This article is part of the This Week in PowerBites Library Series. Salt-Based Battery May Allow Utilities to “Freeze” Excess Power for Use Weeks—or Months—Later Most folks who garden know the value of canning or freezing the fruits and veggies they grow for consumption during the winter months, but can the same thing be done with wind, solar, and other intermittent renewable-energy sources? Many utilities are already deploying limited amounts of battery storage, often based on the same lithium chemistries used in EVs and personal electronics. However, cost limits their use to propping up the grid for a few hours at a time. One of the most promising options for storing days, or even weeks, worth of power is an aluminum-nickel molten-salt battery under development at Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL). The battery has several advantages, including the fact that…
This Week in PowerBites: SiC on Parade, Energy Storage with Salt Battery?
