the case for renewable energy. Texas’s power grid operator has stressed the need for more electricity resources in the region to power oil and gas drilling operations.

[sesyf]

Fortum is starting lithium battery recycling, some info here

https://www.fortum.com/products-and-services/recycling-waste/recycling-services-and-products/lithium-ion-battery-recycling-solution

They intend to add European batteries to the program.

[Archimid]

Lithium and cobalt prices down 30%; EV’s watershed moment looming?

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2019/03/18/lithium-and-cobalt-prices-down-30-evs-watershed-moment-looming/

Investment intelligence platform Zerohedge reported that the global prices for lithium and cobalt had dropped  30% since the beginning of the year. The development stands somewhat in contradiction to what many investors globally expected, as battery and EV sales are soaring across the world, with particularly strong increases in EV adoption rates in China and the U.S. The increased demand was believed to drive commodity prices up.

In an attempt to counter lower lithium extraction volumes from DR Congo, mine operators worldwide had increased their output, to the effect that global prices are falling, with a ‘normalization’ of the market not in immediate sight.

[Sigmetnow]

Tesla builds Powerpack system to provide backup power to Osaka train

Tesla has deployed an interesting new Powerpack system to provide backup power to a train in Osaka in case of an emergency and to reduce peak energy demand.

At this point, Tesla has hundreds of commercial Powerpack projects deployed around the world.
This new one in Japan is particularly interesting – not because of its size, but because it is “designed to provide emergency backup power to safely move a train and its passengers to the nearest station,” according to Tesla.

It’s a 7 MWh Powerpack project in partnership with Kintetsu, a large railway operator in Osaka, Japan.
It consists of 42 Powerpacks and inverters installed directly at a train station:

Tesla explains the purpose of its latest Powerpack system:
“In the event of a grid outage, this Osaka Powerpack installation is designed to provide emergency backup power to safely move a train and its passengers to the nearest station The 42 Powerpack battery system will also help reduce energy demand on the Osaka grid during peak hours.”

The automaker claims that its system can move one of Kintetsu’s trains to safety for up to 30 minutes.
Tesla managed to install all the hardware in only two days. ...

https://electrek.co/2019/03/27/tesla-builds-powerpack-osaka-train/

[Archimid]

CATL achieves 304 Wh/kg in new battery cells


https://pushevs.com/2019/03/30/catl-achieves-304-wh-kg-in-new-battery-cells/

However, it’s now public, CATL has just announced that it has created a battery cell sample with an energy density of 304 Wh/kg, which represents a major improvement from NCM 523 battery cells that have been used by CATL since 2017.


CATL’s NCM 523 battery cells (available since 2017):

Prismatic format: 235 Wh/kg and 570 Wh/L
Pouch format: 250 Wh/kg and 530 Wh/L
 

CATL’s NCM 811 battery cells with impressive energy density:

Prismatic format: 270 Wh/kg and 660 Wh/L
Pouch format: 300 Wh/kg and 700 Wh/L

...

The battery cell sample with an energy density of 304 Wh/kg belongs to the second generation – and is probably still a year away from mass production.

[Archimid]

"World's first working thermal battery" promises cheap, eco-friendly, grid-scalable energy storage

https://newatlas.com/cct-silicon-energy-battery-thermal-energy-storage/59098/

Climate Change Technologies, also known as CCT Energy Storage, has launched its TED (Thermal Energy Device) with a set of remarkable claims. TED is a modular energy storage unit that accepts any kind of electricity – solar, wind, fossil fuel-generated or straight off the grid – and uses it to heat up and melt silicon in a heavily insulated chamber. Whenever that energy is required, it's pulled out with a heat engine. A standard TED box holds 1.2 megawatt-hours of energy, with all input and output electronics on board, and fits easily into a 20-ft (6-m) container.

...

"Molten silicon just doesn't degrade like lithium does," says Bondarenko. "That's a chemical process, ours is simply phase-change with heat. In fact, it appears silicon even gets better at storing heat after each cycle. And if you do need to decommission a TED device, it's 100 percent recyclable. It simply doesn't create the environmental problems that lithium does."

[Sigmetnow]

Battery Recycling
From Tesla’s just-released 2019 Impact Report. 

A common question we hear is, “What happens to Tesla vehicle battery packs once they reach their end of life?” An important distinction between fossil fuels and lithium-ion batteries as an energy source is that while fossil fuels are extracted and used once, the materials in a lithium-ion battery are recyclable. When petroleum is pumped out of the ground, chemically refined and then burned, it releases harmful emissions into the atmosphere that are not recovered for reuse. Battery materials, in contrast, are refined and put into a cell, and will still remain at the end of their life, when they can be recycled to recover its valuable materials for reuse over and over again.

