Cost-Effective Energy Storage Solution for Renewable Energy Application

Technology Overview

Renewable energy sources are intermittent, this means that electricity generation using these sources fluctuates. To supply the world with 100% renewable energy, energy storage system is indispensable. Conventional battery technologies such as lithium-ion or lead-acid batteries uses toxic materials, relatively expensive and unsafe.This invention provides a cost-effective and scalable flow battery that can store excess renewable energy using water (H2O) and table-salt (NaCl) as the storage medium, which is safer than lithium-ion batteries as these materials are non-flammable. These materials are also abundantly available and cost-effective.The flow battery is highly scalable. The power (in kW) and the energy storage capacity (in kWh) are decoupled unlike lithium-ion or lead acid batteries. This means that one can design the flow battery with a relatively small power but high energy storage capacity – enough to store energy for days to weeks. The flow battery is simple to manufacture and easy to implement. It requires a stack of ion-exchange and bipolar membranes to perform charging and discharging and water storage tanks.The technology provider is keen to work with potential technology adopters through technical collaboration and licensing agreement to deploy the technology in Asia.

Technology Features & Specifications

1. Relatively high energy density at ~5 kWh/m3 water2. Power density 1 kW/m3 membrane stack module3. Less than USD100/kWh for (10 MWh scale)4. Clean and sustainable as energy is stored (NaCl) and water5. Independently scalable of power (kW) to energy (kWh) ratio

Potential Applications

Solar farm or offshore wind energy operators