{"id":35865,"date":"2023-10-13T07:32:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T06:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=35865"},"modified":"2023-10-13T08:08:52","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T07:08:52","slug":"the-elestor-battery-makes-hydrogen-gas-fired-power-plants-obsolete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/the-elestor-battery-makes-hydrogen-gas-fired-power-plants-obsolete\/35865\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elestor battery makes hydrogen gas-fired power plants obsolete"},"content":{"rendered":"
As the transition to sustainable energy progresses, reliance on intermittent, unpredictable sources like sun and wind continuously increases while the predictable generation of fossil-based electricity is faded out.<\/p>\n
Though occurring statistically only once or twice per year, these changes in the electricity generation lead to dark and windless periods \u2013 in German referred to as the \u2018Dunkelflaute\u2019 \u2013\u00a0 sometimes lasting several days. The question to be answered is how such periods can be managed to ensure the availability of sufficient electrical energy at any time and at the lowest possible costs.<\/p>\n
One way to bridge the gap is to convert a surplus of electricity, generated by sun and wind during periods of overproduction, into hydrogen using electrolysers. The hydrogen can then be converted back into electricity by gas-fired power plants running on green hydrogen. This is a proven approach, which applies already established technologies utilised with fossil-based sources. In essence, the combination of electrolysers and gas-fired power plants act as an electricity storage system \u2013 a battery.<\/p>\n
Economically, this is a different story. Analyses show that these hydrogen-powered gas-fired power plants will only be operational for 10% of the time. Moreover, it is far from efficient to produce hydrogen from green electricity via electrolysis and then to generate electricity again through combustion in a gas-fired power plant. Each individual step displays an energy efficiency of about 60%, resulting in an overall energy loss of two thirds.<\/p>\n
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With such low efficiency, it is necessary to triple the capacity of renewable energy generation, which is accompanied by tripled costs and time. Lastly, these solutions need to be kept operational all year round in order to step in only occasionally. This low utilisation leads to very high costs per \u2018stored\u2019 megawatt hours (MWh).<\/p>\n
Fuel cells could be considered as an alternative to gas-fired power plants, converting hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and water. However, with a fuel cell efficiency of around 60%, this combination also results in a two-third energy loss, while also the utilisation of two installations is low.<\/p>\n
To address those longer of periods of time during which little or no electricity is generated, the key concern is how large reserves of electrical energy can be realised in the most efficient and economical way.<\/p>\n
Electricity storage technologies are available in many forms and sizes such as: pumped hydro, compressed air, flywheels, super capacitors, electrochemical batteries and many more. Obviously, there is no silver bullet technology solving every storage need, but each technology holds unique properties that determine its ideal application.<\/p>\n
Lithium-ion batteries are, for instance, the absolute champion in energy density, making them the ideal solution for mobile technologies, electrical vehicles and possibly even maritime challenges.<\/p>\n
Flywheels are extremely fast, but can only deliver power for a very limited period of time, meaning they are only suitable for applications in which the short and fast delivery of peak powers is needed or need to be absorbed.<\/p>\n
The most distinguishing and unique property of flow batteries is that their power (megawatts, MW) and capacity (MWh) are not coupled. With conventional batteries like lithium-ion or lead acid, power and capacity are coupled, meaning that a high capacity also comes with a high power. To sustain longer periods of time, only the battery capacity must be higher, not the power.<\/p>\n
For this reason, flow batteries offer the most economical and durable solution, while the lithium-ion battery is the technology of choice in applications where only a few hours are to be covered. In other words: the lithium-ion battery is the sprinter, the Elestor battery technology is the marathon runner.<\/p>\n