China has connected to the grid a 100 MW hybrid energy storage facility that integrates supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries
Touted as the world’s largest supercapacitor-based installation, the facility combines a 58 MW/30-second supercapacitor array with 42 MW/42 MWh of lithium-ion battery storage, spanning a footprint of approximately 16,800 square meters.
Supercapacitors provide ultrafast response times – specified at 0.001 seconds – and maintain over 85% capacity at –40°C, significantly outperforming lithium-ion batteries in extreme cold. By offloading rapid-response tasks to the supercapacitor, the system is expected to extend battery lifespan and reduce lifecycle costs by around 30%
A capacitor has ~1% of the storage capacity of a battery of similar power rating.
Saying its storage performance is better because its holds a larger % of that capacity at low temperatures is nonsense because its storage performance objectively sucks (and not what it’s designed to be good at)
It’s like saying a Tesla is better than a 747 because it can go from 0-60 faster. A technically true statement but a meaningless performance comparison.