Battery start up tackles renewables dilemma

For decades, the adoption of wind and solar power technologies has been hampered by one key problem: what do you do when the wind stops blowing or the sun goes down?

The answer is, of course, to store the power generated when conditions are suitable and release it when they are not, but this in turn has resulted in problems surrounding how best to store energy for indeterminate periods. Various technologies have been proposed, ranging from new batteries to molten salt capable of retaining heat generated from solar panels overnight, but none has yet attained widespread adoption.

Now an Australian start up thinks it may have the answer in the form of a highly efficient new battery technology based on that used in hybrid cars, which it claims can provide cheap and efficient storage for energy generated from wind turbines and solar panels.

It was yesterday announced Smart Storage Pty Ltd had secured "significant investment" from venture capital firm Cleantech Ventures and Australia's national science agency CSIRO and would now accelerate development of its battery technology.

Director of the CSIRO energy transformed national research flagship project Dr John Wright said Smart Storage's battery technology would aim to deliver a " low-cost, high-performance, high-power stationary energy storage solution" suitable for both grid-connected and onsite renewable energy applications.

"Cost-effective, high-performance energy storage has been the missing link for renewable energy," Wright said, adding that current energy storage solutions tend to discharge too quickly, struggle to meet high power demands and are often too expensive.

Wright argued that Smart Storage's technology had the potential to solve the problem and could store and discharge 50 per cent more power and deliver a cycle life three times longer than conventional lead-acid batteries.

The technology is based on battery technology developed by CSIRO and trialled in hybrid cars that combines an asymmetric "supercapacitor" electrode and a lead-acid battery in a single unit cell. The company claims unnamed "advanced materials" used for the electrodes and current management components absorb and release charge rapidly and at efficiencies well above conventional battery types.

Andrew Pickering of Cleantech Ventures said that the new battery technology could also exploit existing manufacturing technologies, ensuring that costs remain competitive. "Our technology development path is directed towards manufacturing in existing lead-acid battery plants," he said. "Too often, new technologies simply are not affordable and that significantly retards market uptake."