Tuesday, November 19, 2013: Imagine a battery that could store solar power! Well, a battery of this kind is being worked upon by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. What’s more interesting is that it will be a cost-effective battery technology, which will be capable of storing large quantity of electricity.
IIT-M director Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi told Deccan Chronicle that several faculty at the institute had started their research on optimisation of electricity and appropriate battery technology. “We are working on lower life cycle cost. We are looking at bulkier, non portable, batteries, which would be used for fixed use. Centre for decentralised photovoltaic systems in our institute is working on how to handle problem of load shedding and harness solar power locally,” he added.
Prof. Ramamurthi shared that India is a country that gets solar power for over 300 days in a year from 9 am to 4 pm with variations. However, owing to the solar tech that the country has at present, there is a mismatch in production and storage. He further added that a person had to spend Rs 14 to store one unit of power in the battery.
