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Ronald analyzes the latest battery test results as he pleases. This story, repeated twice, shows that the process of truly loving the battery may not be smooth sailing.
Do you like to read about household batteries? I know I know. This is why I am obsessed with the Canberra Battery Test Center report. They are like Shakespeare! In other words, they are mainly tragedies, but there are also some comedies. There is no better plan to show mice and men making mistakes than the stories they tell about the high failure rate of household batteries.
The latest report of the test center is the 9th report released in September last year. I will quickly introduce its highlights and provide some information from their 8th report released in April. Because it took me a long time to start writing their article, I wanted to stick to their 10th report, but when I was asked to provide an update on their results, we started.
The main points I will introduce are:
But first, I will explain what the Canberra Battery Testing Center is, so that those who don’t know what I’m talking about will speed it up.
As you may have guessed, the Canberra Battery Test Center is a center for testing batteries in Canberra.
It is operated by ITP Renewables, and they have received a large sum of money from your taxpayer for accelerated testing of household battery systems and reporting on their performance. They cycle the battery 3 times a day at a controlled temperature designed to simulate real-world conditions. Each cycle includes fully charging the battery and then discharging it at the maximum allowed by normal use.
The idea is that, assuming that the batteries are cycled once a day in actual use, they can cause 10 years of wear and tear on the battery in about 3 years and 4 months. This method is not perfect, but if you want to get information in a reasonable time, it is necessary to do something in these ways.
One major limitation is that they only test one of each type of battery, and do not count replacements. This means that they may just happen to be defective in one-thousandth of the batteries, or maybe one-thousandth of the batteries happen to be working properly. This means that if a particular battery performs poorly, it may just be bad luck. But considering the number of batteries tested so far, it is safe to conclude that household batteries are generally unreliable.
For more detailed information about the test, please refer to the four articles I wrote in my previous battery test center report:
The first article has the atmosphere of Star Wars, while the fourth article is about improvisations of giant pythons, but the common theme that runs through them is that household batteries are unexpectedly prone to failure. Of the 18 in the first two test phases, only three worked as expected. I am not saying that three of the batteries are working very well. I mean only three are functioning as designed without failing in some way.
Some have minor problems and can still be used after repair, and some even play tricks of turning themselves into expensive bricks. There was also a tragedy that needed to be replaced at the beginning, but it turned into a wrong comedy due to repeated failures. Now the test center has entered the fifth unit. But its manufacturer received full marks for perseverance.
Although the small suppliers’ batteries have suffered some complete disasters due to the closure of several companies and carry-on warranty support, buying from large manufacturers does not guarantee that the batteries will be okay, because the battery manufacturers of these major manufacturers are in varying degrees There is a problem:
Among all the large battery manufacturers, Sony is the only one that has passed the test of roses that smelled the scent of ozone and stood out.
Although dealing with large manufacturers does not guarantee a hassle-free experience, if something goes wrong, they can at least still fulfill the warranty terms. This is not always the case for small suppliers. A battery-Aquion-couldn't work when it arrived, and its manufacturer went bankrupt before the problem was corrected. (Although I think the company may go bankrupt because it cannot solve the problem.)
Of the eight batteries in the first round of testing that began in March 2016, I will quickly update the four batteries produced by large manufacturers. I have arranged them roughly according to their performance:
Sony Fortelion: This is the clear winner in the first round of testing. It has been cycled 2,610 times and still retains 85% of its original capacity. If it is cycled once a day, it will represent 7.2 years of use. This is the only battery that can function normally among the eight batteries tested in Phase 1. Fingers crossed, it continued to run for many simulation years. This is the best evidence I know, proving that modern household batteries 1 can operate reliably for more than 7 years if done well. Unfortunately, Sony Foretelion is apparently no longer sold in Australia.
Samsung AIO 10.8: Samsung AIO 10.8 has also been licensed for sale as Hansol AIO 10.8. This is due to the image problem caused by the explosion of the mobile phone battery. This issue has been resolved. It cost Samsung a lot of money, so they have a strong incentive to make sure it doesn't happen again. Except that they are not monsters who have no problem with people's mobile phone explosions, this is a powerful incentive.
