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https://reneweconomy.com.au/energy-crisis-government-has-been-thinking-about-batteries-the-wrong-way/>
"This week, energy ministers from the Commonwealth, states and territories have
met to try to grapple with the energy crisis that has seemingly emerged
overnight, but has been 20 years in the making. While many vectors that have
led to the spike in wholesale energy prices are global in nature, the path
forwards will rely heavily on domestic energy security.
Those arguing that fossil fuels are part of the transition are missing the
point. While no one serious is calling for gas and coal to be shut off this
afternoon, the reality is we are moving away from reliance on carbon energy. It
really isn’t part of the solution.
One missing piece to this puzzle is energy storage. To successfully accelerate
towards a renewables infrastructure – while keeping the lights on – energy
planners in government and industry need to shift how they think about
batteries. At the moment, they are widely seen as a buffer for existing energy
infrastructure, rather than the pathway to a new paradigm with widespread
renewables and domestic energy security.
Part of the reason is that the incumbent battery technology – lithium – is best
suited to quick charge and discharge storage regimes. This is great to support
a creaking energy infrastructure as coal and gas plants shut down, but lithium
can’t be the whole story, especially with its supply-chain problems and cost
difficulties for longer-term energy storage. Other battery technologies need to
come online to allow the shift in thinking – and deployment of energy storage
solutions.
A great advantage of battery energy storage infrastructure is that it can be
deployed within months, rather than the many years it takes to commission new
gas projects. To make the shift to renewables, solar and wind plus battery
storage is the smart option."
Zinc and bromide batteries, among others, have some useful applications.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
