Energy storage

Japanese Sony Corporation and Canadian electricity supplier Hydro-Québec have established Esstalion Technologies, a venture to research and develop large-scale energy storage systems for power grids.

The joint venture will use Sony’s control technology for olivine-type lithium-ion iron phosphate rechargeable batteries and scalable module systems together with Hydro-Québec’s operation and control technologies for electric power supplies and lithium-ion material technology.

The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has given £4m ($6.75m) for a research project that aims to set the nation’s energy storage course.

The Supergen Energy Storage Hub will draw together experts from seven universities and 14 industrial and governmental partners to address the technical and scientific challenges facing energy storage technologies and develop an energy storage roadmap for the UK.  The project also aims to accelerate the process of scaleup, prototyping and commercialisation.

Professor Peter Bruce of Oxford University, the project’s leader, said, “Energy storage is more important today than at any time in human history. It has a vital role to play in storing electricity from renewable sources and is key to the electrification of transport. The Supergen Hub will be working with industry, government and the education system to improve the performance of electrochemical, mechanical and thermal devices, develop and tested new materials and optimize thermodynamic processes, all against a background of robust integrated systems.”

Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s CEO, said, “Developing efficient energy storage technologies and infrastructure is crucial to decarbonizing and strengthening our energy system and security. Working with industry, this new Supergen Hub will move the UK closer to where it needs to be for a safer, more sustainable future.”

Sony and Hydro-Québec are to form a joint venture to research and develop a large-scale energy storage system for power grids, the companies have announced.

The intention is to combine Sony’s control techniques for olivine-type lithium-ion iron phosphate rechargeable batteries and scalable module systems with Hydro-Québec’s operation and control technologies for electric power supplies as well as its lithium-ion battery technology.  

California energy storage consortium CalCharge has signed its first corporate members, including Duracell, Volkswagen, Eaton, LG and Hitachi.

Also enrolled are startup firms Enovix, EnerVault, Farasis Energy, Halotechnics, Leyden Energy and Primus Power.

Williams Advanced Engineering's flywheel technology is being used on the Scottish Isle of Eigg and Fair Isle to stabilise the power grid.

The installations are the first grid-connected flywheels used in a European energy network. Funding has come from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change to balance power coming from the islands’ renewable power supplies.

The flywheels come directly from Williams Advanced Engineering who developed the technology for use in Formula 1 kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) but were not used because battery technology was chosen instead.

The flywheel is a kinetic system that absorbs and transmits power to and from an electrical grid. It spins at a high speed in an airtight container to store the energy as rotational energy that can be converted back to electrical energy by slowing down the flywheel. 

Robert Mitchell, director of Fair Isle Electric Company, explained the island's need for a flywheel:“Our two wind turbines produce more than enough power most of the time but they cannot store energy so this will be an excellent addition.”

Both islands rely heavily on intermittent renewable energy sources. The Isle of Eigg, in the Inner Hebrides, uses a bank of lead-acid batteries to store energy and smooth the supply. Fair Isle, south of the Shetland Island group, uses diesel generators when there is insufficient wind generation.