We are still in the laboratory, but the technology is so basic that the technical problems will be overcome. Type is not mentioned here and cost does matter. The real take home is that inexpensive and stable energy storage is a huge fix to our present system. It will easily double our available energy if not a lot better than that. Add this to automotive energy storage and you have a densely distributed energy system that can run full out 24/7 filling batteries as efficiently as possible.
It also becomes immune to grid
failure. This is a huge boost in
reliability as everyone learned this winter.
The grid is vulnerable to the weather while local distribution is far
less so.
Add in the planned creation of
the super conducting power grid to give us another doubling or so of through
put and electric cars will not lack power.
Even the nukes will be happy and may even pay.
This is one technology that is
not going to go away.
Flow batteries could back up grid of the future
22 March 2013 by Martin
LaMonica
The batteries' unique design could smooth out the power from renewables and help usher in the rise of more resilient microgrids
THE future of energy storage has taken root on an onion farm in
southern California
Seeking to offset its electricity bills, Gills Onions in Oxnard
When electricity prices from the grid peak, the farm can tap stores of
energy created by processing agricultural waste. The battery can supply 600
kilowatts of electricity over six hours to run farm machinery for a fraction of
the usual cost.
Flow batteries are centred around two aqueous electrolytes, which are
held in separate tanks when the battery is idle. To get electricity from it,
the liquids are pumped into a chamber separated by a membrane, sparking an
electron-producing chemical reaction across the membrane. To store energy, an
external current is applied across the membrane and the process works in
reverse.
The batteries' size – they can be as big as shipping containers – and
ability to store large amounts of energy make them well suited to smoothing out
the variable supply of wind, solar and other renewable energies. But they are
expensive, and their pumps and tubes make them difficult to maintain.
Several firms are now coming to market with designs that they say address those concerns, opening the door to the possibility that battery backups for renewables could one day form a constellation of self-sufficient microgrids far more resilient than the present electrical infrastructure.
Primus Power, based in Hayward , California
Flow batteries are also considered to be very safe, because unlike some
lithium-ion designs, they are not prone to thermal runaway, which can cause battery
fires. There have been growing pains, though, including anode failures,
short membrane life and electrolyte leakage, says Steve Minnihan, an analyst at
technology market research firm Lux Research. "It indicates to the market
that flow batteries need a few more years in the lab before they can rival
lithium-ion or lead-acid in high-volume deployment," he says.
Nevertheless, they are finding their way into the field. In 2011 the
Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar ,
California San Diego
Flow batteries could back up neighbourhoods, too. The Modesto
irrigation district in central California
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