Canadian manufacturer Sentinel Solar has announced a ‘plug-and-play’ energy storage system, the AHI Wave ESS, for residential use.

Designed for solar and storage applications, the new battery is based on the “safest, cleanest and most reliable battery chemistry ever,” according to its maker. The Ontario-based firm said it “closes the loop in the clean energy cycle” as a sustainably developed means to produce, store and consume clean energy.

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The US installed 41.2MW of energy storage capacity in the second quarter of 2016, up 126% from 18.3MW in Q1, according to the latest report from GTM Research.

However, GTM’s quarterly ‘U.S. Energy Storage Monitor’, found that deployment grew by just 1% on a year-on-year basis in Q2. GTM said this lack of growth was countered by a significant diversification of geographies and market segments for storage. However, Lithium-ion technology accounted for 99% of deployments in this period with aqueous batteries the second most used technology.

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US-based storage provider AES Energy Storage, a subsidiary of AES Corporation, has signed contracts with utility San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) to install two energy storage arrays with a combined capacity of 37.5MW.

AES will deploy its Advancion 4 storage systems at two SDG&E substations in San Diego County, California, with 30MW in Escondido and 7.5MW in El Cajon. They will help the utility improve regional reliability and integrate more renewable energy. The Advancion arrays will be able to provide 37.5 MW of power for four continuous hours and serve as a 75 MW of flexible resource to the grid.

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Australian power company AGL is to install the largest ‘virtual power plant’ in the world in Adelaide, South Australia using batteries from San Francisco-headquartered energy storage firm Sunverge Energy.

AGL will install 1,000 centrally controlled batteries in South Australian homes and businesses with a combined 5MW/7MWh storage capacity. The AU$20 million (US$15.4 million) project aims to help solve the state’s grid challenges and reduce the risk of power price shocks in the state. Last month saw a raging national debate over whether renewables had caused extreme electricity price hikes in the state with some claiming that renewables are being deployed too fast for the grid to cope. However new energy ministerJosh Frydenburg said that there were a number of complex factors in the price hikes with renewables only a small part of the problem.

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The energy trilemma is widely recognised as the need to achieve a low-carbon, cost-effective and secure energy source. It’s like a three piece puzzle – it should be simple to complete – but the commercial models currently in use always leave a piece missing.

Fossil fuels are cost-effective and secure, but they are not low-carbon. Renewable energy is clean and cost-effective, but intermittent. As such, the majority of the world is currently reliant on generating energy from fossil fuels to fill the troughs in renewable energy supply. But if we are to meet the COP21 targets then it is vital that fossil fuels are gradually phased out.

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E.ON Climate & Renewables North America is to build a 10MW battery energy storage facility with a 2MW solar array in collaboration with Arizonan utility Tucson Electric Power (TEP). The Iron Horse Battery Energy Storage Project is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017.

The grid-scale facility will provide frequency response and voltage control, and will be situated adjacent to the University of Arizona’s Science and Technology Park, southeast of Tucson.

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Ten years ago, Elon Musk outlined Tesla’s “secret” master plan to scale up its automotive business by building progressively cheaper vehicles, while also calling Tesla a “side project” to Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX. Much has changed since then, and in hindsight it’s difficult to argue that Tesla failed at this mission: The Model S beat its competition in the high-end luxury segment, and the premium mass-market Model 3 is set to debut at a base price of US$35,000. Following the company’s success thus far on implementing its first master plan, it’s no surprise that Elon Musk’s announcement that he was working on a second plan was met with great anticipation. Well last week he did release that plan, and it included autonomy, solar power, some vehicles we expected, and some vehicles we didn’t.  

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Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and energy storage firm is poised for another major initiative after the founder announced that he is working on a “Tesla Masterplan, Part 2.”

Musk took to twitter to relay the news and said he is hoping to publish the new plans later this week.

On hearing the news, Jigar Shah, the well-known clean energy entrepreneur and co-founder of SunEdison, now leading specialist finance company Generate Capital, posted that he had already predicted a “Tesla 2.0”. He also pointed to a blog of his in which he suggested that Tesla’s planned takeover of major residential solar installer SolarCity could help Musk create a company that is more valuable than Apple in the future. This would be achieved through the company’s new ability to integrate Electric Vehicles (EV), storage, efficiency, demand response, and solar capabilities.

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German manufacturer SOLARWATT is preparing to launch its MyReserve energy storage system in the UK by developing a partnership network with installers and designers.

The expansion has been prompted by a substantial investment by Stefan Quandt of the family that owns BMW, allowing the company to take advantage of what it sees as growing traction for solar energy in the UK.

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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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