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Decarbonisation requires renewable energy sources, which are intermittent, and this requires large amounts of energy storage to cope with this intermittency. Flow batteries offer a new freedom in the design of energy handling. The flow battery concept permits to adjust electrical power and stored energy capacity independently.
The main difference between flow batteries and other rechargeable battery types is that the aqueous electrolyte solution usually found in other batteries is not stored in the cells around the positive electrode and negative electrode. Instead, the active materials are stored in exterior tanks and pumped toward a flow cell membrane and power stack.
The energy storage capacity of a flow battery can be easily increased by adding larger tanks to store more electrolyte. This is a key advantage over solid-state batteries, like lithium-ion, where scaling up often requires more complex and expensive modifications.
Since a flow battery can store and discharge a reliable amount of electricity for almost half a day, it provides a way for utilities to avoid overproduction and an avenue to alleviate the stress of too much energy on the grid infrastructure.
Commercial/Grid-scale There is also a investment tax credit for larger energy storage projects. The Section 48 Investment Tax Credit offers businesses a similar 30% base tax credit for energy storage systems under 1 MW, or over 1 MW if certain apprenticeship and wage requirements are met.
The energy storage industry has continued to progress over the course of 2024 and into 2025, buoyed in significant part by the federal income tax benefits in the form of tax credits enacted under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA).
• For projects beginning construction on or after Jan. 29, 2023 or where the maximum net output is 1 MW or greater, the base tax credit is 6% of the taxpayer’s basis in the energy property or qualified facility (or energy storage technology).
The final regulations further provide that a “taxpayer’s basis in the thermal energy storage property includes the total cost of the thermal energy storage property and HVAC system less the cost of an HVAC system without thermal storage capacity that would meet the same functional heating or cooling needs.”