Quote from: Nearings Fault on Dec 27, 2023, 04:45 PMthey have been pushing flow batteries for the 20 years I have been paying attention. So far they have all been high dollar research monsters. Putting "nano" onto everything is a new buzzword for alternative energy and great for grant farming. Everything is nano this, nano that. So far absolutely nothing you can price, buy and install... Flow batteries so far have been an alternative energy equivalent to fusion power; always 10 years away. Even if they make it work lithium is getting cheaper all the time and the newer ones are using half the lithium and no cobalt. It's hard for a new tech to break through when retail lithium is down as low as $300 a kW Hr for a 3000-10000 cycle battery. There are some low tech stars out there though. I like the sand battery myself or the utility switched hot water heaters and heat pumps. Great potential for storage there. All of these storage techs are going to grow up real fast in the next 10 years. The West is getting desperate for new ways to make and store power and balance loads without putting in a huge power plant. I know here I can install 10 kWHrs of lithium and buy at 4 cents a kWHr and use it during the day when it's 12 cents... 8 cents per kW differential so 0.80 cents a day or $292 a year... 10 year lifespan at least so $2920 of savings... As soon as that number hits a profit level you will not need to build any utility scale storage the home consumer will build and finance it themselves .. that is the future I see ..
Cheers... NF

Lithium has supply issues and environmental issues with the mining.  The choice of metals you can use in a flow batt are much more varied and available, and easier to mine.  The key advantage though is the Liquid state, allowing it to be easily transported in a variety of volumes and pumped between storage tanks for charging and use.

I agree that "nano" is an overused buzzword, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have advantages and applications.  The whole point of this article and the fact they have startup capital is to draw attention to the fact what they have already proven to work overcomes the very problems with flow batts that you mention.  The tech isn't 10 years away, it's here now.

The author also mentions at the end the article that a lot of capital has already been invested in Li batts as the electrical energy storage solution, so even though this is clearly better technology it may not get traction because it has come too late in the race.

The other batts you mention may be better for housing applications, but none of them can work for transportation like a flow batt, AND use the current infrastructure of storage tanks and filling stations with pumps already in place with very little modification.

Cheers.

RE