Go-ahead for large-scale energy storage research (Zn-Br battery, Oz)

[jpak]

http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=22083

World-leading research into the application of large-scale electricity storage will begin at The University of Queensland early next year, after a deal was signed to connect the University's planned new 1.2 megawatt solar photovoltaic system to a prototype zinc-bromine battery-based energy storage system.

UQ and Brisbane company RedFlow Limited today announced they had reached agreement to install the prototype storage system alongside UQ's 1.2 megawatt solar system — Australia's largest and most powerful photovoltaic flat panel array — which is under construction at the university's St Lucia campus in Brisbane.

Professor Paul Meredith, Renewable Energy Focal Group Chair at UQ's Global Change Institute and leader of the 1.2 MW project, said technology for capturing solar energy had improved significantly in the past decade, but storing that power cleanly and effectively for later use remained one of the industry's biggest challenges.

“In the early days of solar power, lead acid batteries were used, but these are environmentally damaging, have a relatively short life span and are inefficient,” Professor Meredith said.

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