Nickel Iron Battery

What is a Nickel Iron Battery?

A Nickel-iron battery is a rechargeable battery used for storing electric power. A Nickel-Iron(NiFe) battery contains nickel hydroxide and iron plates. The nickel(III) plates have a positive charge, and the iron plates have a negative. Each cell of this battery gives about 1.2 V of nominal voltage.

These batteries have cell durability of more than 30 years with repeated deep discharges. The slow power discharge is because the solubility of the reactants in the electrolytic solution is significantly low.

What are the applications of a Nickel Iron Battery?

Nickel Iron batteries find their application in various fields for power storage. Some of them are,

Solar Applications: The robust nature of NiFe batteries makes them suitable for solar power production. In solar applications, these batteries can fully charge in 4 hours and take overcharges and deep discharges.

Car Headlights: Due to the low self-discharge rate of only 20% to 30%. NiFe batteries produce current in the car’s electrical system and run the air conditioning.

Electrical Engines: Metro train propulsion systems in the United Kingdom and North America use Nickel Iron batteries.

How does a Nickel Iron Battery work?

Charging: The charging of the batteries takes place in the potassium hydroxide solution. Oxygen gets transferred from one plate to another. The anode is super oxidized, while the cathode has less oxidation.

Discharging: In a closed circuit, the Nickel iron battery experiences deoxidation on the positive side. While the oxidation of Iron plates, the charge starts to flow through the electrical circuit. Oxygen naturally gets attracted to Iron, forming the iron oxide.

What are some big brands of Nickel Iron batteries?

Iron Edison is one of the largest Nickel Iron battery manufacturers and suppliers in the USA. Some of the other manufacturers of Nickel-iron batteries are:

• Battery Solutions, LLC
• HBL America, Inc.
• Digi-Key
• U.S. Materials Handling Corp.

Manufacturers

In the simplest terms, manufacturing is the process of producing actual goods or items/products through the use of raw materials, human labour, use of machinery, tools and other processes such as chemical formulation. This process usually starts with product designing and raw material selection, turning them into an actual product output. 

Solar Products Manufacturers and Factories

In terms of solar, manufacturing encompasses the fabrication or production of materials across the solar market chain. The most common product being manufactured by solar companies are the solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which are made with several subcomponents such as solar wafers, cells, glass, back sheets, and frames. Before a solar panel comes into life, it will undergo a lot of processes, from designing, modelling, choosing what raw materials to use and then assembling them all to make the final product.

More Than Just Solar Panels

Aside from the solar panels, solar companies have many other manufactured products that are required to make solar energy systems work smoothly, like solar inverters, batteries, combiner boxes, and racking and tracking structures.

Having a solar manufacturing sector makes a big difference in supplying affordable solar energy in different areas. Aside from maintaining the rising domestic and global demand for cleaner and renewable energy, they also help the economy grow, particularly the solar industry. If you are in search of a reliable solar manufacturing company, checking out our solar outsourcing company, SolarFeeds, would help you get easy access to reliable information, news, data and a list of solar manufacturers that can help you with solar products.

Nigeria

Solar Market Outlook in Nigeria

With a population of 200 million and an economy that relies mostly on its oil reserves, the economy of Nigeria is highly volatile. Add to that Nigeria’s electricity woes. Many residents and business owners in the country rely on generators to power up their business and even then a huge percentage of the population has no access to electricity. 

Experts agree that this shouldn’t be the case as this is a tropical country. Geographically, its location close to the equator means that it has mostly sunny days throughout the year. The government is hoping that this renewable energy source could be the solution they’re seeking to combat the electricity woes that have haunted them for decades.

The National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy in Nigeria was established in 2014. This policy details that Nigeria has a target of 20% electricity generation from renewable sources, mostly solar, in an effort to address the nationwide electricity shortage. They are also hoping to encourage more private investments in solar power plants.

There is notably a high solar potential in Nigeria, which gets up to 7 hours of sunlight daily. If this sunlight can be harnessed, it will produce 333,000 MW of solar power, which should be more than enough to bridge the electricity gap in the country. 

Solar Energy Equipment Supply Capacity in Nigeria

Just as solar power plant projects are limited, there is also limited availability in local manufacturers of solar equipment in Nigeria. For those looking to make solar installations, you can turn to online or global suppliers and distributors for that. 

Top Major Seaports & Logistics in Nigeria

Transporting and logistics handling of solar equipment into Nigeria should be easy since there are plenty of commercial ports available such as

• Lagos Port Complex,
• Calabar Port Complex,
• Delta Port,
• Rivers Port Complex,
• Tin Can Island Port, 
• the Onne Port.