Since Tesla battery packs are made to last many years, we are only just starting to receive these batteries back from the field. Currently, most of the batteries for recycling come to us through R&D, manufacturing, quality control and service operations.

Today, we work with third-party recyclers around the world to process all scrap and end-of-life batteries to recover valuable metals. Our recycling partners work with us to ensure that non-valuable or non-recoverable materials from the batteries are disposed of responsibly. At Gigafactory 1, Tesla is developing a unique battery recycling system that will process both battery manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries. Through this system, the recovery of critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt will be maximized along with the recovery of all metals used in the battery cell, such as copper, aluminum and steel. All of these materials will be recovered in forms optimized for new battery material production.

The closed-loop battery recycling process at Gigafactory 1 presents a compelling solution to move energy supply away from the fossil-fuel based practice of take, make and burn, to a more circular model of recycling end-of-life batteries for reuse over and over again. From an economic perspective, we expect to recognize significant savings over the long term, as the costs associated with large-scale battery material recovery and recycling will be far lower than purchasing and transporting new materials.

https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/tesla-impact-report-2019.pdf

[Sciguy]

Big improvements in energy density and charging times are on the way.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/This-Tweak-Could-Be-A-Gamechanger-For-Lithium-Ion-Batteries.html

Lithium ion batteries may soon be able to charge much faster thanks to what seems like a simple substitution of one mineral for another in the battery’s cathode.

Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute this month announced they had achieved much faster charging rates in lithium ion batteries by replacing the usual cobalt oxide used together with lithium in the cathode with vanadium disulfide.

“It gives you higher energy density, because it’s light. And it gives you faster charging capability, because it’s highly conductive. From those points of view, we were attracted to this material,” said Nikhil Koratkar, the lead author of the study.

The researcher added that improving the electrodes was the way to making lithium ion batteries perform even better.

[Sigmetnow]

U.S.:  An electric utility in Vermont is launching a new trial program with the goal to “make traditional meters obsolete” by using Tesla Powerwalls to track energy usage on top of the many other benefits of Tesla’s home energy battery pack.
https://electrek.co/2019/04/30/tesla-powerwall-replace-meter-electric-utility/

[etienne]

U.S.:  An electric utility in Vermont is launching a new trial program with the goal to “make traditional meters obsolete” by using Tesla Powerwalls to track energy usage on top of the many other benefits of Tesla’s home energy battery pack.
https://electrek.co/2019/04/30/tesla-powerwall-replace-meter-electric-utility/

This really is a great concept that gives a lot of flexibility to the utility company to manage peaks and lows in electricity demand. I believe that this configuration might become normal in a few years.

[etienne]

U.S.:  An electric utility in Vermont is launching a new trial program with the goal to “make traditional meters obsolete” by using Tesla Powerwalls to track energy usage on top of the many other benefits of Tesla’s home energy battery pack.
https://electrek.co/2019/04/30/tesla-powerwall-replace-meter-electric-utility/

This really is a great concept that gives a lot of flexibility to the utility company to manage peaks and lows in electricity demand. I believe that this configuration might become normal in a few years.

The interesting thing in this configuration is that the battery is on the external and internal grid. The utiluty company can load or unload it when needed, but the home owner can also do the same, capacity of the battery being the limit.

[Archimid]

Problems with grid congestion? Load semi trucks with Powerpacks and truck them where the power is needed.

Spatiotemporal Arbitrage of Large-Scale Portable Energy Storage for Grid Congestion Relief

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1811/1811.09924.pdf

Energy storage has great potential in grid congestion relief. By making large-scale energy storage portable through trucking, its capability to address grid congestion can be greatly enhanced. This paper explores a business model of large-scale portable energy storage for spatiotemporal arbitrage over nodes with congestion. We propose a spatiotemporal arbitrage model to determine the optimal operation and transportation schedules of portable storage. To validate the business model, we simulate the schedules of a Tesla Semi full of Tesla Powerpack doing arbitrage over two nodes in California with local transmission congestion. The results indicate that the contributions of portable storage to congestion relief are much greater than that of stationary storage, and that trucking storage can bring net profit in energy arbitrage applications

[Sigmetnow]

Problems with grid congestion? Load semi trucks with Powerpacks and truck them where the power is needed.

Spatiotemporal Arbitrage of Large-Scale Portable Energy Storage for Grid Congestion Relief

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1811/1811.09924.pdf

Energy storage has great potential in grid congestion relief. By making large-scale energy storage portable through trucking, its capability to address grid congestion can be greatly enhanced. This paper explores a business model of large-scale portable energy storage for spatiotemporal arbitrage over nodes with congestion. We propose a spatiotemporal arbitrage model to determine the optimal operation and transportation schedules of portable storage. To validate the business model, we simulate the schedules of a Tesla Semi full of Tesla Powerpack doing arbitrage over two nodes in California with local transmission congestion. The results indicate that the contributions of portable storage to congestion relief are much greater than that of stationary storage, and that trucking storage can bring net profit in energy arbitrage applications

The 2.7 MWh Powerpack supplies envisioned in this paper are almost exactly the same as a Tesla “Megapack.”  Not hard to believe they would be produced with road transport in mind.