According to the 9th report, Samsung AIO (all-in-one) has been recycled 2,730 times. If you ride a bicycle once a day, that's 7.5 years. Unfortunately, this particular unit has become a bit rude. One month before the latest report, it sometimes did not respond to attempts to charge or discharge.
The battery performance warranty period is the first of 10 years or 6,000 cycles, and will maintain at least 65% of its original capacity. Therefore, when it is less than 3,000 cycles, it has not reached half. But the system's warranty period is only 5 years, which means it is about to end. 2
Tesla Powerwall 1: It was launched with much fanfare in 2015. It was supposed to completely change the way homes use energy, but somehow it has become obscured. Even Tesla didn't bother to add 2 to their current Powerwall. I would say that they are embarrassed by this, but I don't believe that Tesla Borg's mind can handle this emotion.
"If you think that a big company like Tesla is a slow motion artificial intelligence, then I'm like that sentence."
Since Powerwall 1 cannot be tested in the same way as other batteries, comparing its results may be unfair. I just want to say that it does better than the average battery tested, but it does not perform well in difficult situations.
LG Chem LV: This is one of LG Chem’s early batteries. After reaching 1,183 complete cycles, 78% of its original capacity needs to be replaced. This is equivalent to riding a bicycle for 3.2 years a day. This proves that even large battery manufacturers with a good reputation and rich experience cannot produce reliable household batteries.
In the second phase of the test, 10 batteries were tested. I will introduce the performance of 6 batteries:
Likewise, they were roughly ranked according to their performance.
Plylontech US2000B: This battery is a clear winner in the second phase of the test. It encountered no problems and its remaining capacity was estimated to be 82% after 1,940 cycles. It was 5.3 years of daily cycling.
Tesla Powerwall 2: This is a malfunction. Due to the way it is manufactured, the test center cannot monitor its output. After the replacement, the monitoring problem is solved. After 1,250 cycles, it appeared to reach 88% of its original capacity. That was 3.4 years of daily cycling.
BYD B-Box LV: BYD3 is a large Chinese battery manufacturer. For a while, it seems that their B-Box will be the best performance in the second phase of the test. This is a graph from an earlier report that shows the decrease in capacity compared to the other four Phase 2 batteries:
It can be seen from the green dashed line that crosses the BYD point that its capacity has deteriorated less than anything else on the chart. Unfortunately, after making this picture, B-Box had a problem. Since then, the dust has settled, and it is now either in battery heaven or burning in lithium hell. (Hopefully we can achieve effective battery recycling soon, which will enable them to be reincarnated.) BYD has told the battery testing center that they will replace it with a newer model.
Since the battery deteriorates only about 7% after 1,000 cycles—that is, it is cycled for about 3 years every day—this shows that if they can solve the battery management problem, their battery can still be kept under warranty after 10 years of use. If BYD can solve this problem, it may become a major player in the household battery market. Although not cheap at the moment, BYD batteries are cheaper than most batteries.
LG Chem RESU HV: Like the LV version tested in the first phase, the battery system must also be replaced. Obviously, it is difficult for even experienced large battery manufacturers to improve reliability. After 1,110 cycles, which is equivalent to riding for 3 years every day, its capacity is approximately 84% of its original capacity. Compared with Sony Fortelion or Pylontech, this is not impressive.
Alpha ESS M48100: Removed from testing due to overheating. The test center did not give an accurate figure for the number of cycles or remaining capacity, but judging from the chart in their 6th report, after about 1,000 cycles, it seems to be about 75%. Alpha ESS stated that they no longer use this type of battery.
Redflow Z-Cell: This battery is produced overseas by the Australian Redflow company. It stands out for several reasons, only one is because it is the only zinc bromide battery. Redflow Z-Cell has also won the following awards...
Their Z-Cell battery unit needs to be replaced four times. The first time was because the electrolyte was contaminated, and the other three were because of electrolyte leakage. However, Redflow did not give up and refund money directly like some other battery manufacturers, but constantly replaced the system with improved versions, and now they seem to have finally done it. When the nine reports came out, they had been in operation for nearly one and a half years and did not need to be replaced. So if you get Redflow Z-Cell now, it might work. If not-as long as they provide customers with the same courtesy as the battery test center-it will be replaced.
