Fractal Energy Storage Consultants

Ilika plc to launch world-first in battery technology at IDTechEx 2016

on March 22, 2016

Ilika plc (LON: IKA) is using the IDTechEx Conference in Berlin for the global launch of its ground-breaking micro battery technology on 27th April 2016. Its new family of batteries is set to revolutionise the design of sensors for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Ilika will be showing the product on stand G12 at the Energy Harvesting & Storage Europe Conference at IDTechEx and also at the ‘Demonstration Alley’. CEO Graeme Purdy will additionally be speaking on the topic of solid state micro- batteries for IoT at the conference at 4.40pm on Thursday 28th April.

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EIA: Gas poised to knock out coal from top spot in 2016

on March 21, 2016

Before April of last year, natural gas had never topped coal power. But 2015 closed out with a string of months where gas took the top slot, though the year ended with coal still generating slightly more energy. All-in-all, gas actually exceeded coal’s share in seven months last year, and EIA now indicates that trend is likely to grow.

“The recent decline in the generation share of coal, and the concurrent rise in the share of natural gas, was mainly a market-driven response to lower natural gas prices,” EIA said. Stricter environmental rules, including the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard and the planned Clean Power Plan, have also played a role.

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How California Schools Save Millions Using Energy Storage

on March 15, 2016

On March 1st, San Diego’s third-largest school district, Grossmont, joined the growing number of school districts in California turning to energy storage to save on their energy bills. Grossmont Union High School District in San Diego’s east county region announced plans to install a 7.4 megawatt-hour energy storage deployment at 14 sites in 9 district locations in a partnership with California-based Green Charge Networks*. The installation is expected to save the district more than $6.4 million in reduced utility costs over the life of the project. The energy storage system and installation came at no cost to the district through Green Charge’s performance-based Power Efficiency Agreement™ (PEA) shared savings model.

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Germany’s Second-Biggest Utility Plans to Launch a Residential Solar-Plus-Storage Offering

on March 15, 2016

Germany’s second-largest energy company, E.ON, is planning to launch a residential PV-plus-storage offering for the German market in April, the company has confirmed. The product will be based on Solarwatt’s MyReserve battery systems, which went on sale last year.

“We will collect feedback from the market and from customers, and then fine-tune the product,” said E.ON’s vice president of battery systems, Eliano Russo. “The final launch will be in September.”

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Avista Utilities Develops Energy Storage Project In Washington

on March 15, 2016

This country’s utilities are addressing disruptive changes taking place in a number of different ways. Some adhere to more standard business models, moving at a painstaking snail’s pace in order to make any kind of change, no matter how timely the alterations. Then there are others who are embracing innovation, looking at the universe of changing technologies as an open door to new business opportunities.

Include Washington-based Avista Utilities on the list of utilities embracing the disruptive technologies which are presently happening across the industry, such as battery storage technology, and leveraging it for a new business model called “economies of scope” – a model Avista believes is the future of the utility business.

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Where micro-grids, emerging markets and flow batteries intersect

on March 15, 2016

Much of the discussion regarding renewables and energy storage takes place from the perspective of advanced economies that have strong, well developed, and highly reliable grid infrastructure providing power as needed.

What is missed often in these discussions is that while energy storage has an increasingly important role to play in the “strong grid” regions, it has a highly critical, almost essential, role to play in vast regions of the world that are more typically associated with high cost energy, such as islands, weak and/or intermittent grids (which exist on at least three continents), or even no grid at all, which applies to approximately 20% of the global population that is believed to have no access to electric power. From an energy sector perspective, these regions are often referred to as emerging markets.

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How Distributed Battery Storage Will Surpass Grid-Scale Storage in the US by 2020

on March 15, 2016

In 2020, America’s energy storage market will likely surpass 1.6 gigawatts — making it 28 times bigger than it was in 2015.

The U.S. market in 2020 will be defined not just by higher volumes, but by diversity in project types. While large storage projects on the utility’s side of the meter currently dominate deployments, smaller batteries in homes and businesses on the customer’s side of the meter will become the biggest segment in terms of capacity in the next four years.

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DOE picks winners in Round 1 of USD-20m clean energy support scheme

on March 14, 2016

March 11 (SeeNews) – The US Department of Energy (DOE) has picked 33 small businesses, including entities focused on solar, wind and wave power, to work directly with DOE national labs on the development of clean energy projects.

The particular businesses were chosen as part of Round 1 of the new Small Business Vouchers (SBV) pilot. They will receive nearly USD 6.7 million (EUR 6m) in vouchers that can be used to perform collaborative research or access lab equipment or facilities, so they can move their innovative ideas and technologies closer to the marketplace, the DOE said in a press release on Thursday.

The investment under the first round of the USD-20-million SBV programme will be made by the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The vouchers that are being awarded range from USD 50,000 to USD 300,000.

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Cumulative global installed PV to reach 310 GW by end of 2016

on March 14, 2016

By the end of 2016, cumulative global installed photovoltaic (PV) installations will surpass 310 gigawatts (GW), compared to just 40 GW at the end of 2010, according to IHS.

Five countries account for 70% of this capacity; China, the United States, Japan, Germany and Italy. With annual installations stalling, IHS claims that Germany will fall from the second-largest installed base for PV to the fourth largest, surpassed by the United States and Japan.

“A continued stagnation of major European PV markets due to weaker financial incentives has caused PV additions in Europe to slow dramatically in recent years, but global demand remains strong,” said Josefin Berg, senior analyst of solar demand for IHS Technology. “The supply chain continues to benefit from a period of relatively stable pricing, and there could be a new wave of capacity expansions.”

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Duke Energy trialing innovative storage system in N Carolina

on March 14, 2016

March 11 (SeeNews) – US utility Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) is testing hybrid ultracapacitor-battery energy storage system at one of its substations in North Carolina, it said Thursday.

The 100-kW/300-kWh storage system, said to be the first of its kind, went online last month. It will be used to demonstrate applications, including extended operational life, rapid response, real-time solar smoothing and load shifting. There is a 1.2-MW solar installation connected near the substation.

“With so many solar installations in North Carolina, we must look for innovative ways to better incorporate renewable energy into our system – and still provide reliable service at a competitive price for our customers,” said Thomas Golden, technology development manager for Duke Energy.

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Ilika plc to launch world-first in battery technology at IDTechEx 2016

EIA: Gas poised to knock out coal from top spot in 2016

How California Schools Save Millions Using Energy Storage

Germany’s Second-Biggest Utility Plans to Launch a Residential Solar-Plus-Storage Offering

Avista Utilities Develops Energy Storage Project In Washington

Where micro-grids, emerging markets and flow batteries intersect

How Distributed Battery Storage Will Surpass Grid-Scale Storage in the US by 2020

DOE picks winners in Round 1 of USD-20m clean energy support scheme

Cumulative global installed PV to reach 310 GW by end of 2016

Duke Energy trialing innovative storage system in N Carolina

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