Energy chiefs in the US are backing the launch of an ‘Energy Frontier Research Center’ (EFRC) as part of research into “breakthrough electrolytes for energy storage”.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $10.75 million to set up the EFRC at Case Western Reserve University.
The DOE said the aim is to find “new battery chemistries with the potential to provide large, long-lasting energy storage solutions for buildings or the power grid”.
“We hope to come up with the next generation of electrolytes that could be incorporated into new, large-scale batteries—and those batteries could store energy more efficiently, more reliably, more cost effectively and more safely,” said Robert Savinell (pictured), Distinguished University Professor at Case Western Reserve, who will lead the new centre.
Work at the EFRC will start in the autumn.
The DOE said: “Despite all the advances in batteries of the last 20 years, modern technologies still can’t store lots of electricity for long periods of time at low cost.
Growth in solar and wind power has historically been stunted by the lack of storage capacity. Current technologies are very expensive at large scale, and can’t provide the duration of power desired–hours or days, for instance.”
