Salt, silicon or graphite: energy storage goes beyond lithium ion batteries

Technologies that use gels, liquids, and molten silicon or salt could all claim a slice of the growing renewable energy storage market

Between the political bickering following a spate of blackouts in South Australia and the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeting that he had a fix, and then the South Australian government announcing that it will build a grid-connected battery storage facility, interest in renewable energy storage has never been higher.

While lithium ion batteries sold by Tesla and others are perhaps the most widely known storage technology, several other energy storage options are either already on the market, or are fast making their way there.