lockheed says 'flow' battery will boost use of renewable power - lithium ion battery for solar street light

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-
Officials at Lockheed Martin Corp. said Monday that the company wants to launch a new "mobile" battery made of cheap, non-toxic materials that will help utilities save money and use it
"You open up an opportunity to not only make renewable energy more marketable and useful, you may even change the structure of at least a part of the utility market," Leo McKay, lockheed's senior vice president for sustainable development and Ethics told reporters at the company's global vision center in Virginia.
Lockheed does not have the exact date or cost of the battery launch, but Frank amijo, vice president of energy initiatives, said it hopes to launch the product in a little over a year.
Mobile batteries that use chemicals dissolved in water last longer than lithium-ion batteries that are usually solid.
This means they can help utilities meet the needs of consumers over a longer period of time.
When residents use electric lights, TVs and kitchen appliances, they are called peak times of demand, such as at night.
A report by utilities industry press earlier this year said that Lockheed wanted to launch a mobile battery by the end of 2018, but did not elaborate on which material it would be made.
Unlike natural gas or coal, natural gas or coal can burn and generate electricity at any time, and wind and solar energy are sometimes the most active when consumer demand drops.
Affordable storage for renewable energy can help the industry grow faster, but it has long been elusive.
Amijo says the company is developing
Mobile batteries using proprietary electrolyte chemicals combine low-cost earth metals with the same cheap chemicals.
"The challenge for existing mobile batteries is that they rely heavily on materials such as expensive and toxic vanadium and zinc," Armijo said . ".
"Neither of these is ours.
Armijo said that the mobile battery can last 6 to 10 hours compared to the lithium ion battery for about 2 to 4 hours.
In addition, there is no rapid degradation problem with lithium ion in the mobile battery.
For decades, Lockheed has been developing advanced battery technology for its space project and is competing with other companies to develop grid storage batteries, including Tesla and LG Chemical Co. , Ltd.
Utilities have always had to rely on large power plants to generate electricity during peak hours.
Traffic batteries may eventually help utilities become less concentrated and more specific, Mackay said.