Subsidies will be available to residents of South Australia who want to purchase home battery systems from next month, the state’s Premier has announced.

On Saturday, the office of Premier Steven Marshall MP announced that more South Australians then ever will have access to “more affordable, reliable, secure energy”, revealing the opening of the Home Battery Scheme.

Up to 40,000 households will be eligible to receive funding towards the cost of home battery storage systems, which are in most cases – although not always – paired with solar PV installations. The state government will provide up to AU$100 million (US$71.22 million) in funding, while the Commonwealth Government (Australia’s national government) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining Dan van Holst Pellekaan via its Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to also provide a funding package, again worth AU$100 million.

The latter CEFC funding is understood to be enabling the additional offering of low-cost loans for solar, storage and related equipment, “competitive, flexible loans where needed, in addition to the subsidies,” Dan van Holst Pellekaan said, through which his administration expects “to be able to further assist households [to] overcome the upfront financial barriers to accessing storage technology”.

As with similar schemes already opened in limited regions of the world including Germany, Japan and latterly California, the Home Battery Scheme will offer assistance for a portion of a system’s cost. In South Australia’s case that will be capped at AU$6,000 per customer. Sample quotes from providers in Australia peg the cost of the likes of Tesla Powerwall 2 and Sonnen’s Eco systems between around AU$9,000 to AU$12,000.

The term “market disruptor” is seemingly thrown around for every new technology with promise, but it will be quite prescient when it comes to energy storage and U.S. power markets.

New U.S. energy storage projects make solar power competitive against existing coal and new natural gas generation, and could soon displace these power market incumbents.  Meanwhile, projects in Australia and Germany show how energy storage can completely reshape power market economics and generate revenue in unexpected ways .

In part one of this series, we discussed the three ways energy storage can tap economic opportunities in U.S. organized power markets. Now in part two of the series, let’s explore how storage will disrupt power markets as more and more capacity comes online.

New projects in Colorado and Nevada embody “market disruption”

True market disruption happens when existing or incumbent technologies can only improve their performance or costs incrementally and industries focus on achieving those incremental improvements, while an entirely new technology enters the market with capabilities incumbents can’t dream of with exponentially falling costs incumbents can’t approach.

As energy storage continues getting cheaper, it will increasingly out-compete other resources and change the mix of resources that run the grid.  Recent contracts for new solar-plus-storage projects signed by Xcel Energy in Colorado and NV Energy in Nevada will allow solar production to extend past sunset and into the evening peak demand period, making it competitive against existing fossil fuel resources and new natural gas.

In fact, energy storage can increasingly replace inefficient (and often dirty) peaker plants and gas plants maintained for reliability.  This trend isn’t limited to utility-scale power plants – behind the meter (i.e., small-scale or residential) energy storage surged in Q2 2018, installing more capacity than front-of-meter storage for the first time.

US energy storage deployments for the first time saw home energy storage beating out front-of-meter storage figures in the second quarter according to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables’ most recent US Energy Storage Monitor.

Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables (formerly known as GTM Research) this week published its most recent US Energy Storage Monitor in collaboration with the Energy Storage Association, revealing that 156.5 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy storage were deployed in the second quarter of 2018, 24% over the MWh installed in the first quarter of 2018 but a phenomenal 200% over that which was deployed a year earlier (though it’s worth noting that Q2’17 was particularly low).

In terms of MW installed, the second quarter saw 61.8 MW installed compared to 43.6 MW installed in the first quarter of 2018 and up 60% year-over-year.

The top energy storage markets across the United States depend on the sector in question, with California leading the residential and non-residential sectors, but Arizona driving front-of-meter deployments.

Residential deployments for the quarter were concentrated in California and Hawaii, which together accounted for 72% of all MWh deployed in the quarter. Brett Simon, a Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables senior analyst, believes that there are no signs that either state will yield their grasp on the top two spots for residential solar installation — though there is a race for the number three spot, with both Massachusetts and Arizona making ground.

