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Researchers at IIT Madras Develop Feasible Alternatives to Li-ion Batteries
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he Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has announced that a team of researchers has made significant advances in developing alternatives to conventional lithium-ion (Li-ion) and lead-acid batteries for industrial usage. According to the researchers, the study into vanadium redox flow battery stack development opens up possibilities for the indigenous fabrication of flow battery stacks by MSME units for domestic and grid-level energy storage applications. “Our team designed, fabricated and executed indigenous kW-scale vanadium redox flow battery for application in energy storage, which can be integrated into renewable sources such as solar and wind energy,” Sreenivas Jayanti, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras said. “We have developed operating protocols and design criteria for flow battery stack of power rating up to 10 kW using the prototype of a practical size that can be directly employed in industrial-scale stacks for grid-level storage,” Jayanti added.
According to the team, there are important advantageous characteristics of flow batteries. As the active species are in a liquid state and stored outside the battery, the energy can be stored indefinitely. The number of times the electrolyte can be charged or discharged is also very high. Also, there is no danger if the battery is completely drained. Thus, more percentage of energy storage capacity can be withdrawn effectively than what is possible with popular solid-state batteries. “Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries’ (VRFB), with their distinct features of
independent scale-up of power and energy, long cycling life, low Levelised cost of energy storage and milli-seconds response time, shows great scope in confronting with intermittency in renewable energy sources and load demand,” said Ravendra Gundlapalli, part of the research team.
bp & Microsoft Partner to Drive Digital Energy Innovation & Net Zero Goals
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p and Microsoft Corporation have announced that they have agreed to collaborate as strategic partners to further digital transformation in energy systems and advance the net-zero carbon goals of both companies. This includes a co-innovation effort focused on digital solutions, the continued use of Microsoft Azure as a cloud-based solution for bp infrastructure and bp supplying renewable energy to help Microsoft meet its 2025 renewable energy goals.
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“bp is determined to get to net-zero and to help the world do the same. No one can do it alone – partnerships with leading companies like Microsoft, with aligned ambitions, are going to be key to achieving this,” said William Lin, bp executive vice president for regions, cities & solutions. “By bringing our complementary skills and experience together, we are not only helping each other achieve our decarbonisation ambitions but also creating opportunities to support
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others on their journey towards reducing carbon emissions.” Earlier this year, bp announced its ambition to become a net-zero emissions company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world reach net zero. By the end of the decade, it aims to have developed around 50 gigawatts of net renewable generating capacity – a 20-fold increase on what it has previously developed, increased annual low carbon investment 10-fold to around USD 5 billion and
cut oil and gas production by 40 percent. In January 2020, Microsoft announced its goal to be carbon negative by 2030 and remove more carbon from the environment than it has emitted since its founding by 2050. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the two firms recognises the capabilities that each company can provide to accelerate progress towards their sustainability goals and help the world decarbonise.
