Almacenamiento de energía | Energy storage www.futurenergyweb.es 82 FuturEnergy | Abril April 2018 Una vez posicionado el Litio-ion en los sectores más influyentes, vectores de la economía y por tanto determinantes a la hora de permitir la industrialización de una tecnología, éste se ha convertido en la tecnología determinante, aunque no excluyente, para las próximas décadas. El fuerte desarrollo del mercado de energías renovables ha atraído el interés de los fabricantes de sistemas de almacenamiento por adaptar sus desarrollos a las necesidades específicas del sector. Se han realizado muchas inversiones en investigación del Litio-ion para determinar la electroquímica más idónea para las aplicaciones estacionarias. El Litio Ferrofosfato o LFP por sus características intrínsecas de seguridad, alta ciclabilidad y estabilidad en temperatura, ha sido seleccionado como electroquímica predominante en los desarrollos específicos del sector. En otras aplicaciones como automoción, sin embargo, ha sido el Óxido de cobalto manganeso níquel o NMC la tecnología finalmente seleccionada. Las múltiples aplicaciones posibles e infinidad de problemáticas a resolver exigían soluciones flexibles desarrolladas específicamente a tal fin. Las aplicaciones cada vez más presentes de instalaciones aisladas de red o de instalaciones industriales, demandaban flexibilidad en sistemas con mayor capacidad energética y de potencia que los sistemas heredados de cubrir las necesidades del sector de telecomunicaciones. En muchos casos, sistemas de pocos kWh en rack, ideales para consumos y potencias bajas, pero poco apropiados para el escalado hasta las centenas. Las instalaciones con necesidades intermedias, que ni son domésticas ni están pensadas para cubrir las necesidades de MW de la red, parecían quedar en una zona intermedia no cubierta por las soluciones comerciales existentes. Finalmente, la presión del sector ha empujado a los fabricantes a realizar desarrollos alienados a esa necesidad, poniendo por fin por primera vez en el mercado soluciones realmente modulares y escalables con capacidad de resolver todo tipo de problemáticas. Es evidente que, capacitados por el fuerte desarrollo de la tecnología, estamos formando parte de una auténtica revolución en el sector. La cuestión no es si subirse o no al carro, sino quien quedará atrás. In the same way as developments such as mobile phones or the internet, if the installer of last century had been told that his 21st Century counterpart would have access to a battery able to perform over 6,000 cycles, that no maintenance work would be needed, that to cover their needs they would not have to transport or install double the amount necessary, and that above all, thanks to these advantages, the cost per kWh of the system’s life could be half that of lead, they would never have believed it possible. For the first time, technologies such as lithium-ion have enabled the life expectancy of a battery to be almost comparable to those of a solar collector, in excess of 15 years.Who today wouldn’t purchase a panel that comes with a 25-year estimated service life?Would the same not then apply to the battery? Having positioned lithium-ion in the most influential sectors such as vectors of the economy which are decisive factors when enabling the industrialisation of a technology, li-ion has become a determining, although not exclusive, technology for the coming decades. The strong growth in the renewable energy market has attracted the interest of storage system manufacturers to adapt their developments to the specific needs of the sector. Much investment has been made in li-ion research to determine the ideal electrochemistry for stationary applications. Lithium iron phosphate or LFP, due to its intrinsic features of safety, a high level of cyclability and temperature stability, was selected as the predominant electrochemistry in the specific sector developments. In other applications such as automotion, however, the technology finally selected was nickel manganese cobalt oxide or NMC. The many possible applications and infinite number of issues to be resolved demand flexible solutions specifically developed for such purpose. The applications increasingly found in offgrid or industrial installations, require flexible systems with a greater energy capacity and output than legacy systems to cover the needs of the telecommunications sector. In many cases, systems with few racked kWh, which are ideal for low consumption and outputs, are inappropriate for scaling up to hundreds of MW. Installations with intermediate needs, that are neither domestic, nor designed to satisfy the megawatt demands of the grid, seem to fall into a no man’s land that is not covered by existing commercial solutions. Finally, sector pressure has pushed manufacturers to undertake developments associated with this need, for the first time bringing truly modular and scalable solutions to the market with the capacity to resolve every type of issue. Clearly, prepared for the strong development of the technology, our industry is forming part of a true sector revolution. The issue is not whether to jump on the band wagon or not, but who will be left behind. Ramón Ugarte Área Renovables en CEGASA Portable Energy Renewables Dept., CEGASA Portable Energy
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