Solving the Problem of Energy Storage for Solar Photovoltaic Plants (Review)

Resumo

Modern storage systems for electric energy generated by solar photovoltaic plants and other renewable energy sources have been analyzed. Among numerous energy storage systems, electrochemical ones, particularly redox battery systems, are of the greatest interest for use in the Central Asia region. The varieties of this energy storage system have been considered, including Zn/Br, Zn/Cl, Fe/Cr, Zn/Se, and Zn/K₃Fe(CN)₆ systems, as well as promising but underdeveloped iron–iron and lead hybrid operating on electrolytes based on sulfuric acid and with deposition on bipolar electrodes (Pb) and (PbO₂), respectively. We have considered the operation principle of vanadium redox batteries, which is based on redox processes that occur in two volumes with vanadium electrolytes separated by a selective membrane. Their advantages for the above goals have been demonstrated. We discuss the prospect of vanadium redox battery production in Uzbekistan based on local vanadium resources in the form of both primary mined materials and manmade raw materials, such as vanadium-containing slags resulting from extraction during metallurgical processing of mined titanium and rare-earth element ores, as well as those formed during the processing of bauxite and phosphorite mined in local deposits. Particular emphasis has been placed on the question of combining the use of domestically produced vanadium pentoxide with developments of electrode surface activation for redox batteries made from graphitized materials with the inclusion of nanoscale particles of metals, such as iron and nickel, using ion-plasma technologies.