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News:2009:Energy Storage

Current

Batteries > Lithium Ion >
"Home Batteries" to power houses for a week - Panasonic has announced plans to create 'home batteries.' They are lithium-ion batteries large enough to power a house for a week, making energy sources such as solar and wind power more feasible. Also, you can buy energy when it is cheapest, and don't need to worry about power outages anymore. (Nexus404; Dec. 24, 2009)

Batteries >
A Quantum Leap in Battery Design - A "digital quantum battery" concept proposed by a physicist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign could provide a dramatic boost in energy storage capacity over lithium ion batteries by several orders of magnitude. The concept calls for billions of nanoscale capacitors. (MIT Technology Review; December 21, 2009) ('PhysOrg)

Nanotech / Batteries >
Batteries Made from Regular Paper - A group of Stanford University researchers have shown that ordinary paper can be turned into a battery electrode simply by dipping it into carbon-nanotube inks. The resulting electrodes, which are strong, flexible, and highly conductive, might be used to make cheap energy storage devices to power portable electronics. (MIT Technology Review; Dec. 9, 2009)

Hydro > Run-of-the-River / Pumped Storage >
This is Big: U.S. Could Double Hydropower Capacity with Minimal Impact - U.S. Energy Sec. says that hydropower capacity in the U.S. could "double with minimal impact to the environment", mostly just by installing more efficient turbines at existing hydroelectric projects or at dams without power components, increasing the use of pumped-storage projects, and encouraging the use of run-of-the-river turbines. (TreeHugger; Nov. 12, 2009)

Featured: Solar / Storage >
Magnesium Energy Cycle for fossil fuel replacement - Professor Yabe of Tokyo Tech is heading the development of a process that combines magnesium and water to produce high energy steam and hydrogen, which is burned to produce additional high energy steam to power an engine with no harmful emissions. The magnesium oxide by-product is reduced back to magnesium through a solar powered laser process to be reused. (PESWiki; Nov. 10, 2009)

Top 100: Solar / Storage > Electrolysis > Nocera Catalytic Electrolysis >
New solar storage solution could be the key to home-brewed electricity - A new paper by MIT professor Daniel Nocera describes the development of a practical, inexpensive storage system for achieving personalized solar energy. At its heart is an innovative catalyst that splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen that become fuel for producing electricity in a fuel cell. (GizMag; Nov. 4, 2009)

Solar > Concentrated / Storage >
Solar power generation around the clock - SolarReserve is developing a solar power system that can store seven hours' worth of solar energy by focusing mirrors onto millions of gallons of molten salt, allowing the plant to provide electricity 24 hours a day. The 150-megawatt plant will include 4.4 million gallons of molten salt. (PhysOrg; Nov. 5, 2009)

Storage > Flywheels > Beacon >
Beacon Flywheel Plant Approved by New York PSC - Beacon Power Corporation announced that the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) has granted the company a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for its proposed 20-megawatt flywheel frequency regulation plant in Stephentown, New York, and approved the project's overall financing. (Renewable Energy World; Oct. 21, 2009)

Capacitors >
Electric Ultracapacitor Buses Becoming More Feasible - China and Sinautec have been testing a fleet of electric buses equipped with ultracapacitors for quick recharging and zero emissions… and so far it works. Though having a quick charge time (~ 5 min.), these ultracapacitors need to be recharged (every 3.5 miles with air conditioning; 5.5 miles without a/c), requiring numerous charging stations; and the bus only goes 30 mph. (Gas 2.0; Oct. 21, 2009)

Storage > Compressed Air >
Hydraulic Storage using Coastal Salt Domes - Hydraulic and air-pressure based power stations respond more easily to sudden and extreme fluctuations in demand for power. Salt domes that are located very deep in the earth's bedrock and that measure several miles in vertical height by up to a mile in diameter would be suitable to store pressurized natural gas or compressed air. (Energy Pulse; Oct. 9, 2009)

Hydrogen > Storage >
Recyclable Hydrogen Fuel Tanks - Researchers in several U.S. National Laboratories have developed a series of reactions for refueling the high-density hydrogen-storage material ammonia borane at lower temperatures through a process that consumes much less energy. (MIT Technology Review; September 8, 2009)

Storage / Contests: Hydrogen > Storage >
DOE launches $1 million Hydrogen Storage Prize - After trying to cut research funding by hundreds of millions for hydrogen technology (most of which was restored by Congress), the Department of Energy has announced a $1 million prize for a hydrogen technology breakthrough. The contest seeks an entry that will improve current hydrogen storage issues, involving highly-pressurized tanks. (AutoBlog; August 26, 2009)

Featured / Top 100: Storage > Batteries > Sodium Sulfur >
Ceramatec Revolutionizing Energy Storage Technology - A company in Salt Lake City is receiving widespread coverage for developing a battery system based on sodium sulfur for residential and commercial applications that may make energy storage much easier and more economical providing the tipping point to make renewables feasible. (PESWiki; August 25, 2009)

Storage > Capacitors / Plug-ins >
Ultracaps Could Boost Hybrid Efficiency - Energy storage devices called ultracapacitors could lower the cost of the battery packs in plug-in hybrid vehicles by hundreds or even thousands of dollars by cutting the size of the packs in half, made more feasible by advances being made in the industry. (MIT Technology Review; August 20, 2009)

Top 100: Storage > Capacitors > EEStor >
Who Killed the Electric Gas Tank? - A somewhat skeptical look at EEStor, which says they can make "power storage devices" (not technically batteries, more like peculiar capacitors) that can hold 10x more power than advanced lithium ion cells. These "electrical energy storage units" will be lighter than the most advanced batteries in the world, can charge in minutes and will last forever. (The Oil Drum; July 15, 2009)

Solar > Concentrated >
Solar Project Meets Bigger Foe Than Cloudy Skies: The US Air Force - On a vacant piece of land near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the promise of solar energy has collided into the demands of military training. And a solar project by SolarReserve that would have featured a vast field of mirrors, a molten-salt storage facility and a 600-foot "power tower" appears to be heading for defeat. (Washington Post; June 20, 2009)

Memo, need to go back through news and pull in bullets beginning from News:Archive:2009:May