Redox Flow Battery Development for Stationary Energy Storage Applications

摘要

Concerns over the longevity and environmental consequencesnfrom continued use of fossil fuels resources, along with the growingnworld demands in energy, have led to increasing the penetration ofnrenewable energy resources such as solar and wind. However, thenintermittent and varied nature of these resources makes integrationnand dispatch of the renewable power challenging. Electrical energynstorage (EES) is widely considered as an effective approach tonaddress this problem by improving the grid reliability, power quality,nand economy of the renewable energy. The DOE Office ofnElectricity’s – Energy Storage program at Pacific Northwest NationalnLaboratory (PNNL) has been focused on the development of costneffective energy storage technologies to meet these future energynneeds. Among the most promising EES technologies are redox flownbatteries (RFBs). RFB is an electrochemical device that is capable ofnstoring up to multi-megawatt-hours (MWhs) of electrical energy viana reversible electrochemical energy conversion. Unlike traditionalnbatteries in which the electrodes serve as the sinks of ionic chargenand store electricity, RFB’s stores electricity in liquid electrolytesnthat flow on either side of membrane. As such, the power and energynof a RFB can be separately designed, offering greater flexibility for angreater selection of stationary applications.