Because Z-Cell uses different battery chemistries, it will not suffer from capacity degradation like lithium batteries or lead-acid batteries. But in real life, things don't always develop as theoretically. After 860 cycles or 2.4 years of daily cycles, ZCell seems to have 97% of its original capacity. Whether this deterioration will continue or whether it will level off remains to be seen.
Around March last year, the Canberra Battery Test Center installed eight new batteries for their third phase of testing. When the latest report came out, the test had been conducted for less than 6 months. This is not enough to draw any real conclusions about the capacity drop, because even an accelerated test is only equivalent to a 16-month daily cycle. Fortunately, so far, no system has stood out due to catastrophic capacity deterioration.
Unfortunately, one battery system has failed, while the other three are performing poorly. Even for the battery installed in 2020, it can only work half as expected, which is very sad.
The currently inoperative system is...
The three underperforming and seem to have similar problems are...
So far, those who have only minor problems can accept...
Fingers crossed, the overall result of the latest round of testing is better than the previous two.
These batteries are not playing their due role:
BYD B-Box HVM: This one was installed in June. After being temporarily closed in July, it refused to reopen it. With the help of BYD, they were able to restart. But in August, it was closed, and now it cannot be opened again for more than a few minutes. When the latest report was released, BYD was trying to figure out what happened to it.
These unfortunate incidents will only reinforce my opinion that if BYD's household batteries work normally, it would be great.
Deep Cycle System (DCS) PV 10.0: This system is manufactured in Queensland using Chinese batteries. Its continuous charge and discharge rate is much lower than it should be. Currently, if its discharge power exceeds about 2.5 kilowatts, it will shut down before the available stored energy is exhausted. Therefore, its cycle speed is slower than the normal speed of the lithium battery in the test center.
PowerPlus Energy LiFe Premium: This has similar problems with the aforementioned deep-cycle system batteries. If it consumes power at a rate similar to the other test batteries, it will shut down before providing all available energy.
Zenaji Aeon: Zenaji is an Australian company. Their batteries use lithium titanate batteries that I think are made in China. Despite having the most anime name of all batteries, this is not enough to protect Zenaji Aeon from the problem, and it cannot be charged or discharged at the expected speed. It installed an SMA inverter, and Zenaji had notified the test center that they no longer believed that the inverter was compatible with their battery and provided them with a Schneider inverter. The test center stated that they will continue to use SMA until Zenji provides them with Victron inverters4.
The three batteries that cannot be charged or discharged at a rate equal to their prescribed capacity lack a communication link between the battery management system (BMS) and the inverter. This simplifies the installation, but means that the inverter must decide on its own how much power the battery can discharge or charge. I think it's because people complain more about fried batteries than poorly performing batteries, so the inverter made mistakes in caution.
Before getting one of these "dumb" batteries that don't communicate with the inverter, I will make sure that the supplier clearly promises what kind of performance a particular inverter will provide. Then, according to the Australian consumer guarantee, if you do not get a remedy, they will be required to provide a remedy. 5
So far, these four systems are working as expected:
FIMER Reaction 2: This baby is full of Samsung batteries. It is sufficient to provide it with a nominal storage capacity of 8 kWh, but 4 and 12 kWh are also available. So far, it has been no problem.
FZSoNick: This particular battery is special, not just because it sounds like a creature from dark crystal.
This is FZSoNick's cousin Fizzgigg.
This battery is neither a lithium battery, nor a lead battery, nor a zinc bromide battery.
It is a nickel sodium chloride battery that can work at 265 degrees. The need to warm up may cause a delay before charging or discharging. Fortunately, it has good insulation, but it feels warm to the touch. If you want it to double as a barbecue grill, that's really unlucky. They are made in Switzerland, so maybe the Swiss like to snuggle by them at night when they don’t poke holes in the cheese.
I don't think this battery type will replace lithium batteries, but as far as I am concerned, the more battery types, the better. If it works reliably, it may have an advantage.
SolaX Triple Power: SolaX is a Chinese manufacturer of solar inverters. The batteries in its battery system are manufactured by the Chinese company Shenzhen BAK Power.
To build this huge city, the people of Shenzhen really had to put their Piccolo into it. (Photo: Financial Times)
So far, it runs without problems.
SonnenBatterie: Although there are some difficulties in installation, this German-made battery runs without problems.
