Dr. Ten BV (www.drten.nl) is a small, fast growing, applied development company specialized in battery and fuel cell development. In the past few years, this company has developed different new zinc multisalt batteries on lab-scale for load levelling and standalone energy storage, paid by the Dutch Ministry of Economic affairs. The load levelling battery showed more than 7,000 cycles with estimated production unit prices of ~0,01 € per kWh per cycle at 100% DOD, versus ~1,000 cycles for vented lead acid at ~0,21 per kWh per cycle at 50% DOD. Battery materials and salts are relatively clean and recyclable. The in-house lab-scale battery was the winner of Jan Terlouw innovation price in the Netherlands 2013, but should be researched in the demo field. A higher energy density version will be developed and also, a recycle scenario should be developed.
The new batteries are green, innovative and smart to the market for different reasons. First, they have their innovative background in sea salts as electrolytes. Second, they make use of relatively cheap, natural electrode materials. The smart new chemistry combines the advantages of sea salts, and lead acid batteries into a totally new battery. It does nevertheless leave out the relatively toxic strong acids and the lead, which becomes less abundant and more expensive.
The battery also has the advantage that it is able to scale up the powers, which are available in most normal households (3*5.5kW), so that ‘quick charging’ is possible without major modification of the network. The battery can be further developed for specific applications (tailored) and therefore offers a potential solution for both grid-connected stationary storage as well as for standalone situations in isolated neighbourhood cells, e.g. autarkic households or lampposts.
Comments