”a Tesla Megapack consists of long 23′-5″ (7.14m) x 5′-3″ (1.60m) battery system”

Tesla Megapack to debut at giant energy project in California
https://electrek.co/2018/12/15/tesla-megapack-debut-giant-energy-storage/

[oren]

Is it seriously more economical to shift electricity by trucks rather than through wires? Sounds preposterous. Haven't read the paper yet though.

[gerontocrat]

Is it seriously more economical to shift electricity by trucks rather than through wires? Sounds preposterous. Haven't read the paper yet though.

In the long term, probably not - but networks are in transition.Many (most?) utilities have still  networks based on a few large generating stations and many much smaller electricity users.

Now a multitude and quickly growing network of household, community and industrial-scale power generation sites exist, plugged into the existing transmission and distribution system. The networks have to be re-designed. Surplus energy has to be shifted from many different places to many different places with oftimes temporary energy shortage and if the existing transmission wires from one place to the other can't cope, then local battery storage can fill a temporary gap. Trucking a few MWH around might only be a temporary solution, but it buys time for the system to be reworked into a new configuration.

It's a big thing with renewable energy sceptics deniers to point at intermittent and scattered generation as to why 0% carbon generation is impossible, ignoring the new tool box the electricity managers have at their disposal.

[etienne]

I can't imagine that this could be an issue with solar because nights are long enough to transport daily production, but for a wind farm, i could imagine that cables might make it 90% of the time, but that moving loaded batteries could make sense. Maybe flow batteries where just the liquid is moved would make sense.

[Sigmetnow]

Is it seriously more economical to shift electricity by trucks rather than through wires? Sounds preposterous. Haven't read the paper yet though.

If the wires “can’t take any more,”  preposterous solutions may be just what’s needed.

This doesn’t have to be a “one-dose” load fix.  Once installed, the batteries can be recharged (even if only partially) during off-peak hours, helping to relieve similar load peaks again on the following days.  The paper notes that the two different locations are often stressed at different times of the year.  This would be a temporary solution until more stationary storage is constructed at both locations.

[Pmt111500]

Potential energy batteries could be installed inside every support tower of a wind energy generator. Possibly done already, stability of the tower might become an issue. Say, hauling a 10 ton weigth 50 meters up that might be dropped back down regeneratively like in old clocks during peak demand should help.

[b_lumenkraft]

John, here is a great podcast on gravity storage in detail:

With power generation in the grid becoming more diverse and decentralized, energy storage is becoming more and more important. Eduard Heindl‘s gravity storage is an approach to storing electrical energy as potential energy by lifting huge masses cut out of the ground. While this sounds crazy, there are lots of reasons why this makes sense. In the episode we discuss then need, the general approach, the construction process and some of the engineering challenges. We also look at the innovation process, the path from the idea to something that is ready to be built.

Link >> https://omegataupodcast.net/299-gravity-storage/

[Tor Bejnar]

I recall the 1965 Northeast US (plus Ontario, Canada) blackout that was caused by a power line not being able to take the load, then the problem cascaded.  Lots of improvements since then, of course, but a couple of 'local' catastrophes (fire or tornado, for example) on main power lines could create some problems for which trucking power may provide a bit of respite.

I imagine a potential here for 'the exception', not 'the rule'.

[sidd]

Neat paper by Zhang et al.  in Angewandte Chemie International about a seawater based battery made with Prussian Blue. It can run in two modes, a lo power mode that can go forever, and a hi power mode that is energy limited by total amount of sodium that can fit in the prussian blue lattice. Claims energy densities of 2-3Kwh/kilo in hi power mode. They hung the thing in the ocean off Nigbo (near Shanghai) for days and it didnt die. Thats some pretty polluted water.


english: DOI: 10.1002/anie.201901759
german: DOI: 10.1002/ange.201901759

phys.org writeup at

https://phys.org/news/2019-05-energy-seawater-power-autonomously-functional.html

Cheap materials, might be a gamechanger. i can see multiple marine applications. I hope the guys at aquion energy (saltwater battery startup, just got outta bankruptcy) are reading this.

I attach figs 1 and 2.

sidd

[sidd]

Re Zhang battery in seawater

Upon reflection, i think if this is done at scale in the ocean, that Prussian Blue electrode had better be very, very stable. Square kilometers of electrode shedding cyanide complexes into the sea is not nice.

sidd