The focus of this month’s column is battery evolution.
You may recall I spoke about how tricky the decision-making process is for alternate energy, and there should be no rush to make a decision, especially on batteries. The successful path may be determined by good luck or fortunate timing.
Here’s what I mean. Budgets get established by every organization, otherwise you would have no parameters to get anything done. When I write my column, I always worry: Did I miss a new technology just before I sent it out?
However, decisions have to be made and then action must be taken. Alternate energy is not exempt from this. Technology changes today at lightening speed. It seems one day solar cells are at 14% efficiency and then the next, the common solar cell is 21%.
Batteries today are getting cheaper, more efficient. So when is a good time to incorporate them into a mass storage system? What would happen if a “BESS” was purchased and the next day a more efficient “BESS” came out at much lower cost? This is the main challenge to incorporating alternate energy.
It’s a Battery Energy Storage System. You will see this term more often as Gov. Hochul’s scoping plan goes into effect. BESS is being implemented worldwide. Its usage would be measured in KWH (kilowatt hours). Currently there is 11 Twh (Terrawatt Hours) of battery storage power time in the United States. This translates into powering roughly 12,000 homes for one year. The average cost per KWH of storage is currently just over $550. This seems expensive but the price of LI (lithium ion) batteries is dropping because the price of manufacturing them is dropping. New manufacturing techniques also are improving the........