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Nov 28, 2008 – Are you switching over from your solar power now that the days in the northern hemisphere are getting shorter to wind power because there is more wind at night?  So what do batteries, a $71 billion industry, have to do with solar power and/or wind power?  See the Nov 15, 2008 post, “Forbes Take on Batteries”.  Well, it’s a couple of weeks later and now Newsweek in its Dec 1, 2008 issue has an article, “Now We’re Cooking With…Batteries”.  Solar and wind energy are intermittent so it required to store the electricity from the time that it is produced until it is used.  How dependable are current batteries and how do they last?  Not long enough.  Just look around any airport waiting area.  Everyone with a laptop is searching for an electrical outlet so that they don’t use up their battery power.  We are constantly adding to our electronic arsenal: laptops, cell phones, iPods, iPhones, mp3 players, GPS, etc., and they all use batteries.  We use either disposable or rechargeable [the first rechargeable one was invented by who else, Thomas A. Edison in 1890] batteries, but batteries nonetheless.  Of course, automobiles all have a standard rechargeable battery that we never think about until we have to replace it [they actually wear out faster in the heat of Florida than in the cold of the northeast].  It is constantly recharged as we drive and they last much longer than those of decades ago and they no longer need to be topped up with distilled water so they are out of sight and out of mind, but it is there under the hood.  That small 12-volt battery is not running your car though, but it is used to start it up.  Now hybrid cars and all electric cars have grander uses for the batteries: run the vehicle engine to replace the use of gasoline.  The market for these batteries is projected to grow to $3.7 billion by 2015, a five-fold growth.  The latest commercial technology for batteries is the lithium-ion.  There may still be some problems with this technology.  As many laptop users may remember, Sony had a major recall when some of the lithium-ion batteries for laptops it made and supplied to major computer makers started overheating.  The Tesla Motors car has 6,800 lithium-ion batteries so it is critical that even a small percentage of their batteries do not overheat and explode.

Utilities are going to need the largest rechargeable batteries to store and level energy usage generated by intermittent solar and wind power and there are small and large companies working diligently in this area to provide the huge batteries necessary.  Expect these batteries or arrays of batteries to be as large as a tractor trailer.  Review previous posts about solar and wind energy and energy storage systems.