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Saltwater batteries?

sidpost

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Joined
Mar 27, 2021
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Location
Texas, USA
Perhaps I missed this in my search so, if I did please point me in the right direction as I'm a bit surprised I didn't find anything.

I have a friend that keeps talking about Saltwater batteries. I have heard a few financial news tidbits saying some large industrial saltwater batteries are in testing with utilities in the NorthWest but, other than that don't know much. Before I dump ~$6K (or more) in LiFePo batteries, I'm trying to do my due diligence and make an informed decision.

I live in Texas and have seen basically no solar activity for a two-week period once as an absolute worst-case with 3 or 4 days being something I expect to see once or more a Winter season when it matters most. I will probably get a diesel 7Kw generator to get me past the "two-week outage" concern to something more reasonable in terms of overall storage.

I am in the process of planning and building my retirement home here in Texas so, to combat ever-increasing utility costs, I want to install as much solar capacity as I can consume. Selling excess to the grid DOES NOT MAKE FINANCIAL SENSE where I live. If I get a Tesla or Ford Lightning or ... I will add capacity to charge that vehicle if or when it shows up.

TIA,
Sid

P.S. Merry Christmas everyone!
 
New battery tech has been around the corner for 30 years. I suspect anything you hear about today is 10 years off. If it shows up at all.
 
One firm that has been out there with a salt water battery was/is? Aquion.
Google them for all the history of this firm but here’s a link about their battery.


I had high hopes for them but we’ll see what the future brings to the market place.
 
Merry Christmas everyone!

Aquion is one of the "big" players in this area right now. Whether their Chinese second act is successful remains to be seen.

I forget the name of the "new" company I heard about in the financial news but, with the effects of lithium mining and general issues of rare Earth metals in general, I'm hopeful new less toxic, and less polluting battery technology isn't too far off.
 
The main problem I've seen with a lot of these 'new' battery technologies, is their R&D is so expensive, and so they tend to target commercial market solutions like large companies, industrial application, power companies, etc, so the end products are large footprint, hyper expensive and generally not practical for Joe Blow and his family use in residential application.

I think once they become mainstream in the industrial markets with some of these solutions, it will still take some years more before they finally trickle down to residential use applications.

Besides, these big companies don't like the idea of everyone having self-sustained power because they can't make any money of us then. They want to build a system where the power companies and large providers are still providing your alternative 'green' electricity, so they will want to have all the efficient battery solutions for the longest possible time they can before individuals get their hands on the technology.
 
Go with the proven technology of LFP. Salt water is a long way off. If saltwater improves over the next decade and is cost effective.... switch then.
 
I tend to think individuals like myself are a "sweet spot" for big company focused technologies like Saltwater batteries. Sure, some big companies dive into the "deep end" of technologies like this for marketing purposes but, the profit margins on homeowner sized systems is going to be higher than some Public Utility Company IMHO.

Of course, government subsidies can drastically affect the basic economics too just like the recent effort to subsidize only the electric cars made in union shops. With technologies like Electric cars and Saltwater batteries, I tend to think the open market without government distortions is the best place for cost-effective innovation.
 
I forget the name of the "new" company I heard about in the financial news
A Bill Gates backed company called Iron ESS Inc makes iron based batteries that just went public not so long ago, this might be what you were thinking off. They are designed for industrial / grid scale solutions though. Also given their stock price has done nothing but fall since their IPO, I'm not sure how great their tech is.
 
A Bill Gates backed company called Iron ESS Inc makes iron based batteries that just went public not so long ago, this might be what you were thinking off. They are designed for industrial / grid scale solutions though. Also given their stock price has done nothing but fall since their IPO, I'm not sure how great their tech is.

I've seen a handful of the videos about ESS on You Tube, looks like promising technology. I guess they call those liquid metal batteries, I think Ambri is another company doing similar thing as ESS. They seem great for larger scale operations like factories, farms, or electric companies (due to their size and cost)...
 
Just my 2 cents from Europe/Germany. Salt water batteries start to show up more and more in industrial solar and public building solar planings/installations.
There is a company from Austria called Bluesky-Engergy (bluesky-energy.eu). They are selling their Greenrock salt water batteries in masses.(https://www.bluesky-energy.eu/greenrock-home/)
I have seen several installations personally now. Everything I heard from owners, maintainers etc was positive so far. They are constantly sold out because of the large backorder but moving production lines to Austria by end of this year.

They do have a subsidary in US/Idaho too.
Should someone be interested in salt water batteries for real, get in touch with them. They know what they talk about. But don't expect to get anything shipped before Q1/23 :)

My personal issues with the Greenrock batteries is, they are certified for indoor use only and take up the size of a washing machine per every 5 kWh you want to store (60kg per module). Keep in mind they only take up to 0.25C discharge per 5 kWh battery module.
So if space doesn't matter (Should be the case in Texas, shouldn't it? ?) get your former barn/shed full of them, they can bridge non solar activity periods very well.
 
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