Australia has unique conditions that make it attractive to deploy renewable energy generation, however the intermittent nature of resources such as wind, solar, wave and other renewable sources, coupled with the high cost of large-scale battery storage, has impeded uptake.
Sodium Battery
Australia has unique conditions that make it attractive to deploy renewable energy generation, however the intermittent nature of resources such as wind, solar, wave and other renewable sources, coupled with the high cost of large-scale battery storage, has impeded uptake.
The S4 project will develop a new sodium-ion battery architecture, and integrate this cutting-edge sodium-ion technology in a modular and expandable packaging platform to provide a high capacity, high energy density, low-cost energy storage system. Included in this packaging platform will be innovative battery and thermal management systems, and an overarching energy management system will be developed to efficiently control the interaction between energy generation, storage and consumption.
To demonstrate this project, fully integrated, end-to-end renewable energy systems will be installed in the Illawarra Flame House on UOW’s Innovation Campus, and Sydney Water’s Bondi Pumping Station – located just off the iconic Bondi Beach. These sites will validate the modular nature of the solution, and will show-case the next generation of sodium-ion battery technology and energy management systems.
"The technology we are currently working on will be a game-changer in providing cheap, energy-dense storage in the context of an energy management system" says chief investigator Professor Shi Xue Dou.
This project received funding from ARENA as part of ARENA’s Research and Development Programme.
In the media
- Next-generation batteries light up symposium, UOW, August 11, 2016
- ARENA funding more solar and storage projects, Energy Matters, April 14, 2016
- Research and industry combine to develop renewable energy storage, UOW, April 13, 2016
- Solar thermal, energy storage, biofuels, wave energy head $17m ARENA R&D funding, Renew Economy, April 13, 2016
- UOW research: solar and other renewable energy storage, Illawarra Mercury, April 13, 2016
- University of Wollongong to receive $2.7m for research into renewable energy storage, WIN, April 12, 2016
The team
- Prof Shi Xue Dou, Director, Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials
- Prof Hua Kun Liu, Distinguished Professor, Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials
- Dr Shulei Chou, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials
- Dr Khay Wai See, Research Fellow, Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials
- Prof Danny Soetanto, Professor, Australian Power Quality & Reliability Centre
- Prof Kashem Muttaqi, Professor, Australian Power Quality & Reliability Centre
- Dr Duane Robinson, Deputy Director, Sustainable Buildings Research Centre
- Prof. Simon Ville, Faculty of Business and Law
