India became home to the world‘s first-ever thermal battery plant which was inaugurated recently in Amravati, Andhra Pradesh.
It aims to create a new energy storage form that is expected to have commercial applications, while also maintaining a low carbon footprint, and being less dependent on external factors like weather.
It will be owned by Bharat Energy Storage Technology Private Limited (BEST).
It will have a battery capacity of 1000MW which is expected to be upgraded to a 10GW capacity by 2025.
It could provide energy solutions for electrical grids, transport and telecom services (help boost signal strength).
Key Points:
- It is considered to be even better than solar energy which cannot be charged or utilized to their optimum potential after sunset or even when the skies are densely clouded.
- Conventional battery technology work on basis of electrical energy and is based on system of charging and discharging cycles that are driven by electricity.
- Thermal battery use thermal energy to operate i.e. energy created by temperature differences.
- The energy transfer in this battery helps to store heat when heat travels from one part of battery setup to other.
- For this transmission, thermal battery consists of two parts viz. cool zone (sink) and hot source.
