Still, battery makers hope to sidestep those challenges with the new breed of grid energy storage systems. Such systems must be huge, of course, to store the energy for utilities, but a growing number of companies believe they can make it happen.
A123 Systems, for example, offers a "containerized" grid storage system that incorporates 83,000 small cylindrical lithium-ion cells in a 53-foot-long trailer with an electronic controller built in. Known as a Grid Storage Solution (GSS), the A123 product produces 2Mw for a 15-minute duration (500kWh), enough to power about 500 homes. The company has placed the GSS with power producers in West Virginia, Chile, Hawaii, California, and the UK. Laurel Mountain Wind Farm in West Virginia employs 16 of the 2Mw units to store power from nearby turbines.
Similarly, French battery maker Saft is employing its containerized lithium-ion batteries to store energy for electric commuter trains in Philadelphia. The product, which serves a substation along the elevated railway, senses when the voltage in the train's third rail is too high, sucks the DC power out of the rail, and pushes it into a giant lithium-ion battery pack until it's needed. Using a well-known nickel-cobalt-aluminum chemistry, the battery offers about 1.5Mw of charge and discharge capability.
A123 Systems' Grid Storage Solution employs 83,000 cylindrical lithium-ion batteries, producing up to 2Mw for 15 minutes (500kWh).
One of the big advantages of Saft's system is that it can modulate loads in response to a signal from a grid operator. The result is more intelligent use of power for the utility. "So a megawatt of storage might displace a megawatt of fossil fuel generation," said Jim McDowall, business development manager for Saft.
Liquid batteries
Lithium-ion isn't the only solution, however. MIT-spinoff Liquid Metal Battery Corp. (LMBC), backed by Bill Gates, employs a liquid battery that's heated to between 400°C and 700°C. The essential components include a high-density liquid metal at the bottom of the cell, a molten salt electrolyte in the middle, and a low-density liquid metal above that. The two liquid layers serve as electrodes, while the molten salt acts like an electrolyte. The difference between the metals gives rise to the battery's voltage.
The advantage of LMBC's battery is that it can be made big and cheap, while offering high energy -- up to 2MWh. Although the company's executives won't say how much their battery costs now, they believe it could fill a major storage role if they can get its costs down to $100/kWh. "Our batteries will be big and we'll get economies of scale from that size," said LMBC CEO Phil Guidice. "And if we can provide cost-effective storage, we could have thousands of these being used by a single utility."
Bill Gates has been open about his reasons for supporting the startup. "Without (inexpensive storage), renewable energy resources like wind turbines and solar cells will never approach the scale or affordability that's necessary," he wrote in an article titled "We Need a Battery Miracle."
It sounds like this article is suggesting new technologies for the batteries. Atlhough I may have missed it here, a few months ago I thought there was a rather large development being planned to use old batteries for these types of applications - specifically, those that still have life but could no longer be used in hybrids.
I'am pleased that I've pointed you to a new aspect of pumped hydro. There is a really good presentation of the Gravity Power concept on YouTube. If you want to learn more about this concept than you should give it a try. Takes 51 minutes and has some Q&A at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CujxJFXwOns
Tom Mason, the CEO of Gravity Power has long experience in the energy sector and I've the feeling that he knows what he is talking about. Will be interesting what they learn from the planned small size pilot project.
Thanks for the link, Net Worker. This closed systemof pumped hydro is a new one one me. I've always seen it in terms of a lake on a hill. The closed system seems to have some real value.
Thanks for the links, DaveWR. That illuminates the challenges behind pumped hydro. It sill seems to have some virtues, in that rain can offset some of the evaporation, and there is value in recreational use.
DanielJoseph, your comment is very well said. A well designed small home power source should replace the water heater, providing heat, and hot/purified water as well. A lot of energy in the form of heat goes up the chimney from my gas water heater.
Is anyone working on using wind and solar to lift iron up a rachet belt to a tower. Hold it there as potential energy. Letting it compress air or liquid provides potential energy that can be converted to electrical energy as it's allowed to descend. Hmm, is any of the energy of a lowering elevator car saved for use in raising the car? Some hybrid automobiles save some of the braking energy in batteries.
I think that current battery grid storage solutions are very good to provide fast response to short term changes in load or demand and help to stabilize the grid in areas which are not very well connectet. But the batteries are still to expensive to provide hughe storage capacities needed for long term (days) storage.
I would like to point all hydro storage fans to the concept of pumped hydro without a lake. The company Gravity Power (http://www.gravitypower.net/index.aspx) has developed an underground storage with pumped hydro in a closed system which is modular and scales up to 600 MWh with 2400 MW peak power. Round trip efficiency is around 80%.
Second concept is developed in Germany by Eduard Heindl who proposed a pumped hydro storage which lift a huge rock mass with hydraulic pressure (200 bar) and potentially scales to 1 TWh capacity (http://lageenergiespeicher.de/en/hhs-storage.html)
Both concepts use existing pumped hydro technology and can be sited more easily than conventional hydro storage sites. Especially in Germany where some times more than 30% of electric energy is produced by PV and wind turbines, large scale storage will be required to keep the grid stable.
Yes, you can electrolyze water and then burn the hydrogen in an engine, but consider the round-trip efficiency. Electrolysis is only about 70% efficient, and the best binary cycle engines are close to 60% efficient. Multiplying these together gives you 42%. This doesn't include additional losses associated with compressing the hydrogen for storage. Thus for every 100 kWh of electricity you put in, you get back less than 42. Batteries and pumped storage, by comparison, have round-trip efficiencies of at least 80%.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
We recently posted an online slideshow called, “18 People You Didn’t Know Were Engineers.” Within hours of its publication, readers began to suggest names of other luminaries -- astronauts, politicians, athletes and actors -- who were educated or had worked as engineers.
In yet another sign that hydrogen is creeping into the consciousness of global automotive designers, sports car maker Aston Martin plans to run a hydrogen-fueled vehicle in a 24-hour Grand Touring race later this month.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 4
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
11 
