JEA, formerly known as the Jacksonville Electric Authority, as of April 1, 2018 removed net metering, and lowered the rate paid  of for any excess electricity produced that would have prior been net metered. A group of solar advocates – Solar United Neighbors – has been pushing back since the fall of 2017 when this change was originally proposed.

On April 19, 2018 the group filed a lawsuit (PDF) stating that JEA’s removal of net metering violates state law requiring net metering. The lawsuit also notes that “energy sent to the grid by a rooftop solar customer is credited at the fuel rate (currently 3.25 cents/kWh) on an instantaneous basis”. The utility currently charges 10.3¢/kWh for electricity generation, and credits that amount to solar power accounts.

Documents provided by Solar United Neighbors show more of what the utility is thinking. The JEA Board Agenda, October 17 2017 (PDF) when the ruling was proposed, shows more than just pushback against net metering and bill credits.

The below image is from the above document – and it shows some evidence of solar growth on the larger scale.

The document references an energy storage program in development – $2,000 incentive for a residential installation – and the large scale solar program above, as part of the Universal Solar Expansion and Land Acquisition. Projects in this program see to be sized as much as 50 MW each – and the utility notes that the quotes they’re getting for pricing per kWh are approaching the utilities current fuel price of 3.25¢/kWh.

Deep within the Department of Energy is a small agency devoted to supporting cutting-edge energy research: the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E. It’s only about 10 years old and not widely known or appreciated by the public — but among energy geeks, it is beloved.

By all accounts, ARPA-E is a rousing success. The National Academy of Sciences conducted an extensive assessment in 2017 and concluded as much. Of the roughly 500 grants the agency had given out at that point, about half had resulted in peer-reviewed research, about a quarter went on to leverage funding from the private sector, and around 13 percent resulted in new patents. And that’s with a deliberate focus on “high risk, high reward” investments.

The agency — originally created in 2007 by a bipartisan group of US lawmakers, fully funded by President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill in 2009, and put on firmer footing by Congress in 2011 — was consciously designed to mimic the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA), created way back in 1958 to do advanced research for the Department of Defense.

ARPA-E’s purpose is to identify promising advanced energy technologies and help them bridge the “valley of death” between basic research and commercialization — oh, and “to bring a freshness, excitement, and sense of mission to energy research that will attract the U.S.’s best and brightest minds.”

In its modest way, it has done that. Naturally, because it is a successful agency associated with Obama, Donald Trump hates it.

The 10MW Lower Road project in Essex and the 9MW Port of Tilbury projects have all land rights, planning and other consents and grid access rights in place necessary to start construction and enter operations.

They also have a number of revenue streams already attached to them, including two firm frequency response (FFR) contracts to begin on 30 October 2019, with the construction of both expected to be completed in Q2 next year.

The six-month FFR contracts will be followed by fulfilment of 12- and 15-year contracts secured in the T-4 Capacity Market auction for Port of Tilbury and Lower Road respectively.

As a behind-the-meter project, the 9MW project will also participate in Triad avoidance at London’s Port of Tilbury industrial port facility. Triad is the UK’s winter peak time-of-use charging for commercial and industrial ratepayers. Origami Energy, a creator of digital platforms and technologies for energy market participation as well as a developer of energy storage projects, will provide real-time monitoring, control and operation of the batteries once completed and will also bid for multiple new contracts to maintain the projects at full utilisation once commissioned.

Gore Street Capital launched the UK’s first listed fund for energy storage projects, Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (GSESF), in March of this year.

The European Commission’s decision to end the minimum import price (MIP) on solar imports from China sends the wrong message about Europe’s future support of the battery storage industry, according to a key figure at French power giant, Total.

Speaking to our sister site PV Tech, Arnaud Chaperon, who represents Total Group in Brussels as vice president of European public affairs, and who was formerly head of its renewable division, said the Commission’s decision came as no surprise. Echoing other manufacturer arguments, he also said an MIP expiry review should have been held, because the global PV market has changed significantly since the MIP extension and claimed that European demand is more driven by Member States’ tenders rather than the price of the modules.

Chaperon, however, included a third “much more impactful” issue, that of inconsistency in the Commission’s rhetoric over fair trade and how this may affect other European industries in the future. The lessons learned from solar have to be applied to other industries and especially the energy storage sector, he said.