The Canberra Battery Test Center stated that the battery systems they purchased for the Phase 3 test indicate that the battery market is becoming more integrated. Battery packs that combine batteries and inverters into one system or battery packs that are only compatible with inverters from the same manufacturer are selling more. The requirements for online registration of batteries and Internet monitoring of their usage are also increasing.
When their three new batteries are stupid types that don't communicate directly with the inverter, they point out that it's a bit weird. But since none of them worked as expected, they have first-hand experience of why integration is so important. Suppliers increasingly want to strictly control how batteries are charged and discharged. This seems essential for optimal performance and reliability.
This trend towards greater integration is consistent with what I have seen. Lithium batteries have not yet become strong enough to cope with the trend of different charging and discharging characteristics from a series of inverters. Instead, the focus is to provide precise conditions for precision batteries with the exact conditions needed for long-term use.
The test center said that since they started the test, the price of the battery has dropped, but this does not tell the whole story. Although the price did fall four or five years ago, as far as the battery is concerned, it is far past, and the price has not really fallen in the past two years. So far, the reduction in the cost of lithium batteries has not translated into a reduction in the cost of household battery systems. 6
The main example of this is the Tesla Powerwall 2. Taking into account the inflation factor, its price has increased by about 43% since its launch in 2017.
The high battery subsidies provided by South Australia in the past may have played a role in keeping prices high, but the main reason why the price has not fallen seems to be that it is obviously very difficult to build a reliable household battery system. Every battery system sold must be expensive enough to cope with high failure rates. If a company provides you with household batteries at a price that is much lower than the price charged by large companies, they may not set aside enough money to cover the inevitable replacement costs, and if your battery has a problem, they are likely to have disappeared .
The good news is that reliability is improving despite the time it takes, so once manufacturers are convinced that only a few percent of their systems will have major problems, there is a lot of room for household battery prices to drop.
As the chart in this 9-hour report shows, battery prices have not fallen sharply over the years.
My wonderful conclusion is not so wonderful, in fact it is three independent conclusions. But maybe if you squeeze them together and look at them from the right angle from a distance, they will look beautiful.
When the next report from the Canberra Battery Test Center comes out (probably not too long), there should be enough data to truly compare the degradation rates of the new Phase 3 batteries. I am very confident that most of them will still work by then.
Ronald Brakels was born in Toowoomba many years ago. When his township collected a collection and sent him to Japan, he became famous internationally for the first time. This was the furthest place they could manage with the funds raised. When the local mayor greeted him at the airport and explained that it was too dangerous for him to return to Toowoomba due to climate change and mutations attacking goats. After returning to Australia, he developed a keen interest in environmental issues. Ronald then moved to a property in Adelaide Hills, where he now lives with his horse Tonto 23.
We have 6 – 2 kW Pylontech US2000B lithium iron batteries, equipped with a 5.5 kW system, and installed a 5 kW solar inverter in February 2014 without any problems. It charges the battery and sends the rest back to the grid. The battery is fully charged at noon, and the second 4.5 system powers the house and sends the rest back to the grid. All our lighting is provided by the Sundaya 12-volt system. We don't have an electricity bill. AGL sends us a check every November. At Christmas, the price of the check ranges from $860 to $1100. We also have a heat pump hot water system, which consumes 75% less electricity than the standard system. The battery is great and has never been fully charged in 7 years of operation. Nairne South Australia
The supplier hopes to "strictly control the charging and discharging methods of (their) batteries" is good, but I think what we want is a battery that can accept our excess photovoltaics in the time we have and as much time as possible Power generation and charging, which will be ready to allow us to boil the kettle and run the air conditioner when needed. Maybe they should focus on providing the design we need, rather than controlling what we can have?
Um. good idea! However, didn't the "choice/independence" question raised on this website started repeatedly a few years ago?
Is there any information about Gelion batteries that were mentioned a few years ago? I think they were developed by the University of Sydney.
Gelion seems to be still active:
But I don’t know of any batteries that use their technology.
Thank you Ronald. It looks like a great product, and it's cheaper than Lithium. It's a pity that they don't seem to want to design products for the family.
I checked your solar cell storage comparison table, but I didn't see Fimer React 2 listed. https://www.solarquotes.com.au/battery-storage/comparison-table/
Given that Fimer React 2 has been working properly in tests at the Canberra Battery Test Center so far, do you plan to add it to your comparison table? How does it compare to the other battery options in the comparison table?
