Batteries are the standout technology enabling the build-out of renewable energy. They do not make electricity, but when paired with solar and wind they free us from wires and fuel, and they are moving from powering our devices to powering vehicles, homes and entire grids. Costs have fallen about 97% over the past 20 years, following Wright’s Law, where each doubling of production cuts cost by up to 15%.
Our posts follow the technology on every front: lithium-ion improvements, silicon anodes, sodium-ion cells launched in China, solid state announcements and the long record of Toyota’s solid state delays, plus iron-air, liquid metal, flow, nickel-hydrogen and even gravity and compressed air storage. Others cover 15-minute charging, million-kilometre and 1000-mile batteries, and research suggesting batteries can last 40 years.
The bigger story is what batteries do to the grid. Posts show grid-scale and home batteries growing rapidly, community batteries on power poles, and how storage turns electricity from baseload into dispatchable power. A recent post explains how more storage, held back for the worst moments, could cut wholesale electricity costs by 20%. Pumped hydro and Queensland proposals are covered too. Start here to see why batteries are ending the fossil fuel era in transport and power.
Batteries are the standout technology enabling the build-out of renewable energy. They do not make electricity, but when paired with solar and wind they free us from wires and fuel, and they are moving from powering our devices to powering vehicles, homes and entire grids. Costs have fallen about 97% over the past 20 years, following Wright’s Law, where each doubling of production cuts cost by up to 15%.
Our posts follow the technology on every front: lithium-ion improvements, silicon anodes, sodium-ion cells launched in China, solid state announcements and the long record of Toyota’s solid state delays, plus iron-air, liquid metal, flow, nickel-hydrogen and even gravity and compressed air storage. Others cover 15-minute charging, million-kilometre and 1000-mile batteries, and research suggesting batteries can last 40 years.
The bigger story is what batteries do to the grid. Posts show grid-scale and home batteries growing rapidly, community batteries on power poles, and how storage turns electricity from baseload into dispatchable power. A recent post explains how more storage, held back for the worst moments, could cut wholesale electricity costs by 20%. Pumped hydro and Queensland proposals are covered too. Start here to see why batteries are ending the fossil fuel era in transport and power.
The graphene aluminium-ion batteries developed by GMG promises a radical improvement compared with the lihium batteries currently the workhorse for transportation and grid energy with 4 times more energy, long life, fast charging, non flamable and cheaper.
Ion air batteries for grid scale batteries target cost is $20KWh by 2030. Well funded, Form Energy is building a 12GW factory in Iowa, and has pilot and first plants under construction to be
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has driven a huge investment in battery factories, hydrogen, wind and solar farms, battery storage and other emission reduction technologies.
Liquid Metals battery from Ambri are designed for grid operation. Modular in container sized units with 20 years or 5,000 cycles and no fall off in capacity
Queensland has announced 2 large pumped hydro schemes costing over $30 billion and not due to come onliine on 2029 to 2035. Large projects have major financial risks, but QLD is determned to have large capacity long term storage.
Gravity batteries using heavy blocks has moved from pilot phase to the first 2 demonstration plans in China (100MWh) and in USA. Watch their progress.
The latest figures from Tesla show a rapid increase in the amount of grid storage deployed globally in the first quarter of 2023. Over 160GWh backlog in Tesla orders and over 300GWh projects announced for all batteries
Nano silicon for the battery anode is a recent development leading to a 15% increase in energy density and avoiding the use of graphite in the batteries. Sila Technologies is ramping up production to 150GWh per year over then next 5 years.
Sodium-ion battery chemistry has been keenly anticipated as alternative chemistry to lithium ion batteries in EV. Sehold have been first to market.
Compressed air battery using large underground vaults are being developed to provide long duration storage.
