Rust-Based Batteries Successfully Integrate with Electric Grid for the First Time

SEI 260538204

Rust-based battery systems housed within standard 12-meter shipping containers

Ore Energy

Iron-empty batteries that utilize a reversible rusting mechanism to store and release energy now stand as the first type linked to public power grids. Startup Ore Energy announced on July 30 that the battery developed by Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands is now grid-connected.

These batteries play a crucial role in maintaining a stable power supply by storing renewable energy generated from solar and wind sources, preventing immediate decreases in electricity availability during sudden changes in weather conditions.

“We need to effectively store the surplus of energy generated when the wind blows and the sun shines,” mentions John Joseph Mary from the Faraday Institute, a UK battery research facility. “Essentially, the battery stabilizes the energy output for grid usage.”

While most grid-connected batteries are lithium iron phosphate varieties produced in China, they tend to store only 4-6 hours of electricity and are quite costly, according to Mary. Conversely, the iron-empty batteries created by Ore Energy can store over 100 hours of electricity and are made from inexpensive, readily accessible materials.

“Iron is the most abundantly mined metal globally and is extremely affordable,” says Mary. “When combined with air, which is literally everywhere around us and essentially free, they are among the cheapest materials available.”

Battery systems utilize electricity to convert iron oxide (rust) back into metal iron for energy storage. The iron can discharge energy through a chemical reaction with oxygen from the air, reverting back to rust.

“During discharge, we transform the iron into an innovative kind of rust,” explains Aytac Yilmaz, CEO of Ore Energy. “When charging, we revert the rust to iron, repeating this process continuously while the battery breathes in and out atmospheric oxygen.”

The battery is housed in standard 12-meter shipping containers and holds multiple megawatt-hours of energy. One megawatt-hour can power an average US household for over a month.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts-based Form Energy is executing several iron battery projects across the US, set to be established in New England and the Midwest.

In addition to iron and air, these batteries utilize affordable, plentiful water-based electrolytes, significantly minimizing the risk of battery fires. “I hesitate to say this, but water is undeniably non-combustible,” remarks Mary.

Ultimately, the primary objective of this battery technology is to facilitate the transition of renewable energy resources to supplant fossil fuels within the electric grid.

“Energy companies are still heavily reliant on gas-fired power generation to ensure flexibility when solar and wind cannot provide enough energy,” states Bas Kil, Business Development Manager at Ore Energy. “However, a long-term solution will necessitate various types of flexibility, where these innovative batteries can significantly contribute.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Hyperplane Aims to Integrate AI into Banking Operations

Hyperplane, a San Francisco-based startup building foundational models to help banks predict customer behavior, today raised $6 million in funding led by former Stripe executive Lachy Groom. Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, Soma Capital, Latitud, Atman Capital, Crestone VC, and Norte announced the round and came out of stealth with participation from Clocktower Technology’s SV Angel. The general idea here is to allow banks to use their data to predict user behavior and build personalized experiences.

The company already has partnerships with about a dozen banks in Brazil, and is now looking to expand into the United States. Hyperplane is currently focused only on the banking industry, but over time, the team plans to bring its technology to other sectors as well.

Hyperplane was co-founded by Felipe Ramunier, Daniel Silva, Rohan Ramanas, and Felipe Meneses.Ramnier (CEO) has spent the past seven years start setis a Brazilian EdTech startup whose members Daniel Silva and Rohan Ramanas previously built large-scale AI systems at Google and LinkedIn.

Hyperplane founders Felipe Meneses, Rohan Ramanas, Felipe Ramunier, Daniel Silva

“The core hypothesis we started with was: What does it take to build a layer of personalization for banks around the world?” Ramanath explained. “If you think about big tech companies, they have a lot of first-party data, but in order to use all of this data to understand the consumer and build personalization, they have to rely on their data infrastructure and enterprise data. We’re also investing heavily in warehousing, where we create every product page and ultimately incorporate this into the consumer experience itself. Hyperplane’s goal is to help banks around the world store large amounts of first-party data. , what does it take to build a data intelligence layer so banks can connect their first-party data?”

Lamnier also highlighted the fact that banks have detailed data about their customers that is not available with other services. “One of the arguments I often use when pitching banks is that the data these banks have about me as a customer can tell me much more about my behavior than the data Google or Facebook has. You’re vulnerable. Visiting Porsche’s website doesn’t mean you can buy a Porsche. But Chase and Bank of America can’t tell you what kind of restaurant I go to or what grocery store I go to. How much does it cost to take Uber? We have all that data in-house.”

Currently, most banks offer little personalized experience, so the baseline is low. But consumers increasingly expect their banking experience to be similar to other online experiences, especially in competitive banking markets like Brazil. At its core, Hyperplane provides banks with an API to build these personalization models on the fly. The team stressed that all of these deployments are private and no data sharing will take place. Hyperplane also uses its own models for all of this.

Currently, the company offers two modules. One is for building audience segments and the other is for creating lookalike audiences to find similar users and expand your potential target audience. ” We find that by building task-specific models, we can get more benefits from our construction. It was something custom and made from scratch,” Ramanath said.

Most recently, Hyperplane launched the Mandelbrot LLM. This is a particularly useful model for predicting when banks will churn customers and which users will treat a particular bank as their primary bank.

Hyperplane says that by using its services, the credit line division of a Brazilian neobank, for example, has been able to get a clearer picture of its customers’ estimated income, increasing transaction volumes by 46%.

“Brazil has experienced an important pro-competitive movement over the past decade, and we now see an ecosystem eager to adopt new technologies,” Ramnier said. “Hyperplane’s cloud can be scaled across markets with little effort. We will be announcing our first partnership in the US soon.”

Source: techcrunch.com