Natrium-Ionen-Batterien könnten eine Revolution bei erneuerbaren Energien auslösen

>To ensure reliable energy supplies, grids dominated by renewables need „firming“ capacity: back-up technology that can supply electricity on demand.

>a new way to firm up the world’s electricity grids is fast developing: sodium-ion batteries. This emerging energy storage technology could be a game-changer—enabling our grids to run on 100% renewables.

>Energy storage collects excess energy generated by renewables, stores it then releases it on demand, to help ensure a reliable supply. Such facilities provide either short or long-term (more than 100 hours) storage.

>lithium-ion batteries are the primary storage technology but are best for short-term storage. Sodium-ion batteries are now almost ready to fill the long-term storage gap.

>factories currently producing lithium batteries could easily and cheaply move to sodium batteries.

>sodium is a far more abundant material than lithium, and potentially cheaper to extract.

>ongoing research and development means their energy-density continues to increase.

>The analysis suggested sodium-ion batteries would soon match the cost of using gas-fired power as a firming energy source.

The problem with these „Breakthroughs“ is they take time to get up and running. It might be ten years before we see these fully on the market, and that’s if they don’t run into any unforeseen glitches.