Smarter storage for solar/wind power

CSIRO and Cleantech Ventures, with technology start-up company Smart Storage, are developing a hybrid battery suitable for storing electricity from renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind.

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.

Current battery storage solutions undergo frequent deep discharging and are unable to meet high power demands. They are also considered expensive due to high initial cost and short battery life.

“The Smart Storage technology is based on CSIRO’s ‘Ultrabattery’, which has been successfully trialled in hybrid vehicles,” Wright said.

The team aims to commercially produce a low-cost, easily manufactured, deep-cycle stationary battery that meets demanding variable operating conditions.

The Smart Storage technology is a hybrid battery which combines an asymmetric ‘supercapacitor’ electrode and a lead-acid battery in a single unit cell. Advanced materials, used for the electrodes and current management, absorb and release charge rapidly and at efficiencies well above conventional battery types.

It is expected that the discharge and charge power of the Smart Storage battery will be 50% 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.