https://www.energy-storage.news/news/space-the-latest-frontier-for-flow-batteries
Space the latest frontier for flow batteries
23 May 2019
Andy Colthorpe
Following announcements from various manufacturers of deployments and
partnerships in new territories, the latest wave of flow battery news
includes an agreement that could put batteries in space for mission
critical applications at the likes of NASA and the International Space
Station.
Flow batteries are made with a variety of electrolyte materials stored
in tanks, offering a possibility to cost effectively store more than
eight hours of electricity and go through thousands of charging cycles
without degradation. To scale up the size of a system and therefore the
amount of energy stored, the size of the tanks used simply needs to be
scaled up.
Nickel-zinc flow battery manufacturer ZAF emailed Energy-Storage.news
this week to say that through a strategic partnership with aerospace
propulsion company Aerojet Rocketdyne, it is working on an energy
storage system for space.
“Most recently, we designed, built, and tested an integrated BMS for the
International Space Station that was delivered in January 2018. With
this new ZAF agreement, we’re expanding our power systems portfolio,”
Aerojet Rocketdyne systems CEO Eileen Drake said.
ZAF’s president Randy Moore said that nickel-zinc batteries make an
ideal replacement for lead acid systems, offering improvements in
performance, weight and life-cycle measurements. The new systems combine
ZAF batteries with Aerojet’s battery management system (BMS). ZAF’s
devices do not need a BMS for cell balancing and for safety while
charging, but the BMS does offer the chance to control the battery
smartly, extending battery life and enhancing reliability, the company
claims.
It’s an interesting circular development, with flow battery technology
having first emerged from NASA laboratories some decades ago and fallen
out of use by the agency until a handful of private companies picked up
the idea for commercialisation.
Redflow sends out multiple announcements to ASX
Following on, Australian flow battery company Redflow, this time using
zinc bromine electrolytes, not nickel and zinc, has announced a raft of
deals with distributors and partners in new territories. The company
recently blogged for Energy-Storage.news about a project to bring
reliable electricity to rural Thailand.
Redflow issued press releases this week to announce: an agreement with
telecommunications provider Mobax to provide batteries on a test basis
for Mobax’s existing mobile phone towers in South Africa, a deal with
Chinese flow battery maker ZBestPower to supply a 100kWh energy storage
solution at a smart grid demonstration project at Haidong Transportation
Group’s Smart Grid Project in Qinghai Province and also a partnership
with New Zealand-based “green energy system integrator” Sopul Energy to
provide batteries for infrastructure projects in Australasia.
The first customer Soul Energy is looking to serve with Redflow redox
flow systems could order as many as 200 batteries, with an initial order
possible in June this year. Redflow, which is listed on the Australian
Stock Exchange, has been working with Soul Energy to develop a
standardized solution based on Redflow ZBM2 zinc-bromine devices.
“Redflow’s small zinc-bromine flow batteries provide a compelling
long-lived alternative to lead-acid batteries, which need replacement
every few years,” Soul Energy’s managing director Mark Christensen said.
Redflow has already done projects with telecoms companies, including two
other deals in South Africa so far.
“We’re very excited that one of Africa’s leading mobile operators is now
looking at how to deploy Redflow’s ZBM2 batteries at their existing
sites rather than just new towers,” Redflow CEO Tim Harris said.
“Our batteries have clearly demonstrated performance and cost savings
benefits when compared with diesel-powered generators for backup power
at off-grid sites. Our batteries can also help grid-connected towers in
areas with unreliable power supply.”
The Qinghai Smart Grid project meanwhile includes 1MWh of energy
storage, 66kW solar PV carport, 18 EV fast charger points and a smart
energy management system. IT should allow Haidong Transportation Group
to charge EVs with renewable energy and lowest price energy from the
grid. Redflow and ZBest Power will be looking to develop a large-scale
system solution from working together on the project. A while back,
Redflow did make a larger-scale, utility solution available, simply by
stacking up numerous ZBM units.
ESS Inc joins Power Africa, delivers military microgrid
Finally, ESS Inc has delivered one of its all-iron flow batteries to US
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California for a
solar-plus-storage microgrid. An ESS Inc Energy Warehouse 50kW / 400kWh
long duration battery provides up to eight hours of storage in
combination with a CleanSpark microgrid controller.
“The Camp will especially benefit from our battery’s solar-plus-storage
capabilities, which enable the microgrid to store excess solar energy
for later use during times of peak electricity demand,” ESS Inc’s CEO
Craig Evans said.
Not to be outdone in the announcement stakes, ESS Inc also revealed this
week that is has joined Power Africa, the US government’s initiative to
bring energy access to the continent. ESS is Power Africa’s first flow
battery partner, and is “has committed to deploying its long-duration
energy storage solutions for microgrid and utility-scale projects
throughout the continent,” through the programme, which is coordinated
by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). ESS Inc
previously claimed a battery industry world first when insurer Munich Re
has launched what it claims is the world’s first long-term insurance
plan for battery performance, with ESS as its first customer.
The latest wave of announcements comes as flow battery providers fight
to commercialise their technologies. PV Tech Power featured an in-depth
look at the strategies of four providers in a recent feature article,
while this site reported earlier this month of partnerships to take flow
batteries into Australia and Saudi Arabia.
=====================================
To subscribe, unsubscribe, turn vacation mode on or off,
or carry out other user-actions for this list, visit
https://www.freelists.org/list/keiths-list
Note: new climate change website is now in pre-launch
Visit https://www.10n10.ca/e/index.shtml