Energy Storage News

Plans are in place for a combined 160MW solar and wind project with up to 40MWh of energy storage in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, while a smaller scale demonstration project experimenting with multiple technologies is being developed for Kerala. Bharat Reddy, deputy general manager, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), told PV Tech that AP Solar Energy Corporation, AP Nedcap and APTransco are planning to tender a project involving 120MW of solar, 40MW of wind and 20-40MWh of storage by March next year. The storage element will be technology agnostic.

Construction on Australia’s first utility-scale wind, solar and energy storage hybrid project to be connected to the national grid is about to start near Hughenden in northwest Queensland. Australian developer Windlab put out a similar release in October, but construction on the roughly 60MW plant is now due to start today. The project is owned by Windlab and its equity partner Eurus Energy Holding Corporation of Japan.

The government of the state of South Australia has named four utility-scale energy storage projects which it will support with grants toward the total cost of development.
The latest in a wave of project announcements coming from Australia at the moment, the funding is being administered through the state’s Renewable Technology Fund, an opportunity totalling AU$150 million (US$113.6 million), launched in late August.

Younicos has completed the installation and commissioning of an upgraded 3MW battery-based energy storage system on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Younicos replaced the previously installed lead-acid systems with advanced lithium-ion batteries — expanding the system’s operational lifetime while boosting performance.

A representative of National Grid, the UK’s transmission system operator (TSO), has said that energy storage will be “integral” to the network’s flexibility strategy – while urging developers not to rely solely on early frequency regulation contracts. Claire Spedding, head of business development at National Grid, spoke at an event last week to launch “Energy storage: the next wave”, a market report on the technology and industry around it in Britain. The report is published by Regen, a non-profit consultancy promoting renewables and energy efficiency.

Australia has launched new interactive maps of the electricity grid specifically to support decentralised usage of distributed energy resources (DERs) including battery storage, renewable energy and smart demand management. The Network Opportunity Maps, a collaboration between research agencies, government and industry, aims to progress localised energy solutions across the country. The geo-spatial mapping goes hand in hand with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) three-year demand response trial projects, all with an aim to reduce network costs and improve grid reliability.

Independent accreditation and testing company DNV GL has created Battery XT, the first testing-based verification of battery lifetime for lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries. The verification tool measures battery life cycle data and estimates battery degradation through different conditions and duty cycles — allowing renewable stakeholders to hold an objective method when it comes to valuing different types of energy storage technology brands.

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved funds of USD$350,000 for energy storage and grid modernisation in the Caribbean. The grant was approved to assist utilities and stakeholders with design and planning of storage and grid solutions, in an effort towards clean energy across the region.

Vionx, National Grid and the US Department of Energy have teamed up to install a 3MWh flow battery-based energy storage system in Massachusetts. The installation at Holy Name High School, MA, is one of the largest flow batteries in the United States and is designed for a 20+ year lifetime, during which it will retain its full storage capacity.

In mid-2017, IKEA announced that it would be ‘launching’ a battery storage offering to sell alongside its solar panels in the UK. The week previous to this announcement, Siemens – another household name – announced that it would be joining forces with AES to create Fluence, a company focusing on the global energy storage industry. The press release by IKEA was viewed by many in the industry as a big deal, with many excited that such a well-known consumer brand could be ready to push storage into the UK market.

Senator Martin Heinrich has proposed granting tax relief for purchasers of energy storage systems, in a similar way to how the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is applied to residential solar PV purchases. Heinrich, democratic senator for the state of New Mexico, along with Minnesota’s Al Franken, also a democrat, last week introduced S.1851, a bill in Congress to create research and demonstration programmes for energy storage systems. Heinrich, with Franken as co-sponsor, also that week introduced S.1868, “a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax credits for energy storage technologies, and for other purposes”.

UK-based renewables developer Anesco says the inclusion of battery storage has been central to the economic viability of the country’s first subsidy-free solar farm, a 10MW site the company has just unveiled in the east of England. Clayhill Solar Farm, near Flitwick in Bedfordshire, was developed by Anesco in just 12 weeks with work being conducted over the course of this summer and, crucially, after the Renewables Obligation scheme had closed to new applicants.

Automation and engineering group ABB has signed on to become a supplier to a planned European lithium-ion battery ‘Gigafactory’ for Swedish start-up Northvolt.

