General Electric's new battery helps the grid to accept wind and solar energy

General Electric's new battery helps the grid to accept wind and solar energy

The internal structure of the battery: The exhibition of GE's new battery factory demonstrated the basic components of the company's new battery. The white ceramic material is a solid electrolyte that is a key component in the operation of the battery.

On July 11, General Electric officially launched a large-scale battery factory that was established in Schenectady, New York, and invested 100 million U.S. dollars. The launch ceremony was accompanied by a battery-powered grand sound and light show and fireworks. The 450-employee factory will produce a new battery based on sodium and nickel. General Electric said that this new technology, which is more durable and faster than lead-acid batteries, will enable off-grid generators to be more efficient and help the power sector integrate all sources of distributed power, including wind and solar power. Intermittent energy sources such as.

Although General Electric will face fierce competition from other companies such as Aquion Energy and Liquid Metal Battery in the new grid battery technology, this manufacturing giant is very ambitious about its technology and has recently formed a new business unit to push forward. Commercialization of battery technology. In fact, at the same time as the factory started, the company announced that it would increase its investment by US$70 million to expand its production to meet customers' orders. General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt told reporters at the launch ceremony: "The cost of electricity will continue to decrease over time, because (general technology) will allow the power sector to Use a variety of different technologies at the same time."

The first application of technology was slightly weaker in the air. GE’s first customer is South Africa’s Megatron Federal, which will use batteries for powering Nigeria’s cell towers, supplying diesel generators. Combining new batteries with diesel generators can make them run more efficiently. “You can save 53% on fuel costs, 45% on maintenance costs, and 60% on diesel replacement costs,” said Brandon Harcus, wireless telecommunications division manager at Megatron Federal. “For our application in Nigeria, The cost savings are enormous, with a savings of approximately $1.3 million per signal tower over 20 years, which will significantly reduce the use of fuel and carbon emissions.”

For this application, the new battery has two advantages over the lead-acid battery that is sometimes used to support the generator. It is faster to charge, just over two hours, and lead-acid batteries take 10 hours. And unlike most other battery types, the new universal battery does not require air conditioning, which helps to save signal station fuel consumption.

In addition to powering cell towers, such batteries can also be used to store electricity from wind turbines and solar panels, thereby stabilizing these energy fluctuations. GE also said that they can be used in microgrids, which are small grids that cover a village or military base and can be designed to operate independently from the main grid and provide grid-quality electricity.

Such batteries are more expensive per kWh than lead-acid batteries, but they have a longer life expectancy, especially in applications that require frequent deep discharges. This use will damage the lead-acid battery. In some applications, the lead-acid battery may only last for 6 months. General Electric's sodium-nickel batteries can be designed for deep discharge at least 3500 times, and can be used for 10 years in the case of daily charge and discharge.

The basic battery technology for new batteries, called nano metal halides, originated in South Africa decades ago and was used in vehicles during the oil crisis of the 1980s. It was once used to power Mercedes' experimental cars. But after the drop in oil prices and the disappearance of interest in alternatives to fuel-powered vehicles, this technology has not developed. General Electric obtained this technology in 2007. Its research lab has improved the technology. Sandor Hollo, the head of GE's energy storage technology, said that they studied the material used in the battery in detail and The battery design was "finely tuned".

The key to this technology is the ceramic electrolyte material that separates the electrodes. During charging, chloride ions are released from sodium chloride and combined with nickel to form nickel chloride. Sodium ions continue to move through the electrolyte into the container. When the battery is discharged, ions move back to the electrode and the reaction reverses. Such a process is performed in a thermally insulated container at a temperature of about 300°C.

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