“So far in 2018, 24 states and the District of Columbia have taken some form of regulatory or legislative policy action with respect to energy storage, with even more states poised to do so in 2019,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the Energy Storage Association. “The industry is bullish about continued state action designed to ensure fair and equal access for storage to the grid and markets, to enable competition in all grid planning and procurements, and to capture the full value of energy storage.  As these barriers to storage are removed in state markets, we will likely see new state names on the leaderboards for residential, non-residential, and front-of-the-meter deployments.”

While the growth of the residential market segment will remain strong, the authors of the report do not expect that pace of growth to continue for the rest of the year due to the lack of supply.

Residential installers and distributors are saying that there are not enough residential storage systems available to meet demand, Brett Simon, senior energy storage analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, told Greentech Media.

Usually the second half of the year tops the first half, but because of lithium-ion constraints, Simon is expecting comparable numbers for residential energy storage deployments in the second half. Longer term, however, Wood Mackenzie does not expect lithium-ion battery supply to be an issue because several large battery manufacturing plants are scheduled to open early in the next decade.

Another report also saw strong growth in residential energy storage. The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) reported that residential energy storage additions grew by 202% from 2016 to 2017 while non-residential storage deployments grew at only a 9% rate.​

The Wood Mackenzie report found that most of the growth in the residential storage market came from California and Hawaii, which accounted for 72% of the megawatt hours of energy storage deployed in the second quarter.

Most of the growth in storage deployment over the second quarter was the result of a rebound in the non-residential market and the continued strength of the residential market, the report said.

The strong performance of residential energy storage is not “an aberration,” Simon told Utility Dive via email. He expects the economics of residential storage to continue to improve, as net metering programs change and utility tariffs shift to more time-of-use rates. In addition, “BTM solar installers continue to improve their understanding of storage and are more heavily investing this piece of their business line,” Simon said.

Simon expects California and Hawaii to continue to lead the residential energy storage market because of favorable policies. California’s second Demand Response Auction Mechanism 2019 results included at least 2 MW of BTM energy storage. And the state’s Self Generation Incentive Program, which offers incentives for BTM storage projects, was recently extended by the legislature with $800 million in funding.

US-based energy storage technology provider Powin Energy has claimed it has a pipeline close to 500MWh of projects under contract, including recent awards totalling 70MWh for customers in North and Central America and in Italy.

Powin supplies lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for utility-scale energy storage projects, delivering large-scale systems into strategically important markets. The company, which in 2017 was awarded some big contracts in leading storage market territories including a 26.5MWh project in California and a 52.8MWh roll out of systems in Canada, made a ‘pivot’ towards the end of that year from developing projects to a focus on technology provision.

An update from the company issued this week spells out just how active it currently is. There is a sizeable microgrid system under construction, coupled with an islanded natural gas generator in Mexico, using a 12MW/12MWh battery storage system. Aiding operations at a manufacturing plant, the system will provide voltage and frequency regulation as well as emergency spinning reserve for the manufacturing facility.

In Italy, Powin will provide a battery system for deployment at a coal power plant, a 10MW/10MWh system to deliver frequency regulation services to the grid. The unnamed customer is a large utility company. In Energy-Storage.news’ recent video round table feature, ‘Silver bullets are for werewolf movies: Being real about energy storage’, panellist Marek Kubik of rival storage tech provider Fluence used an example of a project he had worked on in Chile to illustrate how batteries deployed at existing coal plants can work together to boost efficiency and by extension play a role in emissions reduction.

Powin also highlighted the completion of two recent projects in Ontario, Canada, a market which Energy-Storage.news has pointed out many other providers and developers have also spotted the potential of. While many recent headlines have focused on the commercial and industrial sector and the business case for ‘peak shaving’ by businesses that pay high rates for electricity due to Ontario’s Global Adjustment Charge policy, Powin’s two completed projects deliver ancillary services for the province’s IESO (Independent electricity system operator).

