Energy Storage News

After years of development and testing, demonstrations and pilots, energy storage is at a fully commercialized stage. Industry growth has been exponential: according to GTM Research, 2015 saw a 243% year-over-year increase in energy storage systems in the U.S., with a total of 221 MW deployed. State-level mandates are driving demand in some key regions, but more importantly, technologies are generally maturing at a faster rate, with costs coming down and new markets opening. According to Utility Dive’s 2016 State of the Electric Utility Survey, energy storage ranked first among technologies for future investment by utilities for the second year in a row. Nearly two-thirds of utility respondents cited storage as one of three emerging technologies in which they should invest more, followed by distributed generation and large-scale renewables like wind and solar.

Colette Lamontagne has spent a lot of her life consulting—talking strategy and planning, technology and road maps. Some of it has been as part of her day job as a director in Navigant’s Energy Practice, but, last June, she got a new opportunity to talk about the future when she was named chair of the Energy Storage Association’s (ESA) Board of Directors.

Moving the electricity sector into a low-carbon future presents many challenges. As supply becomes increasingly intermittent, so the need for fast-responding, flexible demand and generation sources grows. Energy storage is a key source of flexibility to meet this need and has been identified by the UK Smart Grid Forum as a crucial intervention likely to be required for the future smart grid. Market players including electricity generators, suppliers, distribution network operators (DNOs), and the transmission system operator (TSO: National Grid in the UK) can all reap benefits. 

Demand response (DR) is critical for reducing peak demand on the grid and, at the same time, avoiding system emergencies. When delivered via behind-the-meter energy storage, DR can play an even more significant role in improving reliability and reducing system cost. Behind-the-meter battery storage is gaining popularity among commercial and industrial businesses as a cost-effective solution to reduce peaks and manage demand charges. This market is predicted to grow rapidly: according to GTM Research, over 700 MW of distributed energy storage will be deployed in the U.S. between 2014 and 2020.

The United States is facing some serious issues with its electricity grid. The infrastructure was established more than a century ago, before the Internet or cellphones or a lot of renewable energy generation. It simply wasn’t equipped to handle today's electricity load. Though the entire infrastructure represents a way of distributing electricity that's more than 100 years old, the grid has seen some updates along the way. But unfortunately, some parts of the grid haven't gotten a modern touch in more than 50 years. This leaves the electricity system vulnerable to rolling blackouts or even terrorist attacks. Many believe the grid needs a complete overall to function properly for America today.

The electric utility industry is evolving to a smart grid future. We know the direction in which the grid is evolving and its key themes: The future grid will incorporate a much higher percentage of renewable resources and energy storage devices. Its distribution system will allow two-way power flows to incorporate these new technologies. Customers will have detailed information about their services and interact directly with their power companies. And a sophisticated overlay of communications and computing technologies will be employed to manage the grid.

While Ontario has for decades been North America's largest electrical utility, it has often been plagued by political controversy. Many an elected official has used the utility as a means by which to achieve a political agenda. Ongoing political agendas have left the utility saddled with massive debt. The utility's most recent debacle involves paying outside utilities to take delivery of Ontario's excess generating capacity. Analysts advise that it is cheaper to pay outsiders to take Ontario's excess off-peak electric power than the cost involved of shutting down or reducing output from the nuclear power stations.

There is a lot of buzz surrounding energy storage and a lot of progress has been made to make it a valuable resource for the electric grid. But our work to seamlessly integrate storage within a diverse grid ecosystem and unlock its full value is just beginning.

Whether large-scale / low-cost energy storage capability is achieved via the hybrid GPM-ICAES approach described above, or via a breakthrough in storage battery technology and lifetime, or by some other means, its arrival will transform the industry. The business model for utilities will shift from one centered on generation to one centered on storage.

Energy storage is critical to creating a more reliable, efficient electrical grid by optimizing other grid assets and utilizing them more intelligently.

Energy storage leaders will turn their eyes to California yet again this week as hundreds of the industry’s executives meet in Santa Clara for the Electricity Storage Association’s (ESA’s) annual conference .

At the Rankin substation, a 402-kilowatt/282-kilowatt-hour sodium nickel chloride battery system is smoothing out large minute-by-minute peaks and valleys in electricity production from a 1.2-megawatt solar facility at an industrial complex about three miles away.

Myriad utilities are testing the role energy storage could play for them, and whether it's technically and financially feasible. Two of the nation's utilities-Southern California Edison and Duke Energy-are among those utilities implementing specific energy storage technologies for a widely sought application: the integration of renewable resources.

NRG Energy and the University of Delaware have partnered on V2G.  V2G aggregates EVs that at scheduled times will charge or discharge their batteries to provide ancillary services such as frequency regulation and spinning reserves to independent system operators (ISOs) and RTOs. In return, they would receive a payment which, over time, could further lower the barrier to EV sales.

In the weeks since the California Public Utilities Commission proposed decision on energy storage was released, various parties have weighed in with their view of the outcome.

[Curator:  See Part 1 article, July 25, 2012, here.]

California takes deliberative stance on storageIntelligent UtilityThe CPUC favored the approach advocated by Southern California Edison in a white paper, which we abstracted in the column, "Straight Talk on Energy Storage." From the July 2 proposed decision: "This approach would bundle certain operational benefits ...

Join us on Wed., July 11, at noon EST for "Putting Energy Storage Into Action," a webcast that will feature Mark Irwin, director of technology advancement at Southern California Edison (SCE), and Chris Rees, strategic planning manager at Duke Energy.

IEEE P2030.2 is envisioned as a sweeping technical knowledge base for discrete and hybrid energy storage systems—defining terminology, functional performance, interoperability of various system topologies, evaluation criteria, operations, testing and engineering principles, etc. IEEE P2030.3, then, is intended to focus on the test and conformance verification concerns associated with integrating such storage systems with the electricity grid.

We'll host speakers who are involved in implementing energy storage projects and we'll focus on operational details, the market, regulatory issues and questions.

Proponents, opponents and those utilities exploring storage applications for data-driven decisions in the matter all have some basis for their argument. Proponents say that if you don't actually implement storage, you'll never have real-world data upon which to base decisions.  Some opponents say that the market should dictate everything: without a clear-cut case in favor of deployment, why burden the grid and the ratepayer? Utilities would prefer to conduct demonstration projects for promising applications and evaluate the data before moving forward.

Today I'll briefly provide a glimpse at what utility-scale storage vendors are saying through CAREBS, courtesy of a recent policy document aimed at power industry stakeholders. Included below will be a few links to past coverage on the CPUC's deliberations, individual utility policy statements and the debates that have filled our forums.

The disconnect between utility and non-utility applications will reflect the general trend towards self-sufficiency and independence now underway for military bases, campuses and individuals, to name a few motivated parties.  Distributed generation, energy storage and microgrids of all sizes—in conjunction with radical energy efficiency methods—will become the rage as costs fall and external events such as storms motivate action.

As you make recall from our coverage, the California Public Utilities Commission has been wrestling with whether to establish procurement targets—i.e., mandated purchases—of energy storage technology to fulfill the demands of that state's Assembly Bill 2514.

" ... while Li-ion technology has many potential roles in grid storage, few if any applications have been vetted in practice to determine how they could be valued. And the value might well depend on the application and the customer, further muddying the view of that nascent market."