These plastic batteries could help store renewable energy on the grid

Conductive polymers could wind up being a major player in grid storage, but whether that happens will likely depend on how quickly a company can scale up its technology and, crucially, how much the batteries cost, says Susan Babinec, who leads the energy storage program at Argonne National Lab.  Some research points to $20 per kilowatt-hour of storage as a long-term target that would help us reach 100% renewable energy adoption. It’s a milestone that other alternative grid-storage batteries are focused on. Form Energy, which produces iron-air batteries, says it can reach that goal in the coming decades. PolyJoule may not be able to get costs that low, Paster acknowledges. It’s currently targeting $65 per kilowatt-hour of storage for its systems, reasoning that industrial customers and power utilities may be willing to pay that price because the products should last longer and…

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