Bristol is now host to what is thought to be the UK’s largest stand-alone battery storage facility, after clean energy investors Hazel Capital confirmed yesterday that the site is now formally up and running. The 15MW Lockleaze project was originally developed by Aura Power before its acquisition by Hazel Capital earlier this year.
Business Green 1st Aug 2017 read more »
Google’s parent company Alphabet is turning to salt and antifreeze to provide energy storage that could be cheaper than lithium-ion batteries. The technology giant’s secretive X division is working on a way to store energy from renewable sources that would otherwise be wasted because of the time mismatch between supply and demand. The system was designed by Robert Laughlin, a Nobel prize-winning physicist of Stanford University. It takes in energy in the form of electricity and converts it into hot and cold air, using a heat pump. These streams heat molten salt and cool the antifreeze respectively. The process can be reversed to release the energy as the warm and cold air meet, creating gusts that drive a turbine and feed power back into the grid. Scientists had already shown that the technology could store energy. Alphabet’s engineers have designed a version that works at lower temperatures, however, which reduces costs and makes it commercially viable.
Times 2nd Aug 2017 read more »
