Question

The storage battery generally used in an electric power station is?
A) Nickel-cadmium battery
B) Zinc-carbon battery
C) Lead-acid battery

Answer 1

At an electric power station, those batteries should be used which is highly reliable and offers good cycle life. Also, it should have low manufacturing costs as compared to other types of batteries and should require low maintenance.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Lead-acid batteries are the storage battery used in an electric power station. Nickel-cadmium battery is a rechargeable battery using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes. These batteries offer good cycle life and performance at low temperatures. It can deliver practically at full rated capacity but at the disadvantage of high discharge rates (discharges in less than one or two hours of use). The materials required to manufacture these batteries are quite costly and the cells also have high self-discharge rates.Nickel-cadmium batteries are not preferred for use in electric power stations due to their high costs and high discharge rate. Therefore, option A is incorrect.

Zinc-carbon battery is a dry cell primary battery and provides a direct electric current from the electrochemical reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide. Here, zinc acts as anode while carbon rod acts as cathode. These batteries are developed on the basis of Leclanché cells. Zinc-carbon batteries are not preferred in electric power stations as storing these batteries at temperatures higher than room temperature reduces its service life. These batteries also have a very short shelf life. Therefore, option B is incorrect.

Lead-acid batteries are rechargeable batteries which consist of a lead anode and a grid of lead packed with lead dioxide as cathode. These batteries have a very low energy-to-weight ratio and energy-to-volume ratio but despite that, it is still able to supply high surge currents. Thus, it has a large power-to-weight ratio. It has a very low manufacturing cost as compared to other batteries. These qualities of lead-acid batteries make it an ideal choice for use in electric power stations.

Hence, option C is the correct answer.

Note: Modified versions of lead-acid batteries used in electric power stations, electric vehicles, and UPS systems are called deep-cycle lead-acid batteries and have a very low degradation rate due to cycling and can withstand a frequent charging and discharging.