EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — MSU researchers are working on an energy solution that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels, and they are using solar and wind power to do so.
David Hickey of Michigan State University said the better we can utilize this source of energy, the better off we will be.
The problem, he said, is that the sun is not always shining, and the wind is not always blowing, so we need a way to store that excess energy.
“So, this really is an enabling technology that allows us to get to solar and wind power more effectively across the entire grid,” Hickey said.
And to store that energy, Hickey and his researchers have designed what is called a Redox Flow Battery.
By utilizing this, they are able to scale it much bigger and even make a battery to power an entire city.
“If we wanted to store enough energy to power say, Lansing, we would need multiple Olympic swimming pool sized containers,” Hickey said.
In order to accomplish this, MSU is working in collaboration with a company in Michigan to work on scaling these batteries and making commercial devices that they can sell.
“We really want to try to be a leader in greener energy and once we can store all that excess energy, then we can do so,” Hickey said.
Hickey said this could take a few years.
