Hawaiian Electric this week revealed the full list of winners from its second large-scale procurement of energy storage and renewables for the islands of Oahu, Maui and Hawaii. The winners run the gamut from major industry players like AES and Engie to relative newcomers to the large-scale energy storage game. 

The contracts were first announced on May 15 without naming the developers, to give each an opportunity to communicate with communities near their project sites to negotiate local land-use issues before a broad public announcement.

The winners include:

• AES Distributed Energy, a subsidiary of U.S.-based energy company AES, which through its Fluence joint venture with Siemens has developed the world’s largest fleet of grid-scale batteries. AES won bids for two Oahu projects: a 30-megawatt/240-megawatt-hour system being built in conjunction with a 46-megawatt solar farm, and a 7-megawatt/35-megawatt-hour solar-linked system. 
• Two French energy giants won bids to develop solar-battery systems on the Big Island of Hawaii, each to consists of 60 megawatts/240 megawatt-hours of storage: Engie North America, a large-scale renewable energy and storage developer owned by French energy and water project giant Engie, and EDF Renewables North America, the subsidiary of French utility and nuclear power giant Électricité de France. 
• Hanwha Energy USA Holdings Corp. (formerly 174 Power Global), a U.S.-based unit of South Korean multinational and solar manufacturer Hanwha, won a bid for another 60-megawatt/240-megawatt-hour solar-linked battery system on Oahu.  
• Wind and solar developer Longroad Energy won bids for two projects: a 120-megawatt/480-megawatt-hour system on Oahu, and a 40-megawatt/160-megawatt-hour system on Maui. Longroad was co-founded by Paul Gaynor, the former CEO of long-time Hawaii wind project developer First Wind. 
• Bright Canyon Energy, a subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the owner of utility Arizona Public Service, will build a 42-megawatt/168-megawatt-hour battery system along with 42 megawatts of solar on Maui. Bright Canyon has primarily invested in wind power projects to date, including ownership stakes in Missouri and Minnesota projects being developed by Tenaska. 
• Two other smaller-scale projects are being built by developers with deep-pocketed backers seeking opportunities in the distributed renewable and energy storage space. Onyx Development, a commercial-industrial and smaller-utility-scale renewable energy project developer backed by Blackstone Energy Partners, won a bid for a 6.6-megawatt/26.4-megawatt-hour project on Oahu. And Kaukonahua Solar, owned by the SB Energy subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank, plans to build a 6-megawatt/25.4-megawatt-hour project on Maui.

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The U.S. energy storage industry was on track for a record-breaking year in 2020 before the arrival of COVID-19. While still on track to surpass the $1 billion threshold this year, the overall market value of U.S. energy storage this year likely won’t achieve the heights expected before the pandemic.

At the beginning of 2020, the market value was expected to top $2 billion before the end of the year, according to a statement by Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the U.S. Energy Storage Association. But after COVID-19 swamped the industry with delays and cancellations, expectations have dropped to $1.6 billion, Speakes-Backman said.

April 2020 saw 40% fewer residential storage applications than March 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Storage Monitor. But utility-scale storage projects, including a handful of new mid-stage projects targeting the fourth quarter of 2020 for commissioning, are expected to make up for the steep decline in growth on the residential side this year, according to Dan Finn-Foley, head of energy storage at Wood Mackenzie.

“While COVID has thrown sand in the gears of the residential, commercial and industrial segments due to social distancing requirements and associated complications with customer acquisitions, effects on utility procurements have been relatively minor,” he told Utility Dive in an email. The handful of utility projects that have not moved forward, he said, seemed as though they were “on that path” before the pandemic, he added.

Growth of major utility projects will allow the total U.S. energy storage market to double its $712 million 2019 value in 2020, despite the pandemic for the time being, Finn-Foley said, and residential and commercial deployments are expected to return to previous rates of growth by the end of the year.

Finn-Foley acknowledged that “the watchword for the industry is still uncertainty,” but Speakes-Backman said the fundamental factors that enabled the record-setting growth in the first quarter of this year remain in place.

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Tell me about Panasonic’s energy solutions that combine solar power and battery storage.

Panasonic manufactures and sells both solar panels and residential home energy storage systems. Panasonic’s premium HIT panels are made with heterojunction technology to minimize electron loss and dual-sided cells that multiply energy output, resulting in an industry-leading temperature coefficient of -0.258% /⁰C. The EverVolt battery storage system stores electricity for instant access during peak hours and grid outages, providing homeowners with the ability to tap into their private energy storage anytime. The total home energy solution consisting of Panasonic premium HIT solar panels and EverVolt allows homeowners to optimize their investment by lowering their carbon footprint, improving grid independence and saving money.

Panasonic solar panel and battery storage customers also receive the added benefit of peace of mind, knowing their whole home energy solution is backed by one of America’s most trusted brands with a century of financial stability and reliability. When installed by a Panasonic Authorized, Premium or Elite Installer, the Panasonic HIT solar panels include a TripleGuard warranty which covers the solar panel performance, workmanship, parts and labor for 25 years. EverVolt is backed by Panasonic’s 10-year product and performance warranty, one of the best in its class for homeowners.

