Would the transition to renewables happen faster if the installations looked better, and were more integrated into the public space, rather than relegated to a roof or back lot? Perhaps we’d see more smart renewable infrastructure installations if some of it were to include stylish and functional all-in-one devices such as the one from the startup Totem Power.

Cities are already full of power and communications infrastructure, but with the rapid adoption of wireless communication, and the coming wave of electric vehicles, combined with the affordability of distributed energy generation (such as on-site solar), perhaps it’s time to upgrade some of it. A smart city will require smarter infrastructure, and the Totem Power platform, which combines solar power, communications, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging, is an attempt to meet that need by redesigning what it calls “smart utility.”

The first Totem model, which is expected to launch in the summer of 2017, will incorporate a 5 kW solar array at the top, a 44 kWh battery system, efficient (‘smart’) lighting, along with WiFi and 4G communications equipment and an EV charger. The units are designed to be integral and stylish additions to urban infrastructure, and while not sized large enough to power most businesses on their own, could be installed on business properties, parking lots, or sidewalks to add energy storage and communications functionality.

One key benefit claimed by Totem Power is resiliency, in that this distributed energy generation and storage device would enable critical services to be maintained in emergency situations, and “communications powered by Totem will continue to operate in the event of grid failure.” Another is increased access for connected devices and consumers through street-level communication arrays, which the proliferation of the Internet of Things and the coming days of autonomous vehicles will require more of. And of course, adding more EV charging points, which will allow more flexibility for electric car drivers, is an important step toward a cleaner transport system.

There’s no word yet on the price for this model, but Totem Power has more info.

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Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas is setting up shop in Sunnyvale, California, just 12 miles from the Palo Alto headquarters of Tesla Motors, the electric car manufacturer that’s been marketing the Powerwall, its own branded residential energy storage unit, since last year. Eventually, Daimler has said, it will roll out industrial systems like those that Tesla is already installing

Meanwhile, BMW, Nissan and General Motors all have moved forward with plans to introduce their own versions of these power systems to help renewable-energy-loving homeowners reduce their dependence on their local power grids.

The move is part of a profound shift underway in the auto industry, as autonomous driving, ride-sharing and electric motors seem poised to radically change motorized transport. Car companies see great synergy in their development of electric cars, hoping to carve a niche for themselves in a completely different industry. Whether there’s a large market for home battery storage systems branded with an automaker’s logo remains to be seen, but no maker of electric cars is sitting idle.

“There’s a certain amount of brand desirability around a battery being from Tesla or Mercedes,” Sam Wilkinson, senior researcher of the solar and energy storage industry at IHS Markit, told Salon. “Does the same rationale to the consumer apply in this sector? I’m a little bit skeptical of that, but I think the important thing is to look into the future where the relationship between stationary energy storage and electric vehicles will become much tighter and much more integrated.”

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Energy storage is making it possible for commercial establishments to lower their total utility bills while having the ability to continue operating during a power outage. REC Solar and Green Charge have partnered to create a 1 megawatt solar and energy storage system for  SOMO Village in Rohnert Park, Calif. The combined solar-plus-storage system is expected to deliver more than $160,000 savings to SOMO Village in the first year and more than $1.8 million in savings during the first 10 years of operation.

SOMO Village is a 600,000 square foot mixed use development. All together, about 1,000 people are employed by the fifty businesses located inside the Village. The property uses almost six megawatts of electricity annually. Its existing array of rooftop solar panels have recently been expanded to a total of 16,000 panels, making it the largest solar plus storage facility in Sonoma County.

“SOMO Village is a leader in renewable energy adoption,” says Alan Russo, senior vice president of sales and marketing at REC Solar. “We are proud to be their energy partner and to work alongside the Green Charge team to maximize the impact of their solar investment.”

REC focuses exclusively on commercial installations and is and backed by Duke Energy. It has a portfolio of 550 successful solar projects over the past 19 years. Its business model specializes in systems that immediately begin paying dividends through reduced energy costs.

In business since 2009, Green Charge is backed by ENGIE, the largest independent power producer in the world.  With its team of top energy storage industry experts, it shows its customers how to combine energy storage and renewables easily and economically.

