India is looking at gravity-based energy storage to take advantage of the technology’s short response times and flexibility when it comes to grid integration of clean energy sources.

With the South Asian nation’s increasing penetration of renewable energy onto the grid, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been compelled to look at energy storage proposals via a research programme. The programme covers a spectrum of technologies, in the knowledge that different storage products will be more suitable to different applications and that the demands on any single storage system can vary across locations.

In a notice describing gravity-based storage, MNRE stated: “In such systems, electricity is used to lift mass to higher elevation thereby storing potential energy and lowering this mass discharges the energy which can again be converted to electricity. Globally, a number of entities are working in this segment.”

Energy-Storage.news is as aware of at least two companies who are providing such storage systems. Swiss company Energy Vault has made its gravity-based technology (pictured above) commercially available and Indian energy giant Tata Power expected to be the first customer. Meanwhile, a UK-based company, known as Gravitricity, also offers such technology, which it describes on its website as a huge “clock weight” with a cylindrical weight of up to 3,000 tonnes suspended in a deep shaft by a number of cables.

MNRE has now invited preliminary project proposals on ‘Gravity Storage’, that will be examined by a committee before shortlisted proposals are then invited to submit a final proposal.

The stated aim of the invitation is “to develop state of the art technical know-how and develop a prototype system that has commercialisation potential in the short term.”

Aggreko partnered with National Grid U.S. to complete the installation of a 2MW/3.8MWh battery storage system in Pulaski, New York. 

The system, which is the first of its kind in National Grid’s U.S. service area, will provide supplementary electricity load relief to the utility’s customers at peak times, enhancing grid stability in the upstate New York area.

The system has been designed by Aggreko to handle 2 MW of customer demand, which is the equivalent of powering about 1,600 homes for up to two hours. 

The project will allow National Grid to maintain grid stability and continue working toward achieving a clean energy future for New York, as well as attaining broader state-wide goals. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pledged to deploy 1,500 MW of energy storage by 2025.

The energy storage resource is expected to help lower energy costs for National Grid’s customers in upstate New York, increasing the reliability of the grid and modernizing its distribution network, while deferring infrastructure and system upgrades. 

The fact that the company is able to defer adding extra capacity to its energy network also lessens the company’s emissions over the lifetime of the storage system.

The growth of battery storage in the power sector has attracted a great deal of attention in the industry and media. Much of that attention focuses on utility-scale batteries and on batteries for commercial and industrial customers. While these larger batteries are critical segments of the energy-storage market, the rapid growth of residential energy storage is outpacing expectations, and these household systems will likely become important assets sooner than many expect. The growth trajectory and potential value of these household systems to customers and the power grid warrants a closer look.

During the past four years, annual installations of residential energy-storage systems in the U.S. have jumped from 2.25 MWh in 2014 to 185 MWh in 2018. Many consumers clearly want the added control, reliability, and resilience that comes from having a battery at home. As a result, many communities may soon have an unexpected resource, a network of home-based batteries that residential customers have already paid for but are not using every day. What would it take to enable residential energy storage to help local utilities make power grids more cost-effective, reliable, resilient, and safe?

Putting Energy Storage Resources to Work

Grids in many regions are under increasing strain. Grid assets are aging. Intermittent sources of renewable energy generate increasing amounts of power, requiring more load balancing. The incidence of severe weather is rising. These trends are worsening bottlenecks and choke points in the energy delivery system, resulting in higher costs and threatening to increase local power outages.

Utilities are taking action to increase grid reliability and resilience. Some utilities already administer so-called demand-response programs that encourage customers to reduce power consumption during peak demand periods. Likewise, utilities are pursuing comprehensive grid-modernization programs to increase capacity and harden the grid system. And some utilities are investing heavily in utility-scale energy-storage solutions, putting big batteries next to power plants and transmission lines, and in substations to reduce costs and improve reliability.

As more customers invest in “behind-the-meter” residential energy-storage systems, utilities will gain another potential lever for balancing energy demand and supply. Residential batteries could be linked together and dispatched to deliver grid support services, much as utilities use demand-response programs and ancillary services resources today. Because the batteries are already in place, the marginal cost of dispatching residential energy-storage resources could be quite low. This could help utilities avoid more-costly remedies such as firing up inefficient peaking plants or building extra grid infrastructure that may only be used infrequently.

