To have an electricity connection without being connected to the grid, you need to generate energy in the daytime and store it at night. Conventionally, this is attained with the help of lithium battery systems, of which Tesla’s Powerwall 2 is an example.
To beat it, an Australian company Lavo has developed a spunky cabinet that could be placed at any corner of your house so that excess energy could be stored as hydrogen.
The new Lavo power storage cabinet dimensions are 1,680 x 1,240 x 400 mm and weigh at an immense 324 kgs. This works when connected to a hybrid solar inverter and a purified main water source. The cabinet then utilizes extra energy to electrolyzer the water, which releases oxygen and stores the hydrogen in a metal hydride sponge to 30 bars of pressure; this makes it 435 in psi unit.
It can contain energy up to 40 kilowatt-hours, making it three times more than Tesla’s famous Powerwall 2 and sufficient to run a house for about two days. It comes with a Wi-Fi connection and a phone application to monitor and control it. However, if more energy is required at a bigger household or for a business, they can run several units side by side to create an “Intelligent Virtual Powerplant.”
The price of the new power cabinet by Lavo is marked at US$26,900. However, it is expected to drop in the last quarter of 2022, after which it will come down to US$22,800. Lavo expects that the new power cabinet would be available in international markets at large until that time.
Why Better Than A Battery
Lavo said that its life is a lot longer than a traditional battery system. A lithium battery lasts for about 15 years, whereas the Lavo would last for almost three decades. It doesn’t have any toxic chemicals and would cause no harm to the environment when disposed of. The company said that even though its size is quite big, it is still compact than a battery system that equals the amount of energy it stores.
Hydrogen is the hottest topic in the energy sector, although it is still in its early days. Experts believe that these new home storage units will soon start making sense. Still, for now, Lavo would have to do exceptional to sell this new hydrogen-based power backup system compared to a more commonly used battery system.
Check out the video below that focuses on how Lavo would provide you a power backup source for a life-long period.
