A funding injection from Bill Gates' energy innovation initiative has been granted to a groundbreaking battery technology utilizing liquid tin and holding a Guinness World Record for energy storage at very high temperatures.
U.S. firm Fourth Power has been granted $19 million in Series A funding to "scale its cost-effective groundbreaking thermal battery technology," according to a statement. DCVC spearheaded the investment round, joined by Gates' Breakthrough Energy Venture and the Black Venture Capital Consortium.
Aside from assisting in expanding the company's thermal energy storage technology, the investment will kickstart the establishment of a 1 MWh-e (megawatt-hour equivalent) prototype facility near Boston, which is expected to be completed by 2026.
Conceived by Asegun Henry, Ph.D., during his tenure as a professor at Georgia Tech and currently affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Fourth Power's thermal battery technology boasts multiple accolades, notably securing the Guinness World Record for the highest temperature pumping of liquid metal at 1200 degrees Celsius (°C).
Scalable solution
Fourth Power seeks to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in alignment with global efforts to transition away from them. The belief driving this initiative is that renewable energy, derived from sources like wind and solar, should be harnessed promptly upon generation without the need for energy storage.
The Boston-based firm's innovation involves using renewable energy to heat carbon blocks to temperatures resembling the sun's glow. Subsequently, this stored heat can be released on demand to the grid, providing a reliable source of electricity.
To achieve this vision on a global scale, it is imperative to establish utility-scale energy storage solutions that possess the scalability necessary to evolve in tandem with the expanding grid infrastructure. The firm plans to enable this by "making grid-scale thermal battery storage the most cost-effective solution for power production," said Arvin Ganesan, CEO of Fourth Power, in a statement.
Thermal battery
Fourth Power's technology transforms renewable energy into thermal energy, stored efficiently for future use. The innovative system employs liquid tin to generate heat, circulating it through a network of pipes to warm stacks of carbon blocks until they radiate intense heat. Subsequently, the system utilizes thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells exposed to the glowing carbon blocks to convert the thermal energy into electricity.
"This is similar to traditional solar generation but uses light from very hot — up to 2400°C — graphite rather than light from the sun to produce electricity. At almost half the sun's temperature, we are essentially storing the sun in a box," said the firm's website.
Engineered to optimize the value of renewable energy production, this solution provides grid operators with cost-effective control and flexibility compared to alternative energy storage methods.
The system is modular and scalable, accommodating increased storage duration by incorporating additional carbon blocks, ensuring seamless alignment with the growing grid, and escalating renewable energy generation.
The Fourth Power solution efficiently captures renewable energy that might be lost through curtailment, storing it for an extended period—over a month—and allowing discharge over variable durations, from a few hours to several days, all at an optimal cost.
Notably, Fourth Power caters to both present short-duration (5-hour) requirements and anticipates future demands for longer-duration (100-hour) storage. Its ability for near-instantaneous discharge provides valuable flexibility for grid operators working towards maintaining a reliable 24/7 power grid, according to the firm.
In addition to establishing its inaugural 1 MWh-e facility, the funding will support comprehensive durability assessments and the expansion of the company's engineering team to address the escalating demands of the market.
Originally published on Interesting Engineering : Original article