SAPPORO, Japan — Ocean 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.

日本札幌——海風吹拂著北海道的海灘、山坡和廣袤的平原。這里的風能足以讓日本最北面的島嶼自給自足，并向全國其他地區(qū)輸出清潔電力。

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.

但北海道無法利用這些能源，除非它有辦法在風大時儲存能量，并在風力減弱時加以使用。

A wind farm in the town of Setana on Japan's Hokkaido island. Energy produced by such turbines can go to waste if it can't be stored.

位于日本北海道島瀨戶名鎮(zhèn)的一個風電場。如果無法儲存電力的話，風力渦輪機產(chǎn)生的電能可能會浪費。

So, the island is turning to a new generation of batteries designed to stockpile massive amounts of energy — a critical step toward replacing power plants fueled by coal, gas and oil, which create a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

因此，該島正在轉(zhuǎn)向新一代電池，旨在儲存大量能量——這是替代煤、天然氣和石油發(fā)電的重要一步，而這些傳統(tǒng)發(fā)電廠產(chǎn)生了全球三分之一的溫室氣體排放。

Hokkaido is facing a problem that is starting to confront power grids around the world. For the past 150 years, utilities have stored energy in piles of coal or tanks of gas that can be burned on demand. But as countries switch from fossil fuels to clean energy, they need a new kind of backup system that can deliver power whenever someone flips a light switch, not just when the sun shines or the wind blows.

北海道面臨著一個全球電網(wǎng)都面臨的問題。在過去的150年里，電力公司一直通過儲存煤炭或天然氣來儲存能量，這些能量可以按需求燃燒發(fā)電。但隨著各國從化石燃料轉(zhuǎn)向清潔能源，他們需要一種新的備用系統(tǒng)，能夠在任何人用電時提供電力，而不僅僅是在陽光明媚或風力強勁時才有電。

“Most utilities are definitely recognizing that if they’re adding renewables, they have to add storage,” said Vanessa Witte, a senior analyst at the energy data and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie.

“絕大多數(shù)公司確實意識到，如果他們增加可再生能源，就必須增加儲能，”能源數(shù)據(jù)和分析公司伍德麥肯齊的高級分析師瓦妮莎·維特表示。

After decades of development, the world has figured out how to make wind turbines and solar panels cheaply and at massive scale. They’re starting to make a dent in energy production, accounting for 15 percent of electricity globally, according to the International Energy Agency. But now, a few of the regions that have adopted wind and solar most aggressively are finding some of that energy goes to waste because they can’t store it.

經(jīng)過數(shù)十年的發(fā)展，世界已經(jīng)找到了低成本和大規(guī)模制造風力渦輪機和太陽能電池板的方法。根據(jù)國際能源署的數(shù)據(jù)，它們開始在能源生產(chǎn)中占據(jù)一席之地，全球電力的15%來自于此。但現(xiàn)在，一些采用風能和太陽能的地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)，由于無法儲存，這部分能源有時會被浪費。
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Power companies are experimenting with new ways to hold on to that clean electricity, from stashing heat in vats of sand to supersizing the lithium-ion batteries that power laptops and cars. Some 30 miles from Sapporo, the Hokkaido Electric Power Network (HEPCO Network) is deploying flow batteries, an emerging kind of battery that stores energy in hulking tanks of metallic liquid.

電力公司正在探索新的方法來儲存清潔電力，從將熱量儲存在沙子罐、把鋰離子電池體積變大之類的，這些電池為筆記本電腦和汽車提供動力。在距離札幌約30英里的地方，北海道電力網(wǎng)絡正在部署液流電池，這是一種新開發(fā)的電池類型，能夠在巨大的金屬液體罐中存儲電能。

But the technology faces a raft of challenges, including high up-front costs and skeptical financiers. China and Russia dominate the market for vanadium, the metal that makes flow batteries durable and easy to maintain. “The supply chain for vanadium is extremely precarious,” said Kara Rodby, a battery analyst at the investment firm Volta Energy Technologies.

但該技術面臨一系列挑戰(zhàn)，包括高昂的前期成本和投資者的質(zhì)疑。中國和俄羅斯主導著釩市場，而釩是使這種液流電池耐用且易于維護的金屬?！扳C的供應鏈極為脆弱，”投資公司Volta Energy Technologies的電池分析師卡拉·羅德比說道。

Still, flow batteries are making their debut in big real-world projects. Sumitomo Electric, the company that built the Hokkaido plant, has also built flow batteries in Taiwan, Belgium, Australia, Morocco and California. Hokkaido’s flow battery farm was the biggest in the world when it opened in April 2022 — a record that lasted just a month before China built one that is eight times bigger and can deliver as much energy as an average U.S. natural gas plant.

