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0 points0cf8612b2e1e1y ago0 comments

   … if you are looking to scale this to a couple of hundred megawatts, just stop reading and thinking about this now

I thought that was one huge appeal of flow batteries is that you can basically infinitely scale them. China has a 100MW installation (potentially more since this 2022 report)

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/09/29/china-connects-worlds...

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4 comments · 2 top-level

briffle1y ago· 2 in thread

These guys in the US make a 500kwh version, that can run at 75kw of discharge power across 3 phases, and its a single shipping container: https://essinc.com/energy-warehouse/

It doesn't seem like it would take up that much space to have 200 shipping containers sitting somewhere, i'm pretty sure the Home Depot distrubution center in our town already is close to that in their parking lot (yes, you would want them not on wheels, and farther apart)

0cf8612b2e1eOP1y ago

That’s incredible. I wonder what are the costs relative to a grid scale battery of equivalent size.

I only wish they made one that were barrel sized and fit for consumers. Worst case, you have a leak vs a home battery fire.

rootusrootus1y ago

> Worst case, you have a leak vs a home battery fire.

Battery fires are an EV (and then, only certain models) and laptop/phone thing. Only a few home batteries use the really flammable electrolytes (mostly Tesla Powerwalls, I'd bet). Most people are using LFP for home, which is less expensive and doesn't have the fire problem.

ForOldHack1y ago

"But that's not what happened. Instead of the batteries becoming the next great American success story, the warehouse is now shuttered and empty. All the employees who worked there were laid off. And more than 5,200 miles away, a Chinese company is hard at work making the batteries in Dalian, China.

The Chinese company didn't steal this technology. It was given to them — by the U.S. Department of Energy. First in 2017, as part of a sublicense, and later, in 2021, as part of a license transfer."

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1114964240/new-battery-techno...

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