Over 600 million people across African have no access to electricity. 60% of African businesses say access to reliable power is a constraint on their growth. Power outages cost African countries 1 to 2% of their GDP annually. It is estimated that energy storage technologies could save up to 100 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year by replacing 25 million diesel and gasoline generators in developing countries.
The research RELCo-Bat: Reclaimed Electrolyte, Low Cost Flow Battery is a 2-year duration and will be funded from a £3 million grant provided to the Faraday Institution from UK Aid as part of its Transforming Energy Access (TEA) programme. The TEA programme supports early stage testing and scale up of innovative technologies and business models that will accelerate access to affordable, clean energy-based services to poor households and enterprises, especially in Africa.
Dr Sol Brown (Chemical and Biological Engineering) and Professor Serena Corr (Chemical and Biological Engineering/Materials Science) will be part of the project, which will be led by Dr Richard Wills from the University of Southampton. The project team that also includes researchers from Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST). The project will develop a low-cost, soluble lead flow battery to promote grid stability and a secure, clean supply in off-grid generation with a focus on Botswana and Sierra Leone.
A unique advantage of the proposed battery is the potential to use recycled conventional automotive batteries for its manufacture, thereby creating a local supply chain and servicing capability. To guide system design and fast-track best approaches to aid cost reductions, a techno-economic assessment of the soluble lead flow battery using the new electrolyte system will be performed in parallel with experimental developments. BIUST will partner with a local stakeholder who will provide expertise and data on local network operations and off-grid systems in various African economies.
The proposed flow battery potentially represents a unique solution that links energy storage directly into a circular economy loop (though recycling conventional automotive lead acid batteries), that will provide wider benefits through the creation of a new, sustainable value chain.