From molten salt to liquid air: clean energy’s weird storage revolution
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There’s something strange about where the clean energy transition has gotten stuck. Generating power from the sun and wind? Mostly figured out. Storing it? That’s the part nobody has fully solved. When the sun sets and the wind drops, whatever energy Read More...
California’s first eight-hour grid battery just came online
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The California grid has a timing problem. Solar runs from mid-morning through early evening. Demand peaks later. Batteries have bridged part of that gap for years, but only about four hours’ worth. On June 1, a project in Kern County doubled that Read More...
"Sand batteries" could solve the energy storage challenge
We’ve previously written about how water batteries could help address the energy storage challenge facing the green energy transition. In Finland, however, some scientists are working on a much dryer power storage facility — a ‘sand battery’. Solving the energy storage Read More...
Switzerland built a huge water battery to store surplus energy
Switzerland is famous for hosting a number of scientific and engineering marvels, such as the Large Hadron Collider. Now, engineers in Switzerland have achieved an incredible feat — building the world’s largest water battery. Located in the Swiss Alps, in a subterranean cavern in the Canton of Read More...
Flow batteries could help with renewable energy storage
The generation of renewable energy from sources like wind and solar is one thing, but there are many other factors to consider when delivering renewable energy to consumers. A big one is the issue of storage. One Oregon startup, ESS Tech Inc. is fixing this problem with its flow Read More...
Ocean Battery could help solve the renewable energy storage problem
The lack of adequate energy storage systems is one of the biggest problems associated with the rise of renewables such as wind and solar in recent years. In an effort to provide a solution, a Dutch startup has invented the Ocean Battery — an energy storage system that operates by the same Read More...
Study: Scientists store energy in biohybrid plants with electronic roots
Scientists at Sweden’s Linköping University have recently demonstrated how plant roots can be used as viable energy storage devices. The team’s experiment involved watering bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris) with a special solution that made the roots electrically conductive, demonstrating the Read More...
Scientists develop a snake-inspired battery that could help save lives
Coming from the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, a novel battery design opens up new possibilities for the future of energy storage by bending and stretching like a snake. Inspired by the morphology of serpents, the innovative design is intended to open new doors in the world of soft Read More...
How portable solar-powered batteries can help expand access to clean energy
Reliable access to electricity is a luxury in Lagos, Nigeria, where the power can go out multiple times a day, rendering many inhabitants dependent on expensive, noisy, and polluting diesel generators. A corner shop in the Nigerian city, however, offers a solution to this problem in the form of a Read More...
Simple tech could store energy by lifting and lowering giant bricks
We’ve previously written about how gravity can serve as an incredible ally in our quest to find viable solutions to storing excess renewable energy. Now, using a similar principle, Swiss startup Energy Vault has come up with a simple technology that can collect excess energy by lifting giant Read More...