New heat-harnessing “solar” cells that reflect 99% of the energy they can’t convert to electricity could help bring down the price of storing renewable energy as heat, as well as harvesting waste heat from exhaust pipes and chimneys.
The energy storage application, known informally as a “sun in a box,” stores extra wind and solar power generation in a heat bank.
“This approach to grid-scale energy storage is receiving widespread interest because it is estimated to be ten-fold cheaper than using batteries,” said Andrej Lenert, an assistant professor of chemical engineering.
The “sun” itself in this approach is already low cost: a tank of molten silicon, for instance. The relatively expensive parts are the photovoltaic panels that turn the stored heat back into electricity.
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Image via Dejiu Fan, U-M Optoelectronic Components and Materials Group.