On June 13-14, the 2019 Australian Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition will draw together some of the most influential forces in the energy storage space to discuss industry trends, share strategies and get a hands-on look at the sector’s newest technology and innovations.

Energy system providers, utilities, all levels of government, commercial companies and other top energy storage players will be there to take advantage of the critical knowledge-sharing and networking opportunities.

This year’s theme, Energy Storage – The Great Enabler, will provide a guiding force behind the event’s range of activities, which include:

Thought-leading presentations
Expert panel discussions
Free professional development workshops
Targeted topic streams
And much more
The theme recognises the ability of energy storage to enable high penetration of renewable energy and perform a wide range of grid and microgrid support services, allowing for more efficient and resilient energy systems.

Attendees are invited to explore real, financially-viable case studies and solutions for utility, commercial, off-grid, micro-grid and residential applications.

Network and explore
Beyond the presentations and group discussions, attendees will have various opportunities to catch up with colleagues in the field and form new relationships during AES 2019’s social events.

In addition to lunch and tea breaks scheduled throughout each day, participants can unwind at the end of day one with a complimentary networking drinks function on the exhibition floor. Delegates can then continue the evening with a dinner cruise around Sydney Harbour, which will feature five-star food and entertainment along with spectacular views of Sydney’s iconic Vivid Festival.

Attendees will also have the option of registering for one of three site tours that will take place the day before the conference on Wednesday 12 June. The Ecoult Battery Laboratory, Food Bank’s TES Installation and the Alexandra Canal Depot will each offer a behind-the-scenes look at some of Australia’s most innovative and impactful energy storage technologies, granting participants practical knowledge to take back to their own organisations.

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Magnum Development, the owner of a large and geographically rare underground salt dome in Utah, have teamed to develop a massive project that could store up 1,000 MW of renewable energy year-round and provide it to variability-challenged Western power markets.

The companies this week signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop the $1 billion Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in Millard, in central Utah, MHPS CEO Paul Browning told POWER on May 30. The project has the backing of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R), who lauded the project for its potential to “put Utah on the map as the epicenter of utility-scale storage for the Western U.S.”

ACES will comprise a series of facilities above and within the Magnum Salt Dome, a geologic formation that was tectonically developed from a bedded salt deposit, and which seismic mapping suggests measures at least one mile thick and about three miles wide. Magnum has proposed future facilities at the site that could form a “Western Energy Hub”—essentially a series of mined caverns capable of storing natural gas, compressed air, and liquid energy products underground.

“With five salt caverns already in operation for liquid fuels storage, Magnum is continuing to develop compressed air energy storage (CAES) and renewable hydrogen storage options,” the company said in a statement Thursday. “Strategically located adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project, the Magnum site is positioned to integrate seamlessly with the Western U.S. power grid utilizing existing infrastructure,” it noted.

MHPS, meanwhile, is looking to build facilities to convert renewable power from Western power markets into renewable hydrogen, which would then be combusted at a 600-MW JAC-series combined cycle power plant it plans to build with a partner above ground at ACES. ACES will also be outfitted to harness CAES stored at the caverns, and MHPS plans to supplement the facility with solid oxide fuel cells and large-scale flow batteries, to ensure it can store energy 24/7, 365-day and flexibly dispatch as much as 1,000 MW at grid-scale to balance variability from renewables that are increasingly flooding Western markets.

Browning told POWER that the companies plans to build an initial 250-MW phase of underground storage by 2025. The project is currently in the development phase, and MHPS still needs to find partners to build the power plant, as well as suppliers for the solid oxide and flow battery technology.

Mitsubishi is leading an ambitious project to develop what it claims will be the world’s largest energy storage project.

The venture will take advantage of salt caverns owned by Magnum Development.

While lithium-based technology dominates the utility-scale battery market, the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project will look to develop four competing technologies with no lithium in sight. It will have the equivalent power rating of 1GW. The energy storage capacity figure, in GWh, has not been provided. A 100MW system has been installed in the UAE with similar sized projects in Australia and China also.

The hydrogen storage element of the scheme is part of a broader strategy by Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS). The company has developed a gas turbine for power plants that can operate efficiently with a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen. It has sketched out a technology roadmap that will eventually see a gas turbine using exclusively hydrogen. If the electrolysis used to create the hydrogen is powered by renewables, then that hydrogen can be considered a renewable energy source.

