Countless more scientists are living now, than ever lived before. Change is happening so fast that we can hardly keep track of it. Progress in our world of batteries is no exception. A post on The Cool Down website reminds us that power station-size batteries have arrived in North America. Although we might have had to pinch ourselves first, to make sure that we were not imagining things.
Batteries As Large as Nuclear Power Stations
A megawatt is equivalent to 1,000 watts, and so a 500-megawatt power station puts out 500,000 watts. A gigawatt is equivalent to 1,000 megawatts, or two of those 500-megawatt power station units. Many nuclear power station units are a similar size or larger.
Battery farms with 250-megawatt capacity are finding their feet, in a world where 100 megawatts was remarkable a few years ago. Although, to complete the picture, those installations may only deliver their energy storage for a few hours. Whereas conventional and nuclear power stations may operate for a year between maintenance outages.
However, this advantage begins to blur, when we factor in large-capacity flow batteries. That’s because we could keep topping these up endlessly on the fly, whereas we have to take conventional power station-size batteries out of commission to recharge them.
Why All the Fuss About These Very Large Batteries
Conventional, grid-scale power generation relies on base-load coal-power, supplemented by natural gas. Both of these rely on fossil-fuel resources, which release carbon dioxide causing global warming as they burn.
Nuclear energy does not pollute the atmosphere under normal operating conditions. But, it does rely on nuclear plant operators keeping it within safe limits. However, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima have shown what happens if a designer, or operator, overlooks a critical factor.
Power Station-Size Batteries Are The Way Forward
Every hour that we rely on batteries for renewable grid electricity, marginally reduces the risk of a nuclear incident, or increasingly bad weather. This is why we welcome the role of power station-size batteries in the generation mix, and we call for more.
More Information
Mega Battery Backup Keeps UK Lights On
Megawatt-Hours and Megawatts In Real Time
Preview Image: A Mega Battery Installation
