Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/15LTc)
According to new research conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society renewable sources of energy such as the sun and wind could become economically competitive with traditional sources of energy via the use of “liquid batteries.”

While MIT has made many announcements in the past of inventions of that could potentially be cheaper than traditional energy storage systems such as the lithium-ion or lead-acid batteries in use today this is perhaps the most promising I have seen.

[b]Wind & Solar Intermittency & Solutions Up Until Now[/b]
The sun does not always shine the wind does not always blow wind speeds fluctuate and the amount of sunlight we receive varies due to clouds. Thus the power we can generate from wind and solar energy fluctuates.

According to the United States Department of Energy 2011 Annual Energy Outlook the average cost of wind power in the U.S is only 9.7 cents per kWh (kilowatt-hour) of electricity. Wind power’s problem is no longer the cost to generate it. It is now mainly intermittency.

Fluctuations in the amount of power generated by a wind farm can be compensated for by adjusting other hydroelectric nuclear or fossil-fueled natural gas or coal power plants. If a wind farm generates more than necessary other power plants can be turned down to compensate for that and back up again when there is less than enough wind power available. The ability of nuclear and coal power plants to adjust is very limited however because they take long to make major adjustments in power production.
Energy storage on the other hand enables wind farms to independently supply power without the help of other power plants. Battery banks are a form of energy storage system that can achieve this but they have traditionally been too expensive to compete.

[b]MIT’s Liquid Batteries[/b]
According to MIT liquid batteries are inexpensive and last longer than traditional batteries. The three materials contained in the liquid batteries each settle in separate layers due to the difference in their densities which in this case is a good thing. They need to be separate.
This project was conducted with the importance of material availability and abundance in mind. “We explored many chemistries” Donald Sadoway the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT and the senior author of the new paper says.
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/15LTc)