Are We Going To Become Dependent on the Arabs Again?

The biggest problem in scaling solar or wind energy is storage.

Lots of solutions have been proposed. Underground storage in the form of compressed gas. Flywheels. Batteries of all kinds have been talked about, but most don't scale.

There is an exception.

NaS batteries use liquid sulfer as their positive electrode and liquid sodium as their negative electrode, separated by a solid ceramic called beta-alumina. Electrons move through the beta alumina from sulfer to sodium or (if it's charging up) from sodium to sulfer.

The system is said to be 89% efficient,  meaning only 11% of the energy is lost in the form of heat. Because both parts of the battery are already liquid, it can store an enormous amount of energy in a relatively small space.

Proof of its scaling is a 34 Megawatt facility in Japan, used for storing and delivering wind power, that can run at 245 MwH. A former Japanese auto parts outfit called NGK is the sole supplier and if you like you can see a small (4 MW) installation in Presidio, Texas. (Here's a white paper on the technology.)

Unfortunately you can't buy one.

All of NGK's production capacity for at least the next several years, has been bought by Amplex, a Danish company which is in turn owned by RUBENIUS of the United Arab Emirates.

At the Cancun conference on global warming RUBENIUS announced its biggest deal to date, which will supply 1 GW of storage to Mexico, which will place the batteries near the U.S. border.

The deal was announced by Mexican President Felipe Calderon (left) who said it will assure interconnection between the U.S. and Mexican electric grids. The market will be pushed by AB 2514, an alternative energy bill California signed into law a few months ago. 

Isn't that just nice, a huge facility filled with molten sulfer and sodium just across from San Diego, on which all our efforts to store-and-forward wind or solar energy are supposed to depend?

I feel safer already, don't you?