Norway Announces $384.5m Clean Energy Fund To Aid In Covid-19 Recovery
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Power Technology.
These are the first one-and-a-half paragraphs.
Last week, Norway announced plans to fund a “green transition package”, investing $384.5m into sustainable power and infrastructure to help the country’s economy and productivity post-Covid-19.
The fund will be used to support a range of initiatives, including investments in hydrogen power and battery storage technology, building offshore wind infrastructure, and renovations to new and existing buildings, as Norway looks to reach the Paris Climate Agreement target of limiting global temperature rise to less than two degrees by 2050.
Perhaps we should follow Norway’s lead.
Explaining Gravitricity
Gravitricity is a simple way to store excess electricity, that is perhaps being produced by intermittent renewable resources like wind or solar power.
This is their explanatory video.
It may look simple, but how much energy can a typical system store.
The video says that depths can be between 150 and 1,500 metres and that the weight can be up to 5,000 tonnes.
- A quick calculation using Omni’s Potential Energy Calculator with 500 metres and 500 tonnes gives 681 kWh.
- But build a system in a four kilometre deep gold mine with 5000 tonnes and you could store 54.5 MWh.
- Perhaps, that is extreme, but you can understand why the South Africans are interested in the technology.
- Perhaps, more practically, we have some coal mines in the UK, where the winding shafts are around 800 metres, which with a 1000 tonnes would store 2.2 MWh.
These are practical amounts of power.
Gravitricity And South Africa
This article on ESI Africa is entitled Gravitricity Sets Sights On South Africa To Test Green Energy Tech.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Disused mine shafts in South Africa have been identified as an ideal location to test UK-based energy start-up Gravitricity’s green energy technology.
Remember that mine depths in South Africa are often measured in kilometres rather than metres.
UK’s Largest Solar Park Cleve Hill Granted Development Consent
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
These are the two introductory paragraphs.
Cleve Hill Solar Park, set to be the largest in the UK, has been granted development consent by the energy secretary.
The colossal 350MW project will include 880,000 panels along with battery storage, and sit just one mile northeast of Faversham, in Kent, situated close to the village of Graveney.
Other points from the article.
- Cleeve Hill Solar Park is a £450million project.
- It is the first solar project to be considered a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.
- It is being developed as a joint venture between Hive Energy and Wirsol.
- It is due to be operational by 2022.
- To complete the project 700 MWh of energy storage will be added later.
The article also contains this quote from Solar Trade Associations chief executive Chris Hewett.
Solar has a significant role to play in boosting the economy in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. With the right policies we can expect to see an 8GW pipeline of solar projects unlocked and rapidly deployed, swiftly creating a wealth of skilled jobs and setting us on the path towards a green recovery.
8 GW of intermittent energy will need a lot of storage.
As Cleeve Hill’s developers are planning to provide 700 MWh of storage for 700 MW of solar panels, it would appear that 8 GW of solar panels could need up to 16 GWh of energy storage.
As our largest energy storage system is the pumped storage Electric Mountain in Snowdonia with a capacity of 9.1 GWh and most of the large solar developments are towards the South of England, the UK needs to develop a lot more energy storage, where the solar is generated and much of the energy is used.
I can see the following environmentally-friendly developments prospering.
- Highview Power‘s CRYOBattery, which uses liquid air to store energy. Systems have a small footprint and up to a GWh could be possible.
- Electrothermal energy storage like this system from Siemens.
- Using electrolysers from companies like ITM Power to convert excess energy into hydrogen for transport, steelmaking and injecting into the gas main.
- Zinc8‘s zinc-air battery could be the outsider, that comes from nowhere.
Developers could opt for conservative decision of lithium-ion batteries, but I don’t like the environmental profile and these batteries should be reserved for portable and mobile applications.
Floatovoltaics
One concept, I came across whilst writing was floatovoltaics.
The best article about the subject was this one on Renewable Energy World, which is entitled Running Out of Precious Land? Floating Solar PV Systems May Be a Solution.
A French company call Ciel et Terre International seem to be leading the development.
Their web site has this video.
Perhaps, some floatovoltaics, should be installed on the large reservoirs in the South of England.
- The Renewable Energy World article says that panels over water can be more efficient due to the cooling effect of the water.
- Would they cut evaporative losses by acting as sunshades?
- As the French are great pecheurs, I suspect that they have the answers if anglers should object.
This Google Map shows the reservoirs to the West of Heathrow.
Note.
- Wraysbury Reservoir has an area of two square kilometres.
- King George VI Reservoir has an area of one-and-a-half square kilometres.
- Using the size and capacity of Owl’s Hatch Solar Farm, it appears that around 65 MW of solar panels can be assembled in a square kilometre.
- All these reservoirs are Sites of Special Scientific Interest because of all the bird life.
- Heathrow is not an airport, that is immune to bird-strikes.
Could floatovoltaics be used to guide birds away from the flightpaths?
Incidentally, I remember a report from Tomorrow’s World, probably from the 1960s, about a porous concrete that had been invented.
- One of the uses would have been to fill reservoirs.
- The capacity of the reservoir would only have been marginally reduced, as the water would be in the voids in the concrete like water in a sponge.
- Soil would be placed at the surface and the land used for growing crops.
I wonder what happened to that idea from fifty years ago!
UK Energy Storage ‘Nears 4GW’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on ReNews.biz.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Almost 4GW of energy storage capacity is now connected to the UK network with a further 9GW in the planning process, according to a new report released today by the Electricity Storage Network (ESN).
It is a small article, where GW is mentioned nine times.
New Zinc-Air Battery Outperforms Lithium-Ion Battery On All Levels
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Interesting Engineering.
This is the introductory paragraph.
