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Fourth Power’s sci-fi thermal batteries could be cheaper than pricey natural gas power plants
Fourth Power has raised $20 million to build a demonstration version of its thermal batteries, which ultimately could store electricity at $25 per kWh.
Here’s how the technology works: To store energy, electricity from the grid heats blocks of carbon inside insulated chambers filled with argon gas. Special solar panel-like devices called thermophotovoltaic cells then convert the heat back into electricity by capturing the white-hot tin’s infrared light. The insulation system, made from petroleum coke (a waste product from oil refining), keeps temperatures remarkably stable, losing only 1% of stored energy per day.
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