One of the biggest problems associated with wind and solar power plants is their inability to efficiently store excess electricity created during times of surplus production and then use that electricity during times of low or no production i.e. night-time for solar or no wind for wind power. Though there are now more methods being employed to achieve this function, solar thermal power plants using molten salt is a good example, the majority of utility-grade renewable power plants do not have any way of taking full advantage of the energy they can capture and create.
It’s All About The Battery…A Really Big Battery
One of the simplest and longest employed solutions for storing energy (electricity) is the battery. The only problem is that there are issues of scale and capacity when you’re talking about a battery large enough and technologically advanced enough to be capable of storing a significant amount of energy produced by any type of power source; renewable-based or otherwise.
The large scale battery barrier may finally be falling as Micro Finance Investment AG, a Swiss-based private equity fund, has announced that its battery company Nation-E is already in production of its soon to be released 1 megawatt battery. From their release:
Nation-E will provide large scale storage solutions using Kokam’s Lithium Polymer cells, hereby revolutionizing the energy supply system. Other partners are yet to be revealed. The first 1 MW battery is already in production, and will hit the market in six months from now. Applicable as a storage system for smart grid, the 1 MW battery is the first of its kind, being both technologically and commercially ahead of its competitors.
Going Green (Swiss Version)
Great news right? So one would assume that Nation-E would be teaming up with renewable energy companies and utilities across the globe to test and showcase this new and beneficial technology. That’s not the case. No, Nation-E thought a partnership with luxury yacht-maker Leopard Yachts was a better fit to showcase their new breakthrough battery technology. Again from their release:
In cooperation, Nation-E and Leopard Yachts are set to commence the development of a state-of-the-art, free emission, 34 meter long luxury yacht. The solution would contain a fully integrated system with electric motors, and is anticipated to be revealed in 18 months from now. The vision of Nation-E and Leopard is to demonstrate to the world the revolutionary technology with its long term goal to achieve zero emission sea travel. This challenging project will bear fruition with appropriate support, and governments will be approached in the near future to join the project.
I think the real takeaway here is not the silly partnership Nation-E has come up with, but the technology itself. The potential future benefit these types of batteries could have is enormous and hopefully that potential will still be realized; even though it’s currently going to be wasted on yachts.
Ahhh, to be rich and green.
The Good: A battery unlike any created before it that is capable of storing an entire power plant’s output of electricity. Could facilitate the efficiency of a smart grid as well as renewable energy power production.
The Bad: Its first real world application is for a yacht! Details of the battery itself are still tightly kept and nobody knows the size, cost, or components of such a battery. Though largely still expensive and energy intensive to produce, hydrogen would still seem to be a less toxic conveyor/storer of electricity.
The Bottom-Line: If the actual battery lives up to the hype, and is put to more practical usage than simply being a power supply for yachts, then it could be a major leap forward for renewable energy efficiency and smart grid technology by virtually eliminating the sometimes sporadic power generation associated with renewable sources.
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