Lead –acid batteries can cover a wide range of requirements and may be further optimised for particular applications (Fig. 10). 5. Operational experience Lead–acid batteries have been used for energy storage in utility applications for many years but it hasonlybeen in recentyears that the demand for battery energy storage has increased.
Lead–acid batteries may be flooded or sealed valve-regulated (VRLA) types and the grids may be in the form of flat pasted plates or tubular plates. The various constructions have different technical performance and can be adapted to particular duty cycles. Batteries with tubular plates offer long deep cycle lives.
One such advancement is the liquid-cooled energy storage battery system, which offers a range of technical benefits compared to traditional air-cooled systems. Much like the transition from air cooled engines to liquid cooled in the 1980’s, battery energy storage systems are now moving towards this same technological heat management add-on.
Liquid-cooled battery energy storage systems provide better protection against thermal runaway than air-cooled systems. “If you have a thermal runaway of a cell, you’ve got this massive heat sink for the energy be sucked away into. The liquid is an extra layer of protection,” Bradshaw says.
Currently, stationary energy-storage only accounts for a tiny fraction of the total sales of lead–acid batteries. Indeed the total installed capacity for stationary applications of lead–acid in 2010 (35 MW) was dwarfed by the installed capacity of sodium–sulfur batteries (315 MW), see Figure 13.13.
Benefits of Liquid Cooled Battery Energy Storage Systems Enhanced Thermal Management: Liquid cooling provides superior thermal management capabilities compared to air cooling. It enables precise control over the temperature of battery cells, ensuring that they operate within an optimal temperature range.