Smarter energy storage for solar and wind power

While renewable energy has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it continues to hold some challenges. For example, how can these sources continue to provide energy when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining?

Storing the energy is the obvious solution, but current battery storage products are also considered expensive due to high initial cost and short battery life. But development of the first hybrid battery suitable for storing electricity from renewable energy sources is now a step closer.

CSIRO and Cleantech Ventures have invested in technology start-up Smart Storage Pty Ltd to develop and commercialise battery-based storage solutions.

Director of the CSIRO Energy Transformed National Research Flagship Dr John Wright said the Smart Storage battery technology aims to deliver a low cost, high performance, high power stationary energy storage solution suitable for grid-connected and remote applications.

“Cost effective, high performance energy storage has been the missing link for renewable energy,” he said.

“The Smart Storage technology is based on CSIRO’s ‘UltraBattery’ which has been successfully trialled in hybrid vehicles.

“The present fundamental problem with wind-generated power is its intermittency – energy is only produced when the wind blows. The inability of this technology to produce energy on demand has created a barrier to the implementation.

“The high-power and long-life UltraBattery can be integrated into the systems to smooth intermittency and potentially ‘time-shift’ wind energy production to better match demand. A similar application is expected to be developed for photovoltaic energy production.

"We think this combination battery is really a step towards the future and we're setting it up on one of our own wind turbines at the CSIRO Energy Centre in Newcastle to really give it a full scale work out," Dr Wright said.

It is expected that the discharge and charge power of the Smart Storage battery will be 50 per cent higher and its cycle-life at least three times longer than that of the conventional lead-acid counterpart.

“Most importantly, our technology development path is directed towards manufacturing in existing lead-acid battery plants,” said Andrew Pickering, a Principal at Cleantech Ventures.