{"id":21226,"date":"2012-11-19T06:00:56","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=21226"},"modified":"2012-11-15T14:54:19","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T20:54:19","slug":"the-secret-to-unlocking-renewable-energy-in-texas-battery-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/11\/19\/the-secret-to-unlocking-renewable-energy-in-texas-battery-storage\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘Secret’ to Unlocking Renewable Energy in Texas? Battery Storage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Sean Gallup\/Getty Images<\/p>

Texas is awash in green energy potential. Problem is, we don't have anywhere to store the renewable energy we produce.<\/p><\/div>\n

Texas may be rich in fossil fuels like oil and gas, but it\u2019s also awash in clean, renewable energy.<\/p>\n

Well, at least it could be. With the most renewable energy potential in the United States, Texas is a formidable candidate to up their renewable energy usage. Wind power now supplies 8\u00a0percent\u00a0<\/a>of energy to the grid in Texas and it\u2019s cheaper than ever. However, the Energy Institute\u2019s Raymond Orbach<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Texas at Austin says there\u2019s still one major roadblock. \u201cIf someone could lick the storage problem,” Orbach says, “we would really have a remarkable resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ‘storage problem’ boils down to how energy works. \u201cYou can\u2019t turn the sun off, and you can\u2019t tell the wind to blow,\u201d says Orbach. It\u2019s simply unreliable. <\/strong>And you have to use the energy while it\u2019s there. Right now turbine energy created from early afternoon winds has to be used immediately, in the early afternoon. But the demand for energy peaks later in the afternoon during the hot Texas summers, when the winds have died down. Solar could fill that gap, but efforts to incentivize it’s construction haven’t gone anywhere yet in Texas<\/a>, and there’s always the question of what happens when a bunch of clouds pass over.<\/p>\n

So creating something that can store and save renewable energy like wind and solar for later would change the game entirely.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of the Energy Institute<\/p>

Raymond Orbach of UT's Energy Institute says if his group's research is successful, Texas could become a worldwide hub for green technology.<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s why scientists around the world are scrambling to find a workable method for storage. Orbach says there\u2019s already a solution, but it’s fairly inefficient. It’s called air compression, where air is tightly stored and gradually released when the energy is needed. Another storage strategy uses wind energy to pump water up a hill. The water is released down the hill when needed, which flows and powers turbines that produce energy. However, Orbach says this method is also inefficient. Plus, he says, \u201cYou need water and you need a hill. And in Texas that\u2019s not always available where and when you want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the Energy Institute has focused on battery technology, similar to how you rely on a rechargeable battery to keep your smartphone running. Orbach says the Institute is performing research<\/a> with cost-efficient lithium ion technology using flow batteries with liquid cathodes. He thinks his team is fairly close to finding this key material, though he admits you never know with research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows who\u2019s going to be the one who puts in the thumb and pulls out the plum,\u201d says Dr. John Goodenough<\/a>, a lead researcher at the Institute. He\u2019s played a significant role in the development of lithium ion batteries<\/a>\u00a0and now he\u2019s leading the renewable storage research team at UT. One of the main puzzles Goodenough is trying to solve is finding a material that can be used as a solid electrolyte in the battery and pass lithium ions, but not water or electrons.<\/p>\n