is zinc ready to take on lithium in energy storage? - lithium ion battery for solar storage
Eos Energy Storage says an ion battle is underway.
Edison, New Jersey
Eos-based investment companies AltEnergy, NRG Energy and others raised $23 million in Series C financing.
The company also said it is currently selling zinc for 1 MW/4 MW hours
Battery system based on power grid
Although he admitted that the sale did not include prompt delivery.
The company that orders now will not be able to get the system until 2016.
For a long time, zinc has been a potential competitor to lithium as a basis for battery and energy chemistry.
The price of zinc per metric ton is about $2,250, and the price of lithium carbonate is about $5,000 (
Pioneers who need further improvement)
, With huge reserves, estimated at 224 trillion tons in the first mile of the crust, you can find it almost anywhere.
It is also easy to recycle and can store a large amount of electrons in a limited space, and zinc batteries do not have a "hot out-of-control reaction" or explosion like lithium ion batteries.
So, why is zinc not as big as lithium now?
It's not easy to do useful, Long
Long lasting battery with zinc.
Some zinc batteries can only be cycled several hundred times.
Degradation of electrolyte and electrode.
Since the Edison era, scientists have been working hard to develop a magical and delicious zinc battery formula.
You can find zinc batteries in the hearing aids provided in the SkyMall catalog, but they are not common.
The idea that zinc can be recycled with sun or zinc phones like Margarita is still in progress.
Eos also experienced setbacks.
Eos CEO Mike Oster once told me that there is still a year left for his company's zinc battery --in 2011.
Still, Eos may be the best candidate if there is a company that seems to be in a breakthrough position.
The company said its Aurora energy storage system will provide electricity for $160 per kilowatt hour, lower than lithium-ion and mobile batteries used for energy storage.
Con Edison and GDF Suez are currently testing batteries and PG & E will start testing later this year.
Other big companies involved in the company's development plan.
According to the round-trip efficiency of the site is 75%.
At the same time as the energy storage market finally took off, the company's technology has gradually matured.
If Eos can mess up its technology, it must be an interesting development.
Lithium is currently a leading chemical product in the field of advanced energy storage, and the annual manufacturing expertise and scale will bring advantages to lithium producers.
But utilities seem very open to alternatives like water
Batteries from Aquion or mobile batteries from Imergy and Primus. (
Let's not forget those solid-
State electrolyte batteries from companies like Sakti3 and Greensmith have developed energy storage operating systems that allow utilities to mix and match chemicals. )
A successful zinc battery will maintain at least an exploration of the best chemical reaction.