'Battery guru' says more energy storage research needed

Nov 14 - Charlotte Observer (NC)

 

Sanjeev Mukerjee , who heads Northeastern University's Center for Renewable Energy Technology , will be among the panelists Friday at the Charlotte Chamber's annual Energy Summit.

Known as "the battery guru," Mukerjee says renewable energy, with its on-and-off cycles, won't reach its potential until there's a way to store energy. He spoke with the Observer this week on the topic; comments are edited for brevity.

Q. What's your research approach to energy storage?

A. I come from a point of view that engineering will only get you so far. The big solutions lie in completely changing the materials and the approach more at the molecular than the engineering level. Most of the methods of storage technology, especially in the electrochemical domain, have been known for a long time. They all have some fundamental problems, and that's why they were never commercialized on larger scales.

The push for renewables has had roadblocks from time to time, so storage technologies are very much tied to intermittent power generators. A classic example is Germany , where they now have so much renewables power that the grid is finding it difficult to keep up, and therefore a need to look into storage technologies.

Q. What are some promising new technologies?

A. The ones which are pretty much a legacy of the past and have reached a lot of maturity are zinc-bromine. The other one is the vanadium redox battery. There are a whole host of others that have the promise but have issues that are cause for worry. These are the things which need fresh thinking at the molecular level, at the materials level. You'll need (researchers) who are not looking just for fundamental science but who also have a clear understanding that any solution will have be scaled up, will have to be economical.

Q. What about lithium-ion chemistry (on which new Concord firm Alevo says it will base its storage modules)?

A. When you think about storing gigawatts of power, you don't think of lithium ion because of the price. The container size or tractor-trailer size lithium battery storage is not new. They were not designed to store large amounts of energy. They are more at the point where they are used to (reduce demand at peak times). Provided you have some good electronics and some switching gear, you could actually smooth out the power.

Q. What effect would breakthrough storage technology have on the energy industry, especially renewables?

A. I think in the nearer time scale, the big impact would be in places like Germany , which actually needs it now. The other big emerging countries where it would have a huge effect are places like India . If you can combine diesel generators with storage, that's a mind-boggling huge market.

The U.S. has a very huge shift in all this excess natural gas, and now it's going to be oil as well. The only thing that will potentially put a dent in that is if the political leaders recognize climate change as real, and I don't think with the current politics that is going to happen in the near term.

The big impetus that is going to come is the effect of severe weather, which more and more is causing havoc. There is a big incentive to go to decentralized (generation). If you're decentralized, then having some amount of storage and switching can keep the power levels from tripping.

Q. What's the potential to grow the storage sector in Charlotte?

A. I think there is a huge potential, but you have to look at it not just from the market standpoint of the United States but globally. We have to think smartly as to how we can leverage the industries that are already there in Charlotte.

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