Are flow batteries a good choice for solar energy storage?

Flow batteries exhibit significant advantages over alternative battery technologies in several aspects, including storage duration, scalability and longevity, making them particularly well-suited for large-scale solar energy storage projects.

Can flow batteries be used for large-scale electricity storage?

Associate Professor Fikile Brushett (left) and Kara Rodby PhD ’22 have demonstrated a modeling framework that can help speed the development of flow batteries for large-scale, long-duration electricity storage on the future grid. Brushett photo: Lillie Paquette. Rodby photo: Mira Whiting Photography

How does a flow battery store energy?

The larger the electrolyte supply tank, the more energy the flow battery can store. The aqueous iron (Fe) redox flow battery here captures energy in the form of electrons (e-) from renewable energy sources and stores it by changing the charge of iron in the flowing liquid electrolyte.

Why do flow batteries have a low energy density?

Flow batteries, while offering advantages in terms of decoupled power and energy capacity, suffer from lower energy density due to limitations in the solubility of active materials and electrode capacity. The broad voltage windows of non-aqueous electrolytes in flow batteries can also impact their energy density.

Are flow batteries a new technology?

You might believe that flow batteries are a new technology merely invented over the past few years. Actually, the development of flow batteries can be traced back to the 1970s when Lawrence Thaller at NASA created the first prototype of this battery type.

Can flow batteries be used as backup generators?

Flow batteries can serve as backup generators for the electric grid. Flow batteries are one of the key pillars of a decarbonization strategy to store energy from renewable energy resources. Their advantage is that they can be built at any scale, from the lab-bench scale, as in the PNNL study, to the size of a city block.