New data from RenewableUK reveals how pipeline of battery storage projects either in operation, consented, in the planning system or under development has grown two-thirds in a year.
The UK's battery storage pipeline has grown by over two-thirds over the past year, with 95.6GW of projects now either operational, under construction, consented, or in the planning stages.
Two years ago, sodium-ion battery pioneer Natron Energy was busy preparing its specially formulated sodium batteries for mass production. The company slipped a little past its 2023 kickoff plans, but it didn't fall too far behind as far as mass battery production goes. It officially commenced production of its rapid-charging, long-life lithium-free sodium batteries this week, bringing to market an intriguing new alternative in the energy storage game.
Not only is sodium somewhere between 500 to 1,000 times more abundant than lithium on the planet we call Earth, sourcing it doesn't necessitate the same type of earth-scarring extraction. Even moving beyond the sodium vs lithium surname comparison, Natron says its sodium-ion batteries are made entirely from abundantly available commodity materials that also include aluminum, iron and manganese.
Furthermore, the materials for Natron's sodium-ion chemistry can be procured through a reliable US-based domestic supply chain free from geopolitical disruption. The same cannot be said for common lithium-ion materials like cobalt and nickel.
John Raymond Hanger
@johnrhanger
Battery power: Tesla's battery storage installations for 2023 more than doubled 2022 volume, up by 125%. The division's profit nearly quadrupled.
Reminder that Tesla is more than an EV company and benefits from global surge in battery storage to firm, integrate solar and wind.
The design of battery technologies with increasingly longer lifespans could help to meet the growing needs of the electronics and automotive industry. Lithium (Li) batteries are the most widely used rechargeable batteries worldwide. Thus, devising strategies that can increase their longevity could be far easier than designing entirely new batteries.
Li-metal batteries, batteries with a Li metal anode, are among the most promising next-generation battery designs. Nonetheless, the reactivity of Li metal has so far greatly limited their cycling stability, by impairing the formation of stable solid-electrolyte interphases (SEIs), ultimately resulting in shorter battery lifespans.
The global shift to electric vehicles is gaining momentum, yet the extraction of battery materials has a significant environmental footprint that comes with high costs.
Now, two studies led by McGill University researchers offer hope in the search to manufacture cheaper and greener lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs).
Their findings unlock the potential to produce batteries using more sustainable and less costly metals, known as disordered rock-salt-type (DRX) cathode materials.
In the first study, engineering researchers including lead author Richie Fong, a Ph.D. student in Materials Engineering, focused on cathodes. The costliest component of batteries, cathodes are traditionally made from unsustainable metals like cobalt and nickel. Iron could be the cheapest alternative, but until now, existing iron-based cathodes have lacked sufficient storage capacity to power a long-range EV.
How ‘world-changing’ solar tech could mean the death of batteries
6 minutes ago
Every six seconds, in a factory on the northern fringes of Stockholm, a top secret printer is spewing out sheets worth thousands of euros apiece. Each one contains 108 miniature solar cells that will soon find their way into everyday gadgets – from keyboards to headphones – that will fundamentally change how we interact with technology. According to their creator, they will even force us to rethink our relationship with light.
Sweden may seem an unlikely location for a solar revolution, but the lack of light during the winter months was one of the reasons for Exeger co-founder Giovanni Fili to look beyond the Sun as the sole source of power for a photovoltaic cell. His company’s breakthrough tech can harvest electricity from virtually any light source, from direct sunlight to candlelight. It can even generate a charge from moonlight, though it would take a while for it to be of much use.
“Like the algae on the bottom of the ocean where it’s almost pitch black, we can make efficient use of very few photons,” Fili tells The Independent. The t-shirt he wears describes his company’s technology as “world-changing”, capable of simultaneously addressing the global need for energy and some of our planet’s greatest environmental challenges.
Indoor solar panels have been around for decades. Solar-powered calculators were first introduced in the 1970s, but the limitations of the amorphous silicon cells they rely upon mean they are too low power, too fragile and too rigid to be integrated into other products.
The latest innovation stems from a discovery made in 1988 relating to dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSC). A pair of scientists from UC Berkeley in California invented a low-cost, high-efficiency cell that was both semi-flexible and semi-transparent, which offered a pathway for commercial development of the technology.
