What type of energy storage device used with solar energy?

Answer 1

Solar Energy Storage Devices Because of the intermittent nature of solar radiation as an energy source, excess solar energy produced during sunny periods must be stored. Insulated tanks commonly store this energy in hot water. Batteries often store excess electrical energy produced from wind or photovoltaic devices. One possibility for the future is the use of excess solar-generated electric energy as a supplemental source for existing power networks. Uncertain economics and reliability, however, make this plan difficult to implement. In 2008 a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced a possible breakthrough in storing energy generated by solar power. Their experimental system uses different catalysts to produce oxygen and hydrogen gases from water in a chemically benign environment with electric current supplied from solar cells. This process mimics how plants split water into oxygen and hydrogen using photosynthesis. The oxygen and hydrogen can then be recombined inside a fuel cell to provide power when the solar cells do not receive sunlight. The catalyst to produce oxygen consists of cobalt metal, phosphate, and an electrode placed in water. Hydrogen is produced using a catalyst such as platinum. The process does not require a strong basic chemical solution to split oxygen and hydrogen from water with electricity, unlike previous systems. The proposed energy-storage system should be inexpensive and could also work with electricity from wind power. The researchers hope to develop a practical solar power system that could be available to homeowners within a decade.