Liquid Battery Could Transform Energy Storage

A team of researchers at Stanford University are aiming to improve options for renewable energy storage by working on new technology to enable the conversion and long-term storage of electrical energy in a ‘liquid battery’. 

The Issue 

People in California as a state (plus Stanford University and the researchers based there) are looking to transition to renewable fuel, although it is facing some challenges in doing so. For example, solar power drops at night and declines in winter. Furthermore, wind power ebbs and flows and is unreliable. As a result, California has to depend heavily on natural gas to smooth out the highs and lows of renewable power. This means there’s now a strong argument to suggest that new technologies that can store more power for the electric grid are needed.