盡管如此，液流電池正在大型實際項目中首次亮相。建設北海道工廠的住友電氣公司還在臺灣（地區(qū)）、比利時、澳大利亞、摩洛哥和加利福尼亞建造了液流電池。北海道的液流電池廠在2022年4月開業(yè)時是世界上最大的液流電池廠——這一記錄僅維持了一個月，隨后中國建造了一個規(guī)模是其八倍的液流電池廠，其輸送的電能相當于美國一個普通的天然氣發(fā)電廠。

“It looks like flow batteries are finally about to take off with interest from China,” said Michael Taylor, an energy analyst at the International Renewable Energy Agency, an international group that studies and promotes green energy. “When China starts to get comfortable with a technology and sees it working, then they will very quickly scale their manufacturing base if they think they can drive down the costs, which they usually can.”

國際可再生能源機構(gòu)的能源分析師邁克爾·泰勒說：“看起來液流電池終于要在中國帶動之下起飛了，”該機構(gòu)是一個研究和推廣綠色能源的國際組織。“當中國開始對一項技術滿意并看到也有效時，他們會迅速擴大生產(chǎn)制造，然后開始降低成本，他們通常就是這么干的?！?/b>

This is what the power plants of the future may look like: Instead of stashing coal and gas next to boilers or combustion turbines, they’ll use electrons to store energy inside of giant batteries.

這就是未來電廠的樣子：將不在鍋爐或燃燒渦輪旁儲存煤和天然氣，而是利用巨型電池儲存電。


A flow battery system, designed to stockpile massive amounts of energy, at a plant on Hokkaido.

一個流電池系統(tǒng)，旨在在北海道的一座工廠中儲存大量能源。

If the world is going to power itself with renewable energy, it needs to be ready at a moment’s notice.
All power grids have to pull off a delicate balancing act: There must always be about as many electrons flowing out of power plants as homes and businesses are using. If that balance ever falters, a community could face blackouts — or the utility could waste money making extra energy no one uses.

如果世界要靠可再生能源供電，就必須隨時準備好。所有電網(wǎng)都必須達到一種微妙的平衡：發(fā)電廠發(fā)出的電必須始終與家庭和企業(yè)的用電量大致相等。如果這種平衡出現(xiàn)問題，社區(qū)可能會面臨停電——公司會浪費資金生產(chǎn)投入備用發(fā)電設施。

To make sure there’s always enough electricity to go around, energy companies rely on extra-polluting power plants called “peaker plants.” They get their name because they only run when electricity use hits its peak — for example, on a really hot day when everybody runs their air conditioners at once.

為了確保始終有足夠的電力供應，能源公司依賴一種“調(diào)峰發(fā)電廠”的額外產(chǎn)生會污染的發(fā)電廠。它們得名于只有在電力使用達到峰值時才運行——例如，在炎熱的天氣中，大家同時開啟空調(diào)。

Peaker plants tend to be older, less efficient and more polluting than other plants. Most of the time, they sit idle. But in an emergency, they dump fuel — usually natural gas — into their combustion turbines to generate electricity fast. That keeps power flowing steadily to homes, businesses and factories, but it also pumps pollution into the air.

調(diào)峰電廠往往比其他發(fā)電廠更老舊、效率低且污染嚴重。大多數(shù)時間，它們處于閑置狀態(tài)。但在緊急情況下，它們會將燃料——通常是天然氣——注入燃氣輪機，以快速發(fā)電。這能確保電力穩(wěn)定供應給家庭、企業(yè)和工廠，但同時也會向空氣中排放污染物。

Wind turbines and solar panels don’t pollute, but they can’t make more electricity on demand. They only produce as much energy as the sun and the wind provide, which changes throughout the day or year depending on the weather.

風力發(fā)電機和太陽能電池板不會造成污染，但它們無法按需發(fā)電。它們只會根據(jù)太陽光多寡和風的供應量大小產(chǎn)生電力，這會隨著天氣的變化而有所不同。

One way to smooth out those bumps is to use batteries to store renewable energy when it’s plentiful and use it later when it becomes scarce.

