Carnegie Mellon University Battery Generates Interest, $5M Grant

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A Carnegie Mellon University engineer says he has found a way to store electricity in salt water -- a development that attracted a $5 million federal grant Tuesday and could lead to his batteries one day dotting the country's electrical grid.

The sodium-based batteries would store enough energy to allow power plants to run at a constant speed, rather than ramp up and cool down to accommodate demand during different times of day, said Matt Rogers, senior adviser to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. The award is part of the $620 million in stimulus money that Chu announced in Columbus.

Rogers said the house-sized battery would handle massive amounts of energy for …