NEC’s Energy Solutions division, which has been responsible for NEC Corporation’s activities in the battery energy storage industry, is “going out of business” according to a report by Bloomberg today.

The Massachusetts-headquartered division was previously known as A123 Energy Solutions and has been a subsidiary of the Japanese electronics major since its acquisition in 2014 for US$100 million, when it was the energy storage systems business of lithium battery maker A123 Systems, owned by Chinese automotive components company Wanxiang.

The company has since delivered 986MW across 141 battery energy storage projects in the grid-scale and commercial sectors. The Bloomberg article said that a plan to sell the division off had been “thwarted” by the COVID-19 pandemic, that an “orderly winding down” has been announced to customers and that CEO Steve Fludder, who joined the company in 2017, has stepped down with immediate effect.

The Bloomberg report said despite a global reach, the division had found its activities unprofitable. Bloomberg reported that the NEC Energy Solutions has battery maintenance contracts lasting to March 2030 and will remain open until then, although the company, which makes GSS (Grid Storage Solution) and Distributed Storage Solution (DSS), will not be actively seeking new projects.

Major projects in key US territories such as New York have recently been executed using NEC technologies, while recent distribution partnerships had been signed with the likes of US automated and intelligent energy storage company Stem Inc to try and cover as much market share in North America as possible. At the beginning of this year the company revealed it had been contracted by UK listed fund Gore Street Capital to power up a 100MW pipeline in Northern Ireland, while it also delivered or announced projects in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic in the early part of 2020.

Representatives for NEC Energy Solutions’ Asia-Pacific office in Tokyo had recently also told Energy-Storage.news that it expected to see sales pick up in Japan’s commercial and industrial (C&I) segment over the next two to three years and that the wider Asia market held great potential.

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A high-capacity energy storage solution is needed to capture clean energy and release it when demand exceeds supply. Massive electrochemical batteries are one possibility, but battery technology has limitations related to cost and durability.

British start-up company Gravitricity has developed a system to store excess electricity by using the power of gravity.

The company’s power supply system uses a series of winches to store electrical energy as potential energy by raising large weights in a vertical shaft. When energy is needed, the weights can be released and the winches can be turned into electrical generators.

Gravitricity was developed by inventor Peter Franco, who also produced the first full-scale tidal energy turbine.

What is Gravity-Based Energy Storage?

Gravity-based energy storage is an evolution of pumped hydro storage (PHS) technologies, which can store large quantities of energy using the mass of water at different elevations.

PHS systems are only economically viable as massive operations due to installation costs. For instance, the cost of a PHS tunnel doubles when it doubles in diameter. However, a tunnel twice the width quadruples the quantity of water that can pass through it, boosting the storage capacity of the system.

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The UK hit a new flexibility milestone earlier this year, with a gigawatt of lithium-ion battery energy storage now estimated to be operational according to Solar Media Research. The trend mirrors a global picture – lithium-ion batteries continue to dominate the global energy storage market, accounting for 99.3% US share in Q4 2019, continuing a long historic trend.

Despite many energy storage technologies vying for market share – including much-hyped alternatives like flow batteries, which position themselves as the long-duration technology of choice – lithium-ion has maintained its leading position in the sector. Why?

To provide some background, Fluence is a horizontally integrated and technology-agnostic energy storage technology company. This means we do not manufacture batteries, electrolytes or similar ourselves nor have any stake in their supply chain, and aren’t placing “bets” on any one storage medium. We approach energy storage from a “job to be done” perspective and deploy what we view as the right technology to do that job at the time.

As a result, we see ourselves as well-placed to pivot once technologies hit a point of maturity. Indeed, over the past 12+ years of deploying and servicing energy storage assets and a fleet approaching two gigawatts operational or awarded globally, we have done so a number of times.

Across this fleet, we have delivered a diverse range of storage chemistries, including variants of NMC and LFP (under the lithium-ion chemistry umbrella), as well as advanced lead acid, sodium sulphur and yes, even flow batteries.

We work with whatever technology is right for customers in terms of price point, energy density and performance today: in almost all cases, that technology is lithium-ion based.

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A project demonstrating aggregated solar-plus-storage in Louisiana involving energy storage company SimpliPhi Power, technology partner Heila and local utility SWEPCO has started off small, but is “expected to transition into a larger network of distributed systems, soon”.