“In California and other states in the western United States, which will soon have retired all of their coal-fired power generation, we need the next step in decarbonization. Mixing natural gas and storage, and eventually using 100% renewable storage, is that next step,” said Paul Browning, president and CEO of MHPS Americas. “When we add gas turbines powered with renewable hydrogen to a hydrogen storage salt-dome, we have a solution that stores and generates electricity with zero carbon emissions.”

The site is adjacent to the Intermountain Power Project which Magnum says will give it access to a host f regional electricity connections. At the planned scale, the storage site will be able to serve 150,000 U.S. households with no seasonal variation.

Rocky Mountain Institute turned up the heat on Tri-State last year when it issued a report concluding 1 million consumers could save more than $600 million through 2030 if Tri-State retired some of its fossil-fuel plants. Now Guzman Energy says it has sufficient capital to help retire 800 MW of coal generation while also procuring cleaner energy.

“Rapidly changing economics, combined with new carbon reduction goals in states that include the majority of Tri-State’s members, mean there’s a lot at stake for those who own and are served by Tri-State,” Guzman President Chris Riley said in a statement.

The company’s proposal, said Riley, would help Tri-State and its members to immediately lower costs, “while simultaneously reaching compliance with new laws.” And while Tri-State is not currently interested in the proposal, Riley said the company looks forward to “taking the proposal directly to Tri-State’s owners and facilitating an open and transparent dialogue.”

Tri-State officials said the Guzman proposal lacked sufficient detail and “appeared to ask for exclusive negotiations.”

“Guzman Energy brought us an imaginative and creative high-level verbal proposal, which lacked any specific or meaningful detail or terms,” Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said in a statement. The company “requested a written proposal but Guzman refused to provide one, instead deciding to go the press,” he added.

With new energy legislation and rules in both Colorado and New Mexico, the company said the timing is not right to make a major change.

“Signing [an] exclusive agreement with a for-profit entity prior to development of state rules is not in the best interests of Tri-State members,” the company said.

The omnibus appropriations bill, which includes $150,000 for the Commerce Department “to conduct an energy storage systems cost-benefit analysis,” will yield much-needed insight into how batteries can bring value to Minnesota’s electrical grid, storage advocates said as they praised its passage.

The legislation “paves the way for a more resilient, efficient, sustainable, and affordable grid,” Energy Storage Association CEO Kelly Speakes-Backman said after it passed.

The system analysis will help to “quantify the value of adding storage to the grid and provide information on how much energy storage is needed to meet current and future demands on the Minnesota electric system,” she added.

The bill also allows utilities to petition to recover costs associated with implementing an energy storage pilot project. The legislature identified storage pilot goals, which include controlling frequency or voltage, mitigating transmission congestion, providing emergency power supplies during outages, reducing curtailment of existing renewable energy generators and reducing peak power costs.

Xcel Energy is the largest electric utility operating in Minnesota, and is supportive of Walz’s carbon-free vision. Last year, the company committed to bringing its entire operation to 100% carbon-free generation by 2050. The utility is also planning to reduce emissions 80% from 2005 levels by 2030.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Tina Smith (D-MN) recently led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in introducing the Promoting Grid Storage Act of 2019.

The legislation aims to boost research and development of technologies to enhance energy storage capabilities. It complements the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act introduced by Sens. Collins and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) last week, which would support grid-scale energy storage research and development and improve the efficiency of the U.S. electric grid.

The Promoting Grid Storage Act of 2019 is also supported by Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Cory Gardner (R-CO), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH).

“Unlocking the next generation of energy storage technology will unleash the potential of renewable energy and will be a powerful tool to help slow climate change,” Collins said. “This legislation takes a holistic approach to advance promising research and support technical assistance for all types of energy storage. Together with the BEST Act, which I introduced along with Senators Heinrich, Smith, Gardner, and a bipartisan group of Senators to promote grid-scale energy storage, we are making significant strides to promote clean, renewable energy. I urge our colleagues to join us in this bipartisan effort.”

The Promoting Grid Storage Act of 2019 would authorize $1.05 billion in funding over five years to improve coordination and collaboration of Department of Energy (DOE) energy storage research efforts, fund DOE grants to assist public and private entities that want to expand their energy storage capabilities and provide grants for pilot storage systems to help move energy-storage technologies from the laboratory to deployment.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the American Public Power Association, and the Energy Storage Association have endorsed the bill.