New York storage advocates want the state to set storage mandates, directing utilities to acquire battery resources in an effort to bring more renewable power online. The NY-BEST group filed in June with state regulators, according to Microgrid Knowledge, calling for a ramp-up in capacity from 500 MW in 2020, to 1 GW in 2022, and 2 GW by 2025, with 4 MW by 2030. 

The state’s 50% renewables goal would require about a quarter of peak load to be sourced from storage, the group said.

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Nissan is ever moving forward with its commercialization of energy storage systems using ‘second-life’ lithium-ion batteries from electric cars.

The company’s most recent large-scale installation of re-purposed EV batteries power Webaxys’ data center at the Saint-Romain de Colbosc Eco Park in Normandy, France.

As you can see in the photo, Nissan is using battery pack set upright (not unlike BMW’s recent ESS solution) and enclosed in an external closet beside Eaton power electronics.

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Even at current market prices, various different energy storage options make economic sense for renewable energy projects in some locations, according to new research from MIT.

The energy storage options profiled by the study included: battery systems, pumped hydroelectric storage, and compressed air energy storage, amongst others. While these options are economically a good choice in some locations, in other locations, they are not.

The study also found that “regardless of the particular circumstances at a given location, certain features of how electricity prices fluctuate are common across locations and do favor some specific types of storage solutions over others.”

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Energy Storage News – The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has reformed the Self-Generation Incentive Programme (SGIP) that finances the installation of distributed generation technologies, to now benefit long-duration technologies that previously missed out on the incentive, through the extended US$83 million a year for behind-the-meter storage.

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Automotive giant Nissan and power electronics and engineering group Eaton have installed an energy storage system at a data centre run by IT and cloud computing firm Webaxys’ in Normandy, France.

Data centres currently account for 1.5-2% of worldwide electricity consumption and this is growing fast. The nature of data centres means that they cannot afford to have power outages, which makes the use of intermittent renewable energy to power them a particular problem. However the new storage solution overcomes this issue by providing power on demand.

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Advances in energy-storage technology and rising demand for batteries from the global electric vehicle (EV) market are driving the need for technology minerals – such as lithium and graphite – which are increasingly used in lithium-ion batteries.

The sectors mining these industries are “young and niche” and not commoditised yet, says London-based research firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence director Simon Moores.

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Last Thursday, California regulators issued a decision modifying the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), a 2001 program which provides incentives for energy storage and behind-the-meter generation. Under the new rules, 75% of the SGIP budget will be allocated to energy storage.

Additionally SGIP will move to a declining block grant incentive system, similar to the California Solar Initiative (CSI), with incentives for most systems starting at US$.50 per watt-hour (Wh) in the first step and declining to $0.30 per Wh in the fifth. Large-scale energy storage projects which receive the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) will start at $0.36 per Wh and decline to $0.16 per Wh.

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BYD Company Limited (Shenzhen, China), the world’s largest battery manufacturer, and EDF (Electricité de France, Paris) signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop energy storage in both companies’ global subsidiaries and markets where they operate.

EDF branches in the United States, France and the United Kingdom are expected to carry out comprehensive cooperation with BYD in the near future, reads the press release.

BYD’s proprietary iron-phosphate battery is the basis for an extensive range of energy storage and electrified transportation products, and more recently BYD has also ventured successfully into solar photovoltaic (PV) module production.

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PHILADELPHIA, PA–(Marketwired – Jun 28, 2016) – Viridity Energy, Inc., announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded it a patent for systems and methods used to generate an operating schedule for energy storage assets, such as batteries, used in connection with transportation systems, such as rail operations, and with electric vehicles. The patent reflects the value stacking capabilities of Viridity software, which maximizes the value of flexible load, energy assets and energy storage. It is the latest in a series of patents awarded to Viridity, including patents related to data center operations and battery/solar asset-combined operations. 

The new patent addresses a variety of functions, including optimizing use of the storage asset to maximize the combined market revenue derived from integration of storage into regional markets, with cost savings associated with the capture of regenerative braking power from rail systems or electric vehicles. 

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2015 was a dynamic year for energy storage. A proliferation of energy storage deployment, declining costs and Tesla’s Powerwall announcement contributed to a successful year. But the start of 2016 did not begin as auspiciously as the previous year’s headlines might suggest.

There were 18.3 MW (21.2 MWh) of energy storage deployed in the United States in the first quarter of 2016, representing 127% increase from first quarter of 2015, according to a recent energy storage report from GTM Research. But those numbers represent an 84% decline from storage deployments in fourth quarter 2015.

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