The wind blows. In more ways than one.
Timing has always been the bane of wind farms. Winds can be stronger at night in California and Texas than in the day. Unfortunately, most regional customers are asleep, so utilities and power providers often have to dump the power generated by windmills during the wee hours. When utilities dump power, not only do they lose a sale, they lose the attendant tax credits.
GeoBattery will try to solve this problem with sodium sulfur batteries, said CEO Dan Vogler. Sodium batteries are one of the best vehicles on the market for storing electrons. (Vogler will speak at the upcoming Greentech Innovations End to End Electricity conference on November 17.)
"They have the lowest cost and highest charge density of any battery," he said.
Sodium batteries, however, are also extremely heavy. Worse, they only work at high temperatures of 285 Celsius and higher. Below that level, the batteries go into a dormant state. That makes them a tough choice for a notebook or an electric scooter.
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