Battery Powered: The Promise of Energy Storage

Fortunes in the energy industry can shift overnight, with prices, alternative sources and progress in technology. Improving batteries’ capability to store energy would galvanize the renewables industry. “The key to unlocking renewables’ potential is thus stationary energy storage, batteries that would allow consumers to draw on electricity generated at an earlier time,” writes Steve LeVine, author of The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World . “If today’s off-the-shelf lithium-ion batteries were scaled up and used to store electricity for the grid, they could rival shale oil in terms of their capacity to reshape the energy landscape.”
He explains the physics challenges, including the goals of shifting ions safely and affordably while developing materials for casings that do not crack under stress. “Solar power is already competitive without subsidies in Australia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the southwestern United States,” Levine writes, adding that improved batteries would extend reliance on solar energy. The US and Chinese governments along with private corporations continue to fund the engineering research to overcome a remaining hurdle for alternative forms of energy. – YaleGlobal