平緩這些波動的一種方法是利用電池在可再生能源充足時儲存電能，并在需要時再使用。


The energy held in batteries mirrors the tanks of gas sitting next to a combustion turbine waiting to be burned — except batteries can send out electricity even faster than a gas turbine can ramp up, and they don’t create carbon pollution.

電池中蘊藏能量類似于燃氣輪機旁邊等待燃燒而放置的油罐——只不過電池可以比燃氣輪機更快地釋放電力，而且不會產(chǎn)生碳污染。

Utilities are already building battery farms in regions that have added a lot of wind and solar power, such as California and Texas. So far, most of these batteries are lithium-ion, similar to the ones in a phone, laptop or electric car. Because they’re already built in bulk for other industries, they’ve become the default option for power companies.

公司已經(jīng)在加州和德克薩斯州這些風能和太陽能發(fā)電量高的地區(qū)建設電池工廠。到目前為止，這些電池大多數(shù)是鋰離子電池，類似于手機、筆記本電腦或電動汽車中的電池。由于它們已經(jīng)為其他行業(yè)大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)，因此已成為電力公司的默認選擇。


But experts say there might be better options. Lithium-ion batteries are perfect for smartphones because they’re lightweight and fit in small spaces, even if they don’t last long and have to be replaced frequently. Utilities have a different set of priorities: They need to store millions of times more energy, and they have much more room to work with.

但專家表示，可能有更好的選擇。鋰離子電池非常適合智能手機，因為它們輕便且適合小空間，盡管它們的使用壽命不長且需要頻繁更換。公司的側(cè)重點有所不同：它們需要存儲數(shù)百萬倍的能量，并且可利用的空間也多。
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“If you think about utility-scale stationary applications, maybe you don’t need lithium-ion batteries. You can use another one that is cheaper and can provide the services that you want like, for example, vanadium flow batteries,” said Francisco Boshell, a researcher at the International Renewable Energy Agency.

“如果考慮到一定規(guī)模大小的固定應用，也許你不需要鋰離子電池。你可以使用其他更便宜的電池，能夠滿足你所需要的服務，比如說，釩流電池，”國際可再生能源署的研究員弗朗西斯科·博斯赫爾說。
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Energy held in the flow batteries at the Hokkaido plant mirrors tanks of gas waiting to be burned. But it doesn't create carbon pollution.

在北海道工廠的流電池中儲存的能量就像等待燃燒的油罐。但它不會產(chǎn)生二氧化碳排放污染。

To power cities with renewable energy, you need bigger batteries.
Inside a sprawling two-story warehouse, HEPCO Network is storing electricity in 130 gleaming steel and plastic tanks. They can stockpile enough energy to power more than 27,000 Japanese homes for four hours.

為了用可再生能源為城市供電，你需要更大的電池。在一個寬敞的兩層倉庫內(nèi)，日本電力網(wǎng)絡公司正在用130個閃亮的鋼制和塑料罐儲存電力。這些罐可以儲存足夠的電能，為超過27,000個日本家庭提供四小時的電力。

Each 10,000-gallon tank holds tiny particles of the metal vanadium, which float around in water. This metallic soup holds the key to hoarding energy in massive quantities.

每個10,000加侖的罐中都裝有微小的釩顆粒，這些顆粒漂浮在水中。這種金屬混合液是儲存大量能量的關鍵。

Vanadium is a shape-shifter. If you add or remove electrons from its atoms the element’s electrical charge will become more positive or negative, and its color changes from purple to green, blue and yellow. The metal’s rainbow color palette led Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefstrom to name the element after Vanadis, the Scandinavian goddess of beauty. But vanadium’s ability to change its charge is what makes it so useful in a battery.

釩是一種“變形金剛”。如果你給它的原子增加或轉(zhuǎn)移電子，這種元素的電荷將變正或負，其顏色也會從紫色變?yōu)榫G色、藍色和黃色。這種金屬的彩虹色調(diào)使瑞典化學家尼爾斯·加布里埃爾·塞夫斯特倫將其命名為“瓦娜蒂斯”，這是斯堪的納維亞美神的名字。釩的電荷變化能力使其在電池中非常有用。

Here’s how it works:

以下是其工作原理：


One tank holds vanadium with a more positive charge, while the other tank holds vanadium with a more negative charge. You can think of them like the + and - sides of the batteries sitting in a TV remote or a flashlight.

