Vanadium redox batteries could balance the electrical grid for solar and wind power

[ScienceRocks]

Vanadium redox batteries could balance the electrical grid for solar and wind power


Vanadium redox batteries could balance the electrical grid for solar and wind power

Vanadium "redox flow" batteries are very stable. They can be discharged and recharged 20,000 times without much loss of performance, and are thought to last decades (they have not been around long enough for this to have been demonstrated in practice).

They can also be enormous, and - in large part thanks to their vanadium content - expensive. The smallest of the "Cellcube" batteries that American Vanadium is producing in partnership with German engineering firm Gildemeister has a footprint the size of a parking bay and costs $100,000.

How does a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery work?

They consist of two giant tanks of different solutions of vanadium dissolved in sulphuric acid, separated by a membrane

The battery produces an electrical current as the fluids are pumped past electrodes on either side of the battery
In one tank, the vanadium releases electrons, turning from yellow to blue
In the other tank, the vanadium receives electrons, turning from green to violet
The electrons pass around a circuit, generating a current, while at the same time a matching number of protons (hydrogen ions) pass across the membrane between the two solutions

 

[Mr. H.]

It's all about hydrocarbons. Don't kid yourself...

 

[whitehall]

So, the admission is that the wind/solar grid is a joke and the enviro activists sit around dreaming about miracle batteries. Meanwhile windmills are killing migratory birds by the thousands. It's legal for windmills to kill them but but it's against federal law to to touch a (formerly) endangered dead bird. It's insanity times ten.

 

[ScienceRocks]

So, the admission is that the wind/solar grid is a joke and the enviro activists sit around dreaming about miracle batteries. Meanwhile windmills are killing migratory birds by the thousands. It's legal for windmills to kill them but but it's against federal law to to touch a (formerly) endangered dead bird. It's insanity times ten.

This is why fusion is the solution. If Obama was serious he'd fund it right.

 

[flacaltenn]

So, the admission is that the wind/solar grid is a joke and the enviro activists sit around dreaming about miracle batteries. Meanwhile windmills are killing migratory birds by the thousands. It's legal for windmills to kill them but but it's against federal law to to touch a (formerly) endangered dead bird. It's insanity times ten.

This is why fusion is the solution. If Obama was serious he'd fund it right.

He'd be wasting taxpayer monies if he did.. Because there is no real high tech here and not likely to be a solution.. I just had an article on these flow batteries cross my desk from IEEE.

You need 2 grain silo size tanks to store enough energy for 240 homes for ONE HOUR. And Vanadium chemistry is one of the more expensive and touchy (enviro-wise). The size of the land required and the budget for adequately buffering WIND with batteries is out of reach. With "flow" batteries or any other tech. And for SOLAR -- the better alternative is molten salt storage and solar tower or solar cylinder designs.. There you have a chance of extending solar from 6 hours a days as an energy source to MAYBE 10 or 12 --- but at less than 30% of the daytime potential output..