The Consortium for Battery Innovation has issued a request for research proposals looking at how lead batteries can be used for energy storage for various applications, including microgrids.
“As a newer application for lead batteries, research into field and laboratory tests for energy storage systems is essential to gain deeper insights into understanding total energy throughput and increasing service life and performance,” the research organization said March 16.
The planned research comes as batteries are increasingly being used to help integrate renewable energy onto the power system and to facilitate microgrids.
Lead batteries are used in energy storage systems to provide frequency regulation, microgrids, peak shaving and load shifting, the consortium said in the RFP.
However, more research is needed into the use of lead batteries for energy storage, according to the group, which has offices in Durham, North Carolina, and London.
The group intends to fund research on increasing the life of lead batteries and the total energy throughput in energy storage systems that use flooded, valve-regulated lead-acid/absorptive glass mat, gel, and enhanced flooded batteries, bipolar type, and other advanced lead batteries, the group said in the RFP.
The consortium will give special consideration to research into renewable energy arbitrage using microgrids, peak-power shaving using battery storage for commercial and industrial applications, and load following uses, according to the RFP.
Proposals are due by April 24. The consortium will enter into research contracts with the successful bidders
The consortium has more than 100 members, including battery manufacturers, industry suppliers, research and testing institutes, universities, commodity traders, end users and lead producers.
Last year, the consortium set a goal of making lead batteries last five times longer by 2022.
The RFP is available on the consortium’s website.
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