TORONTO, September 6, 2018 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — TORONTO, September 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ —

CellCube Energy Storage Systems Inc. (“CellCube” or the “Company”) (cse:CUBE) (cse:CUBE.CN) (otcqb:CECBF) (Frankfurt: 01X) is pleased to announce the signing of a sales partnership agreement with Bettenergy Company Ltd. (“Bettenergy”) for the development in Thailand of microgrid and solar plus storage applications.

Bettenergy, with headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, is a leading solution provider for renewable powered energy projects ranging from rural community microgrids to power distributed energy resource projects for the private sector. The company develops and markets projects throughout Thailand that help mitigate renewable intermittency from standalone photovoltaics deployment. Bettenergy provides solutions for overcoming power supply problems from public grids in rural and commercial and industrial segments.

“We are very proud and honoured to be authorized by CellCube as their sole sales partner in Thailand. CellCube is the leading supplier of vanadium redox flow energy storage systems with the most proven and advanced technology with over 130 installations globally. We are confident, that with support from CellCube, we will rapidly grow our business and be a trusted solution of choice for the Thailand energy Industry,” said Supaporn Saengtrakulcharoen, Director of Bettenergy.

“We are delighted to start working hand-in-hand with Bettenergy in their development of sustainable renewable energy projects,” states Stefan Schauss, President of CellCube. “CellCube energy storage flow technology provides the dominant solution for long-duration storage allowing 4 to 16 hours of stored energy and will substantially help to build additional resiliency in local power grids. CellCube’s products match the long-lasting product life time of renewable generation assets and can provide up to a 30 year supply of stored energy without any degradation in storage capacity.”

Macquarie Capital Korea, a subsidiary of investment firm Macquarie Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the county office of Goesan in South Korea to finance a significant solar-plus-storage project, while it has also invested in what is said to be the largest energy storage project in the country.

A company spokesperson confirmed to Energy.Storage.News that the MoU is for a 16MW solar PV project with 35MWh of energy storage capacity in Goesan, North Chungcheong Province, central Korea. This project would supply power to the equivalent of 7,700 homes each year.

Income from the project will be shared with the residents of 100 local households and the project will be handed over to the locals after 25 years.

Macquarie will soon announce the EPC firm for the project.

Separately, Maquarie has also invested in energy storage projects at five of steel manufacturer SeAH Group’s factories in Korea. The overall combined project base of 175MWh will be the largest in Korea, the company claimed.

Notably, South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries is also set to install a 70MWh standalone energy storage system at its own facilities in Changwon, as well as a smaller battery installation co-located with solar PV.

The Macquarie project is expected to save KRW130 billion (US$115 million) in electricity costs for the factories over the next 15 years through peak shaving

LSIS, a smart energy company in Korea, will provide be responsible for design, procurement, construction and operation of the project, while Macquarie finances and develops the plants.

Macquarie Capital Korea chairman John Walker said: “As renewable energy penetration increases, energy storage increasingly becomes a critical part of the modern energy infrastructure. Macquarie is a leading investor in the energy storage sector, having made investments in various markets around the world, and is committed to supporting the Korean government’s policies in improving the efficiency of the Korean electricity infrastructure by constantly developing innovative methods of developing and financing new technologies.”

Macquarie-owned Green Investment Group (GIG) recently acquired PV developer Conergy Asia & Middle East.

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Maxwell Technologies, Inc.MXWL, -4.01% a leading developer and manufacturer of energy storage and power delivery solutions, today announced a grid energy storage subsystem design-in with Siemens to deliver economical, fast responding, long life grid voltage and frequency support solutions. The new Siemens Static VAR Compensator plus Frequency Stabilizer (SVC PLUS FS) enables ISOs, electric utilities and transmission system operators to have better control of their grids and reduce the risk of blackouts.

The combined effect of the rapid increase in solar and wind electricity generation with the decommissioning of traditional coal and gas-fired power plants runs the risk of increasing momentary grid imbalances due to less inertia in the grid. Power loss caused by these imbalances can result in significant economic damage for electricity consumers, as they may be dropped from the grid during periods of system instability.

