LESSY - Lithium-Elektrizitäts-Speicher-System

Basic data for this project

Type of project: Participation in BMBF-joint project
Duration: 01/02/2009 - 31/01/2014

Description

Mission Possible LESSY stands for lithium electricity storage system. In the future, such storage systems will improve the ability to regulate power from renewable energy sources and thus reduce the load on conventional and pumped storage power plants. Systems like LESSY can store power when supply exceeds demand and discharge it when the situation reverses. Moreover, lithium-ion storage technology allows particularly fast and efficient stabilization of current and frequency in the grid. The LESSY project is part of work being carried out by the Eco² Science-to-Business Center run by Creavis Technologies & Innovation and the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the project as part of the Lithium-Ion Battery (LIB) 2015 initiative. The LESSY power storage system contains the same lithium-ion cells that were developed in Marl for use in electric vehicles. To be honest: Evonik's developers did not reinvent the battery; they simply optimized a key component. They developed a ceramic separator, which is placed between the anode and cathode to prevent the batteries overheating. It also reduces their dimensions and increases their life cycle. Key technology for e-mobility Originally developed specifically for electric vehicles, CERIO® technology-a special combination of ceramic materials and high-molecular ion conductors-is now being used in "the world's biggest lithium ceramic battery." The energy sector needs to invest enormous sums in power storage facilities. "Investment running into double digit billions of euros will be necessary by 2020," Stephan Kohler, head of the German Energy Agency (dena), told the German business newspaper Handelsblatt. "In the past, there was simply no demand for large-scale storage," explains Prof. Dirk Uwe Sauer of RWTH University in Aachen (Germany). The politically motivated decision to withdraw from nuclear power in Germany, the definition of climate protection targets and the planned increase in the proportion of renewables in the energy mix will bring changes. Excellent prospects for lithium-ion batteries "I'm not aware of any other technology that stores significant amounts of power and is more efficient," reports Prof. Martin Winter of the University of Münster. He believes that lithium-ion batteries have an excellent chance of establishing themselves in the competition between old and new storage technologies. His argument goes as follows: "Ninety-five percent of the power fed into a battery can be recovered for use. By contrast, if the power is converted into hydrogen and then used in a fuel cell, the yield is only 25 percent." In addition to hydrogen technology, where low efficiency is compounded by safety and logistics issues, there are also a number of other battery technologies competing for a position as the storage technology of the future. Researchers in Marl see LESSY as the ideal complement for tomorrow's power supply network, with highly efficient conventional power stations forming the backbone of the generating system.

Keywords: lithium electricity storage system