Shreveport, Louisiana, is home to the virtual power plant (VPP) for which SimpliPhi Power contributed its lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry battery storage units, integrated with inverters. The scheme also counts on Heila’s control platform, which acts as energy management system (EMS) and battery management system (BMS).

SimpliPhi representatives told Energy-Storage.news that the first site for the demonstration project – for SWEPCO, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP) serving over half a million customers in parts of the US states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas – will start out with just 20kW of solar and 30kWh of battery storage systems. The solar arrays and storage systems are split across three separate aggregated units. Using SimpliPhi’s 3.8kWh PHI brand battery storage, the company said that initial rollout took “only a few months”.

“This initial project was a proof of concept project that is expected to transition into a larger network of distributed systems, soon,” the SimpliPhi spokesperson said.

As seen with larger projects of this kind, the installed solar-plus-storage can be aggregated by the utility and managed as an optimised fleet. SWEPCO will be able to peak shave, manage overall energy supply and correct the power factor to balance networks at local level. The combined batteries and control system can be controlled as a single entity using common protocols and any ADMS or SCADA controller.

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The seasonality of supply is a big deal, and requires very long duration storage. Our modelling of South Australia shows that 4-10 hour storage supplied by batteries and/or pumped hydro was often full during excess wind and solar periods, and equally was often empty during periods of excess demand. This led to a need for gas or its equivalent to ensure there was no unserved energy demand.

An extremely crude estimate of the firming cost was around $12/MWh and the majority of that cost was the gas capital and operating costs. We note the gas generation capacity already exists.

Gas ended up supplying 7.5% of the energy and so South Australia would have been very low carbon emissions in this scenario. Overall the results suggest that even with the benefit of exports and imports it’s likely some long duration storage will be required NEM wide as VRE penetration increases. However, much more work remains to be done in studying storage duration requirements before we at ITK really know what we are talking about.

The seasonality of wind and solar is a big deal
Recently, ITK looked at the excellent prospects for batteries and the increasing amount of evidence that utility scale batteries are finding a place in the market.

We noted that in the US, where, somehow, ancilliary services and frequency control don’t seem to be the issues that they are in Australia, batteries were starting to be of longer duration. Many of the 2GW of the battery contacts signed by leading US utility NextEra Energy are for four hour duration.

In Australia though, all the grid scale batteries are of 2 hours or less duration.

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A newly launched three-year project, supported by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy ​Solar Energy Technologies Office​, will bring together diverse stakeholders to identify and develop solutions to solar and solar + storage code enforcement and permitting challenges.

The project builds upon and will significantly expand the work of the Sustainable Energy Action Committee (SEAC), an organization founded in California in 2015 as a forum for collaboration on guidelines for implementation of codes and standards for permitting and inspection practices of renewable energy systems. SEAC brings together authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) — such as local building and fire departments, contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, utilities, testing labs and other clean energy stakeholders for collaboration and problem solving related to solar PV installation and energy storage projects.

Under the recent U.S. Energy Department award, the ​Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC)​ will lead the administration of SEAC and facilitate its expansion into a national forum. Other key partners in the project include the International Association of Electrical Inspectors (IAEI), International Code Council (ICC), UL LLC, International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), U.S. Energy Storage Association (ESA) and California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA).

The project will facilitate improvements in the permitting and inspection of solar and solar + storage projects by developing consensus-based solutions to high-priority codes and standards needs. An analysis will be conducted to determine the gaps in understanding and implementation that complicate code enforcement and can deter clean energy deployment. A consensus process will then be used to develop solutions. The project will also develop a website hosting information on clean energy code and permitting best practices and include extensive outreach to facilitate uptake of these practices.

Clear and comprehensive procedures defining permitting, inspection and other requirements for solar and solar + storage projects are essential to ensure the safety and quality of installed systems. By identifying and addressing unmet needs in this area the project will advance public safety objectives. Additionally, by facilitating awareness and adoption of codes and standards best practices, the project will help reduce the non-hardware “soft costs” of solar and energy storage, thus supporting greater adoption.

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Panasonic has announced a new strategic alliance with Span to deliver a combined energy storage and management offering that will give homeowners a new level of control over their battery backup power with intuitive energy management for the entire home.

