One of the biggest problems with any of the renewable power sources is that we need batteries to store the power generated so that it can be used when the solar/wind etc is not able to generate power for whatever reason (its night or no wind etc). Battery capacity limits the amount of power that can be stored and the charge time required limits how much power can be stored. Another major issue is that the current generation of batteries are Lithium based which is a rare mineral and mining it has significant environmental footprint, primarily involving excessive water consumption, habitat destruction, and carbon emissions. Keep in mind that the impact is less than the impact of burning hydrocarbons but still it is an issue.
The second issue is that because it is relatively rare mineral the countries that have deposits can potentially limit/control access the same way the middle-eastern countries control access to Petroleum and as you can guess this significantly increases the chance of conflict over the minerals. So using alternate materials in battery manufacture is something pretty much every country in the world is working on.
Earlier this month, China announced that they have created an Iron Battery that maintains a stable structure and perfect reversibility over 6,000 cycles with almost zero loss in storage capacity. If this is true then this completely changes the battery landscape opening the door for cheap and efficient batteries that are 80 times cheaper than a lithium battery.
The battery prototype demonstrated endurance, maintaining a stable structure and perfect reversibility over 6,000 cycles — equivalent to more than 16 years of daily operation — with zero loss in storage capacity.
Throughout this period, the system remained free of harmful by-products or sediment while achieving a 99.4 percent leak-proof efficiency. Even at high power outputs, it retained 78.5 percent of its energy efficiency, proving that the design is both reliable and durable.
Source:
* @danslerush@floss.social
* scmp.com: China unveils ultra-cheap ‘all-iron flow battery’ for renewable energy storage
– Suramya