White Room

The paradigm of the "smart grid" has been embraced eagerly by everyone from staid old utilities to Silicon Valley venture capitalists, but if the electric grid is to become a smart network, the storage concept pioneered by the internet revolution will need to be emulated.

DOE will establish a research hub for batteries and energy storage at Argonne National Laboratory. This is the fourth "innovation hub" proposed by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The battery hub is intended to produce revolutionary advances in batteries for electric cars and for use on the grid.

By the end of the year, China’s electric grid will become the largest in the world in terms of both installed generation capacity and electricity produced. Additionally, China is expected to have one of the largest energy storage capacities by 2016.

Start-up Qnovo intends to help customers get the most out of batteries through electronics. Qnovo’s is bypassing new production lines and chemistries and instead improving battery efficiency in existing lines by targeting battery electrochemistry using only electronic controls.