Wow, talk about the Deep State in action. President* Trump promised to bring back all the coal jobs, but meanwhile the Department of Energy has been busily laying plans for next generation, long duration energy storage systems. That translates into more opportunities for bringing wind and solar power into the nation’s electricity grid, and that pretty much slams the door on the idea of reviving the nation’s coal power sector.
US coal power plants were closing at a rapid clip before Trump came into office, and coal power has kept on bleeding out under his watch. The new R&D program practically guarantees that the hurt will continue for coal miners, their families and their communities long after Trump leaves office.
More And Longer (And Cheaper) Energy Storage
CleanTechnica has been following along with the Energy Department’s work on long duration battery systems since last May, when the agency announced it would provide $30 million in funding for R&D.
The agency envisions utility scale storage systems that can deliver power to 50,000 homes over a long period of time — and not just for a few hours. They want to see systems in the range of 10 to 100 hours, preferably 100.
As if that’s not enough, low cost is also a priority. In other words, the Energy Department wants you to have your energy storage cake and eat it, too.
That pretty much cuts out today’s go-to technologies for energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries would be too expensive to scale up. Pumped hydro fits the bill for duration and capacity, but suitable sites are few and far between.
So, what’s left?
The Long Duration Energy Storage Cake
For the record, the $30 million pot comes through a program called DAYS for Duration Addition to electricitY Storage (they kind of stretched the acronym but whatever). DAYS is under the umbrella of ARPA- E, the Energy Department’s office for high risk, high reward projects.
In the latest DAYS development, last week ARPA-E sealed the deal on an award to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of almost $2.8 million to lead an R&D team focusing on thermal energy storage.
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