Fimer React 2 has been added to the chart. (We are on the ball today.)
Thank you Ronald. If you can, ask a few questions:
What is the list price of $8341? Is it for an inverter (3.6 kW or 5.0 kW, or the same price?) + a 4 kWh battery module, or what? What is the price of the additional battery module?
I think the price does not include the associated/compatible ABB meter for measuring grid import/export (required for battery management)?
Some observations: the unit weight of the inverter module is about 22 kg, and the unit weight of the battery module is 50 kg each.
The enclosure protection grade is only IP54.
According to the REACT 2 Quick Installation Guide, the ambient temperature of the installation location should be between 5°C and 30°C to ensure the best operation of the battery unit. Battery performance decreases between 0-5 °C and +30-40 °C. Battery management is disabled below 0 °C or above +40 °C-inverter function only. https://www.fimer.com/energy-storage-solutions/react-2
It has a backup battery terminal for power outage of the grid for special sockets (such as refrigerators and freezers, etc.). According to the REACT 2 backup battery application note, the switching time between grid and backup operation is less than 30 seconds.
Unless you have some compelling reason, ordinary households currently living in the suburbs do not have much motivation or reason to add expensive batteries to their current or planned rooftop photovoltaic systems.
For now, it seems (hopefully not too long) that the best course of action at the moment is to wait for the price drop and reliability issues to be resolved before taking action.
If you have successfully "time-shifted" your demand, your overnight demand is already relatively small, and half of it may be hot water heating.
Obviously, the situation is different if you live in a rural or remote area, where energy self-sufficiency must almost be achieved as much as possible.
I am not necessarily in a hurry to buy batteries, even if the government subsidizes the cost
I want to know what is the difference between low-voltage batteries and high-voltage batteries-maybe, I can write an article to explore this issue.
As an example, among LG Chem RESU batteries, the high-voltage model is (I believe) the only one of them. Fire or explosion or other reasons caused (only) the recall of that model of high-voltage battery (indicating that their low-voltage battery is considered to be Relatively safe).
In addition, in Perth, a major solar retailer updated their battery page this month, stating that they now only install (or recommend, or both) high-voltage batteries and their related hybrid inverters.
So, I suggest an article comparing low-voltage batteries and high-voltage batteries would be good.
In addition, in this case, it would be good to compare the test results of the above-mentioned test center on the basis of the difference between low pressure and high pressure.
The DCS results above are disappointing-an Australian company has achieved good results, possibly a change from "If you buy Australian ones, the quality is not so good" (as a euphemistic version of the proverb).
In addition, especially referring to the LG high-voltage battery problem I mentioned, this problem does not apply to LG low-voltage battery series models. I want to know whether the quality of the manufacturer that produces both low-voltage and high-voltage batteries can be based on one (low (Or high) voltage range test results are evaluated in two ranges. For example, the test results of BYD's high-voltage models are not satisfactory. Does it mean that their batteries in the low-voltage range are also problematic?
The cost of 2 kW Pylontech US2000B lithium iron batteries is US$1,500 per unit, which I don’t think is expensive because they were US$3,300 at the beginning of 2012.
The most confusing comment I have ever read. As phrases such as "deep cycle" and "ion" spread, I still don't know if the subject is lead chemical batteries or lithium batteries, or some other hybrid batteries that I don't know about.
For those nerds with acronyms for life and breathing technology, the meaning may be self-evident, but this article is probably to help amateurs.
Please resonate with readers and clearly identify your topic.
Half an hour was wasted.
Having a battery to store my own electricity is similar to using an external USB hard drive. Obtaining data is relatively fast and very convenient, but relatively expensive for home users, because the additional advantage is to ensure that you store your data safely at home. Many people worry that there may be problems with the drive, otherwise you will catch fire and lose a lot.
Therefore, PC users have gradually backed up important things to the "cloud", leaving others to worry about us. If you want to back up more than the free amount allowed by the provider, there is usually a cost involved.
Now, what if you could easily and cheaply let a supplier (rather than a power company with vested interests at its core) obtain your electricity and store it for you, and let you reclaim it at night? It's kind of like a solar-powered Dropbox!
