The Future Of Energy Storage Beyond Lithium Ion

Over the past decade, prices for solar panels and wind farms have reached all-time lows. However, the price for lithium ion batteries, the leading energy storage technology, has remained too high. So researchers are exploring other alternatives, including flow batteries, thermal batteries, and gravity-based systems.

CORRECTION (March 14, 2020): At 12:53 we incorrectly identify the size of the energy storage market. Overall, the energy storage market is predicted to attract $620 billion dollars in investments by 2040.

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The Future Of Energy Storage Beyond Lithium Ion

[CessnaPilot]

12:50 “Overall the energy storage market is predicted to attract over $620 million in investments by 2040”. Seriously? That’s an extremely low forecast. Could have been a mistake and they meant billions though.

Edit: CNBC has commented below and clarified it was an error and they meant billions not millions. Good on them for doing that.

[karlwolf]

This is the kind of news that I think we need more of. Rather than telling everyone we're doomed, this inspires people and gives them hope.

[ckying]

Hear me out:

Giant cranes moving around blocks of thermally insulated solid state batteries all covered in solar cells

[Ahldor]

Videos like these give a good insight in technologies that one might not yet heard of.

[mucholangs]

I have also heard of molten salt as an option.

I love the idea of two lakes at an incline to each other.
Solar can be used to pump water uphill.
Also, rain water can be harvested to fill the ponds.

[Andrew-svck]

Pumped hydro is one of the most efficient for long-term storage. Usually 80-90% efficiency. But the environmental toll can be large, if we can find good spaces for them (like mountains with low populations) this could be big for this tech.

[diedertspijkerboer]

One aspect not mentioned here is integration of the grid over long distances. Even if the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow here, there are other places where they will. If you can distribute electricity over long distances, that also dampens the peaks and troughs, reducing the need for storage. This process is already ongoing in Europe.

[jbrandonf]

These CNBC video essays are a wealth of knowledge. I love these.

[xXevilsmilesXx]

This gravity storage method has been BUSTED by 'Voice of Thunder'

[SimonGhostRiley-nz]

The crane energy looks like a disaster waiting to

[richardventus]

About 10 years ago I was basing my university level student projects on the development of a FESS for use in the third world. My brief was that it must require minimal maintenance, it must have high energy density, it should be used for decades - even centuries with no loss of storage capacity or efficiency and it must be totally sustainable, require abundant and cheap materials and totally un-toxic to the planet - a challenging brief which only the FESS designs (or mechanical gravity based) designs come anywhere close to fulfilling.
Over several years of development, we decided that it was much better to go for low angular velocity (<4000RPM) and high radius of gyration (k) designs (2m ish) as energy stored is also equal to k^2. These slow speed designs have a major advantage that the losses are proportional to the speed, ie 4x faster means at least 4x more losses, and they could be run on standard bearings without any complications. Another benefit was that any bearing heat losses can be used to heat up any air in the flywheel's enclosure to reduce the flywheels transonic drag at the higher speeds - in fact we would run our flywheels as hot as possible to make them MORE efficient. We designed a range of FESS systems from house storage (100MJ) up to building, town and grid1GJ designs. The nice thing was if you want more storage you just add more flywheels and simply gear them together. If anyone wants a look at these designs then please contact me at Exeter College Technology entre, UK - just ask for the EAUC Sustainability Champion!

[guspaz]

There's a reason why none of these alternative storage technologies have managed to displace lithium-ion battery: they all have some sort of tradeoff. In this video, flow batteries are said to be "Cost-competitive" with lithium-ion. In other words, they cost the same over the long term. If their lifespan is longer than lithium-ion, then that means a much higher up-front cost. But look at their density: ESS needs a whole shipping container just to store 400 kWh, many times more space than is required by lithium-ion solutions. In other words, it costs the same, but is worse.
In order for alternative power storage to succeed, it is not enough to merely be as good, or as cheap. It must either be better, or cheaper, or both. None of the alternatives in this video have demonstrated that so far.

[wheezywaiter]

Hey, I and my bald spot are in this video starting at 6:04. Maybe link to the video you used from The Good Stuff in the description, CNBC?

[GarrickPinon]

Flow battery 4:14
Iron flow batteries 6:10
Pumped hydro 8:17
Gravity batteries 9:02
Thermal Storage 10:26
Thermo Photovoltaic Cell 11:09
Compressed air 11:58
Cryogenic Storage 12:04

[spacecomma]

Energy Vault - when will it move past the CGI cartoon phase? Just sayin’.

[IIIIIawesIIIII]

If electrons move through graphene like massless particles, this implies no energy loss through heat and the potential for a VERY long storage. Obviously, the most efficient battery conceivable would have this property. By twisting a long sheet of graphene densely into a cylinder-shape and isolating the edges well, you'd pretty much have the perfect battery, made out of pure carbon.
It's just a matter of how long it takes to come up with a cost efficient graphene technology.

[mauriceukaegbu]

This is what I love about the United States of America! A country that takes the lead in innovative research. I hope this technology becomes cheaper in near future. It will indeed free my country from the incessant power failures and poor energy infrastructure.

Thank you America. More power to the scientist.

[lehcyfer]

Imagine Energy Vault stacking ESS Shipping Container batteries. Long and short term energy storage at the same time :)

[jackfanning]

The most difficult task for energy storage technology is to overcome the influence on bureaucrats of the vested interests in existing electrical energy utilities. Even if an energy storage solution is better for the consumer, powerful lobbies to maintain the status quo will be hard to overcome.

[gabrielvaldes]

Always important to keep in mind lifecycle and raw material requirement. How long do solar panels last before degradation? How much steel has to be smelted to create a windmill? How much concrete has to be poured to create the base? Look at the NET product, not just at the end. Likewise, I hope the energy storage methods are environmentally friendly and low resource production cost.