Li-ion are good for frequency stabilisation: initial response times of the order of ten milliseconds, run times up to several tens of minutes maybe.
For longer durations, flow batteries and other chemistries are probably better. They win because of very good cycle life and calendar life (20_000 cycles, 50 years) but tend to take longer to start up.
Flow batteries include vanadium redox, zinc-bromine, iron-saltwater (being piloted). Other chemistries: sodium-sulfur (NaS, developed by NGK and sold by BASF in Europe/NA), carbon polymer based (PolyJoule), and a great number of experimental types.
There are also thermal batteries and compressed air energy storage, and pumped hydro.
Pumped hydro is by far the biggest form of grid storage today and is not as limited by geography or cost as one might think. It can be used in the "hours to months" range of energy delivery durations.
These up and coming battery types look fantastic, but everyone seems to forget that lead-acid batteries are already way better than Li-ion or LiFePo for non-mobile energy storage, in terms of price per kWh stored.
Li-ion are good for frequency stabilisation: initial response times of the order of ten milliseconds, run times up to several tens of minutes maybe.
For longer durations, flow batteries and other chemistries are probably better. They win because of very good cycle life and calendar life (20_000 cycles, 50 years) but tend to take longer to start up.
Flow batteries include vanadium redox, zinc-bromine, iron-saltwater (being piloted). Other chemistries: sodium-sulfur (NaS, developed by NGK and sold by BASF in Europe/NA), carbon polymer based (PolyJoule), and a great number of experimental types.
There are also thermal batteries and compressed air energy storage, and pumped hydro.
Pumped hydro is by far the biggest form of grid storage today and is not as limited by geography or cost as one might think. It can be used in the "hours to months" range of energy delivery durations.