Continue reading “Climate of the Nation 2017 Australian attitudes on climate change”
Many households and businesses already attach battery storage to their clean energy systems. Now is the time to grow the industry, encourage the take-up of storage and help make Australia a renewable energy leader. With public interest high, now is the time for a targeted, five-year support package to drive down costs and put battery storage in reach of every household and business. Continue reading “Battery Storage Possibilities”
Until recently lead acid batteries have been the major player in the energy storage industry, particularly for off grid installations but 
they have serious limitations in terms of requiring customer maintenance and of course they are made from toxic materials.
Recently, Tesla’s lithium ion batteries have received a lot of attention due to their advertised low price and excellent marketing, however the lithium ion batteries are now receiving attention due to their fire risk on the release of embodied energy. Lithium ion batteries have a smaller operating range than most other batteries and won’t operate efficiently above 35 – 40°C. Also, lithium is a toxic material and is in limited supply and at this stage can’t be recycled effectively.
There are some new technologies coming onto the market, such as Redflow’s zinc bromide, Aquion’s sodium ion salt water batteries, improved lead acid and many variations of lithium battery. These each have advantages and disadvantages, both in terms of performance and size.
Depth of Discharge (DOD)
When people start looking at energy battery storage one thing they often ask is I have “x” kW solar on my roof at the moment, how much battery storage do I need?
This isn’t an easy question to answer and there definitely isn’t a one size fits all answer. If someone tries to sell you a battery without asking about your lifestyle and what your needs are then walk away. Chances are they are just trying to sell you their battery and not really working towards what is best for you. The cheapest battery upfront may turn out to be more expensive in the long run if the battery technology isn’t matched to your needs.
The amount of storage isn’t really related to the amount of solar you have on your roof (although it is definitely part of the equation) but it is more to do with how much power you use on a daily basis, how long you want backup power for and what appliances you want to operate from the battery. Continue reading “How much battery capacity do you need?”
There are many things to take into account when looking at an energy storage battery for your home or business. These include safety, performance, operating temperature as well as recyclability and environmental impact.
Unfortunately many people only look at the initial purchase cost of batteries and this is what they use to compare different batteries. This doesn’t take into account what a battery may cost them over its lifetime or the cost to the environment of both the battery’s manufacture and end of life disposal. To make a realistic comparison of a battery’s cost you need to consider its full “cradle to grave” impact on all areas, including its safety during operation and its environmental impact. Continue reading “Cheaper battery prices can have unforseen consequences”
Energy storage batteries come in a variety of different sizes and weights and each have different characteristics. Here is a comparison of some of the most common batteries currently available in Australia with comparisons of size for a similar sized 20kWh system. You can see from this image that size is not necessarily a good indication of the power that is available to be used in a battery installation. Some batteries have much better energy density than others with the FIAMM SoNick battery having the best energy density of all, although some of the newer lithium ion batteries also have a very good energy density..
If you have a lot of suitable space to store your battery this may not be relevant but if you are limited in space you may want to consider one of the more energy dense batteries. If there is a possibility of moving house you may want to take into account the battery size as well as its weight if you want to move it with you. Continue reading “What is your Energy Storage Battery Size?”
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”
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”
Excellent video about the life-cycle of E-Waste. The same principle applies to many of the energy storage batteries currently on the market.
We need companies to be accountable for all areas of their products from health effects of people in third world countries producing products, to toxic products in their use, and recyclability of products at end of life .
Recently John and Linda, along with several Earthworker members visited ALP member for Wills, Peter Khalil to discuss how he could offer support to Earthworker Co-operative in setting up their worker owned factory in Morwell.
Peter was excited about supporting a factory space in Wills/Moreland for Warehousing initially, then Recycling down the track. Continue reading “GridEdge and Earthworker meet with Peter Khalil”