In a 23 June 201 article at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE), Prachi Patel reports on plans by a couple of US
energy companies to beat the cost of natural gas plants that back up
wind and solar by instead storing energy in conductive ceramic blocks that
use renewable energy to heat them up to over 1,500°C, and then turn it
back to electricity for the grid when needed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prachi Patel, IEEE Spectrum
In five years, operating a coal or natural gas power plant is going to be more expensive than building wind and solar farms. In fact, according to a new study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, building a new solar farm is already cheaper than operating coal and natural gas plants in many regions of the world.
Yet a full shift to intermittent energy sources desperately calls for low-cost, reliable energy storage that can be built anywhere. Some nascent startups believe the answer lies in the process that lights up toaster coils by electrically heating them to scorching temperatures.
Antora Energy in Sunnyvale, Calif., wants to use carbon blocks for such thermal storage, while Electrified Thermal Solutions in Boston is seeking funds to build a similar system using conductive ceramic blocks. Their vision is similar: use excess renewable electricity to heat up the blocks to over 1,500°C, and then turn it back to electricity for the grid when needed.
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Article here :-
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise...wables-storage