The climate impact of Azelio’s energy storage system (TES.POD) is significantly less than that of lithium-ion battery storage and dramatically less than that of diesel generators. This is concluded in a Life Cycle Assessment made by the Swedish research institute RISE to determine Azelio’s TES.POD’s global CO2-equivalent emission during its entire lifetime.

In the study, it was assumed that Azelio’s TES.POD, lithium-ion batteries and diesel generators would deliver electric power for 13 hours every day, for 25 years. The study thus disregarded that Azelio’s system also delivers a significant amount of heat that can be used as energy in many applications. The comparison between Azelio’s TES.POD and Li-ion battery focused only on the storage technologies and therefore excluded the environmental impact of generating the electricity input required to charge both systems. Due to the uncertainties regarding the lifetime of the Li-ion system, the battery would be completely replaced once, twice or three times during a life cycle of 25 years.

The report shows that the climate impact of Azelio’s system per unit electric energy supplied is 23 g CO2/kWh, which is 29% lower than a Li-ion battery system even when assuming that batteries were only replaced once over a 25 year life cycle (32 g CO2/kWh), and 96 % lower than a high-efficiency diesel generator (523 g CO2/kWh). Taking into account the heat generated by Azelio’s system, would extend its lead even further.

The study approach includes transportation and production of materials and components, manufacturing of equipment, transportation, assembly and installation of components, operation, and end of life. More than 650 components per Azelio’s TES.POD unit were included as well as melting of the storage material. In this study it was assumed that both the TES.POD and Li-ion battery would be charged by a carbon-free energy source and therefore not generate any direct emissions during their lifetime.

Azelio’s unique energy storage technology stores energy from solar and wind power as heat in recycled aluminium and generates electricity and heat on demand at all hours of the day to a low cost. The system suffers no degradation over time and is fully recyclable at end-of-life. It is modular and cost effective from installations at 0.1 MW up to installations of 100 MW.

read more

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The climate impact of Azelio’s energy storage system (TES.POD) is significantly less than that of lithium-ion battery storage and dramatically less than that of diesel generators. This is concluded in a Life Cycle Assessment made by the Swedish research institute RISE to determine Azelio’s TES.POD’s global CO2-equivalent emission during its entire lifetime.

In the study, it was assumed that Azelio’s TES.POD, lithium-ion batteries and diesel generators would deliver electric power for 13 hours every day, for 25 years. The study thus disregarded that Azelio’s system also delivers a significant amount of heat that can be used as energy in many applications. The comparison between Azelio’s TES.POD and Li-ion battery focused only on the storage technologies and therefore excluded the environmental impact of generating the electricity input required to charge both systems. Due to the uncertainties regarding the lifetime of the Li-ion system, the battery would be completely replaced once, twice or three times during a life cycle of 25 years.

The report shows that the climate impact of Azelio’s system per unit electric energy supplied is 23 g CO2/kWh, which is 29% lower than a Li-ion battery system even when assuming that batteries were only replaced once over a 25 year life cycle (32 g CO2/kWh), and 96 % lower than a high-efficiency diesel generator (523 g CO2/kWh). Taking into account the heat generated by Azelio’s system, would extend its lead even further.

The study approach includes transportation and production of materials and components, manufacturing of equipment, transportation, assembly and installation of components, operation, and end of life. More than 650 components per Azelio’s TES.POD unit were included as well as melting of the storage material. In this study it was assumed that both the TES.POD and Li-ion battery would be charged by a carbon-free energy source and therefore not generate any direct emissions during their lifetime.

read more

While pumped hydro accounts for the majority of already-installed energy storage capacity, worldwide, lithium-ion (Li-ion) accounts for the vast majority of advanced energy storage facilities we see being deployed today. However, there’s a race to develop new technologies – and adapt existing ones – that can either be complementary to lithium batteries, or even compete with them. These could include longer duration electrochemical storage such as flow batteries, mechanical energy storage, thermal energy storage and others including ultracapacitors and hydrogen (power-to-gas) storage.

In this session from the Energy Storage Digital Series online conference hosted earlier this year by our publisher Solar Media, representatives from three technology providers offer up some case studies, data, insights and opinions on where they think the market could go.

Moderated by Energy-Storage.news editor Andy Colthorpe, the session includes a Q&A session at the end. Presenter is Solar Media Events producer Lucy Jacobson-Durham.

Taking part are:

• Javier Cavada, CEO, Highview Power Systems (liquid air energy storage)
• Ed Porter, Business Development Director, Invinity Energy Systems (vanadium flow batteries)
• Charlie Blair, Managing Director, Gravitricity (gravity-based energy storage).

