The Massachusetts Institute of Technology claims to have found the solution to large-scale storage of wind and solar energy. MIT has discovered a technology that will provide a cost-effective form of storage and backup for these renewable energy sources.
An interdisciplinary team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, has discovered a new and very interesting technology that will allow to solve one of the great current problems of the wind and solar energy sources. The large-scale storage. MIT highlights the discovery of an electrochemical technology called a semi-solid flow battery.
The flow batteries
semi-solid are positioned as a cost-effective form of storage and backup for variable renewable energy sources (VRE) such as wind and solar. To carry out the transition to clean energy it is necessary to have energy storage systems of different durations for when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow.
Large-scale storage of solar and wind energy
Emre Gençcer, an investigator scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and a member of the team that made this discovery, highlighted the following: “The transition to clean energy requires energy storage systems of different durations for when the sun it does not shine and the wind does not blow. Our work shows that a semi-solid flow battery could save lives and be an economical option when these sources cannot generate power for a day or more, in the case of natural disasters, for example. ‘
The rechargeable zinc manganese dioxide (Zn-MnO 2) battery created by the MIT researchers, it prevailed over other long-term energy storage technologies. The research team highlighted that they have been able to demonstrate that their system can be cheaper than others and has the ability to be scaled up.
In flow batteries there are two different chemical solutions (electrolytes) with negative or positive ions. They are pumped from separate tanks, which meet through a membrane (called a stack). It is here that ion currents react, converting electrical energy into chemical energy, allowing the battery to charge. As demand is generated for this stored energy, the solution is pumped back to the stack to convert the chemical energy into electrical energy.
Flow batteries with less expensive chemicals
The theory is that as long as solutions keep flowing, reacting and converting chemical energy into electrical energy, flow battery systems can provide electricity. «For backup that lasts longer than a day, the architecture of flow batteries suggests that they can be a cheap option“Said one of the team members who has worked on this technology.
Unlike other flow battery systems, the solution developed by MIT uses less expensive chemical components. The researchers opted for a mixture containing dispersed particles of manganese dioxide
(MnO 2), injected with an electrically conductive additive, black carbon. This compound reacts with a conductive zinc solution or zinc plaque in the battery.