The liquid metal battery is an interesting new battery designed for grid scale. Seems to be simple to make, and long lasting (no significant degradation after repeated charge/discharge cycles like Li-Ion batteries). Investors include Bill Gates and Total (French energy group).
They are looking for R&D and manufacturing partners around the world (the batteries probably contain a significant amount of lead so not ideal for long-distance shipping). Looks like there is R&D collaboration starting with the University of Newcastle.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/us-grid-scale-battery-start-looks-australia-rd-manufacturing-89966/
http://www.manmonthly.com.au/news/mit-spin-energy-storage-company-considers-australia-manufacturing/
http://www.lmbrc.com/about
While it it still seems to be a couple of years away from volume manufacturing, it could be the solution for the large scale grid energy storage that will be required to support increasing penetration of renewable energy. Also, it should be able to handle the heat of Northern Australia better than Li batteries
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