Liquid metal battery

Non conventional Energy resources are now being preffered more due to their easy availability and pollution free use.But these Resources cannot be used to for power generation all the time like Sunrays are not falling on Solar panels,wind is not so strong in some areas all the tym, tidal waves are not always high.Wind speeds, and the amount of sunlight we receive, vary from day to day. As a result, the amount of power generated by these renewable sources fluctuates.Currently, these fluctuations can be compensated for by adjusting traditional sources of energy such as coal and gas. But a convenient way to store the energy generated
through wind and solar would allow them to supply power without being supplemented.

What if suddenly we require thousands of giga watt power at instant?.We cannot generate it at the same time.so what is the solution for this?? ..

Energy storage is the solution. Giant batteries could address the problem of intermittency that prevents wind and solar from contributing to the grid like a coal burning power plant.

So today my post is about the new technology being developed  by Donald Sadoway, a professor at MIT,along with some of his students..He taught these students about the problem and want them to think about it from different point of view.Starting Idea Crack into his mind from Aluminum production.

As Aluminum is produced in a large scale combining Molten metal and Molten salt at high temperature allowing current to flow through the mixture .From this the concept of Liquid Metal Battery came up using molten magnesium on top layer,Molten antimon on bottom layer and molten salt between them as Electrolyte.

Through research made at MIT, the battery designs evolved from a shot glass-sized cell storing 1 Watt-hour to a saucer-sized cell storing 200 Watt-hours.Now Sadoway Started his own company to produce large batteries which will contain 2 mega watt -hour which would be enough to light up 200 homes in america.

 The MIT electrochemist thinks it is possible to build giant batteries using 50-100 fewer individual cells this way than would be possible with a conventional battery array, reducing cost and complexity.

battery has grid -level storage,operates silently and produce no emission.Have no moving part and can be easily controlled remotely.Also it does not cost  much  in the market as it is designed according to low cost point of the energy market.

This idea has attracted some $15m of investment from Bill Gates, Total and Khosla Ventures, run by Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla.Liquid metal batteries could find uses within a variety of electricity markets. One key area is that of bulk storage: storing energy generated in, for example, the early hours of the morning and then releasing it at peak periods during the day.