Salt – An Effective Way of Energy Storage
A large number of people believe that the use of non-renewable energy is not effective since they are not able to produce enough energy to cater to the whole community. Contrary to popular belief, though, renewable energy resources produce large amounts of energy, the only problem is that we lack the ability to sustain it by storing. This results in large swathes of energy to be lost. Luckily though, there is a new way to store energies that have only recently been unearthed.
The Use of Molten Salts
According to the technology review journal of MIT, a one-megawatt plant is to be made which will be dedicated to molten salt energy storage. The use of molten salt as means of storing energy is said to cost half of what regular battery storage seems to cost. T9 make use of salts in energy storage they need to be melted and stored in high R-value containers. When the stored energy is required, the molten salts can be pumped to release it.
How is the Use of Molten Salts so Cheap?
Molten salts are not as efficient an energy storage way as batteries are. Only 70% of the electricity that is used to melt the salt will become energy again, which is 20% lower to the 90% energy that traditional batteries are able to recover. The only reason for it being cheaper is the easy availability of material owing the high throughput screening systems.
Why Is Molten Storage a Good thing for Renewable Resources?
The primary reason molten salt is a good addition for renewable energy resources is it offers a large amount of room for energy storage. There is a considerable amount of flexibility in terms of the storage space. This helps because most renewable energies come in spurts. The flexibility helps manage the ebb and flow of energy coming in.
What are the leading developments in this Field?
One of the leading developments taking shape as of now is from Halotechnics. They are trying to develop a system that is infusing molten salts with properties that make them capable of storing any kind of energy as electricity. For the molten salts to have properties that the system requires the company is working on an automated system to infuse such properties with the molten salts.
It’s Applications Specifically for Solar Energy
One of the leading renewable energies that are being touted to benefit the most from molten salts is solar energy. Molten salts will be designed to specifically allow solar energy to be used at 1,200 degree Celsius. This would also make sure that solar mirrors that are needed to store energy right now are diminished. This would result in time, energy and cost savings for most companies that use solar energy.
The application of molten salts for the storage of solar electricity instead of solar mirrors is one of the most viable ones in the market today for use in solar energy storage.
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