New lead battery technology could be lower-cost solution to store solar energy Solar panels. US-based engineers have joined forces to develop high-voltage reference batteries for behind-the-meter energy storage applications, based on a bipolar technology that uses silicon wafers in traditional lead batteries. The wafers are similar to those in photovoltaic cells and the idea is that the development becomes a ‘plug and play’ solar-powered energy storage system. Sign Up for the Battery Metals Digest Sign Up The bipolar technology is known as Silicon Joule and has been developed by Gridtential Energy with the goal of reducing lead batteries’ weight and achieving a performance competitive with that of lithium-ion batteries, but at a lower cost.