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Alphabet Inc.’s secretive X skunk works has another idea that could save the world. This one, code named Malta, involves vats of salt\u00a0and antifreeze.<\/p>\nAlphabet, la empresa due\u00f1a de Google, tiene una subsidiaria dedicada a desarrollos de productos llamada X. Creada en 2010 como Google X, es la empresa que comenz\u00f3 hace m\u00e1s de diez a\u00f1os con el desarrollo de los autos sin chofer y que hoy est\u00e1n comenzando a aparecer en el mundo, entre otros desarrollos de avanzada. Est\u00e1 dirigida por Eric (Astro) Teller, experto en el campo de tecnolog\u00edas inteligentes, cient\u00edfico, escritor y nieto de Edward Teller (el \u201cpadre\u201d de la bomba de hidr\u00f3geno) Ahora propone almacenar energ\u00eda usando sal fundida y l\u00edquido anticongelante. La motivaci\u00f3n es tratar de buscar un sistema barato y eficiente de aprovechar la energ\u00eda producida por renovables en momentos de baja demanda. En California, en el primer semestre de este a\u00f1o, se desperdiciaron m\u00e1s de 300 GW provenientes de paneles solares y molinos, por carecer de alg\u00fan sistema de almacenamiento adecuado.<\/p>\n
Alphabet Inc.’s secretive X skunk works has another idea that could save the world. This one, code named Malta, involves vats of salt\u00a0and antifreeze.<\/p>\n
The research lab, which hatched\u00a0Google’s driverless car almost a decade ago, is developing a system for storing renewable energy that would otherwise be wasted. It\u00a0can be located almost anywhere,\u00a0has the potential to\u00a0last\u00a0longer than lithium-ion batteries and\u00a0compete\u00a0on price with new hydroelectric plants and other existing clean energy storage methods, according to X executives and researchers.<\/p>\n
The previously undisclosed initiative is part of a handful of energy projects\u00a0at\u00a0X, which has a mixed record with\u00a0audacious “moonshots” like Google Glass and\u00a0drone delivery. Venture capitalists, and increasingly governments, have cut funding and support\u00a0for technology and businesses built around\u00a0alternatives to fossil fuels. X’s clean-energy projects have yet to\u00a0become hits like its driverless cars, but the lab isn’t giving up.<\/p>\n
“If the moonshot\u00a0factory gives up on a big, important problem like climate change, then maybe it will never get solved,” said Obi Felten, a director at X. “If\u00a0we do start solving it, there are trillions and trillions of dollars in market opportunity.”<\/p>\n
She runs The Foundry, where a Malta team of fewer than 10\u00a0researchers is\u00a0testing a stripped-down\u00a0prototype. This is the part of X that tries to\u00a0turn experiments\u00a0in\u00a0science labs\u00a0into full-blown projects with emerging business models, such as\u00a0its Loon internet-beaming high-altitude balloons. Malta is\u00a0not yet an official X project, but it has\u00a0been “de-risked” enough that the team is\u00a0now looking for partners to build, operate and connect a commercial-sized prototype to the grid, Felten said. That means Alphabet may team up\u00a0or compete with industrial powerhouses like\u00a0Siemens AG, ABB Ltd. and General Electric Co.<\/p>\n
X is stepping into a market that could see about\u00a0$40 billion in investment by 2024, according\u00a0Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Roughly 790 megawatts of energy were\u00a0stored last\u00a0year and overall capacity is expected to hit 45 gigawatts in seven years, BNEF estimates. Existing electrical grids struggle with renewable energy, a vexing problem that’s driving demand for new storage methods. Solar panels and wind farms churn out energy around midday and at\u00a0night when\u00a0demand lulls. This forces utilities\u00a0to discard\u00a0it in favor of more\u00a0predictable oil and coal plants and more controllable natural gas “peaker” plants.<\/p>\n
In the first half of this year, California\u00a0tossed out more than 300,000 megawatts produced by solar panels and wind farms because there’s no\u00a0good way to store it. That’s enough to power tens\u00a0of thousands of\u00a0homes. About 4\u00a0percent of all wind energy from Germany was jettisoned\u00a0in 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. China throws out more than 17\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n
Felten\u00a0is particularly excited about working with companies in China, a voracious energy consumer — and a country\u00a0where almost all Google web services are\u00a0banned. Before that happens, the Malta team has to turn what is now\u00a0an early test\u00a0prototype in a warehouse\u00a0in Silicon Valley into a final product that can be manufactured and is big and reliable enough for utilities to plug it into electricity grids.<\/p>\n
