IO’s week - Batteries, batteries, batteries

By Bart Brouwers

In our Sunday newsletter, we, as editors, reflect on the past seven days. We do this on the initiative of our cartoonist Albert Jan Rasker. He chooses a subject, draws a picture, and we take it from there.

Danish researchers think decommissioned coal-fired power plants could become clean energy producers. The sites could store energy at a low cost using solar-powered Carnot batteries. We wrote about it last week, and for Albert Jan, it was the story of the week. From sunlight to watts in a new form: these batteries are breathing new life into coal-fired power plants, and that’s excellent news.

This story is not an exception. To show that smart batteries can help us through the energy transition, we are constantly looking for the most inspiring examples. Last week, too, we found a few. Take this sodium-ion battery from Northvolt, or Europe’s first factory for fully domestic production of lithium chemicals from Vulcan or KitePower’s self-charging battery system. We’ll keep looking for these gems, including coming soon.

Grid congestion

Another topic we pay a lot of attention to is grid congestion: the lack of space on our power grid. As a result, companies cannot grow, new establishments are impossible and even schools are at risk of being disconnected. Residential neighborhoods are still safe, but even new construction is now causing problems.

The problems are significant, but there are solutions. Coming soon to Innovation Origins are a number of practical examples of business parks that have taken matters into their own hands, thus setting an example for the rest of the country.

In preparation, we have created a thirteen-part series on 100 potential solutions to this huge problem. Read the 12 most promising ones here.