“So it’s not necessarily MIP ending that’s the real issue for us. It’s the image that Europe is giving outside at a time where you have Trump protecting his industry in the US, you have India starting to protect and say be careful with the dumping from China and you have Europe fully open,” said Chaperon. “For the industry of the future when we have to compete to develop a battery industry for instance, it’s giving a bad signal.”

He noted that although China is not ahead of Europe in terms of energy storage technology, it is already well ahead in terms of scaling up, before adding: “If you want to develop a battery industry in Europe you need to be sure you are on a fair level playing field basis. It’s very important.”

Total Group has the unique position of being a solar manufacturer, PV developer and PV asset owner as well as being owner of Saft, the largest energy storage company in Europe.

The detailed New York Energy Storage Roadmap lays out a comprehensive vision for using energy storage to meet the state’s energy goals, such as meeting 50% of electric power needs with clean energy sources by 2030.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called for an energy storage target of 1,500 MW by 2025. But the roadmap’s overall analysis, conducted by the Department of Public Service and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, supports an even more aggressive target, as high as 3,000 MW. And, as analysts have noted, moving the target to 2030 would better align the deadline of the state’s Clean Energy Standard with the energy storage target and allow more time to meet a higher target.

The environmental review of the roadmap found that energy target would bring positive environmental impacts such as reductions in peak load demand during critical periods, increases in the efficiency of the grid and the displacement of fossil fuel generation by allowing greater integration of renewable energy resources.

Storage systems could mitigate the impact of as much as 2 million metric tons of avoided greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the level of criteria air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter, the PSC said.

With the environmental impact assessment of the roadmap approved by the PSC, the plan moves one step closer to implementation.

In a separate action, the PSC expanded the types of technologies that qualify to meet the state’s Clean Energy Standard. For the first time, some stand-alone storage systems will be eligible to help meet the clean energy target.

CARMEL, Ind. — MISO plans to hold a final Order 841 workshop on Oct. 10 to complete its collection of stakeholder opinions on its storage participation model, which will include an agreement for distribution-level storage but leave storage dispatch optimization to a later filing.

Here’s what the RTO has decided thus far.

Pro Forma for Distribution-connected Storage

MISO’s draft pro forma agreement for storage connected at the distribution level requires storage:

• Be registered and modeled in MISO;
• Secure agreements with distribution facilities so energy can be delivered to the MISO transmission system;
• Be able to receive MISO operating instructions; and
• Provide MISO with facility measurements and settlement meter data.

The agreement also specifies that MISO will make sure a storage resource owner isn’t charged twice for energy when it pays retail rates for wholesale charging. MISO said it will exclude the charging energy from wholesale rates in its settlements.

During a Sept. 13 Market Subcommittee meeting, Coalition of Midwest Power Producers CEO Mark Volpe asked if the agreement opens an avenue for distribution-connected storage assets to avoid MISO’s interconnection queue.

“This is not a way to circumvent the interconnection queue,” Director of Market Design Kevin Vannoy said.

“So you’re saying that distribution-level storage must go through the interconnection queue?” Volpe asked.

“I don’t have a definitive answer for that,” Vannoy responded.

Consumers Energy’s Jeff Beattie pointed out that many qualifying facilities that utilities must purchase power from under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act are connected at the distribution level.

Storage anywhere

Is that cycle worth it?

Power grid infrastructure in many parts of the United States is aging and struggling to meet increased electricity demand. In some specific areas, like ports and industrial facilities, high-powered equipment cannot be fully deployed because the grid cannot meet the intense but sporadic load demands.

The options for these necessary upgrades range widely, but can include protection equipment upgrades, pole replacement, communication networks, new lines for distribution of electricity, voltage support and system capacity increases.

With their flexibility and innovative features, ABB’s state-of-the-art microgrids and battery energy storage systems (BESS), are providing utilities and industries with innovative alternatives.

In Baltimore, MD, in response to growth and increased demand for power, ABB is supplying a BESS to Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE). The utility was forecasting an increase in peak demand that would cause equipment to exceed its thermal capacity.

BG&E had to evaluate the cost to perform a capacity upgrade of its substation equipment versus the costs of utilizing energy storage solution. ABB proposed a BESS solution that would be quick and cost-efficient to deploy.

The BESS, commissioned in March, is key for BGE, as it enables the utility to use electricity stored within the battery for the periods of this increased peak demand. The peak shaving made possible with the BESS gives the utility the power reliability needed through an alternative solution, one that is now being considered by more and more utilities across the continent.