The grid system inertia deficit is directly addressed in Siemens’ SVC PLUS FS through the use of ultracapacitor (supercapacitor) energy storage. Maxwell’s Grid Energy Storage Systems are an integral design element in the SVC PLUS FS that provide system inertia in the form of fast, active power injection, which bridges the time gap between grid disruption and the activation of secondary power reserves. The SVC PLUS FS can feed the reactive power needed for stable grid operation in less than 50 milliseconds. At the same time, up to 200 megawatts of electric power stored in the ultracapacitors can be transferred to the grid.

Due to their rapid response time at high power levels, long lifetime, and minimal maintenance, Maxwell ultracapacitors were selected as the energy storage asset of choice to provide grid frequency and voltage support. Moreover, due to the high power density of the ultracapacitor subsystem, the SVC PLUS FS takes up about two-thirds less space than a comparable battery storage solution at the reference power of 50 megawatts.

“Through a rigorous evaluation of various energy storage technologies and manufacturers, it became clear that Maxwell was the best partner for integration in the SVC PLUS FS solution based upon their capability to design and engineer grid-scale systems utilizing their field-proven commercial supercapacitor technology,” said Alexander Rentschler, head of product lifecycle management for transmission solutions at Siemens. “We look forward to deploying SVC PLUS FS, enabled by Maxwell’s Grid Energy Storage Systems, that will provide grid operators with an efficient and future-proofed solution to maintain grid power stability and enable more renewable power generation.”

The California legislature last week approved SB 700, which extends funding for the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), the state’s chief vehicle for expanding behind-the-meter energy storage.

While solar and storage advocates cheered the bill’s passage for the positive impacts it will have on deployment, the bill also seeks to bring the SGIP more in line with the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals.

The state has acted as a leader in fighting climate change and reducing GHG emissions by setting a 100% renewable portfolio standard and increasing electric vehicles on the road. GHG reduction is one of the statutory goals of SGIP.

A key question when it comes to climate impacts is whether storage batteries are being charged by clean energy and discharged during times of high fossil fuel use.

Any changes are likely to become more apparent as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) updates the regulations for SB 700. The changes also reflect some of the challenges facing the storage industry in California.

GHG targets unmet

Every year, the CPUC issues a report card on the SGIP program. The current report, released in November 2017 to reflect 2016 performance, found that while SGIP is generally helping to reduce system peak demand and customer bills, the program’s GHG reduction targets are not being met.

In theory, charging a storage device during low-price periods and discharging during high-price periods saves customers money. Using energy storage to offset peak-hour generation was assumed to reduce GHG emissions. However, the report found that during 2016, the non-residential storage projects analyzed increased GHG emissions by 726 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

To reach the GHG goals, SGIP storage projects must charge during cleaner grid hours and discharge during dirtier grid hours, or peak marginal GHG emissions hours. That doesn’t always happen.

The report said that the 2016 GHG shortfall was principally due to “rate designs that are misaligned with peak marginal GHG hours, which prevent customers from receiving signals that would lead to GHG reductions.”

Demand for residential energy-storage is surging in the U.S., with more capacity installed in the second quarter than in all of 2017.

Consumers installed home batteries with 57.5 megawatt-hours of storage capacity last quarter, according to a report Wednesday from the Energy Storage Association and Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. That’s more than the 39.8 megawatt-hours added during all of last year. It was also the first time residential storage exceeded big utility-scale projects, which totaled 51 megawatt-hours for the quarter.

Declining costs are helping drive the surge in energy storage, along with wider availability of solar-plus-storage products. At the same time, consumers are showing more interest in generating and using their own power, and utilities are starting to impose time-of-use rates with prices that vary depending on when electricity is consumed. California will soon require solar atop almost all new homes, which should encourage greater battery adoption.

The residential market is “moving beyond simply being a cool toy and into something that’s being widely deployed and used by people across the country,” said Brett Simon, a senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, in an interview.

Residential installations were concentrated in California and Hawaii, which both have ambitious clean-power targets.

More growth is coming. Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables expects residential storage installations to almost triple in 2019 from this year.