I also buy SoftBank Giant "iron flow battery", Is it a renewable energy shift trump?

When you visit the ESS headquarters in Wilson Building, Oregon, the experimental battery module is as large as a toaster.It was developed by the founder at its own research institute 10 years ago, to solve issues that will face the world in the near future.The challenge is a large -scale "power storage".

The battery designed by ESS, unlike the current lithium -ion battery, is mainly used in cheap, abundant, and is a harmless material, iron, salt, and water.The other difference is that the lithium -ion battery manufacturer is aiming to miniaturize the battery so that it can be mounted on a small -size smartphone or notebook PC, while the iron battery is huge every time it upgrade.。

In fact, the products currently manufactured by ESS are not similar to the previous batteries.At the back side of the ESS factory, employees assemble a device that occupies the entire transport container.Each of them has a power storage capacity that can store about 34 households in the United States for 12 hours.

ESS, which has just released shares last year as a long -term energy storage company, has an ambition to build factories around the world.The company plans to start the development of a huge battery, which surpasses the track -sized batteries introduced earlier.ESS is planning to build a battery in collaboration with Power Company Portland General Electric (Portland General Electric), which is large enough to fill a 2,000 -square -meter building standing on the land adjacent to the factory.This battery is expected to be nearly 150 times the largest battery that ESS is currently shipped.

The essence of ESS innovation is not the size of the battery.With the power of chemistry and engineering, electricity companies can store more energy.The current system -type lithium -ion battery, which has a limit of 4 hours of electricity storage, cannot be realized in terms of cost.

The iron "flow battery" manufactured by ESS is one of the energy storage technology, which is rapidly increasing in demand as the power fields and stabilization of climate change are promoted.The current power network has been increasingly dependent on intermolecional solar power and wind power, instead of former fossil fuels, and has been looking for batteries that store 2-4 hours of power until just a few years ago.Power companies are now seeking a system that can store more than 8 hours.Demand for more long -lasting batteries is growing to supply electricity when people need it, not when generating electricity.ESS founders predicted this trend.

Great chemical reaction

ESS founder Craig Evans and Julia Song began developing iron flow batteries in their home garage in 2011.The two met by the time they worked in a company that developed fuel cells.Song, who is the highest technical officer of ESS, is a chemist, and Evans, president, is an engineer and designer.

The two have seen the rapid price of renewable energy systems, and predicted that the demand for energy storage will increase.For example, a power net, which accounts for 80 % of solar and wind power, will need an affordable method for storing at least 12 hours of energy.

Currently, long -term energy storage in the United States accounts for about 95 % of pumping power generation.The pumping power generation is to pump water in another high altitude reservoir from a certain reservoir, and when released later, generate power by re -flowing and passing the turbine.This simple method works well, but has geographical constraints.

Batteries have no geographical restrictions.However, most of the currently operating power net batteries are lithium -ion batteries.The lithium -ion battery is relatively expensive, deteriorated in a few years, and is made of hard -to -recycle material that may fire or explode.Even worse, if you try to double the capacity of the storage battery, you have to buy twice the battery.Therefore, trying to store more than a few hours of energy is too much cost-the US Energy High Research Planning Bureau (ARPA-E) pointed out:Ritz Eermann has compiled programs focusing on long-term energy storage at ARPA-E, a US organization that provides funds for research and development of advanced energy technology.

The flow battery developed by ESS accumulates energy in the liquid electrolyte tank.It is a mechanism that extracts electrons by sending a chemically activated liquid electrolyte into the electrochemical cell of the battery.To increase the storage capacity of the flow battery, just increase the liquid tank.When the battery is as large as a building, these tanks become like silo (warehouses).

In the electrochemical cell of the flow battery, two types of electrolytes are separated by a thin film.On the other hand, the electrolyte is when moving inside the cell ...