New grid battery packs record energy density into a shipping container
Joe Salas

China leads the world in terms of renewable energy resources like solar power. And not just by a small margin either, making over twice as much solar power as the next highest country, the USA. Where do you store any excess solar energy for use when the sun isn't shining? Answer: in ridiculously big batteries.

It's not just the 609 gigawatts of solar power capacity China had in 2023 that makes the country a world leader. China is also the global leader in wind power, having a capacity of 441 gigawatts of clean, renewable wind energy. And the country just keeps building more.

The trouble is, that's China's wind and solar capacity. And because China's grid infrastructure is still playing catch-up to the crazy amounts of renewables it keeps building, curtailment is a real issue and much of that power simply goes unused for one reason or another.

Grid-scale batteries could potentially remedy some of these issues in China and around the world.

Envision Energy announced an 8-MWh, grid-scale battery that fits in a 20-ft (6-m) shipping container this week while at the third Electrical Energy Storage Alliance (EESA) exhibition held in Shanghai.

Taken from Envision Energy's website, this is a possible design configuration of its 8-MWh, 20-ft (6-m) container battery

Envision Energy

It's colossal. Not just in size, but in the 8-MWh figure. The company says its newest product uses 700-Ah lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cells in a liquid-cooled 1,500 to 2,000-volt configuration that's good for nearly 16,000 charge cycles that all fits in half a normal shipping container. All in, the system weighs about 55 tons (50 tonnes)

To put it into simple terms, at 1,500 volts DC, it could theoretically power an average US home at 1 kW continuously for about 640 hours – a few hours shy of 27 days.

Not that this energy storage system is designed for such a thing. It's designed with a short-term charge and discharge duration configurable between two and eight hours.

Short duration plays a crucial role in balancing renewable energy sources by maintaining a stable supply of power, storing excess electricity when production is high and discharging power when production wanes. The downside to having two-hour short cycles means that at 16,000 life cycles, the battery would only last a little over three and a half years.

The battery cells are produced by AESC, a Japanese company known for supplying high-performance batteries to numerous electric vehicle manufacturers. The system's inverters and battery management system (BMS) are all made in-house by Envision.

Information from the EESA show about Envision Energy's 8-MWh container battery

Envision Energy

It was only a short three months ago, in June, when Envision announced its 5-MW container battery, making this latest 8-MW iteration quite a big jump.

While LiFePO4 doesn't have the same inherent risks of "venting" as do the much more common lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, Envision's energy storage unit features a pretty robust six-tiered suite of safety features. These include AI-powered monitoring systems to detect fires and faults, off-gas detection, aerogel pads between cells, active ventilation, and even an option water sprinkler system can be added. Deflagration panels are a must though – aka explosive vent panels.

Source: ESS News

  

A teenage Joe wanted to be an '1337 h4x0r' and create a world of havoc in the internet of things as a blackhat when the dot-com bustle began in the late 90's – blame Angelina Jolie as Acid Burn in Hackers for that. Sadly for Joe, he's not terribly good at math and never became much more than a hobbyist. At least this kept his rap sheet clean!

Though he's attained a personal high of 26th ranked in the world playing 1999's GOTY Unreal Tournament, he also couldn't figure out how to monetize his incredible FPS gaming skills. Instead, he found his calling in photography in his early twenties, and rose to notoriety as a racetrack action photographer with an eye for extreme motorcycle shenanigans – while also just quietly being a bit of a gun behind the handlebars himself. 

His penchant for writing developed as he started capturing his personal adventures and experiences, along with photos, as part of his 4theriders photography business. As fate would have it, Joe's life on two wheels came to an abrupt halt in July 2022 thanks to a freak accident, which also sidelined him as an action photographer. 

Joe writes from the heart – to the best that his high school education will allow – and hopes to give you a laugh, to inform, and to connect. When not scouring news and technology feeds, Joe spends his days as dad to two adorable little girls, and his nights trying to stay awake long enough to play a bit of Starfield.

 

 

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