A Solution to Grid Issues

A common problem in today's society is how to efficiently manage the power grids.  There is no good way to store energy in a battery for use in peak hours.  And it is extremely difficult to manage all the possible sources of energy during the demand hours and in what amounts.  There are some batteries currently available to store energy, but they are extremely expensive and can only be recharged a very limited amount of times.  Researchers at Stanford University have created a battery that could have the potential to mitigate this problem.  They have created a high-efficiency nanomaterial batter electrode that can be recharged 40,000 times before there is any major decrease in charge capacity.  This is not a full working battery solution yet, but it holds lots of potential to be the solution.  The battery is based on the same idea of lithium-ion batteries.  It utilizes moving sodium, Na, and potassium, K, ions between electrodes.  But, this is cheaper.  The difference is this battery will use water-based electrolytes rather than the organic solvent-based electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries.  Price is greatly reduced because the materials are readily available and common.  83% of the battery charge capacity is kept over the 40,000 charge cycles.  Typical lead-acid batteries last a few hundred cycles and lithium-ion batteries usually last about 1,000 cycles.  These electrodes have a 99% efficiency!
There is a competing battery designed by a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.  The charge-capacity is greater by 40 milliampere hours per gram of material.  But, it is based on copper and therefore significantly more expensive!
Stanford is working on producing a full protoype of their battery.  So far, they have the cathode working, they only need to focus on the anode.  The implications of this are incredibly substantial.  If these batteries can store energy efficiently, it can help solve the grid management issues we have, including blackouts.  We currently have enough wind energy that could be harnessed in the great plains, but there is no way to move this energy to the rest of the country.  This battery could allow this energy to be stored and can increase the promise of alternative energy.