Can EverVolt be added to an existing solar system already on a home, or is it only compatible with a new installation of panels?

EverVolt battery storage can be installed whether or not homes have an existing solar system. Available in both AC- or DC-coupled versions and storage options ranging from 11-102 kWh, EverVolt is customizable to fit homeowners’ needs.

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The use of batteries for energy storage is expected to grow faster than that of other flexible assets in the period to 2030 and beyond, as renewable energy generation expands, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said in research published on Wednesday. Battery storage will increase to 26 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from 3 GW in 2020 across the five major European power markets, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, WoodMac forecast in the findings, which were aimed at investors in energy systems.

The study of European power system flexibility assessed the longevity of traditional technologies to offset supply and demand imbalances on networks – which must maintain a constant voltage level to avoid crashes – versus batteries, which are still a small market segment. Demand for flexibility will increase with the closure of older thermal and nuclear power stations and the transition to wind and solar plants and electric vehicles, which will make massive and sudden demands on grids.

The more than eight-fold growth in battery storage would outpace that of existing flexible assets – namely pumped storage plants, cross-border interconnectors and gas “peakers” – where capacity is seen increasing to 205 GW by 2030 from a current 122 GW, the research showed. The latter, made by companies such as Wartsila (WRT1V.HE) or Sembcorp (SCIL.SI), are fast engines that provide bursts of power at short notice.

“Gas peakers will compete for more market share in the 2020s. They will have a good decade complementing the renewable power system,” said WoodMac analyst Rory McCarthy. “But by 2030, battery storage gets so cheap, it will be difficult to see more net addition for peakers,” he added.

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In this Greentech Media series, we’re asking people with jobs in cleantech — from installing solar panels, to permitting wind projects, to promoting building energy efficiency software — to tell us what they really do all day.

We hope this series can serve as a source of information and inspiration for recent graduates, cleantech professionals planning their careers or anyone who wants to transition into the industry. We also hope it makes cleantech opportunities more visible and accessible to those groups, including women and people of color, who are underrepresented in our growing industry.

What do people in energy storage business development do?
2019 was the biggest year ever for energy storage in the United States. As of late 2019, there were planned or contracted utility-scale storage projects in 47 states, per Wood Mackenzie.

Laura Meilander is one of the people working to expand the energy storage market even further. Meilander is vice president of business development at Convergent Energy + Power, a storage-focused developer, owner and operator based in New York. She is responsible for growing Convergent’s book of business with utility companies.

“The [utility business development] team’s goal is to build as many energy storage projects as possible, as long as it is advantageous and feasible for both us and the utility customer,” Meilander explained.

Front-of-the-meter storage has found a foothold across the United States by providing a range of services, according to Wood Mackenzie’s most recent Energy Storage Monitor. Services for utilities include ancillary services in the territories of PJM, NYISO, ERCOT, ISO-New England and CAISO, standalone and solar-paired capacity applications, and distribution upgrade deferral and non-wires solutions in constrained parts of New York and Massachusetts.

“As part of my role, I identify and connect with utilities that could benefit from a battery storage system. As a result, I am constantly communicating with potential customers,” said Meilander.

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The global battery energy storage market is projected to grow from USD 5.7 billion in 2020 to USD 7.3 billion by 2021

The study covers the battery energy storage market across segments. It aims at estimating the market size and its growth potential across different segments such as application and region. The study also includes an in-depth COVID-19-focused profiles and analysis of key players in the market, along with their company profiles, key observations related to product and business offerings, recent developments, and key market strategies to cater to the growing market demand during the current pandemic.

The utilities segment is projected to grow at a higher growth rate than the other applications during the forecast period

The utilities segment is likely to account for the largest share in the battery energy storage market, by application. According to the US EIA and NREL, utility-owned battery energy storage systems play a crucial role in the operations of current and future energy generation mix of a country. In addition to the system flexibility it provides, a battery energy storage system also offers reliable interconnections in neighboring power systems. The utilities segment is mainly being driven by the increasing financial incentives and regulatory supports from the governments globally.

Asia Pacific is projected to be the largest and fastest-growing battery energy storage market during the forecast period

The Asia Pacific region is projected to be the fastest-growing market for battery energy storage during the forecast period. The market in the region is expected to witness a moderate decline during the forecast period due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The region is the largest market for battery energy storage and home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Asia Pacific also plans for electrification in remote areas, which are mainly off-grid in several countries. The governments of various countries in this region focus on minimizing the adverse effects of the energy sector on the environment. Some of the major battery energy storage system manufacturers based in Asia Pacific are Samsung SDI, LG Chem, Hitachi, Panasonic, and NEC Corporation.

The battery energy storage market includes major players, such as ABB (Switzerland), LG Chem (South Korea), NEC (Japan), Panasonic (Japan), Samsung SDI (South Korea), AEG Power Solutions (Netherlands), General Electric (US), Hitachi (Japan), Siemens (Germany), Tesla (US), and Schneider Electric (France). The study includes COVID-19-focused profiles and analysis of these players in the battery energy storage sector, with their company profiles, recent developments, and the key market strategies.

