Manuel Mata, a young Chilean inventor, has recently unveiled a battery that will allow an ordinary household to get off the grid. In addition, the excess energy produced by the battery can be sold back to the electricity utility company enabling the household to earn extra income.
Mata is the CEO of Eli-Batt and he calls his invention Eli-Home, an intelligent lithium battery. If his claim is true, living off the grid will be possible to many Chileans who are residing in rural areas without the benefit of electricity.
With the help of the University of Chile, Mata developed his concept of a battery that will revolutionize the way the world use and buy electricity. This invention will allow ordinary homes to produce electricity by building their own electricity grids.
Mata's battery is similar to the concept of the battery that is connected to a solar power source, where the battery stores power from the electricity that is generated by solar panels. These panels collect energy from the sun's rays when the sun is up during the day and then channels the energy to the electric loads that a house uses and stores the excess energy into the battery.
But Mata's battery is different because he says it is self-charging thereby making it a self-contained and self-maintained electricity grid.
"The most important thing with the system is that it can be charged with solar panels. That way when there is (UV) radiation and solar energy during the day you don't use it, you store it in the battery for the night time or afternoon when you use it," says Mata.
"In reality your consumption is much more efficient, much cheaper because the sun's energy falls on everyone equally, it's free and it can be managed," he adds.
According to Mata, the operation of his off-the-grid system is very easy. If power is cut off unannounced, the system will trigger a sensor that will engage the battery so that the flow of electricity is not interrupted.
