Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, Wash.) have created a battery designed for the electric grid that locks in energy for months without losing much storage capacity.The development of the “freeze-thaw battery,” which freezes its energy for use later, is a step toward batteries that can be used for seasonal storage: saving energy in one season, such as the spring, and spending it in another, like autumn.The prototype is small, about the size of a hockey puck. But the potential usefulness of the science behind the device is vast, foretelling a time when energy from intermittent sources, such as sunshine and wind, can be stored for a long time. The work by scientists was published online March 23 in Cell Reports Physical Science.“Longer-duration energy storage technologies are important for increasing the…
Pacific Northwest National Lab Creates ‘Freeze-Thaw Battery’ for Seasonal Energy Storage
