The new storage solution comprises SMA’s Sunny Boy Storage 2.5 battery inverter and LG Chem’s RESU 10H and 7H storage units. Going forward, the two partners are planning to expand the focus of their collaboration on utility-scale storage solutions with the SMA Sunny Central Storage battery inverter.
Energy storage will create tens of thousands of new, high-quality solar jobs within the next five years. Specifically, the paper estimates there will be approximately 27,000 solar and storage related deployment jobs in 2021. This includes approximately 9,000 storage installation jobs tied to solar, and 18,000 solar installation jobs that would not occur absent the availability of storage. “In the next few years, storage will be hitting the mainstream in a big way,” said Andrea Luecke, President and Executive Director at The Solar Foundation.
BYD Company Ltd. (Shenzhen, China) has signed a global framework cooperation agreement with Enel Green Power (EGP, Rome, Italy), a multinational power company and leading integrated player in the world’s power industry. The agreement signed will pave the way for possible cooperation projects in electrified transportation and energy storage aimed at residential, commercial and industrial applications, all based on BYD’s proprietary Iron-Phosphate batteries, reads the press release.
A monumental off-grid renewable energy mining project has been successfully completed in remote Western Australia, demonstrating a confluence between established and emerging Australian industries. More than 34,000 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels (10.6 MW) have been installed at the DeGrussa copper-gold mine alongside 6 MW (1.8 MWh) of new battery energy storage. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is supporting the USD 40 million project with USD 20.9 million recoupable grant funding and the CEFC has committed USD 15 million in debt finance.
Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica (Zamudio, Vizcaya, Spain) on May 10th, 2016 inaugurated a prototype of its off-grid system for the supply of power to remote areas without access to the grid, such as islands, mines and certain rural areas. The system in La Muela (Aragon) is bundling wind energy, solar power (PV), diesel-powered generation and energy storage into a solution with an installed capacity of over 2 MW.
Eos Energy Storage (Eos, New York, NY, U.S.) on April 27th, 2016 announced plans to demonstrate residential and commercial battery systems at the University of California San Diego, with the support of a USD 2 million award from the California Energy Commission (CEC). Eos is partnering with global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to package, distribute, and support mass market products utilizing the company’s safe, long-lasting Znyth battery technology, the company announced.
Flow battery provider UniEnergy Technologies (UET, Mukilteo, Washington, U.S.), on April 22nd, 2016 announced a 450 kW/1,440 kWh utility-scale energy storage system for a Terna utility substation in Ciminna, Italy on the island of Sicily. Terna, the owner of the Italian High Voltage National Transmission Grid, is the largest independent transmission system operator in Europe and the sixth in the world. The project awarded by Terna to UET and its partners is part of Terna's “Storage Lab” program, which in Phase 1 consists of 16 MW of energy storage systems at two sites in Sicily and Sardinia. Based on the results of Phase 1, an additional 24 MW of energy storage systems will be installed as a Phase 2 by Terna.
NEC Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) and NEC Energy Solutions on April 19th, 2016 announced that they have supplied and completed the installation of a large-scale energy storage system, with a capacity of 1.2 MWh and output of 500 kW, to operate in conjunction with a large solar photovoltaic (PV) plant established by COLON Company Limited (Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan), a supplier of electricity generated from renewable energy.
The combined system of battery and battery inverter can be used in PV systems, CHP plants and wind power plants as well as in hydroelectric power plants. It enables companies in the commercial sector to sustainably and cost-effectively reduce their energy costs. “Qualifying TESVOLT’s lithium storage systems for use with SMA inverters was an important step for us,” said Volker Wachenfeld, Executive Vice President of the Offgrid & Storage business unit at SMA. “It offers companies new energy storage options that help them maximize their self-consumption of PV power. The Sunny Island inverter was developed to optimize the performance and efficiency of energy supply systems, and can be used in both off-grid and grid-tied systems.”
Solar is one of the fastest growing energy sources in the U.S. But growth by itself is not enough. The positive impact of solar is magnified when partnered with complementary technologies intelligently blended into a more dynamic and responsive electricity grid, the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) says. In response to the continuing evolution of solar and clean energy, the SEPA will officially become the Smart Electric Power Alliance on April 11th, 2016. The new name reflects what SEPA members do every day – evolve the ways we generate, deliver and consume the power that drives our economy.
Tucson Electric Power (TEP, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.) will meet customers’ energy needs in the near future by expanding renewable energy resources and energy efficiency programs, evaluating new technologies to improve reliability, and pursuing opportunities to reduce its use of coal. TEP’s strategies for southern Arizona’s energy future are outlined in its preliminary 2016 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which was filed on March 2nd, 2016 with the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC). The IRP describes how TEP plans to meet customers’ energy needs through 2030 while satisfying regulatory requirements and improving the environment.
Redflow Europe GmbH (Munich, Germany), provider of energy storage flow batteries, has announced its entry into the European market. Redflow is the first energy storage company to enter large-scale commercial manufacturing through global giant, Flextronics, the company emphasizes.
At Intersolar Europe exhibition in Munich, storage systems manufacturer ASD Automatic Storage Device (Freiburg, Germany) unveiled the first energy storage system that connects battery cells in parallel as opposed to in a series. Electronic cell management significantly increases the performance and lifespan of the storage device and enables battery cells and storage systems to be manufactured at a considerably lower cost around the world, the company notes.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance has selected two solar photovoltaic (PV) companies and an energy storage company among its ten 2014 New Energy Pioneers. BNEF chose 1366 Technologies (Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.), which uses a novel process to cast silicon wafers, as well as K-MOPA Solar (Nairobi, Kenya), which brings together asset financing, mobile technology and PV to provide electricity to off-grid low-income homes.
Spanish grid operator REE (Alcobendas, Spain) has put online a 1 MW lithium-ion battery-based storage system connected to the transmission grid in Seville, Spain. The system will absorb surplus energy production, mostly from renewable energy sources, and discharge upon demand. The company says that the Almacena Project is the first European system of its kind to be connected to the transmission grid. The project was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The new devices give qualified installers the ability to suit residential, industrial and commercial off- grid and grid connected solar photovoltaic (PV) applications in North, South and Central America, as well as in the Caribbean and in Japan.
On October 14th, 2013 the European Commission (EC) adopted a list of 248 key energy infrastructure projects, which it says will help integrate European energy markets and strengthen security of supply by diversifying energy sources.
Canada can accelerate the integration of renewable energy sources like wind and technologies like solar photovoltaics (PV) into its electricity infrastructure by overcoming technical and cost barriers to grid-scale energy storage, NRC emphasizes.
Awards are expected to range from $2M to $4M annually per center, to last five fiscal years. Technologies currently supported under the program include solar technologies and electricity storage and transmission, as well as carbon capture and sequestration and nuclear energy.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has chosen NGK Insulators as a subsidized company through its 2013 “Initiative on Renewable Energy Surplus Power Technology Development”.
Envision Solar's EV ARC is a cost-effective, easy-to-install, standalone solar photovoltaic (PV) charging station that requires no foundation, no trenching, no building permit and no grid connection.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has chosen three companies to install two large-scale battery systems in the northern part of the nation to support the expansion of wind and solar on Japan's electric grid.
The German Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), VSE (Switzerland) and the Austrian Energy Association have agreed to collaborate to enable the building of more pumped storage hydro power plants...
National Grid plc (London, UK) has submitted a briefing note to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) advising against the installation of more than 10 GW of solar photovoltaics (PV) in the nation, unless additional electricity storage is installed.