from harvard, a cheaper storage battery - storage battery
WASHINGTON —
Researchers at Harvard University say they have developed a new battery technology that can store energy at a lower cost, and Energy Department officials say the development of this technology can pave the way for a new generation of batteries
Findings published in Nature on Wednesday show that utilities are under pressure to overcome one of the main drawbacks of renewable energy: how to make electricity available even if the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow.
California has recently become the first state to order the installation of storage devices.
Breakthroughs have been made in the types of materials that store energy.
Researchers at Harvard University report that,
The underlying molecules found in crude oil and other substances as materials to maintain charge.
Most of the battery chemistry currently in use uses metal, including the familiar nickel metal
Lithium hydroxide
Higher cost ion.
Every carbon
Compared to one unit in most batteries now commercially used, molecular-based molecules have two units of charge, which means that the battery can store twice as much energy in a given volume.
Cheryl Martin, acting director of the Department of Energy's senior Research Projects Agency, said: "These are very cool preliminary results.
Energy, which provides funds for the development of new, risky but highly rewarding energy technologies.
Officials at the agency say carbon
One of the basic molecules used by Harvard University, called quinone, is just one of many similar molecules, and some others may prove more effective.
"They really found the tip of the iceberg," said John Lemmon, project manager for the battery project.
"This is a breakthrough. ”Arpa-
E gave the Harvard team $590,000.
The annual contract that is now being completed.
The agency is discussing a thirdyear, $3.
75 million extension of contract.
So far, the results of the Harvard team have been small.
Team members say that in three more years, they may produce a trailer-sized prototype that can be dragged into a house with rooftop solar panels and store products during the day for night use.
But business success requires further improvement in the process.
This design is designed for "mobile battery" and it is similar to a normal battery, but there is a material that can accept charged particles when absorbing electricity and return them later.
In this case, the material is injected into the liquid in the external tank, so a lot of energy can be stored.
Mobile batteries are already in commercial use, but their use costs are too high in addition to professional applications.
The authors of nature predict that their batteries can be used to store a large amount of energy generated by intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar.
But cost is a challenge.
A basic unit of battery storage capacity is kilowatts
In an hour, the energy needed to move an electric car is about three miles. A kilowatt-
The retail price for an hour is 11 cents.
At present, the advanced battery is about $400 per kilowatthour stored;
The department's goal is to cut that number to $100.
The battery should last 10,000 charge and discharge cycles.
According to the Nature magazine, The quin-needed for storage of 1 KW-
About $30 an hour.
$100 per kilowatt
One-hour storage also needs to reduce the cost of other key components, especially the materials used to help electronics get in and out of five ones.