Human settlements

Renewable energy

Enabling technologies 06: Comercialisation of a valve-regulated lead acid battery for renewable energy systems

Renewable Energy Commercialisation in Australia, Australian Greenhouse Office, 2003
NOTE: The status of these projects will have changed since the time of publication, and project contacts may also have changed.

As the zinc bromine battery suffers no loss of performance after repeated cycling, it has great potential for renewable energy applications in remote areas.

The valve-regulated lead acid battery is expected to have an increase of 70 to 80 per cent in energy storage efficiency in a typical remotearea power system installation.

Remote Area Power Supply systems (RAPS), particularly those that use the sun as their source of energy, are now a well proven and accepted technology-yet, even today, they continue to be burdened by battery problems.

BP Solar, the CSIRO and Battery Energy Power Solutions, supported by a grant of $1 million under the Renewable Energy Commercialisation Program, have combined their resources to develop a technology that will provide a valve-regulated lead acid battery for RAPS systems. This deep cycle storage battery requires little maintenance and is cost-effective, long lasting and temperature tolerant.

Based on a thorough understanding of the expectations and requirements of the end user, this battery technology has been developed expressly for use with a solar power system in remote or unattended locations and in environments usually considered detrimental to conventional lead acid batteries.

To further enhance and complement this technology, an intelligent management system has been incorporated in each battery. This management system executes the most modern and comprehensive charge and load control algorithms, specifically formulated to extract maximum life and performance from the battery. Human intervention is kept to a minimum. The integral monitoring, logging and reporting features of the management system warn the user of possible problems in time to remedy the situation. If a problem does occur, the management system stores the fault profile for subsequent analysis by battery experts, reducing reliance on the reports of inexperienced or unaware users. The management system also allows multiple batteries to be connected in either series or parallel without detriment to any one of the batteries.

Aesthetics has also received attention, resulting in a battery that no longer looks like a battery, but an objet d'art in the user's home.

These batteries will be initially produced in 12V versions, rated at 130 A/H at the C100 rate. It is predicted that they will provide an eight-year service life, and yet be commercially competitive with their inferior counterparts. Accelerated lifetime tests will be developed to independently verify the credentials of the battery. As a matter of course, batteries will be extensively trialed both in the laboratory and in the field.

The end result will be compliant with all relevant Australian and international standards and, as standards evolve, the battery will be reviewed to ensure continuing compliance.

For more information please contact

Frank Martin
BP Solar Pty Ltd
No. 2 Australia Avenue
Homebush Bay NSW 2140
Tel (02) 8762 5777
Fax (02) 8762 5888
Email martinfk@az1.bp.com
Internet www.bpsolar.com

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