Span is a smart panel innovator and maker of the Span Smart Panel designed to replace the traditional electrical panel with more intuitive, customisable controls. When paired with EverVolt, Panasonic’s residential home energy storage solution, consumers gain more control over battery backup power and access to simple whole-home energy management, powered by Panasonic’s leading battery technology.

“Panasonic is thrilled to work with Span to bring homeowners more control, customisation and visibility over their home energy reserves and expenditures,” said Mukesh Sethi, Director, Panasonic Life Solutions Company of America. “Alongside increased demand for versatile, reliable and efficient residential home energy storage, customers tell us they want more control over how their energy is allocated within the home. Together, Span and Panasonic are answering that call.”

Panasonic EverVolt is designed with customisation in mind. Available in AC- and DC-coupled versions, EverVolt supports existing or new solar systems, offering a flexible solution optimised for homeowners’ energy needs and budgets. In addition, the system can be scaled down to as little as 11.4kWh of energy storage or expanded to 34.2kWh and comes equipped with advanced software and a user-friendly app for homeowners. The Panasonic engineered storage system is compatible with any solar system or inverter and can be tailored to a homeowner’s individual needs.

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A high-capacity energy storage solution is needed to capture clean energy and release it when demand exceeds supply. Massive electrochemical batteries are one possibility, but battery technology has limitations related to cost and durability.

British start-up company Gravitricity has developed a system to store excess electricity by using the power of gravity.

The company’s power supply system uses a series of winches to store electrical energy as potential energy by raising large weights in a vertical shaft. When energy is needed, the weights can be released and the winches can be turned into electrical generators.

Gravitricity was developed by inventor Peter Franco, who also produced the first full-scale tidal energy turbine.

What is Gravity-Based Energy Storage?

Gravity-based energy storage is an evolution of pumped hydro storage (PHS) technologies, which can store large quantities of energy using the mass of water at different elevations.

PHS systems are only economically viable as massive operations due to installation costs. For instance, the cost of a PHS tunnel doubles when it doubles in diameter. However, a tunnel twice the width quadruples the quantity of water that can pass through it, boosting the storage capacity of the system.

How does the Gravitricity System Work?

Rather than a series of tunnels and pumps, the Gravitricity system is based on a vertical shaft up to 1500 meters deep with weight configurations ranging from 500 to 5000 tonnes.

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Broad Reach Power, a rapidly growing energy storage independent power producer (IPP) based in Houston which owns a three gigawatt portfolio of utility scale solar and energy storage power projects in Montana, Wyoming, California, Utah and Texas, today announced that it will build 15 utility-scale battery storage plant sites in areas near Houston and Odessa by the end of 2020. Six sites are expected to be online and operating this summer, and it is anticipated that the others will be under construction this fall. Each site will contain battery systems capable of storing and distributing up to 10 megawatts of power.

“Despite the turmoil of 2020, U.S. demand for lower cost and emission-free generation sources such as solar and wind is increasing, and this is fueling the need for more battery storage assets,” said Broad Reach Power Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer Steve Vavrik, whose company has begun development or construction of nearly $100 million of storage assets in less than a year since launching. “While many parts of the country grapple with economic challenges created by COVID-19, Texas is uniquely poised for continued industrial growth in the near future. Thanks to the state’s rapidly expanding and affordable clean power resources, reliable grid, deep talent base and business-friendly policies, Texas will be a prime location for data centers, manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies looking to expand their U.S. operations. However, the abundant, cheap and emission-free in-state generation resources these companies want, or sometimes even require, will need complementary storage assets to ensure the grid’s continued reliability.”

In addition to making the grid more resilient, these storage projects also provide utilities and grid operators with more options to bring the grid back online after an emergency such as a hurricane or tropical storm. They are emission-free, do not use scarce water resources, and are both small as well as modular so they can be constructed near customers with minimal intrusion. Each site is being developed using local civil and electrical engineers, surveyors, civil contractors, electrical contractors, and project managers.

Broad Reach Power plans to develop additional projects of this size in Texas as well as several larger projects in the Valley and Panhandle regions of the state and outside the region soon. The company was formed in July 2019 and is backed by leading energy investors EnCap Investments L.P., Yorktown Partners, and Mercuria Energy.

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