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Elon Musk is not your typical human being. The mad genius of Silicon Valley has a towering intellect that shoots sparks off in all directions. He is building the world’s most desirable electric cars, is deeply involved in making batteries to store electricity, is running a space exploration company, lingers at the periphery of the Hyperloop — a far out idea that is sort of like a thousand mile long horizontal elevator, and is a dedicated proponent of research into artificial intelligence. Any one of those pursuits \would keep most people busy for a lifetime. Musk seems to be able to handle more challenges than most mortals.

Many people misunderstand the mission of Tesla Motors, which is named for Nikola Tesla, a Serbian immigrant who came to work for Thomas Edison in 1884. Edison was a proponent of direct current. Telsa advocated for the benefits of alternating current. Tesla invented the first AC electric motor, which is the motor used by Tesla Motors for its automobiles today. People mistakenly believe that Tesla Motors is a car company that also makes batteries. They have it backwards. Tesla is a battery company that also makes cars.

(Note to Donald Trump. Both Tesla and Musk are immigrants who came to America because they believed it was the best place in the world for their unconventional ideas to flourish. If you had been president when they arrived on these shores. they most likely would have been turned away.)

Everything Elon Musk does is intimately connected with his desire to show the world how to stop using fossil fuels, leave what’s left of them in the ground, and transition to a world powered by clean, renewable energy — especially solar. “There’s a giant fusion reactor in the sky,” he says. It’s called the sun and it can satisfy all the needs for electrical power of all the people on earth for tens of thousands of years.

Because solar power doesn’t add carbon dioxide to the environment, it is the only way mankind can stop filling the skies with pollution and give the environment a chance to shed some of the CO2 already in the atmosphere. Climate scientists like James Hansen say we will need a period of 30 to 50 years with no new carbon emissions at all to get the earth’s environment back to its pre-Industrial Revolution normalcy.

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Abandoned oil and gas wells may soon have a new purpose: energy storage.

The technique is called pumped hydro, and it’s the same approach used in conventional hydroelectric dams.

Mandell: “Pumped hydro is not new. It’s the oldest and most widely available form of energy storage today. What we’re doing is basically a new form of pumped hydro, where all of the infrastructure, and all of the energy storage actually happens below the ground.”

That’s Aaron Mandell, chairman and co-founder of the start-up Quidnet Energy.

Quidnet proposes storing energy in old wells by filling them with water at very high pressure. As the pressure increases, rock below the surface compresses like a spring. When the water is discharged, the pressure is released, pushes the water through turbines, and creates electricity.

Mandell says the system may need to be tailored for different geologies, but it should work anywhere.

Quidnet has demonstrated its concept with a gas well and is now testing in a geothermal well. Mandell says the results of this test will determine if they will move on to a commercial installation capable of storing five to 10 megawatts of energy.

If successful, hydro-pumping may give new purpose to abandoned wells, and be a cost-effective way of storing wind and solar energy.

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Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail was xenophobic, racist, and misogynistic, and now that he’s been elected president, many people in the crosshairs are afraid for their safety. But despite Trump’s negative comments about renewable energy—denying climate change, vowing to “save $100 billion that the United States is spending on climate policies,” dismissing wind and solar as uneconomic, and touting deregulation to ramp up oil, gas, and coal production—industry insiders say they’re not too worried.

Wind and solar prices have decreased dramatically in recent years, making them competitive with fossil fuels in many markets. Between 2009 and 2015, wind electricity capacity grew by more than 100 percent nationally, and solar capacity grew by more than 900 percent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Renewable energy has economic momentum and bipartisan support and will likely continue to succeed despite potential changes in federal policy.

It’s impossible to know for sure what Trump’s attitude toward renewable energy—or anything else—may be because he has not articulated detailed policies. His transition website has a short page titled “Energy Independence” that mentions support for renewable energy as well as “traditional” sources, but most of the text is devoted to deregulation for fossil fuels. Taking into account Trump’s promised moves that would be hostile to climate progress, including support for renewable energy, his presidency could mean 3.4 billion tons more greenhouse gas emissions than a Clinton one, according to a preelection report by analyst Lux Research.

Still, Trump may not be as hostile to renewable energy as he seems. “Mr. Trump, a lot of times, he will say stuff, and once he does research he will kind of backtrack,” said Debbie Dooley, a Trump supporter and outspoken Tea Party solar energy advocate who is president of the Green Tea Coalition and Conservatives for Energy Freedom, “and I fully believe that’s what’s happened with solar.”