There’s a new battery in town and it’s a game-changer. The novel battery, is cheaper, safer and significantly longer laster-lasting, than lithium-ion batteries reports Recharge.
It does seem that Zinc8 is getting noticed.
I wonder, if the web-site gets read in Cambridge, where I was once told that use of the word Interesting, is very much to be discouraged.
New Zinc-Air Battery Is ‘Cheaper, Safer And Far Longer-Lasting Than Lithium-Ion’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Recharge.
These are the first two paragraphs.
A new type of battery is coming onto the market that can store multiple days’ worth of energy, that doesn’t degrade, can’t possibly explode and is up to five times cheaper than lithium-ion, claimed its developer as it prepares to pilot the technology in New York state.
The zinc-air hybrid flow battery developed by Canadian company Zinc8 has the potential to disrupt the entire energy-storage market — making wind and solar farms baseload and even replacing the need for transmission grid upgrades in many places.
The article then gives an in depth review of Zinc8, its technology and its future prospects.
- The Chief Executive is a former Canadian MP. Political connections help!
- The company has $100million of funding.
- Zinc8 energy storage systems are made larger by fitting and bigger storage tank and adding more electrolyte.
- The capital cost of an eight-hour Zinc8 storage system is about $250/KWh, but this falls to $100/KWh for a 32-hour system and $60/KWh for a hundred-hour system.
- Lithium-ion systems ttpically cost $300/KWh for any duration over eight hours.
- The cost of Zinc8 systems is expected to fall as manufacturing increases.
The article finishes with a detailed description of how the technology works.
It also details the company’s growth strategy.
Conclusion
This technology looks like it will give lithiujm-ion batteries a good run for its money in grid storage applications and it could be one of those technologies that help the world to embrace renewable energy, like wind, solar and wave power.
It has various advantages.
- Lower cost of installation.
- Falling manufacturing cost.
- Easily scalable.
- No exotic or hazardous materials, just zinc, water and air, which are recycled.
My only worry, is that Zinc8, sounds too good to be true! But having met researchers at ICI, who were concerned in the birth of polythene, this could be a normal cynical reaction.
Battery Storage Trialled To Provide Upward And Downward Flexibility To UK’s National Grid
|The title of this post, if the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News
This is the introductory paragraph.
Battery software company Arenko has teamed up with the Electricity System Operator (ESO) arm of National Grid in the UK to provide upward and downward reserve flexibility in a “first of its kind trial”.
So what do Arenko actually do?
This is the home page of their web site.
It has this title across the page.
Automation Technology For Batteries
Beneath it is a mission statement.
Our vision is to be the preferred software platform to unlock value for batteries worldwide.
Finally you get this explanation.
Arenko is a world leading battery software and controls platform building a differentiated position in the multi-billion dollar battery controls and automation market.
Batteries are software defined assets which are only as valuable as what controls them.
Arenko’s enabling software platform uses our proprietary and proven automation technology for batteries to asset owners, utilities and battery system integrators unlocking and capturing substantially higher returns and protect your battery assets.
Arenko’s automation technology connects and optimises both the battery’s technical and commercial performance using AI, enhanced analytics and deep learning algorithms.
I would think, this could be my kind of company.
- Software-based
- Ambitious
- All about control engineering.
- I suspect they constantly simulate what is happening to batteries and the electricity network.
If they get it right, they could go a long way.
UK’s First Car Battery ‘Gigafactory’ To Be Built By Two Startups
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Guardian.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Two British startups have announced plans to invest as much as £4bn in building the UK’s first large-scale battery factory, in a move that could prove a major boost to the country’s struggling car industry.
AMTE Power and Britishvolt have signed a memorandum of understanding saying they will work together on plans for a plant to make lithium ion batteries, the key component in electric cars as well as energy storage products.
So who are AMTE Power And Britishvolt?
AMTE Power
The AMTE Power web site, has this mission statement.
The cell market demands flexibility in design and chemistry, AMTE has focused on supporting niche customers who want to develop and build solutions where standard cell options fail to deliver against their business design objectives.
The forecast demand for cells production, will see delivery shortages as Automotive and Energy storage markets develop. AMTE can supply its customers with bespoke solutions eliminating the need to accept second best in cell choice.
Give the customers, what they want is rarely a bad philosophy.
Britishvolt
The Britishvolt web site, has this mission statement.
We have identified the United Kingdom as the potential location to build our first Gigaplant. Britishvolt is looking to produce high performance batteries better than anyone else, establishing the country as the leading force in battery technology and the center of sustainable energy storage. We are ready for the World 2023.
Having read both companies web sites, I think the two companies have more than a little in common.
So why not team up and move forward.
Eos To Install 4MWh Of ‘Safe’ Zinc Battery Technology – At Giant Oil Refinery
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Eos Energy Storage will deploy a megawatt-scale, behind-the-meter zinc hybrid cathode battery energy storage system for a large oil refinery in Greece, claiming it be a validation of the safety and environmental benefits of the novel technology.
EOS Energy Storage seem to have developed a zinc battery, that could work along similar lines to the zinc battery produced by zinc8, that I wrote about in Zinc8 Seem To Be A Surprisingly Open Company.
The Energy Storage News article gives more details on the battery and its design.
- This battery is rated at 1 MW/4 MWh, so compared to some, it is quite small.
- It uses a zinc-halide oxidation/reduction cycle to store and output energy.
- The battery is made from five components, all of which are abundant, ethically sourced and recyclable.
- An order for a 40 MWh system has been placed.
- EOS claim to have numerous pilots and demonstrators in use.
Could it appear that using zinc batteries are a feasible method of storing energy, as two companies both appear to be successful at delivering systems?
The Anonymous Widower 