If someone has already done this (I'm not talking about virtual power plants), then I would love to hear the details. If not, then I want to pay a license fee for my brilliant idea and be the next Bill Gates (no hatred) 🙂
There is no "cloud". It's just someone else's computer. Remember Photo*ucket?
I know what cloud is. I don't think this has changed my opinion in the slightest?
Maybe what I said is a bit too vague. Giving control of your power, data, or images to someone else will most likely lead to a terrible outcome. Yes, my house may be burnt down-after all, it has an isolation switch on the roof-I may lose all USB drives, but if not, I can still control my data and I will not change the terms at will , Conditions and prices.
Reg-In WA's SWIS grid, something called "community battery" is and has been set up to perform the operation you described. However, when the grid supply fails, they are of little use, as often happens here. These facilities are of little use when they are inaccessible.
This is why the method behind the meter battery includes the other benefits of providing UPS in the event of a grid power failure.
Moreover, in Western Australia, the SWIS grid is increasingly fragile, dilapidated, unstable and insecure.
Hi Ron, I must say that this review is very interesting. However, it does not indicate the location of the battery pack failure, namely: battery failure or BMS failure.
According to memory, several failures were attributed to unit failures, but most of them seemed to be BMS problems. Of course, if BMS is not the best, it will cause cell failure, so it is a bit chicken and egg.
Thanks Brett for the reply. I guess community batteries are still roughly the same size as a single user’s purchase of household batteries. Each "user" will still be relatively expensive, and you have identified all the problems and you have to manage a lot of troubles correctly and fairly.
Therefore, please adopt my Dropbox Solar idea.
I produce "x" kilowatts per day. The power company supplier I used recorded the products I produced and passed this information to the Dropbox solar supplier (for practice purposes, no solar subsidy), instead of using these kilowatts to buy my own batteries for storage. If the power company is willing, it is welcome to resell my actual power generation to other customers, but at the same time, it must provide a "credit balance" to my Dropbox solar supplier. Therefore, in addition to managing the plan, the power company does not really pay out of pocket, and obviously has the right to charge a small fee to pass on my usage information to the Dropbox solar supplier. If I run out of my Dropbox Solar balance, then once my balance is used up, I have to pay the normal electricity bill to the power company until I generate more "credits"
At night or at other times when there is zero/low solar power, I can get electricity (mine) from the power company without paying me directly, except for a small fee per kilowatt-hour for the service. Dropbox solar provider-me I think that if I don’t have a battery, in the long run, it must be cheaper than buying normal-cost electricity from the power company.
The power company took note of the information I quoted, and the Dropbox solar supplier can obtain the information again. On my Dropbox solar supplier bill, I paid a fee, which included the cost that the Dropbox solar supplier had to pay to the power company and the amount of Dropbox Solar’s profit.
I understand that this will require power companies to cooperate with the plan (requiring some government "persuasion"), and they may resist, although you can eliminate solar subsidies as a bargaining chip. However, under such a plan, no one needs to buy batteries unless they want to go off-grid or are prepared to pay extra to have their own on-site spare batteries.
You have to think that, overall, it’s cheaper for individual consumers than everyone has to buy depreciated and potentially problematic battery assets (as shown by Ronald Brakels), Not to mention it's better for the environment when we all start using ten batteries-a year-old tip of useless used batteries all over Australia.
Anyway, this is my ten cents.
You said that the power company is not really paying for it out of pocket-but who will pay for the cost of large batteries, inverters, chargers, installation, land value, etc.? We have seen that the batteries behind the current meters are usually too expensive and unreliable to obtain a useful return on investment-why do you think that relocating them (and chargers and inverters) in the form of "safe deposit box" batteries will Make any difference (other than economies of scale)? Isn't this concept the same as VPP?
Hi Ian-thanks for your reply.
You’re right — it’s a fly in the ointment — electricity still needs to be stored somewhere, which will be the cost of the power company or others — but as we move into the future, more and more systems will follow if We have to rely more on cleanliness and green, and may need huge Tesla SA batteries.
Those household batteries that do not have or cannot afford batteries are still economically infeasible after they have been produced for a few years and generate more electricity than they need (given the feed-in tariffs are gradually decreasing, because the power companies let us slowly cook" "Frog") will donate free or ultra-cheap electricity to power companies without any alternative storage solutions.