The Energy Storage Digital Series, an online-only conference and webinar series, produced and hosted by the events division of our publisher Solar Media, took place in May 2020. Thanks to all who attended and supported the event!

read more

An international team of scientists from NUST MISIS, Russian Academy of Science and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf has found that instead of lithium (Li), sodium (Na) “stacked” in a special way can be used for battery production. Sodium batteries would be significantly cheaper and equivalently or even more capacious than existing lithium batteries. The results of the study are published in the journal Nano Energy.

It is hard to overstate the role of lithium-ion batteries in modern life. These batteries are used everywhere: in mobile phones, laptops, cameras, as well as in various types of vehicles and space ships. Li-ion batteries entered the market in 1991, and in 2019, their inventors were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their revolutionary contribution to the development of technology. At the same time, lithium is an expensive alkaline metal, and its reserves are limited globally. Currently, there is no remotely effective alternative to lithium-ion batteries. Due to the fact that lithium is one of the lightest chemical elements, it is very difficult to replace it to create capacious batteries.

The team of scientists from NUST MISIS, Russian Academy of Science and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, led by Professor Arkadiy Krashennikov, proposes an alternative. They found that if the atoms inside the sample are “stacked” in a certain way, then alkali metals other than lithium also demonstrate high energy intensity. The most promising replacement for lithium is sodium (Na), since a two-layer arrangement of sodium atoms in bigraphen sandwich demonstrates anode capacity comparable to the capacity of a conventional graphite anode in Li-ion batteries—about 335 mAh/g against 372 mAh/g for lithium. However, sodium is much more common than lithium, and therefore cheaper and more easily obtained.

A special way of stacking atoms is actually placing them one above the other. This structure is created by transferring atoms from a piece of metal to the space between two sheets of graphene under high voltage, which simulates the process of charging a battery. In the end, it looks like a sandwich consisting of a layer of carbon, two layers of alkali metal, and another layer of carbon.

read more

Researchers are in a race to find the ultimate energy storage solution, considering the rise of renewable energy generation and electric vehicle (EV) sales around the world. Some scientists are trying to improve the lithium-based battery chemistry with alternative and innovative solutions, while others are hoping that they will come up with a way to use different –i.e., cheaper and more readily available–chemical elements in batteries.

Aluminum, sodium, and potassium are some of those chemical elements that are much more abundant than lithium. In theory, these could be used in batteries for energy storage.

However, research has shown that aluminum, sodium, and potassium are challenging to work within batteries because they lack the suitable materials for the battery electrodes.

That is, until now.

New research led by Professor Guoxiu Wang from the University of Technology Sydney proposes a novel method to strain engineer a 2D graphene nanomaterial for making a new type of cathode. Strain engineering refers to the process of changing the properties of a material by changing its mechanical or structural characteristics.

The new research, which was published in Nature Communications, says that the new approach could be extended to beyond-lithium-ion chemistry in high energy storage applications, according to its authors.

The strain engineering of 2D nanomaterials could help developers of batteries other than those based on the lithium-ion chemistry by making aluminum, potassium, or sodium the main element in batteries.

Related: Why The Hydrogen Boom Is Good News For Natural Gas

“The strategy of strain engineering could be extended to many other nanomaterials for rational design of electrode materials towards high energy storage applications beyond lithium-ion chemistry,” the scientists said in their research.

According to Professor Wang, who is also Director of the UTS Centre for Clean Energy Technology:

“Beyond-lithium-ion batteries are promising candidates for high-energy-density, low-cost and large-scale energy storage applications. However, the main challenge lies in the development of suitable electrode materials.”

read more

Almost everywhere you look there is news about improvements in lithium-based batteries and storage technologies. But what about traditional lead-based batteries? Are they a dying energy storage source? To answer that question, let’s take a look at trends in each market and the overlapping market space for each.

Almost everywhere you look there is news about improvements in lithium-based batteries and storage technologies. But what about traditional lead-based batteries? Are they a dying energy storage source? To answer that question, let’s take a look at trends in each market and the overlapping market space for each.

The lead-acid battery is the earliest type of rechargeable battery. Potential energy is stored chemically in an aqueous sulphuric acid bath as the potential difference between the pure lead at the negative side and the PbO2 on the positive side. Despite having a very low energy-to-weight ratio and a low energy-to-volume ratio, a lead-acid battery can supply high surge currents. This results in a relatively large power-to-weight ratio, which makes them ideally suited for use in motor vehicles to provide high currents required by starter motors. Plus lead-acid batteries are relatively inexpensive.

