Harvard University researchers are working on a new type of battery based on organic molecules to store renewable energy in an effort to make it more viable for wide-scale use.
The Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) has awarded a team of researchers at the university's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) a $600,000 innovation grant to develop what is called a flow battery for the storage of energy from sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, according to ARPA and the university.
Researchers are collaborating with Sustainable Innovations LLC, a commercial electrochemical system developer, on the project to develop the battery with practicality in mind, hoping to displace fossil-fuel energy through its development, they said.
A team of researchers at Harvard University are working on a new type of battery based on organic molecules for storing renewable energy in an effort to make it more viable for widespread use and displace fossil fuels as energy sources. A $600,000 grant from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding the work. (Source: Harvard University)
While automation, robotics, and other types of technology are making the use of renewable energy sources generated by solar and wind power a more competitive option to traditional power, the energy is still largely dependent on the forces of nature because there currently is no good, practical way to store large quantities of it, said Michael Aziz, a professor of materials and energy technologies at SEAS.
"Storage of very large amounts of energy is required if we are to generate a major portion of our electricity from intermittent renewable sources such as wind turbines and photovoltaics," he said in a press release. "Currently no cost-effective solution exists to this large-scale storage problem."
Aziz and his team think flow batteries, a type of highly rechargeable fuel cell that stores electrical energy in the form of liquid chemicals, could be the answer to this problem. The batteries are so-named because the chemicals are flowed past electrochemical conversion hardware and then stored externally in low-cost tanks that can vary in size, according to researchers. The tanks can be very large, permitting the designers to decide on the size of the electrochemical conversion hardware for setting peak power capacity and the storage tanks that set the energy capacity.
As a point of contrast, in solid-electrode batteries, such as those in cars and mobile devices, power-conversion hardware and energy capacity are packaged together, which means they can only maintain peak discharge power for less than an hour. However, studies show that renewable energy needs one or two days of peak discharge power to move through the electrical grid, researchers said. This makes the use of these types of batteries cost prohibitive, according to Aziz.
Flow batteries alone aren't the answer either, since those currently under development also have limitations in terms of price. "The chemicals used for storage in flow batteries can be expensive or difficult to maintain," Aziz said.
The key to researchers' work is to replace those chemicals in a flow battery with organic molecules found in plants that can be synthesized artificially without a high price tag. Other benefits of the molecules are that they are non-toxic, can be stored at room temperature, and cycle very efficiently between the chemical states needed for energy storage, Aziz said.
Harvard researchers won the grant as part of ARPA's OPEN 2012 program, which distributed $130 million in funding to support innovation in energy technology.
Okay, Ann and Liz, I'll be the bad guy here and address the mindset problem. Yes, we could definitely raise the amount of wind power in the U.S. Twenty percent would be a good figure, which is far more than we have today. But many experts suggest that without significant storage, we won't go beyond 20%. George Crabtree of Argonne National Labs (our national energy lab), one of country's most respected experts on this subject, says the figure is between 10% and 20%. Donald Sadoway of MIT, who you've written about, Liz, has quoted similar figures. Sadoway said this in a 2008 Design News article: "If you can't store it, it's no good. Name me somebody who will put a company in an area with unreliable sources of power." The problem is, intermittent sources of power aren't always available when needed, which means (according to these experts and others at the Electric Power Research Institute), that reserves or storage will be needed. This is why Ambri, Saft, A123 and others are searching for solutions. I don't know about Portugal, but Denmark, which is often cited as having 50% renewables, borrows power from neighboring countries. I understand that there are many very smart people who would say that Crabtree, Sadoway and EPRI are wrong. Still, the sources I've mentioned here are some of the best and they are by no means alone. I'm not at all saying that either of you is wrong. But the debate is not a simple one.
Elizabeth, I don't really understand that mindset, either. Any new energy technology will initially cost more than the existing one, in part because of the big shift needed in infrastructure--and because it takes awhile to ROI the cost over large enough volumes and a long enough time frame. Perhaps part of the mindset is caused by the example in many people's minds of consumer electronics, which amortize costs over enormous volumes. I think you may be right about the necessity angle, too. Yet Japan, which is not a poor nation, and some of the wealthier European countries, like Germany, are far ahead of the US in alternative energy.
Thanks for backing me up here, Ann. It's very frustrating when you think of the U.S. mindset on this. I live in Portugal, and for a country that is poor and behind-the-times on many things when compared to the U.S., it makes me quite happy to see how many people use solar and wind energy and even go off the grid. I guess, though, necessity is the mother of invention, and not having a lot of money forces people to use the natural resources at hand. So in that respect, perhaps the U.S. is a bit hamstrung because many people can afford to keep paying for electricity from big utility companies. It's good to see some things changing though, and I hope it continues.
I agree with Elizabeth, we like to complain a lot about cost here in the States, but in fact alternative energy sources have been successfully used on a large scale in Europe and Japan for several years, as well as right here on a less than national scale.
Bob, thanks for your comments. I do want to say, though, that I think cost is sometimes used as an excuse for not exploring alternatives energies, especially in the United States where dependence on foreign oil is so ingrained in our culture and our business practices. European countries have been using other forms of energy successfully for some time. In fact, in Portugal, about 60 percent of energy people use is derived from wind turbines. True, it's a much smaller country and there is a lot of open countryside wher it's possible to place turbines, but there are alot of natural resources available in the U.S. if those in power could change their perspective and really explore the possibilities. I think sometimes it's more a cultural problem than a financial one. But that is just my opinion!
Bobjengr, we have to explore our natural resources like solar, wind etc for generating additional energy (power). Eventhough such natural resources are abundantly available in our nature, we are utilizing only less than 10% for converting it in to power generation. In future, I won't think traditional energy source can cater our requirements.
Ann, distribution companies used to fixe rates like that, inorder to force the customers to limit their usage. So have you done any corrective measures to minimize or reduce the power consumption.
Mydesign, my local electric utility bills increasingly higher rates per kilowatt at higher levels of consumption, with about three levels I'm aware of. There are also flat-rate payment options.
Elizabeth--I certainly agree with you on this one. It seems to me we waste a great deal of energy in this country and recognition of this fact could go a long way in conserving much of the energy developed by even "traditional" methods. I do think the researchers at Harvard are striving to provide a great service in looking at methods to store energy and I certainly applaud their efforts. One issue that will always be with us is the cost of doing so. Only time will tell.
Ann, billing for power consumption is pay as usage model. In my countries, there is a gap between power consumption and generation. Federal government is discouraging consumers from more power consumption, by levying high tariff above a certain level in different slabs. So those who have consumed more than the normal limit (200 units/month) may end up in paying double or more than the normal charges.
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