Innovative Technologies for Energy Storage

As we advance through the Golden Age, filled with groundbreaking technologies and innovations, a new wave of concepts in the area of battery energy storage has emerged. On today’s show, we’re delighted to present some energy-storage methods that represent game-changing future trends.

A noteworthy example is Energy Dome’s 2022 launch of the world's first carbon dioxide (CO2) battery for long-term wind and solar power storage. The Italian start-up company’s energy storage device is emission-free and, at the same time, provides a clever way to mitigate climate change.

Another novel energy storage battery was recently revealed by a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA. The new device is said to be highly economical and made entirely from abundant and inexpensive materials -- aluminum, sulfur, and salt crystals. The battery’s design uses electrodes made of aluminum and sulfur with a molten salt electrolyte between the electrodes.

The scalable, modular Ocean Battery is specially designed to be installed on sea beds near offshore renewable energy generators such as solar farms, wind turbines, and tidal wave power stations. The operating system of the Ocean Battery, which is based on hydro-dam technology, consists of a pumping hydro system that provides an eco-friendly energy storage capacity of up to one Giga-watt hour (GWh) to manage the flow of electricity’s level of supply and demand.

The sand battery technology was devised by Finnish researchers Dr. Markku Ylönen and Tommi Eronen. In July 2022, the first sand battery installation was performed at the Vatajankoski power plant in Finland. Operating with a heat storage capacity of 100 kilowatts of heating power and eight-megawatt hours of energy capacity, the sand battery is plugged into the local district heating network in the town of Kankaanpää, producing low-emission heating for residents.

For our final example, we’re happy to present the heat battery – a method that provides thermo-chemical heat storage through the interaction of two basic elements, water, and salt. Regarding the technology, Professor Olaf Adan says, “The salt crystals absorb the water, become larger, and, in the process, release heat. By adding heat, you evaporate the water and basically 'dry' the salt, thus reducing the size of the salt crystals. We do this with potassium carbonate. It’s non-toxic, non-flammable, and abundant.”