Storage of abundantly available cheap renewable energy – Solar has always been a costly affair with lithium-ion batteries. Three UK research organizations Faradion and Moixa Technology, WMG, part of the University of Warwick have teamed up developing sodium-ion cells with considerably lower-cost than current lithium-ion cells for storing solar power. 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.
All three organisations in this team have their own strengths. Faradic eyeing innovation in the sodium-ion battery technology and the battery business, while Moixa specialises in smart Photovoltaics storage systems. In contrast, the researchers of electrochemical engineering at WMG lead by Rohit Bhagat will bring expertise in large-scale prototyping and electrode coating technology.
Presently, lithium-ion batteries are used for storage as part of expensive solar energy systems. 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 the grid network. Moreover, unseen now, but the predicted advantage is significant. Advances in this area can achieve a CO2 reduction of 500,000 tons per year.
During the joint press release – Rohit Bhagat, associate professor of WMG, said: “We are pleased to be part of this project as sodium-ion batteries offer significant strategic and technological advantages for photovoltaic energy storage applications.” Francis Massin, CEO of Faradion, added, “This partnership offers us a great opportunity, not only for Faradion but to reduce global CO2 emissions. Solar energy storage is an important growth market over the next five years.” And Chris Wright, CEO of Moixa Technology, concluded, “to be working with Faradion in this project, we believe that solutions energy storage, as Maslow Moixa, have the potential to transform the way the world uses energy, and lowering the cost of batteries would be key to scaling this vision.”
This partnership will principally focus on small-scale solar energy storage; companies like Ambri are making the efforts, researchers at Harvard and other institutions, on developing flow and other types of batteries for large-scale storage. As the storage of solar energy is a concern in front of the world today!