In renderings, viewed by Bloomberg News, the system looks like a miniature\u00a0<\/strong>power plant with four cylindrical tanks connected via pipes\u00a0to a\u00a0heat pump. X says it\u00a0can vary in size from roughly the dimensions of a large garage\u00a0to a full-scale traditional power plant, providing energy on demand to huge industrial facilities, data centers\u00a0or storage for small wind farms and solar installations.<\/p>\n The system\u00a0mixes an established technique with newly designed components.\u00a0“Think of this, at a very simple level, as a fridge and a jet,” said Julian Green, the product manager for Malta.<\/p>\n Two tanks are filled with salt, and two are filled with antifreeze or a hydrocarbon liquid. The system\u00a0takes in energy in the form of electricity\u00a0and turns it into\u00a0separate\u00a0streams of hot and cold air. The hot air heats up the salt, while the cold air cools\u00a0the antifreeze, a bit like a refrigerator. The jet engine part: Flip a switch and the process reverses. Hot and cold air\u00a0rush toward each other, creating powerful gusts that spin\u00a0a turbine and\u00a0spit\u00a0out electricity when the grid needs it. Salt maintains its\u00a0temperature\u00a0well, so the system can store energy for many hours, and even days, depending on how much you insulate the tanks.<\/p>\n Scientists\u00a0have already proven this as a plausible storage technique. Malta’s contribution was to\u00a0design\u00a0a system that operates at lower temperatures so it doesn’t require specialized, expensive ceramics and steels.\u00a0“The thermodynamic physics are well-known to anyone who studied it enough in college,” Green said. “The trick is doing it at the right temperatures, with cheap materials. That is super compelling.”<\/p>\n X declined to share exactly how cheap its materials are. Thermal salt-based storage has the potential to be several times cheaper than lithium-ion batteries and other existing grid-scale storage technologies, said Raj Apte, Malta’s head engineer. German engineering firm Siemens is also developing storage systems using\u00a0salt for its solar-thermal plants.<\/p>\n But\u00a0lithium-ion battery prices are falling quickly, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. And Malta must contend with low\u00a0oil and natural gas prices, a market reality that’s wiped out several companies working on alternatives to fossil fuels.\u00a0“It could potentially compete with lithium-ion,” said Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst Yayoi Sekine. “But there are a lot of challenges that an emerging technology has to face.”<\/p>\n One hurdle is convincing energy incumbents to put capital into a project with potential returns many years down the road. Alphabet\u00a0has the balance sheet to inspire confidence, with $95 billion in cash and equivalents. Yet the tech giant has a recent history of retreating from or shutting\u00a0experimental projects that stray from its core areas of high-power computing\u00a0and software.<\/p>\n Robert Laughlin, a Nobel prize-winning\u00a0physicist whose research laid the foundation for Malta, is now a consultant on the project. He met X representatives at a conference a few years ago. They discussed the idea, and the lab ultimately decided to fund the project and build a small team to execute it. Laughin\u00a0has signed off on the\u00a0team’s\u00a0designs, and he said his theories have been working with the prototype.<\/p>\n Laughlin believes X is more committed than previous potential backers. He first pitched the idea\u00a0as his own startup, taking it to luminary tech investors\u00a0including Khosla Ventures and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. They passed, according to the scientist, because they didn’t want to deal with the tougher demands\u00a0of a conservative\u00a0energy industry that will have to buy and use the system in the end.\u00a0“What we’re talking about here is engines and oil companies — big dinosaurs with very long teeth,” said Laughlin. That’s\u00a0“above the pay grade of people out here.” A representative from Founders Fund declined to comment. Khosla didn’t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n X won’t say how much it has invested so far, but it’s enough for Laughlin.\u00a0“A blessing came out of the sky,” he said. “X came in and took a giant bite out of this problem.”<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/ib8U.c2.HCIU\/v2\/800x-1.jpg\")
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