The Energy Department has announced a $325 million investment in new battery types that can help turn solar and wind energy into 24-hour power.
The funds will be distributed among 15 projects in 17 states and the Red Lake Nation, a Native American tribe based in Minnesota.
Batteries are increasingly being used to store surplus renewable energy so that it can be used later, during times when there is no sunlight or wind. The department says the projects will protect more communities from blackouts and make energy more reliable and affordable.
Instead of mineral batteries, why not pumped storage, flywheels, etc.?
Flywheels are more expensive than batteries.
Pumped storage is great, but highly dependent on geography and not scalable due to that.
Pumped storage only makes sense if you have a convenient uphill location for a reservoir, which isn’t the case everywhere. Flywheels are mechanically complex.
Moving parts make anything more error-prone.
As others have said, pumped storage is dependant on geography but it’s great where available. I have high hopes for compressed CO2 storage or molten salt storage. Flow batteries are promising as well, there’s just so many emerging technologies it’s hard to keep track of them all but I’m rooting for the ones that use abundant cheap materials that can retrofit into existing retired coal plants. If you stick a molten salt core where a coal plant was it can heat steam for the existing turbines and substation and transmission infrastructure.
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