Legislation recently introduced in California to cut red tape and reduce permitting times for energy storage systems and currently awaiting the state Governor’s rubber stamp could also halve the costs associated with paperwork, commercial system provider Stem has said. Assembly Bill 546 (AB 546) was authored by Democrat David Chiu, representing the 17th Assembly District of California, which includes the eastern half of San Francisco. The bill, which seeks to streamline permitting processes by, among other things, allowing for online forms to be submitted for approval, passed the Assembly floor successfully on 7 September. It now awaits the attention of the California Governor, climate hawk Jerry Brown.

While lithium-ion is rapidly racing ahead to become the “de facto grid storage solution” and is the most popular technology choice by far, vendors of other types of batteries are also targeting the market, with varying degrees of success. US firm Navigant Research published ‘Navigant Research Leaderboard: Non-lithium ion batteries for grid storage’,  earlier this month, examining the technologies, business models and strategies for commercialisation and larger scale production of energy storage batteries that sit outside the many different sub-chemistries making up the lithium battery market ecosystem.

National gas and electricity market regulator Ofgem has made a “game changer” decision for UK energy storage, by confirming that solar farms are able to retain accreditation under the government Renewables Obligation (RO) when supplying electricity to batteries. The first beneficiary of the decision is energy efficiency solutions provider and solar farm developer Anesco, which confirmed this morning that it is now the first commercial solar farm operator in the country to retain accreditation for three of its 5MW sites, all of which are connected to 1.1MWh batteries though shared grid connections.

Good Energy, one of the first utilities in Britain to offer all-renewable energy for consumers, has said it aims to start work on its maiden commercial energy storage development in November this year. In March this year the clean energy utility announced that it was to move into the battery storage sector as part of a significant restructuring of its offering. In May the company also launched a US$10 million corporate bond offer to fund work in the stationary energy storage and EV charger sectors.

Using just 351.9kW of PV and 1MWh of energy storage in a microgrid, a tiny island off the Massachusetts coast successfully met more than 50% of its electricity demand over summer. Historic Cuttyhunk Island, just a few miles from Martha’s Vineyard, a summer destination for the rich and famous, has less than 50 residents outside of seasonal tourist peaks and about 300 residents during the summer season.

Green Hedge, a UK renewable energy developer that has diversified into battery energy storage systems, has had an application for a 40MW project approved by local authorities in Derbyshire, England. Green Hedge, which has developed 200MW of renewables in Britain to date, mainly large-scale solar PV, netted £30 million (US$38.84 million) of funding towards battery storage projects from investor Zouk Capital in July. By that time, through a subsidiary company, Green Hedge Energy 2 Barn Ltd, the company had already in late May applied to South Derbyshire District Council, in England’s Midlands, for permission to construct the project.

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) assessment of reliability and security of the country’s electrical grid network is “encouraging”, the Energy Storage Association’s head has said in her initial reaction to the report’s publication. Energy secretary Rick Perry ordered his staff in April to produce the report, which was published on Wednesday. Described as a comprehensive analysis and including recommendations to policymakers, regulators and the general public on future policy options, the DOE has now invited the public to offer comments on the “Staff reports on electricity markets and reliability” report via its website.

An agreement to construct a 20MW lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) has been approved by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), which would reduce reliance on natural gas generation. Last week, LADWP’s board of water and power commissioners voted to approve the agreement with Doosan GridTech, which says it primarily executes energy storage projects for utilities to help integrate more renewables on their networks. LADWP serves over four million customers with water and power, making it by some measures the largest municipal utility in the US.

The latest phase of a AUS$55 million (US$43.8 million) programme giving remote communities in Australia’s Northern Territory reliable and clean power will see a 2MWh battery installed and paired with more than 3,000 solar PV panels. Daly River, a remote indigenous community in the Northern Territory, is projected to save 400,000 litres of diesel fuel each year with the installation of the 3,200 panel, 1MW PV system and co-located lithium-ion battery-based energy storage.

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) company Hydrostor announced Tuesday that it has sought the services of Australian global infrastructure firm AECOM to support its entry into the market. AECOM’s Australia team will assist Hydrostor’s early-stage development efforts across the National Electricity Market (NEM). This work includes market assessments and site identification for the deployment of the Hydrostor Terra solutions in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.