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There was a near-70% increase in capacity of operational energy storage projects in China paired with solar energy from 2018 to 2019, according to figures recently published by the China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA).

The Alliance has just released a set of quarterly deployment figures analysing the energy storage industry around the world in 2020 so far, while also assessing the drivers for solar-plus-storage in 2019 and going forwards.

CNESA found that around 800.1MW of energy storage project capacity – including thermal molten salt as well as batteries and other technologies – was paired with solar in China by the end of 2019, an increase of 66.8% from figures taken at the end of 2018.

The Alliance’s in-house analysis team said 320.5MW of newly operational solar-plus-storage capacity came online during 2019 in China, a 16.2% increase on capacity added during the previous year. The vast majority of total capacity, 625.1MW, or 78.1%, was paired with centralised generation, with the remaining 21.9%, paired with distributed solar generation.

‘Solar-plus-storage model will become one of the primary models for energy storage development in the future’

CNESA chairman Yu Zhenhua and senior research manager Ning Na said that with solar in China reaching “near grid parity” and the industry moving from a subsidised to unsubsidised model of deployment, energy storage could help confront the challenges of integrating variable solar generation and putting energy on the grid at times when it is most needed rather than at the time it is generated.

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MingYang Smart Energy has deployed energy storage technology at the 43MW Huian Quanhui offshore wind farm in China’s Fujian province.

The turbine manufacturer’s subsidiary, Quant-Cloud, developed the storage technology to enhance the typhoon resiliance capabilities of MingYang’s offshore wind turbines.

At the Huian Quanhui wind farm an energy storage system is installed in the tower of each turbine.

It marks the first installation of an energy storage system in the region’s typhoon zone, following the demonstration of MingYang’s MySE5.5MW typhoon-proof offshore turbine at Xinghua Bay offshore wind farm.

When a power outage is caused by typhoon, normal operation of the wind turbine’s yaw system has to be maintained to prevent excessive load on the grid, caused by yaw failure, said MingYang.

Backup power supply can ensure the continuous operation of the yaw system in the extreme case of power failure and reduce the load of the turbine, said MingYang.

MingYang’s Quant-Cloud team initially proposed a solution of applying an energy storage system to a wind turbine in a typhoon area to ensure safety during a grid outage.

Compared with a diesel generator, the energy storage system is a cleaner, safer alternative, MingYang said.

Quant-Cloud’s technology also deploys ‘big data’ to support the turbine to track wind direction changing in real time when the grid is cut off during a typhoon, to reduce the impact of extreme winds blowing against the nacelle.

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One of the biggest challenges for renewable energy research is energy storage. The goal is to find a material with high energy storage capacity and energy storage material with high storage capacity that can also quickly and efficiently discharge a large amount of energy. In an attempt to overcome this hurdle, researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have proposed a brand-new carbon nanostructure designed to store energy in mechanical form.

Most portable energy storage devices currently rely on storing energy in chemical form such as batteries, however this proposed new structure, made from a bundle of diamond nanothread (DNT) does not suffer from the same limiting properties as batteries, such as temperature sensitivity, or the potential to leak or explode. I have previously written about carbon nanotubes, and their applications in everything from Batman-like artificial muscle, to an analogy of the fictional element Vibranium, but a lot of research around carbon nanotubes is already focused on energy harvesting and energy storage applications.

What makes this energy storage method different is the method by which energy is stored, and also the related increased robustness of the resultant material. Dr Haifei Zhan and his team at the QUT Centre for material science used computer modelling to propose the structure of these ultra-thin one-dimensional carbon threads. The theory is that these threads should be able to store energy when they are twisted or stretched, similar to the way we store energy in wind-up toys. By turning the key, we force the spring inside into a tight coil. Once the key is released, the coil wishes to release the extra tension held within it and begins to unfurl. In doing so it transfers that mechanical energy into the movement of the toy’s wheels.

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In times when technological advancements happen every second, it’s hard to imagine an industry that has gone untouched by the tech revolution.

And energy — batteries in particular — is going through a renaissance very quickly due to the new opportunities presented by the innovation waves hitting the market. Throughout my experience working with various companies — from startups developing new energy efficiency solutions like batteries, to behemoth companies pushing innovation in their respective spaces — I have noticed a large shift globally in how innovation has been transforming various industries. And energy is not an exception to this rule.

Increasingly and unexpectedly, the small devices that powered our phones or computers only a few years ago have the capacity to power cars and even buildings today. And it’s not just the size-to-power ratio that has been changing — the sources of energy have been dramatically changing too.

According to UBS (via CNBC), energy storage costs will fall between 66% and 80% over the next decade, while the energy market will grow to $426 billion around the world. As renewable sources become cheaper and help ensure less damage to the environment, new-age batteries could become the solution to a smooth transition from fossil-driven fuels to renewable sources with a focus on solar and wind energy.

Not only is there a massive shift toward more sustainable, cleaner energy sources in general, but there also seems to be an improved capacity for energy storage and an introduction of more effective techniques with the goal to gradually, fully eliminate the need for natural gas.

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