JERUSALEM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israel will establish a national research institute in the field of electrochemical energy storage, the country's Energy Ministry said Monday.
Initiated by the ministry, the institute will be built at a cost of 130 million shekels (37 million U.S. dollars) by the ministry, Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, and the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion).
The fund will be used to purchase research facilities and build new laboratories, the ministry added.
The institute will deal with the development of advanced batteries of several types, such as sodium-ion, solid state, and metal-air ones, along with fuel cells, green hydrogen, super cables for breaking down storage at high powers, it noted.
In addition to research, the institute will train personnel in electrochemical storage areas and work on the transfer of innovative technologies from academia to industry.
Because of the instability of renewable energy sources like the sun and wind, new technologies for massive energy storage must be developed, the ministry said.
Energy storage is of great importance to the transition of the Israeli economy to clean energy, it concluded. ■
