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.

Tanzania

Solar Market Outlook in Tanzania

Tanzania is endowed with a rich supply of renewable energy sources, such as solar. This is why the country has lofty ambitions for its renewable energy market, especially the solar energy sector, in terms of achieving its energy generation targets. The current electric generation in the country is derived from natural gas and hydropower; however, the frequency of droughts has resulted in a limited power supply. They are now looking at solar power as a viable solution in order to bridge the supply gap in the country’s energy market.

A problem exists in Tanzania, as well as many other African countries, in the form of some villages and rural areas not having access to electricity as they are too far out from the grid network. In this case, solar panel installations were the most efficient solution to bring power to more homes. There is an innovative financial mechanism that was forged by the government to promote solar power development in the underserved areas. 

The country’s state-owned power utility has also agreed to buy clean energy assets in order to encourage more power producers. In 2020, six small-scale solar projects were launched in an effort to boost its solar energy generation capacity. 

Solar Energy Equipment Supply Capacity in Tanzania

There are plenty of global and online suppliers for solar power equipment for those looking to install small- or large-scale solar PV systems. 

Top 8 Major Seaports & Logistics in Tanzania

The location of Tanzania puts it into a favorable position when it comes to the transport of solar power equipment to the country. The major ports serving the logistics and trade are the ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanga, and Mtwara. There are also many other minor ports but most of them handle passenger traffic.