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The U.S. power electronics company has secured its first order in German for its power conversion systems for energy storage, after giving a demonstration in a bid to enter the burgeoning German energy storage market.

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Walmart is moving toward 100% renewable energy. The retail giant does not have a time frame for that target, but says it already derives 25% of its global electricity needs come from renewable sources. That said, Walmart has also starting eyeing energy storage as a prime investment to help smooth the intermittence of renewable energy. Right now, the retail giant has 17 energy storage projects in California, including six 200 kW, 400 kWh solar-tied batteries. 

“Walmart is actively evaluating different energy storage technologies that have the potential to reduce our operating costs and improve stores’ resilience during power outages and extreme weather events across our portfolio,” Mark Vanderhelm, vice president of energy for Walmart, said in a statement.

Axiom Exergy, on the hand, is carving out a niche in the energy storage sector by targeting supermarkets, making it a good fit for a company like Walmart. Supermarkets have thin margins, making cost savings an important contributor to profitability.

Axiom says its refrigeration battery can reduce on-peak electricity demand at the Walmart store by up to 40%. It also has the potential to reduce refrigeration related operating costs and improve resilience across stores. Refrigeration can represent up to 55% of the average supermarket’s electricity consumption.

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New York, NY, November 15, 2016 – Eos Energy Storage (“Eos”) – pioneer of the safe, ultra-low cost Znyth^® battery – today announced that Jim Hughes, former CEO of First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), has joined as Chairman of the Board to guide the company’s transition from technology development to commercial manufacturing and product deployment. The wealth of knowledge and experience Hughes brings from his time at the helm of First Solar – a pivotal player in the creation of utility-scale solar energy – will be invaluable during this important stage in Eos’ growth.

The appointment of Hughes as Chairman of the Board comes on the heels of the company’s announcement of a $23M Series D equity financing and commencement of volume battery production with a multi-billion dollar contract manufacturing partner capable of meeting 100+ MW per year demand.

“The tremendous progress made on cost over the last several years leaves energy storage looking remarkably similar to the solar industry around 5 years ago,” observed Jim Hughes. “The cost reductions have been so rapid that I don’t think the broader energy industry yet recognizes the value it will represent as part of the system and that the economics of energy storage are not only competitive but have the near term potential to be disruptive.  Eos has focused on developing a technology and product that outcompetes the lithium ion incumbent, not just on dollar per kWh upfront capital cost but on the lifetime cost of energy delivered.  This is going to give Eos the ability to win significant market share and drive profitability. A sharp focus on cost, quality and challenging yourself to beat the toughest competition has proven to be a winning strategy time and again both in traditional energy and renewables.  Much as First Solar has proven that it can compete effectively with its differentiated thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) modules against the leading players in crystalline silicon PV, I firmly believe Eos will demonstrate the same ability within the energy storage arena with its differentiated zinc hybrid (Znyth™) technology.”

During his four years as CEO of First Solar, Hughes managed the company from a $450M loss in the first quarter of 2012 to a $171M profit in the first quarter of 2016. Also during that time, the company set new records for solar cell efficiency, made fundamental changes to power plant architecture, continued to drive down solar costs, and expanded module manufacturing to support an industry-leading over 13GW installed base.

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When smart phone batteries catch fire or laptop batteries explode on airplanes, it makes the news.

So far batteries used to store energy at the residential and commercial level have avoided those headlines. But eventually there will be a problem.

“Battery fires are rare, but when they happen you have to be prepared,” said Lt. Paul Rogers with the Fire Department of New York’s hazardous materials operations division.

Rogers works with a team within FDNY’s hazardous materials operations division, and he has become the point person on energy storage safety issues. “I am a one man show,” he said, operating as a liaison with regulators, researchers and industry.

As the headlines suggest, much of the current safety concerns about batteries revolve around lithium-ion batteries. Those concerns are well founded: Li-ion batteries have a lion’s share of the energy storage market and are the fastest growing storage technology.

Li-ion batteries have become ubiquitous in laptops and smart phones. But batteries used for grid-tied stationary storage applications are quite different than those used in robust, long term use case scenarios such as behind-the-meter applications or on a transmission or distribution system, said William Tokash, a senior research analyst with Navigant Research.

Grid connected batteries have sophisticated software systems that manage the battery during charging and discharging cycles, and they are equipped with thermal control systems and software designed to ensure safe operation, as well as early detection of any operating concerns.

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