Converting intermittent solar and wind produced electricity to 24/7 grid electricity via on-demand aluminum energy storage and its conversion back to economically competitive 24/7 local grid electricity
View Patent ↗The invention proposes using aluminum as a green inert energy storage media in combination with two coupled closed loop components. One loop is the water splitting reactor to release truly green electricity via a water splitting reaction that produces green hydrogen, green heat, and green aluminum oxide. Green power sources such as photovoltaic arrays are used to power the second closed loop component, a green smelter which cyclically converts the aluminum oxide reactant back to green aluminum. Green electricity is put out to the grid from a green hot gas generator utility which relies on green hot gases supplied by combusting the green hydrogen produced by the water splitting reaction along with heat evolved from the water splitting reaction.
1 . A system that generates input intermittent electrical power and converts the intermittent electrical power into an inert energy storage element, wherein the system comprises an array of photovoltaic cells, operating from sun up to sun down for converting intermittent solar power into the intermittent electrical power, a smelter operating from the intermittent electrical power that converts an oxide of the energy storage element back into the energy storage element, a reactor that activates the energy storage element, the energy storage element when added to water produces hydrogen, heat and reaction by-products, and a gas turbine electricity generator that converts hot gases into output electrical power;
wherein the energy storage element is aluminum;
wherein the aluminum is dissolved in liquid gallium, the liquid gallium being an activation catalyst;
wherein a gallium synthesis liquid is provided in a form of the aluminum dissolved in the liquid gallium; and
wherein a gallium source chamber is provided upstream of the reactor, the gallium source chamber containing the gallium synthesis liquid, including liquid aluminum and liquid gallium.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the oxide of the energy storage element is gibbsite.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein electrodes of the smelter are carbon free.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the reactor generates a total daily reaction by-products in cyclical sequential time segments during a 24-hour period.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the smelter generates a total daily smelted energy storage element in cyclical sequential time segments during daytime.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the heat of the reactor and heat from combusted hydrogen by-product is a source of hot gases needed to drive the gas turbine electricity generator.
7 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising an array of wind turbines for converting intermittent wind power into the input intermittent electrical power.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the smelter is an Elysis smelter.
9 . The system of claim 1 wherein said aluminum is substantially pure aluminum.
10 . The system of claim 1 wherein the gallium synthesis liquid and water are brought into the reactor and hydrogen gas and gibbsite are discharged from the reactor.