Highlights Lithium-ion to be used for short duration Increased power price volatility expected Cost and limits on the availability of key materials currently used in battery manufacture have set a floor on lithium-ion battery costs and may constrain future deployment, inspiring a shift toward chemistries that use more earth-abundant elements, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study.
“Fossil fuel power plant operators have traditionally responded to demand for electricity—in any given moment—by adjusting the supply of electricity flowing into the grid,” Robert Armstrong, MIT Energy Initiative director and chair of the “Future of Energy Storage” study, said in a statement. “But variable renewable energy resources such as wind and solar depend on daily and seasonal variations as well as weather fluctuations; they aren’t always available to be dispatched to follow electricity demand,” Armstrong said, adding that […]