These batteries could harness the wind and sun to replace coal and gas

A model of the flow battery system run by the Hokkaido Electric Power Network.

Sat, 30 Nov 2024

By Nicolás Rivero and Emily Wright,with photography by Noriko Hayashi for The Washington PostOcean winds whip across the beaches, hillsides and sprawling plains of Hokkaido. There’s enough wind energy here for Japan’s northernmost island to power itself and export clean electricity to the rest of the country.But Hokkaido can’t harness all of that power unless it has a way to store energy when breezes are blowing and use it later when the gusts die down.So, the island is turning to a new generation of batteries designed...

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