Battery Storage – Utility Scale
Battery banks are being installed with solar farms to provide energy at night or in cloudy weather. These are the same type of Lithium Ion batteries used in electric vehicles.
Battery Storage for Homes
Batteries like those used in electric vehicles can be installed in homes. A combination of grid power and rooftop solar can be used to charge them.
Vehicle to Grid/Load
Vehicle to Grid (V2G), also called Vehicle to Load (V2L), refers to using the power in an EV battery to power a house or a remote work site. Electric vehicles store enough energy in their batteries to power an average home for a day or more. The average home uses 15-20 kWh per day. An average EV has 40-60 kWh of battery storage. Some larger advanced EVs have up to a 100 kWh battery bank. Unfortunately, there few EVs allow power to be taken from their batteries. The ones with V2L provide one 15 amp 110v (a normal household outlet)
The “Ford Lightning” pickup truck is one of the first EVs to provide significant power for V2L. It is expected to offer a 115 kWh, or an optional 170 kWh battery pack.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 will offer V2G in their 2022 model. The Nissan Leaf will soon begin V2G in the US.
Solar Thermal
Solar energy can be used to heat a mass of solid material during the day that is used to provide heat to run a steam generator through the night. The solar plant produces enough energy during the day to both power the grid and heat the storage mass. The solid mass can be something as simple and non-toxic as stone or salt. Some solar power plants use a mixture of salt and water called a “Eutectic Mixture” that stores massive amounts of heat. This system is used in the Solana Solar Generating Station west of Phoenix AZ. (Solana on Google Maps)
Pumped Hydro
Dams on rivers are a source of hydroelectric power, and provide over 7% of the electricity in the US. Dams capture water and release it in pipelines through turbine/generators.
The same principal can be applied by using solar energy to pump water uphill, then use gravity and pipelines to run the water downhill through turbine/generators. About Pumped Hydro Storage
Gravity Storage
