Tag: energy storage

a photo-realistic renewable energy landscape with solar panels, wind turbines, and a vanadium flow battery interconnected, symbolizing the integration of advanced green technology with nature
Climate Change, Climate Confident

Beyond Lithium: Vanadium Flow Batteries Paving the Way for Sustainability

Energy storage stands at a pivotal juncture in our transition to a sustainable energy ecosystem. In a recent episode of the Climate Confident podcast, I had an insightful discussion with Matt Harper from Invinity Energy Systems, focusing on the role of vanadium flow batteries in this landscape. This blog post aims to dissect the significance of energy storage, particularly through the lens of vanadium flow batteries, in our quest to combat climate change.

Vanadium flow batteries offer a distinct approach to energy storage. Unlike the more common lithium-ion batteries, they excel in storing large quantities of energy over prolonged periods. This characteristic is crucial for bridging the gap between the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, like solar and wind, and our consistent energy demands.

A core advantage of vanadium flow batteries is their longevity and resilience. They can undergo numerous charge and discharge cycles with minimal degradation. This durability is essential for supporting renewable energy integration into the grid. For context, while a typical lithium-ion battery may offer up to 10,000 charge cycles, vanadium flow batteries can double this figure, significantly enhancing their lifespan and reducing the overall cost per cycle.

In terms of safety and environmental impact, vanadium flow batteries present a lower risk profile. They are inherently non-flammable, reducing the risks associated with fire and chemical leaks. This safety feature makes them particularly suitable for urban and industrial applications where safety concerns are paramount.

The scalability of vanadium flow batteries is another critical factor. They can be designed to fit various energy requirements, from small industrial applications to large-scale grid storage. This adaptability is vital as the energy storage needs of the grid evolve with the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources.

From an economic perspective, the cost of vanadium flow batteries is a point of discussion. Although currently more expensive than lithium-ion batteries, the total cost of ownership over their lifespan can be lower due to their longer operational life and higher cycle durability. Additionally, the market dynamics are shifting. The global push towards renewable energy is driving innovations and economies of scale that are expected to reduce costs significantly.

Globally, the energy storage market is forecasted to grow exponentially. BloombergNEF projects that the global energy storage market will expand to a cumulative 1,432GWh by 2030. In this scenario, technologies like vanadium flow batteries will play a critical role in providing reliable, safe, and efficient energy storage solutions.

In conclusion, while lithium-ion batteries currently dominate the energy storage market, the strategic importance of vanadium flow batteries cannot be overlooked. Their unique attributes make them a vital component in the energy storage mix, especially as we accelerate towards a renewable energy-dominated future.

For a deeper understanding of the potential and challenges of vanadium flow batteries, I invite you to listen to the full podcast episode with Matt Harper. It offers valuable insights into how these batteries could shape our sustainable energy future.

Hydrogen
Climate Change, energy

From Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy: The Role of Green Hydrogen

As the host of the Climate Confident podcast, I’m thrilled to share with you an exciting episode all about green hydrogen and its role in reducing our climate emissions. In this episode, I sit down with Emily Pontecorvo, a journalist at Grist, to discuss the latest developments in the world of green hydrogen and what it means for our efforts to combat climate change.

For those who may not be familiar, green hydrogen is a type of hydrogen produced using renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, instead of fossil fuels. It’s an exciting development in the world of clean energy, as hydrogen has the potential to be a key player in helping us reach our climate goals.

One of the key highlights of this episode is a discussion of the EU Green Hydrogen Rules, which were recently published by the EU. These rules set strict criteria for what constitutes green hydrogen, including additionality (the requirement that new renewable energy must be produced to support the hydrogen production), regionality (the requirement that the renewable energy must be produced in the same region as the hydrogen plant), and time matching (the requirement that hydrogen production must match the times when renewable energy is being produced).

Emily also talks about the potential uses for hydrogen that may not make as much sense from an energy or financial standpoint, but are still on the table. For example, the gas industry is pushing for hydrogen to replace natural gas as the main fuel for heating homes. While this is technically feasible, it would require major changes to the pipelines and appliances, and may not actually reduce emissions significantly. Emily also referenced the Hydrogen Ladder that has been created by Michael Liebreich to highlight where Green Hydrogen is useful, and not.

Throughout the episode, Emily provides valuable insights and in-depth analysis of the current state of green hydrogen, and what it means for our efforts to reduce our climate emissions. Her expertise on the subject is truly impressive, and I learned so much from her during our conversation.

In conclusion, I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to stay informed about developments in the world of green hydrogen. This is a rapidly evolving field with huge implications for our climate, and I highly encourage you to listen to this episode of the Climate Confident podcast to learn more.

And if you like what you hear, don’t forget to follow the podcast and support our efforts to bring you the latest and most relevant information on the fight against climate change. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and I can’t wait to share more exciting episodes with you in the future!

Finally, don’t forget to follow the Climate Confident podcast for weekly inspiring stories and remember, if you value receiving weekly actionable insights on sustainability and climate, you can always sign up to be a Supporter of the podcast for less than the cost of a cup of coffee.

Photo credit Matthew Bodaly on Flickr

Trends & Concepts

Smart Grid Heavy Hitter series – Kevin Meagher, CTO EDSA

EDSA are an interesting company. They are 25 years old, they are privately held and they focus on power analytics. I had an opportunity to have EDSA’s CTO, Kevin Meagher, on the show so I jumped at it to find out more about their smart grid solutions for micro-grid integration.

Kevin and I had a great chat, we talked about:

  • Kevin and EDSA’s definition of a Smart Grid
  • The importance of micro-grids to the smart grid
  • EDSA’s micro-grid management software and their target customers
  • The changing face of energy generation with the likelihood of community microgrids coming together to do energy arbitrage
  • Trends in energy storage systems and
  • Differences in roll outs of micro-grids in varying geographies and regulations and incentives affecting them
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Trends & Concepts

Interesting energy storage solutions?

Rechargeable batteries
I published this post on the IBM Global Eco Jam last week and it generated some interesting feedback so I thought I’d re-publish it here too to solicit your thoughts –

I was at the NewNet CleanTech Investors Summit in London last November.

At this event a poll was taken asking which CleanTech issues were perceived as being most important/having the most potential by the investment community – the answers were Energy Efficiency and Energy Storage.

I have seen several posts here on efficiency but none on energy storage so I said I’d start one.

What are the most interesting energy storage solutions people are seeing emerging.

I’ll kick off –

The two most interesting I have seen are
1. Thermal storage using heavily insulated bricks (!) for domestic energy storage (resistive heating) and
2. Metal air batteries – zinc air batteries are scheduled to come to market later this year. Zinc is abundant, cheap, non-toxic, non-explosive and readily recyclable. Zinc air batteries have an energy density about two to three times that of lithium ion batteries.

With that energy density and price point, it should be possible to build utility scale storage (allowing renewables to store excess energy when the wind is blowing strongly, and sell it when the wind drops or demand increases, for example).

Are there any other options people are seeing (and let’s leave pumped hydro out of this discussion – it is old tech, expensive and has significant environmental impacts).

One of the respondents pointed me to news out of Stanford in December that Stanford scientists are harnessing nanotechnology to quickly produce ultra-lightweight, bendable batteries and supercapacitors in from everyday paper!

What other interesting forms of energy storage have you come across?

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Trends & Concepts

Friday Morning Green Numbers round-up 01/29/2010

Green numbers
Photo credit: Unhindered by Talent


Photo credit Unhindered by Talent

Here is this Friday’s Green Numbers round-up:

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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