The Tesla battery heralds the beginning of the end for fossil fuels

[rpm]

The Tesla battery heralds the beginning of the end for fossil fuels

While wind and solar power have made great strides in recent years, with renewables now accounting for 22% of electric energy generated, the issue that has held them back has been their transience. The sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t blow year-round – these are the mantras of all those opposed to the progress of renewables.

Now the renewable power billionaire Elon Musk has just blown away that final defence. Last Thursday in California he introduced to the world his sleek new Powerwall – a wall-mounted energy storage unit that can hold 10 kilowatt hours of electric energy, and deliver it at an average of 2 kilowatts, all for US$3,500.

 

[TimTDP]

I hope so

 

[Bobbin]

Seems all good at face value but what about maintenance? Surely even these batteries won't last beyond 5 years, then your renewable source i.e. solar panels would also require it's own maintenance. I'm just curious what the real cost is to run?

 

[itareanlnotani]

If you want storage, CSP is the way to go pricewise at scale.

California has a 110MW CSP storage setup @ Crescent Dunes with 10hrs of storage (1100MW!)

We're building something similar here - RedStone
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...by-solarreserve-and-acwa-power-300017523.html

Only 100MW, but with 12hrs of storage. (1200MW!)

More info here
http://www.southafrica.info/about/sustainable/solar-redstone-9115.htm#.VVjAKGA4l5i

 

[supersunbird]

But what would 10 kWh be able to power?

 

[itareanlnotani]

About 14hrs of baseload usage in my main home.
About 10 days of usage in my newly built place (<1kw day)

 

[Dan C]

..and the wind doesn’t blow year-round –

Clearly you have never visited EL or PE

 

[Arthur]

I remember an engineering prof at Wits saying that the most efficient practical energy store known to engineering is the flywheel.

Today, companies like Beacon Power make highspeed flywheels that spin up to 16 000 r/min, running in long evacuated cylinders in near vacuum and on magnetic bearings. Each cylinder can store around 25 kWh. And they can come online virtually immediately.

Use pv to spin them up in the day, and pull the power at night.

This is what I've wanted for years.

 

[ozoned]

1. The "fossil" fuel companies must be petrified.

2. Musk is not a "Renewable power" billionaire, he is a Paypal billionaire.

3. At last! The deniziens of Wits Paleontology department can rest easy, no more
midnight raids on their fossil fuel collections by unscrupulous, shady shale operators.

4. Achtung!, Paging Frau Dr. Merkel: That directive you issued for replacement of 20 Nuclear GW by

neun Kohle angetrieben Stationen

must be immediately rescinded and replaced by ---

NEIN Kohle angetrieben Stationen, und stattdessen; Eine sehr große Anzahl von Tesla Powerwalls

5. Professor of Management = Clueless and Harmless
Professor of Strategic Management = Clueless and Dangerous.

6. Powerwall, Lithium ocean, Powerpack, "Giga" factories = Peak ZIRP

 

[Fudzy]

I remember an engineering prof at Wits saying that the most efficient practical energy store known to engineering is the flywheel.

Today, companies like Beacon Power make highspeed flywheels that spin up to 16 000 r/min, running in long evacuated cylinders in near vacuum and on magnetic bearings. Each cylinder can store around 25 kWh. And they can come online virtually immediately.

Use pv to spin them up in the day, and pull the power at night.

This is what I've wanted for years.

Cost? Anything running that fast sounds like it would need quite a bit of servicing as well.

 

[Arthur]

No idea of cost. These are grid-scale systems. I want them to develop a domestic system.

There's a real business opportunity for an entrepreneur to develop and manufacture domestic-scale flywheel energy stores. They have many advantages over batteries.

Found this Wikipedia entry.

They're very efficient:

Compared with other ways to store electricity, FES systems have long lifetimes (lasting decades with little or no maintenance;[4] full-cycle lifetimes quoted for flywheels range from in excess of 105, up to 107, cycles of use),[6] high energy density (100–130 W·h/kg, or 360–500 kJ/kg),[6][7] and large maximum power output. The energy efficiency (ratio of energy out per energy in) of flywheels can be as high as 90%.

