Effective ways of storing
Solar Energy

Australia’s quest for sustainability and increased usage of non-carbon intensive energy sources does not only require the obvious development of renewable energy technology for producing power through means such as solar and wind.

The 2nd and equally important part of the puzzle is being able to effectively store the solar energy generated at the time of its peak production, so it is then available to be used 24 hours a day as required.

This is the reason that there has been so much focus on Feed in Tariff schemes in each state; they enable households with solar panels who are connected to their local electricity grid to feed any excess electricity they produce during the day back into it, and receive credits for the evening when they can they draw upon it again.

Some people, especially in rural areas, prefer to be completely independent from any existing electricity grid provider though, and so choose an “off grid” solar system option to enable self-sufficiency. And in this case the issue of storage of their power produced becomes crucial.

The batteries are generally expensive and may require regular maintenance to function at their full potential.

This is exactly why energy storage has become a major issue in Australia and with other renewable energy loving nations.

Solar PV technology is evolving and achieving greater efficiency ratings at a fast rate, and energy storage capabilities also needs to evolve apace for ‘Off Grid” solar power to be a widely available viable option.

Worldwide there has been numerous of advances in Lithium-ion batteries. This technology was popularized by cell phone manufacturers and it has proven to hold the key to our storage problems.

However the real issue in energy storage is the number of cycles the battery perform and the cost.

One of Australia’s top researchers Maria Forsyth from Deakin University in Canberra, together with a team of researchers from the Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, are now developing battery technologies that will enable us to collect and store solar energy efficiently and economically.

According to them if a battery will cost about $1000 then it should be capable of delivering 10,000 cycles to be acceptable economics.

Unfortunately a lot of work is still needed to be done to develop such technology.

At Eclipse Solar we get a large amount of enquiries for Stand Alone systems and we are continuing to explore a number of areas to develop this side of the business. If you are qualified in this area and wish to be a part of this development please contact Matt Harold on 07-5476 1212.