As the main energy source in motive, stationary, automotive, industrial and current grid energy storage systems, sales of lead acid batteries are set to climb in passenger vehicles, electric vehicles and two-wheelers, notes a recent market study by Future Market Insights (FMI). The report predicts that the lead acid battery market should surpass US$116.60Bn by the end of 2030. Further, the study estimates that demand for lead acid batteries will be upheld by a transportation sector that is slated to grow 1.4x through 2029

While 2020 looks to be a modest market for lead-acid batteries, market vendors are pushing into the e-bikes markets. Further, thanks to high crank characteristics, AGM batteries are witnessing high demand growth in off-grid applications where charge rates are relatively lower and high autonomy is preferred. AGM stands for “Absorbent Glass Mat”, which is a type of separator used in batteries. AGM batteries have a relatively small amount of acid, which is absorbed by the AGM separator. This allows the battery to be spill-proof and better suited for e-bikes and off-grid energy storage.

“Stationary energy storage has enormous near-term potential. Businesses such as battery manufacturers, grid operators are set to establish collaborative relationships with solar power developers and energy service companies”, says the FMI Analyst in its press release. For instance, Furakawa Battery Co Ltd has signed an agreement with I-WIND for the supply of batteries to be used in a wind power generation project.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will impact the lead-acid battery market in the near term. According to the FMI report, the end of first quarter of 2020 saw lead acid battery demand slowly climbing up as containment strategies in China started to take effect and lockdown restrictions were lifted. Relatedly, consumer demand for major automotive and industrial manufacturing has fallen due to the pandemic.

read more

APB Corp founder Hideaki Horie has received backing from a swath of Japanese firms to develop a new kind of battery that would significantly decrease production costs and improve safety, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The battery, which would replace the intricate battery parts such as metal-lined electrodes and liquid electrolytes with a resin material, would be more like mass producing steel instead of the complex production process that lithium-ion batteries undergo today.

This complex process requires pricey clean rooms that only a handful of industry players can afford.

What’s more, the resin-based battery would also be fire resistant even when punctured. Fire safety has dogged lithium-ion batteries for years, with multiple fires, some of which have grabbed headlines. One such fire was of lithium-ion batteries carried by a FedEx truck in 2016. The fire destroyed the truck and its contents, and was attributed to a safety loophole that doesn’t require low production or prototype lithium-ion batteries to undergo the same level of testing that mass production batteries are subject to prior to being transported.

Even more headline-grabbing were a series of alleged battery fires in Teslas that raised even more awareness for battery safety.

APB’s bipolar battery design would prevent traditional power bottlenecks that are present in lithium-ion batteries that cause batteries to overheat, instead allowing the whole surface of the battery to absorb any power surges that are often created by punctures.

So far, APB has raised close to $80 million, which is sufficient to startup one mass-production factory in Japan that will start next year, growing to a capacity of 1 gigawatt-hour by 2023.

While the battery addresses the safety and cost issues of lithium-ion batteries, the resin material is less conductive than metal, so the carrying capacity would be reduced.

read more

Bill Gates is at it again. Through his investments in a group called Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), Gates is exploring new ways to store renewable energy. While many innovative companies are creating ways to generate energy, BEV is focused on technologies that will allow enough energy storage to supply the major power-grids with clean energy even during windless days, cloudy weather, and nighttime.

One of the more promising ways to store energy is through the creation of long-duration storage systems. Short-duration devices like lithium-ion batteries are fine for laptops, mobile phones and electric cars. But cheaper and longer-duration systems are needed for the electrical power-grid.

A BEV-backed startup known as Form Energy is poised to meet that demand. The company has teamed up with Minnesota-based co-op Great River Energy to build a new battery that can discharge for 150 hours. Storage for this length of time is far better than conventional batteries and will help wind and solar energy sources to dominate the US energy landscape in a few years. So, how does it work?

Flow batteries are based on the chemistry that produces electricity when two specialized liquids flow next to each other, separated only by a thin membrane. Flow batteries are also known as reduction-oxidation (redox) flow batteries, due to the ionic exchange (accompanied by a flow of electric current) that occurs in the membrane as the fluids pass by one another.

To story energy in liquid form, the redox flow battery needs a positive and a negative chemical stored in separate tanks. The chemicals are pumped in and out of a chamber where they exchange ions across a membrane – flowing one way to charge and the other to discharge. The energy capacity of these redox batteries is a function of the electrolyte volume (amount of liquid electrolyte), while the power is a function of the surface area of the electrodes.

read more