From Beacon Power's website:

Carbon Fiber Flywheels

Beacon’s flywheel is essentially a mechanical battery that stores kinetic energy in a rotating mass. Advanced power electronics and a motor/generator convert that kinetic energy to electric energy, making it instantly available when needed. Our systems are modular and can be configured to meet the power capacity demands of a variety of applications, from 100 kW to multi-MW systems.

At the core of Beacon’s flywheel technology is a patented carbon fiber composite rim, supported by a hub and shaft with an attached motor/generator. Together, the rim, hub, shaft and motor/generator form the rotor assembly. Power electronics and the motor/generator efficiently convert electrical energy into mechanical energy when the flywheel is charging and back to electrical energy when discharging. When charging (or absorbing) energy, the flywheel’s motor acts like a load and draws power from the grid to accelerate the rotor to a higher speed. When discharging, the motor is switched into generator mode, and the inertial energy of the rotor drives the generator, creating electricity which is injected back into the grid. Always spinning in the same direction, the flywheel system can instantly shift back and forth between charging and discharging modes.

Beacon’s high-performance rotor assembly spins up to 16,000 rpm. The rotor assembly is enclosed in a sealed vacuum chamber which provides a near frictionless environment and also eliminates exposure to oxygen and moisture which extends the life of the internal components. To reduce wear and further extend the life of the internal parts while minimizing friction, a magnetic lift system uses a non-contacting magnetic field to fully lift and support the rotor. Beacon’s patented top and bottom bearing system ensures the spinning rotor maintains its axis of rotation with extremely low bearing loads. With the ability to perform more than 175,000 full depth charge and discharge cycles, Beacon flywheels can outperform and outlast other storage technologies in high-cycle applications, and the robust design minimizes the need for flywheel system maintenance.

Comparison to batteries (from wiki article):

Flywheels are not as adversely affected by temperature changes, can operate at a much wider temperature range, and are not subject to many of the common failures of chemical rechargeable batteries.[44] They are also less potentially damaging to the environment, being largely made of inert or benign materials. Another advantage of flywheels is that by a simple measurement of the rotation speed it is possible to know the exact amount of energy stored.

Unlike most batteries which only operate for a finite period (for example roughly 36 months in the case of lithium ion polymer batteries), a flywheel potentially has an indefinite working lifespan. Flywheels built as part of James Watt steam engines have been continuously working for more than two hundred years.[45][not in citation given] Working examples of ancient flywheels used mainly in milling and pottery can be found in many locations in Africa, Asia, and Europe.[46][47]

Most modern batteries are typically a sealed device that needs minimal maintenance throughout its service life. Magnetic bearing flywheels in a vacuum enclosure, such as the NASA model depicted above, do not need any bearing maintenance and are therefore superior to batteries both in terms of total lifetime and energy storage capacity. Flywheel systems with mechanical bearings will have a limited lifespan due to wear.

The arrangement of batteries can be designed to a wide variety of configurations, whereas a flywheel at a minimum must occupy a square surface area. Where space is a constraint for the application of energy storage (e.g. under trains in tunnels) the flywheel may not be a valid application.

 

[Nephew_]

Please point out the revolution of the Tesla. Is it not just a battery pack/charger/inverter all in one?

 

[itareanlnotani]

The revolution of the Tesla is the pricing ($250 - $350/KW)
Its cheaper by half to a third of anything else commercially available (excepting diy builds).

Their competitors with similar products are in the 1200-1500$ per KW range.


---

As for Flywheels - I was interested in Velkess's innovations, but it doesn't seem to have a product yet, although their website has recently been updated.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1340066560/velkess-energy-storage
http://www.velkess.com

Round trip efficiency is lower than Lithium @ 80%, but better than Lead Acid.

Flywheels really need to be installed below ground though. Failure modes are... explosive.

Velkess is roughly $500 a KW, but longer lifetimes than Lithium