For decades, solar
energy was seen as being too expensive. However, the cost of
solar-generated power has been steadily coming down whilst production costs of
conventional electricity have risen.
This is mainly due to two things. Firstly, the
advances in solar cell
technology and secondly, the development of storage technology. This
has allowed solar energy to be more readily available to consumers and become a
real alternative to conventional grid power.
Storage of abundantly available cheap renewable
energy – Solar has always been a costly affair so far with lithium-ion
batteries. Three UK research organizations Faradion and Moixa Technology, WMG,
part of the University of Warwick have teamed up to develop sodium-ions cells
with considerably lower-cost as compared to current lithium-ions cells for
storing solar power.
All these three organizations in this team have their
own strengths, Faradion eyeing innovation in the sodium-ion battery technology
and the battery business, while Moixa specialising in smart Photovoltaics
storage systems, whereas the researchers of electrochemical engineering at WMG
lead by Rohit Bhagat, will bring expertise in large-scale prototyping and
electrode coating technology.
Battery-grade salts of sodium are cheap and abundantly
available. This makes them a cost-effective alternative especially in the
applications where weight and energy density are not constraining factors, such
as grid energy storage
for renewable energy sources like solar. This makes them a cost-effective
alternative especially in the applications where weight and energy density are
not constraining factors, such as grid energy storage for renewable energy
sources like solar.
With power storage gaining popularity and lithium ion
batteries becoming cheaper and more abundant, installers and consumers, realize
that tying systems to batteries will be more cost effective. Presently,
lithium-ion batteries are used for storage as part of solar energy systems,
which are expensive.
However if abundantly available sodium salts on Earth
are used in cells rather than lithium, cells could be up to 30% cheaper to
produce. With this solar energy, storage would be cheaper and the possibility
of storing it for self-consumption by a greater number of homes and smaller
businesses can be explored. This will also mean no transmission losses and
expenses of grid network. Moreover, unseen now but the predicted advantage is
very important. Advances in this area can achieve a CO2 reduction of 500,000
tons per year.
This partnership will principally be focusing on
small-scale solar energy storage; the efforts are made by companies like Ambri,
also researchers at Harvard and other institutions, on the development of flow
and other types of batteries for large-scale storage. As the storage of solar
energy is a concern in front the world today!
Developments in solar cells and power storage over the
last couple of decades mean increased conversion and storage efficiency. As
technology becomes cheaper and competition drives prices down, consumers will
get a lot more for less.
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