There aren’t enough letters in the alphabet to classify this monstrous battery China’s built. D x 1000? Not even close. With arrays larger than a football field, it can store a whopping 36 megawatt hours of power.
Apparently China is gung-ho on embracing renewable energy sources, and to really take advantage of solar arrays and wind farms you need to be able to store up power when there’s an abundance, for times when there isn’t. So electric car maker BYD and the State Grid Corporation of China built the massive battery as part of a larger energy project in the country’s Hebei Province that’s capable of generating 140 megawatts of renewable energy. And they’re both part of an even larger initiative to create a more reliable smart power grid for the entire country.
According to Popular Science’s calculations, 36 megawatt hours is enough juice to power somewhere in the neighbourhood of 12,000 homes for an hour. Or give you a full day of talk time on your iPhone 4S. That’s right, I went there. [CleanTechnica via Popular Science]
james_whatsit
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 9:28 AMthats why china is hijacking rare earth metals, right there!!
RB
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 9:39 AM“12,000 homes for an hour”
That all? Urgh… Battery Technology still has a loooooooong way to go…
Deshan
Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 7:26 AMthis is china, 12.000 homes is roughly 12,000,000 people :P
stevjosco
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 11:25 AMOoh, I wouldn’t want to lick that battery
Robert
Saturday, January 7, 2012 at 11:11 AMand the difference between them & us is still “they do it, we just look on and talk about it”
See the snow? they have people that get up in the morning just to go up on the roof and clean the panels.
My point? All that for one person to have a full day of talk time on their iPhone 4S . . . . . .
Madam
Monday, January 9, 2012 at 1:48 PMWhere do I plug in my flux capacitor?