一個儲罐儲存帶有更正電荷的釩，而另一個儲罐儲存帶有負電荷的釩。你可以把它們想象成電視遙控器或手電筒中的電池的正負兩極。


When HEPCO Network wants to charge the batteries, it uses energy from wind turbines to move electrons from the positive side of the membrane to the negative side, which creates an imbalance: Now there are a lot more electrons crammed into the negative tank than the positive tank, and they’re itching to spread out evenly once again.

當日本電力網(wǎng)絡公司想要給電池充電時，它利用風力渦輪機發(fā)出的電，也就是電子從膜的正極移動到負極，這就造成了不平衡：現(xiàn)在負罐中的電子數(shù)量遠遠超過正罐，而它們迫切希望再次均勻分布。

When HEPCO Network wants to use the energy stored inside the batteries, it lets electrons flow the other way. Their movement creates an electric current that can power homes and businesses across the island.

當日本電力網(wǎng)絡公司想要利用儲存在電池中的電能時，它允許電子朝相反方向液流。它們的運動產(chǎn)生了電流，可以為整個島嶼的家庭和企業(yè)供電。

Flow batteries are designed to tap giant tanks that can store a lot of energy for a long time. To boost their storage capacity, all you have to do is build a bigger tank and add more vanadium. That’s a big advantage: By contrast, there’s no easy way to adjust the storage capacity of a lithium-ion battery — if you want more storage, you have to build a whole new battery.

液流電池的設計旨在利用巨大的儲罐，可以長時間存儲大量能量。要提高其儲存能力，你所需做的就是建造一個更大的儲罐并添加更多的釩。這是一個重大優(yōu)勢：相比之下，鋰離子電池的儲存容量沒有簡單的調(diào)整方法——如果你想要更多的儲存，就必須建造一個全新的電池。

The flow batteries in this plant are designed to store energy for about four hours of use, which is on par with lithium-ion batteries. But Sumitomo Electric says it expects future projects will aim to double that duration to eight to 10 hours. That’s about what they’d need to last overnight when solar panels are dormant, or to fill in the gaps between gusts of wind.

該工廠中的液流電池設計用于儲存大約四小時的電能，這與鋰離子電池相當。但住友電氣表示，預計未來的項目將把這一時間延長一倍，達到 8 到 10 小時。 當太陽能電池板處于休眠狀態(tài)時，這個時間大約可以維持過夜，或者用來填補陣風之間的空隙時間。

One major barrier to building more of these battery farms is finding enough vanadium. Three-quarters of the world’s supply comes as a by-product from 10 steel mills in China and Russia, according to Rodby, who got her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying the design and market for flow batteries. Australia, South Africa and the United States also produce vanadium, but in much smaller quantities.

建設更多這些電池儲蓄的一個主要障礙是找到足夠的釩。她在麻省理工學院獲得博士學位，研究液流電池的設計和市場。澳大利亞、南非和美國也生產(chǎn)釩，但數(shù)量要小得多。據(jù)羅德比介紹，全球四分之三的供應來自中國和俄羅斯的10家鋼鐵廠的副產(chǎn)品，

Mines that have been proposed could boost supply. And some flow battery start-ups are trying to sidestep the vanadium problem entirely by using different materials that are easier to buy.

提議中的礦山可能會增加供應。而一些流電池初創(chuàng)公司正試圖完全繞過釩的問題，使用更容易購買的不同材料。

The other hurdle is their up-front cost. Vanadium flow batteries are at least twice as expensive to build as lithium-ion batteries, Rodby said, and banks are hesitant to lend money to fund an unfamiliar technology.

另一個障礙是它們的前期成本。羅德比表示，釩流電池的建造成本至少是鋰離子電池的兩倍，銀行對于資助這種不熟悉的技術持謹慎態(tài)度。

But experts say flow batteries can be cheaper in the long run because they’re easier to maintain and last longer. A lithium-ion battery might have to be replaced after 10 years, but Rodby says flow batteries can last much longer. “There really is no finite lifetime for a flow battery in the way there is for lithium-ion,” Rodby said.

但專家表示，液流電池從長遠來看可能更便宜，因為它們更易于維護且壽命更長。鋰離子電池可能在10年后需要更換，但Rodby表示流電池可以使用更長時間?！耙毫麟姵夭]有像鋰離子電池那樣有限的使用壽命，”羅德比說。
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Sumitomo Electric President Osamu Inoue said his company guarantees its flow batteries will last 20 years — but the vanadium inside can be reused forever in future batteries. The company’s oldest commercial batteries have been running for 11 years so far.