Oh, well, back to daily work. Bill Gates can easily fall asleep again🙂
Just from the point of view of the "huge Tesla SA battery", please note that its main advantage is the so-called FCAS (Frequency Control Assist Service)-the part of the battery that performs this operation can run on a fully charged condition Hit hard for about 8 minutes, before it flattens out. This is good, but it is not good for grid-level supply. Interestingly, SA has a large project to install multiple synchronous condensers (basically a large flywheel connected to a synchronous motor/generator, connected to the grid)-these are designed to "strengthen the grid" and make it more stable, To cope with the surge in supply and demand-the same is true for FCAS devices like large batteries. I have to ask a question-in the long run, are these batteries (including maintenance) cheaper than large batteries (which must be replaced in time)? Otherwise, why does SA take the synchronous condenser route? Maybe at the time large batteries were just a (relatively expensive?) emergency measure, and synchronous capacitors were more worthwhile?
To support Ronald’s ridicule (to some extent), perhaps it is the reason that SA can far exceed the nominal 10% renewable limit (some people think it’s a stability limit-I don’t have any strong opinions, but I can understand this. Problem), because SA is connected to other states (have a lot of coal-fired power generation, so the rotational inertia is large), and also pays for large batteries (and is adding synchronous capacitors) to ensure its grid stability. So-you can integrate more intermittently-you only have to pay for the solution.
The other part of the battery benefits from buying energy when the energy wholesale price is cheaper (for example, excess photovoltaic/wind power), and selling this energy at a higher price when the wholesale energy is more expensive (reducing return loss) (arbitrage). This part of the battery can provide 0.05 GW of power in a few hours, and then the power is exhausted-but this is only about 10% of the power that SA usually enters at night-more than 2 hours, or may be 0.6% of the total energy of SA Overnight demand. We need a lot of money to buy a lot of batteries!
Note that SA treats their neighbors as one big battery (via interconnectors)-exporting excess wind and photovoltaic power to the border during the day-thus reducing their dependence on coal (a good thing)-but Then they asked for their renewable credit to go back to the evening, and most of the electricity must be generated from lignite (not so good). I don't see this situation can continue-as Victoria/New South Wales/Queensland introduces more and more renewable energy, they may not want to import renewable energy from South Australia.
So, I think you are right-we need more storage, or other forms of immediately dispatchable power. Don't get me wrong, I fully support renewable energy-but I do feel that we should not be biased against the issues involved in any technology. Wind energy and photovoltaics are intermittent-it is a fact-we just need to solve this problem. Coal produces a lot of pollution, and we have decided (I hope) to phase it out. After all, cars do kill people often-but this hasn't stopped us from building and driving them.
By the way-I don't think power companies will "pay the bill"-they will only include the battery and system depreciation costs in our electricity bill.
Good report Ron. I feel sad to hear that home batteries/systems are so unreliable, especially when car batteries seem to be much better-and usually run at a fairly high discharge rate and regularly. We have a 2010 Mitsubishi iMiev, a 16kWh battery, which is used and recharged frequently-it may be fully cycled 4-5 times a week, and its capacity/range is still about 80%. I know we have indeed heard of some car battery problems, but considering how many problems there are, the problem rate does not seem to be high. Any ideas why car batteries would be more reliable? (If they really are).
I'm glad to hear that your iMiev is doing a great job. Obviously, it has a very durable battery. If you look at something like Tesla, they usually have much fewer cycles because it has a larger battery pack. Their warranty reflects this. The American-made Tesla Model 3 Standard Range+ is equipped with a 54 kWh battery and has a warranty of 8 years or 160,000 kilometers. The limit of 160,000 kilometers is only about 430 complete cycles, while the 10-year daily cycle of household batteries will reach 3,652 complete cycles. Therefore, although car batteries must be able to provide a large amount of power on demand, it is expected that household batteries will provide more stored energy in total.
In addition, in order to sell, electric vehicles must compete with the reliability of existing internal combustion engine vehicles. If their reliability is significantly worse, they will not sell. But household batteries are in the early stages of the product cycle and are still mainly purchased by early adopters. My feeling is that they are often used as test objects.
Curious why the enphase battery is not tested?
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