China has connected to the grid a 100 MW hybrid energy storage facility that integrates supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries
Touted as the world’s largest supercapacitor-based installation, the facility combines a 58 MW/30-second supercapacitor array with 42 MW/42 MWh of lithium-ion battery storage, spanning a footprint of approximately 16,800 square meters.
Supercapacitors provide ultrafast response times – specified at 0.001 seconds – and maintain over 85% capacity at –40°C, significantly outperforming lithium-ion batteries in extreme cold. By offloading rapid-response tasks to the supercapacitor, the system is expected to extend battery lifespan and reduce lifecycle costs by around 30%
American House with an EV, all electric, and no solar, I use about 1200 kWh/mo (1.2 MWh/mo) on average. This could only carry me through about 3y. Even if I had access to good public infrastructure I think best I could do is 6y (again, all-electric home).
But I digress. Lithium ion as purely load shifting is a pretty reasonable, I’d argue critical, solution for covering day/night loads, but starts to fall apart completely when it comes to seasonal (summer/winter) loads.
But what makes this plant interesting is the addition of super capacitors. The combo battery/SC plant is less about day/night load shifting and more about providing stability to a shifting grid. As supply and demand grow increasingly decoupled, and we try and shift away from expensive peaker plants always on standby, systems like this can dramatically help smooth grid performance.
~90 MW of peaker capacity is small potatoes currently, but this is a big step towards a more reliable grid future.
I’m curious, do you know how much you use for heating, cooling and the EV? I supposed those are the big differences to my household.
30-50% of my energy is the EV. About 20% is 120V plug loads (computers, fridges, home server), ~5-10% lighting, ~15% large equipment (dryer, electric range, electric water heater), and the remainder (15-30% seasonally) is HVAC (heat pump)
Any gas appliances would bring a lot of those numbers down
Thank you for the details. We have district heating here and no EV, that makes a big difference! We use about 15MWh of district heating each year but less than 2MWh of electricity. Our house is from the 70s, but have decent insulation, could be better though