Lithium-ion batteries may become cheap power storage options
According to the US 'Joule' magazine recently, the British Imperial College released a new model prediction, the results show that in the next few decades, lithium ion batteries are expected to become the cheapest power storage in most application scenarios select.
In the 1990s, researchers at Sony Corporation in Japan inserted lithium ions into carbon (petroleum coke and graphite) to form a negative electrode, and successfully developed lithium-ion batteries. Traditional lithium batteries use lithium or lithium alloy as the negative electrode. As a kind of secondary battery (rechargeable battery), lithium ion battery mainly relies on the movement of lithium ions between the positive electrode and the negative electrode to work. Lithium ions are embedded in carbon, which not only overcomes the high activity of lithium, but also solves the existence of traditional lithium batteries. Security issues. In the latest report, Imperial College scientist Oliver Schmidt, as the main author, believes that in the future, lithium-ion batteries will have an advantage in most power system applications due to their low cost and superior performance.
Schmidt and his research team have established a model that can analyze 9 power storage technologies between 2015 and 2050-including large batteries and pumped storage The cost trend of power stations in 12 application scenarios.
And the research results show that the current cheapest way of electricity storage is pumped storage power station, that is, using the surplus electric energy when the electric load is low When needed, power is generated by discharging water to the lower reservoir. But according to model predictions, as time goes by, the cost of pumped storage power stations will not drop further, while the cost of lithium-ion batteries will continue to drop.
The research results believe that from 2030, lithium-ion batteries are expected to become the cheapest power storage option, and this conclusion is applicable to most application scenarios. By 2050, the cost advantage of lithium-ion batteries will be more obvious.