Researchers explore using battery systems in locomotives to support US power grid

Monday, July 17, 2023

As reported that researchers in California are exploring the possibility of using the battery systems in battery-electric locomotives to store power for the U.S. power grid.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said they explored using batteries as a way to store energy to help address the challenges associated with maintaining reliability amid extreme weather events and intermittent power generation.

The battery systems could serve “as a nationwide backup transmission grid” through which saved power could be shared among regions, meet demand peaks and relieve transmission congestion, according to the researchers.

The researchers also stated that The U.S. rail infrastructure could serve as a backup system in part because of its size. The network spans 137,000 miles and consists of rights of way and property in some of the most population-dense and transmission-congested regions.

Meanwhile, a single train has a capacity of 1 gigawatt-hour of battery storage, which is equivalent to the carrying capacity of 1,000 semi-trucks.

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