住友電氣的總裁井上治表示，他的公司保證液流電池的使用壽命為20年——但內(nèi)部的釩可以在未來的電池中無限次重復使用。該公司最古老的商業(yè)電池迄今已運行了11年。
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Wind and solar power are coming. Batteries can keep them from causing chaos on the power grid.
Just outside the building that houses the gleaming floor-to-ceiling tanks, Sumitomo has built a new version of its flow batteries, this time tucking all of their components into shipping containers. That makes them faster and cheaper to build than the $100 million indoor demonstration plant next door.

風能和太陽能正在崛起。電池可以防止它們在電網(wǎng)中引發(fā)混亂。就在那座擁有光滑落地窗的建筑外，住友公司建造了新版本的液流電池，這次將所有組件都放入了集裝箱中。 與隔壁耗資 1 億美元的室內(nèi)示范工廠相比，這使得建造速度更快，成本更低。

The batteries connect to homes, businesses and power plants all over Hokkaido by plugging into the power grid.

這些電池通過接入電網(wǎng)，與北海道各地的家庭、企業(yè)和發(fā)電廠連接。


Power lines running from the flow battery plant on Hokkaido.

從北海道液流電池廠延伸出的電力線路。

These batteries help Hokkaido keep a steady balance between the amount of energy its power plants generate and the amount of electricity its homes and businesses use. But they’re not the only way to maintain that balance: While Hokkaido is on a battery-building spree, it’s also beefing up undersea power lines to share electricity with the rest of Japan.

這些電池幫助家庭和企業(yè)使用的電力和發(fā)電廠產(chǎn)生的電之間達到平衡穩(wěn)定。但這并不是維持這種平衡的唯一方式：雖然北海道正在大規(guī)模建電池，但它也在加強海底電力線路，以便與日本其他地區(qū)共享電力。

So far, it’s working: Even though Hokkaido gets nearly a fifth of its electricity from wind and solar, it doesn’t face blackouts and it wastes almost zero energy.

到目前為止，它正在發(fā)揮作用：盡管北海道近五分之一的電力來自風能和太陽能，從未面臨停電，幾乎沒有浪費任何能源。

Having a stable grid allows Hokkaido to keep building more renewable energy, bringing it closer to its goal of cutting power plant emissions to zero by 2050. The flow batteries sitting in the shipping containers outside Sapporo paved the way for HEPCO Network to add 15 new wind farms around Hokkaido. The turbines generate about 3 percent of the island’s electricity without pollution.

擁有穩(wěn)定的電網(wǎng)使得北海道能夠繼續(xù)建設更多的可再生能源，朝著到2050年將發(fā)電廠排放量減少到零的目標更進一步。位于札幌外的集裝箱中的液流電池給日本電力網(wǎng)絡公司增加了15個新的風電場鋪平了道路。這些渦輪機產(chǎn)生了大約3%的島嶼電力，且沒有污染。

Experts say the world will need to build many more batteries like these to stay on track to cut greenhouse emissions to zero by 2050. Over the next six years, utilities will have to build 35 times as many batteries as there are today to soak up all extra renewable energy that will come online, according to the International Energy Agency.

專家表示，世界需要建設更多這樣的電池，以確保在2050年前將溫室氣體排放量減少到零。根據(jù)國際能源署的說法，在接下來的六年中，需要建造的電池數(shù)量是目前的35倍，才能確保將上線的所有額外可再生能源發(fā)電利用起來。

The point of all this battery building is on display off the coast of Hokkaido.

所有這些電池建造的意義都在北海道沿岸得到了體現(xiàn)。

Earlier this year, Japan’s biggest offshore wind farm opened just off the coast of Ishikari, a seaside town on the outskirts of Sapporo. The 14 turbines — each about 20 stories tall — face across the water from a natural gas plant that would shut down if Hokkaido’s clean energy plans succeed.

今年早些時候，日本最大的海上風電場在札幌郊區(qū)海岸開幕，這里是札幌市郊的一個海濱小鎮(zhèn)。14個渦輪機——每個大約20層樓高——面朝著一座天然氣發(fā)電廠，如果北海道的清潔能源計劃成功，這座發(fā)電廠將會關閉。