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This technology has been big in Australia for a while. I always wondered why it didn't catch on, given the relative rarity and expense of more 'advanced' batter

This technology has been big in Australia for a while. I always wondered why it didn't catch on, given the relative rarity and expense of more 'advanced' battery materials. Now that lithium-ion seems to be taking over I wonder if these salt/sand thermal batteries will have a role.

Quarrel 1y ago
is it actually "big" in Aus? I know MGA Thermal have a demo project that the gov funded, but is there anything in commercial use?
- standardUser 1y ago
  Big in terms of development, not commercial use.
chii 1y ago
afaict, the thermal battery isn't for storing electricity but heat - something that's not really "needed" in australia, as there's no heating utility transport there. Turning this heat back into electricity is inefficient (not sure if that was tried tbh). It would be good if this worked out at scale of course; i do like that this type of battery can be made with cheaper materials. It makes it so that utilities/gov't can make use of large economies of scale, and have the benefits of renewables benefit everyone, not just people able to afford a solar/lithium battery pack at their property.
- stubish 1y ago
  I would like a residential scale one, assuming it is more efficient than using solar generation to charge a regular battery to power a reverse cycle air conditioner at night. I guess it isn't more efficient?
  - chii 1y ago
    I suppose if it is used directly as heat, it is more efficient(?) than having to charge a battery to power a heat pump (aircon). But this heat storage is a single purpose device, where as a battery is multi-purpose (you could also run a washer, dryer, water heater etc). So you have to count the energy loss of a battery to heat, and compare it with the extra energy required to _also_ power those other devices. It's quite a hard question to answer...
    - stubish 1y ago
      It seems a key part is identifying how much heat you will need in what time frame, which would be really hard to do for a single dwelling. But much easier to predict for a large number of properties.

Quarrel 1y ago

is it actually "big" in Aus? I know MGA Thermal have a demo project that the gov funded, but is there anything in commercial use?

standardUser 1y ago
Big in terms of development, not commercial use.

chii 1y ago

afaict, the thermal battery isn't for storing electricity but heat - something that's not really "needed" in australia, as there's no heating utility transport there. Turning this heat back into electricity is inefficient (not sure if that was tried tbh). It would be good if this worked out at scale of course; i do like that this type of battery can be made with cheaper materials. It makes it so that utilities/gov't can make use of large economies of scale, and have the benefits of renewables benefit everyone, not just people able to afford a solar/lithium battery pack at their property.

stubish 1y ago
I would like a residential scale one, assuming it is more efficient than using solar generation to charge a regular battery to power a reverse cycle air conditioner at night. I guess it isn't more efficient?
- chii 1y ago
  I suppose if it is used directly as heat, it is more efficient(?) than having to charge a battery to power a heat pump (aircon). But this heat storage is a single purpose device, where as a battery is multi-purpose (you could also run a washer, dryer, water heater etc). So you have to count the energy loss of a battery to heat, and compare it with the extra energy required to _also_ power those other devices. It's quite a hard question to answer...
  - stubish 1y ago
    It seems a key part is identifying how much heat you will need in what time frame, which would be really hard to do for a single dwelling. But much easier to predict for a large number of properties.