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Will Super Capacitors be the Answer to Renewable Energy? - 3/9/08

Both wind and solar cells have seen great growth over the past decade.

The wind energy industry added 20 gigawatts of capacity last year. That’s 176% more than five years ago and 31% more than last year. Europe being the leader with wind energy, China and the U.S. are finally jumping on board.

Sale of solar cells has increase 40% from last year!

The capacity of windmills is limited due to the amount of wind available. The average capacity of a windmill is about 30%. The rest of the time it sits idle waiting for the next gust of wind. During this idle time no energy is being produced.

Solar power works under the same conditions. The sun does not shine all the time. You have cloud coverage and night time. Even in the sunniest areas of the country you have at most 14 hours of sunlight a day. Due to this, the average capacity of a solar panel is about 25%.

Until now only batteries could store this energy during peak capacity, but they take a long period to charge. With the capacity of wind and solar under 30% there is not time to charge the batteries efficiently.

One solution will be the super capacitor.

Batteries use chemicals to store energy that is stored over a certain period of time. Super capacitors store ions which can be stored and released very quickly, instantly!

Super capacitors quickly store the energy and can release this energy to a battery which has the advantage of longer storage and release capabilities. These added together work very well.

The downfall to batteries is their life span. Replacing them every few years can make them expensive. Super capacitors will last between 1,000 to 10,000 times longer.

Where super capacitors will come into play is the capture of kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is released when a car or locomotive brakes. In the past this energy was lost through heat and wasted. Every time a car stops at a traffic light energy is lost. This energy can be captured with zero emissions. In the past this burst of energy could not be captured that quickly by batteries, but super capacitors can capture this burst of energy then slowly pass that energy to batteries or other purposes. This process can be repeated over and over. The industrial applications can be endless.

China has tremendous pollution problems. In a way to solve their pollution problem China has moved its public transportation toward greener solutions. Chinese hybrid bus makers are signing contracts with manufactures of this super conductor technology.

Companies making plug in hybrids in the U.S. are also arranging deals to take advantage of the super capacitor technology. The next generation of hybrids will be using the super capacitor along with lithium-Ion batteries as soon as the second half of 2008.

The role of super capacitors in the transportation industry is limitless and we should see some tremendous improvements in hybrid vehicles in the near future.

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