Asset Class: Stocks

Energy storage is one of the biggest challenges of our transition to a net zero electricity grid. These days, there are plenty of options to generate electricity - solar, wind, hydro - but far fewer options to store electricity.  

Storage is important because it can change renewable energy from volatile (generate a lot of electricity, cheaply when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing and then nothing at other times) to reliable. Right now, the world can’t move away from coal or gas as providers of baseload power - the always on, always reliable power source - because of the volatility of renewables. 

One year ago, Roland Gotthard was thinking a lot about mud. 

He had the rights to test the ground under Lake Hope, a playa or dried lake 500km east of Perth in Western Australia, and believed that the ground underneath the lake may contain minerals that could be turned into High Purity Alumina (HPA). 

Over a week, he collected 500kg of mud from Lake Hope and sent it off for testing. 

Welcome to the world of computer memory. Here’s what you need to know from the outset: there are two main types of computer memory that are used in most of our devices.

• DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory, is a type of semiconductor memory that is fast, flexible and temporary. It is best used for processing data and running applications. It loses data when power is taken away.

• NAND Flash memory is ideal for large, stable and permanent storage such as storing data and files. It stores data even when power is taken away.