Tenacity the key to successful research and development

A BATTERY that could store enough electric power to run a home, or even a town, is within reach.
The new battery could save millions for generating utilities, by enabling them to store power during times of low demand, to be used in the peaks.
The zinc-bromine battery (ZBB) being developed by ZBB Technologies Ltd in association with Murdoch University, offers the solution to the great obstacle to the wider use of renewable resources -- how to store power for times when the wind is not blowing, or the sun is not shining.
Current batteries have very limited applications in this field (it takes 500 conventional batteries, for example, to store the energy provided by petrol in the tank of an average car).
ZBB Technologies, an enthusiastic member of the Murdoch University-based Australian Co-operative Research Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE), believes the battery is now close to commercial application.
The research began in Murdoch, and ZBB, established to continue the work, has collaborated with the University and researchers for the past 16 years.
Associate Professor Pritam Singh, of Murdoch's Department of Chemistry and Mineral Science, is a consultant to the company.
'Non-flow' battery
ZBB's involvement with the CRC centres on three tasks -- the use of the zinc bromine battery for remote area power systems, the development of a new generation, the 'non-flow' battery, and new materials for it.
The venture will take a major step forward with the installation of a 400kWh battery at an electricity substation in Victoria. This will demonstrate the great value of such batteries in being able to store power in off-peak periods, and feed it into the grid when demand is high.
The resultant saving in the building of capacity that is employed only occasionally could save utilities around the world billions of dollars.
Other demonstration projects are expected in Asia and the US and the company hopes that the batteries will be employed on a commercial scale within two years.
For outback communities the batteries repesent the hope that renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic electricity and wind turbines will become more attractive. The zinc-bromine batteries offer the possibility of making more efficient use of these sources, and of even improving the economics of that traditional outback power supply, the diesel generator set.
These are often run at wasteful levels of output, to provide a homestead or small community with power.
The zinc-bromine battery could make it possible to run the diesel generator for a shorter period of time, at its most efficient load, then be shut down, leaving the batteries to provide power.
Cost Savings
Preliminary studies using a simulation package developed by Murdoch's Energy Research Institute indicate that adding battery capacity to a diesel generator would save more than 20 per cent in fuel costs and could more than double the life of the machine.
If a renewable energy source is also added there will, of course, be even greater fuel savings.
This would be part of a priority-based system in which wind or solar energy would be directly utilised if there is a demand for power.
If there was no draw on these, the power could be stored in the zinc-bromine batteries.
When the demand exceeded the capability of the renewable sources the battery would supply power until it had no charge left in it, at which point the diesel generator would cut in.
The raw materials are readily available -- zinc (mined in big volumes in Australia) and bromine (extracted from seawater) replace the currently familiar lead-acid combination.
The two elements in the new battery, when in contact, release energy in the form of heat. If an electrical conductor is placed between them, electrical energy is produced instead.
Through a subsidiary company, ZBB is also working on a new generation of highly-efficient photovoltaic cells (reducing their price and increasing their efficiency is seen as crucial if solar power is to be widely used in the future).
Efficiencies
The researchers have achieved high efficiencies in laboratory production and they are now seeking ways of limiting, or even eliminating, the so-called photodegradation of cells.
The team expect to be able to produce photovoltaic panels that produce electricity at a competitive price and with a long life.
Coupled with the zinc-bromine battery, these would provide an attractive system for outback communities.

Associate Professor Pritam Singh, Mr Bjorn Jonshagen and ZBB Technologies' Mr Rob Parry in the battery research laboratory at Murdoch University

The stamina and tenacity demanded in modern, high-tech research and development projects will be rewarded in mid-year when the zinc-bromine battery is commissioned for trials by a major Australian power utility.
It will be a world first for the battery technology that has already generated wide international interest and has the potential to earn more than $1 billion a year.
For the Murdoch University researchers, led by Associate Professor Pritam Singh, and their commercial partners, ZBB Technologies Ltd, the occasion will bring quiet satisfaction in having achieved a major milestone in their 16 years of collaboration "The Murdoch team must now be acknowledged as the world leaders in zinc-bromine battery technology," says ZBB's Managing Director Mr Rob Parry.
The 400kWh battery, consisting of eight independent battery modules each rated at 50kWh at the two hour discharge rate, is currently under construction and will be trialled over 12 months at the Nunawading substation operated by United Energy Ltd, a Victorian-based power utility.
To manufacture and assemble commercial-sized batteries, ZBB Technologies has acquired a US zinc-bromine research company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Mr Parry says the merged group now represents the major force, world-wide in emerging battery energy storage technology. And with acquisition of the American company, ZBB now has access to the large (and potentially lucrative) North American market.
"The merger with the Milwaukee operation also focusses our attention on the transformation from being purely an R&D organisation into the first stages of commercial viability as a manufacturer and continuing researcher of this technology," Mr Parry said.
"The Murdoch team, led by Professor Singh, will be central to our continuing research efforts."
ZBB's agreements with United Energy, which serves more than half a million Melbourne customers, and the Energy Development Research Corporation are funding the $1.9 million project that will give the zinc-bromine battery an exhaustive evaluation and the track record required for international commercialisation.
The 12-month trial will evaluate the zinc-bromine battery component as well as performance parameters related to system integration with power conditioning systems.
The commercial installation has attracted considerable international attention. Already agencies in Indonesia and the United States have demonstrated their interest in the technology, and ZBB has drawn up an agreement in principle with a Chinese provincial government to participate in a joint venture to manufacture and supply the Chinese market. Negotiations are also being conducted with Japanese power interests.