Battery Storage Key For Texas

Texas may be rich in fossil fuels like oil and gas, but it’s also awash in clean, renewable energy.

Well, at least it could be. With the most renewable energy potential in the United States, Texas is a formidable candidate to up their renewable energy usage. Wind power now supplies 8 percent of energy to the grid in Texas and it’s cheaper than ever. However, storage still proves to be a problem for the state.

Right now turbine energy created from early afternoon winds has to be used immediately, in the early afternoon. But the demand for energy peaks later in the afternoon during the hot Texas summers, when the winds have died down. Solar could fill that gap, but efforts to incentivize it’s construction haven’t gone anywhere yet in Texas, and there’s always the question of what happens when a bunch of clouds pass over.

So creating something that can store and save renewable energy like wind and solar for later would change the game entirely.

Thus, the Energy Institute has focused on battery technology, similar to how you rely on a rechargeable battery to keep your smartphone running. Orbach says the Institute is performing research with cost-efficient lithium ion technology using flow batteries with liquid cathodes. He thinks his team is fairly close to finding this key material, though he admits you never know with research.

One of the main puzzles Goodenough is trying to solve is finding a material that can be used as a solid electrolyte in the battery and pass lithium ions, but not water or electrons.

Researchers believe that the batteries could be used to store not just wind energy, but solar and nuclear energy too. He is hopeful for a win-wind situation: a Texas discovery that will play a major role in meeting global energy demand while also creating industry opportunities in the state.

 

Source and Read More  

If you want to know more about this and other topics directly from end users of energy storage technologies join us at one of these annual events: The Energy Storage World Forum (Grid Scale Applications), or The Residential Energy Storage Forum, or one of our Training Courses.

LATEST ARTICLES

Annual Installed Capacity Significantly Increases

While the global market was under the haze of the epidemic and many countries were still in lockdown, the energy storage market showed extremely strong resilience and began to recover and grow since Q3 and Q4 of 2020. According to the BloombergNEF report, the global energy storage market in 2020 has developed faster than expected,…

Read More

Ultracapacitor UPS (U-UPS) for voltage dips and micro-interruptions

Power interruptions are the most frequent power supply problems with wide-ranging consequences for industry. The causes of these interruptions include short-circuits in the distribution grid, lightning strikes, the connection and disconnection of power plants as well as volatile energy producers such as wind and solar. Because technologies and production processes are becoming increasingly complex, the…

Read More

Battery Storage for Commercial & Industry

Powerful battery storage offers many advantages in terms of saving electricity costs and a reliable power supply. With this technology, companies retain control of their energy supply and costs. The battery storage system is charged when energy is cheaply available and it supplies the stored electricity when prices are at their highest. With applications such…

Read More

★REVIEWS

“Probably the most interactive and well organized storage event on the calendar.”

★★★★★

Sales Director, S&C

“Great topics, competent speakers, good networking: keep it like that.”

★★★★★

TLC & SCADA Manager, FRI-EL

“High scientific content, well targeted, perfect organization.”

★★★★★

Expert Technical & Governance, Elia

Excellent networking event. The sponsorship was well worth it.”

★★★★★

Manager, ATL

View More

x