Battery Drawdown power

 

Energy storage batteries come in a variety of different sizes and weights and each have different characteristics.  Here is a comparison of the 2 safe, recyclable batteries currently available in Australia, FIAMM sodium nickel chloride (SoNick) or molten salt battery and Aquion salt water battery, with comparisons of size for a similar sized system from some other battery technologies.

Another thing to consider is how much power you can actually draw from the battery at any point in time. Our SoNick battery can draw 150 amps for 4 hours continuously but some other batteries are very limited in the amount of power that can be used, maybe only with enough to boil a kettle and little more. Continue reading “Battery Drawdown power”

Battery degradation

Energy storage batteries come in a variety of different sizes and weights and each have different characteristics.  Here is a comparison of the degradation after 10 years of batteries currently available in Australia with comparisons of size for a similar sized  system from other battery technologies.

You can see from this image that different battery technologies have different degrees of degradation over their lifetime. You need to take this into account when deciding the best battery for your needs. If a battery seems cheaper to purchase upfront but has then degraded significantly after a couple of years and may be down to only 50 or 60 % of original capacity after 10 years this will significantly affect how much power you can draw from that battery.

This degradation is also what may make it difficult to add additional batteries to an installation after a few years. In many cases with lead acid and lithium ion batteries you may need to purchase a new system if you want to add extra capacity. Continue reading “Battery degradation”

Battery weights

 

Different battery technologies are different weights as well as different sizes. This may be relevant depending on where you want to store your energy storage batteries.

Energy storage batteries come in a variety of different sizes and weights and each have different characteristics.  In the above graphic several batteries are a similar weight, however you may need a number of batteries to provide the same output power which could increase the installation size and weight considerably.
Continue reading “Battery weights”

Do your homework before purchasing batteries

Do Your Homework A4

One of the biggest problems with the efforts to use renewable energy to produce large amounts of the energy consumed on a daily basis has been its inability to reliably supply power at the times it is most needed. This can and will be addressed with the installation of battery systems that allow households and businesses to store renewable energy for use in peak periods. Continue reading “Do your homework before purchasing batteries”