2017 WAS A BREAKOUT YEAR for battery-based energy storage in the US electric utility space. With 431MWHr of new capacity added during the year, it nearly doubled the total of existing prior amounts, with the total now exceeding 1GWHr of storage. 2018 should again double the total installation, with the total then to exceed 2GWhr. Both behind the meter and front-of-the-meter areas are growing, and by 2019, the US market for energy storage should exceed $1.2 billion, according to GTM and the Energy Storage Association.

Global markets were just as exciting. Outside of the US, another 1.9 GWHr of storage capacity was added, with Australia coming in second, just behind the US, at nearly 420MWHr of new capacity. Germany, China and Japan rounded out the top five installers, with 380, 330, and 280 MWHr respectively. This is substantial, especially considering the populations of Australia and Germany to be about 8 percent and 25 percent that of the US. There is now enough installed base to provide significant O&M information for the benefit of upcoming owners of such technology. By 2022, this will be a reasonably mature technology, with global deployment totals increasing tenfold between the beginning of 2018 and the end of 2022.

There are several mainstream utility system suppliers currently engaged in projects of 10MWhr and larger. Early in 2018, FERC directed the regional authorities, in the ISO/RTO category, to explicitly define tariffs (i.e. revenue opportunities) for the specific services that energy storage facilities can provide to the grid. These are sure to include fast-response regulation services for load and frequency, spinning reserve, black start, and energy arbitrage.

While battery energy storage systems (BESS) are in the high-growth spotlight, there are alternative technologies which can provide even better ROI for existing traditional plants. Thermal storage of media at both low and high temperatures create interesting opportunities. Storage of sufficient chilled media at just 40 deg-F (5 deg-C) improves the economics, efficiency and output capabilities for gas turbines, replacing simple inlet sprays or chilling systems with a more energy efficient alternative, using easily operated and maintained existing technologies. For the more conservative owners, there’s no need to worry about the risks of a “science experiment” here.

As grid operators prepare for even greater levels of bi-directional power flow, the fast regulation capabilities of storage will be needed to keep the grid stable and responsive. Flywheels added to BESS can amplify fast regulation down to millisecond response times. While not yet ready for primetime, flow battery systems promise greater lifetime and reduced physical footprint over the current technology of choice, lithium-ion batteries, so “stay tuned for further developments” here. Markets for BESS will be decades long, as renewables continue to penetrate, and older traditional coal-fired and nuclear generators age out of national fleets.

Clean energy news coverage often focuses on the successes and big strides taken forward by the industry in ‘record-breaking terms’: “world’s biggest battery,” “first hybrid to combine storage with x” and so on. Reporting in these terms is obviously an attention-getter, but in any relatively young industry such as ours, boundaries are there to be broken, so perhaps sometimes these developments in themselves are not as telling as might appear.

After reporting last week on the findings from EMMES, the European Market Monitor on Energy Storage from Delta-ee and trade association EASE, which demonstrated a big rise in installations by MWh in 2017 across the continent, we delved further behind another record-breaking year with the report’s lead author, Valts Grintals of Delta-ee. Today, we’re looking at the front-of-meter, grid-connected segment, with C&I and residential energy storage to follow later this week on Energy-Storage.news.

What are some of the key takeaways from the latest edition of EMMES?

If you look at the end of 2017 and compare it to the annual market for 2016, the annual market size has grown 50%. The 2016 overall market was around 400MWh and in 2017 it was close to 600MWh.

That’s in line with market expectations actually. However, the big difference is that while the overall growth rate was in line with expectations, there were differences in details. So while the FTM (front-of-the-meter) market underperformed, the residential market was bigger than expected, in large part due to the German market significantly exceeding expectations and the Italian market coming out with a good number of installations. In 2017, there were about 8,000 systems installed in Italy and 37,000 in Germany. That’s against an expectation of around half of that in Italy and about 31,000 systems in Germany if you look at the average scenarios.

In addition the C&I (commercial & industrial) space has finally taken off and if we look further beyond 2017, in 2018 and 2019 we see markets growing somewhere between 45% and that’s mainly because the C&I market is beginning to take off and there’s a significant pipeline of projects in the UK and Germany which are of significant sizes.

So, breaking the market down into the segments you looked at, namely front-of-meter utility-scale storage, C&I energy storage and residential, what are your observations of trends and are there distinct lessons to be earned from each? Let’s start with front-of-meter.

FTM [total deployment] was basically lower than expected, mainly because in the UK market, there were a few EFR (enhanced frequency response) projects that were planned or in the pipeline to be commissioned by the end of 2017, but a lot of projects have been pushed to early 2018.

If you would assume that those installations came in 2017 we would have an extra 90MWh, so the growth rate would be even bigger. But the commissioning dates have been pushed into 2018. Nonetheless, even if there are delays, FTM projects are still coming online which is good.

FTM tends to fluctuate, just like the values they tend to tap into – so frequency response gets saturated, it starts going down, then if you look at all of Europe there might be a bigger uptake – Italy or Spain goes through the process of putting together their framework for ancillary services which usually tends to include frequency response and looking at markets like Australia, UK, Germany, the number of batteries, installing significant numbers of lithium batteries usually follows schemes and we’ll see more information on those schemes.

A new study led by chief scientist Alan Finkel has underlined Australia’s role as a leader in the household battery storage sector, and says Australia can, and should, be a leader of energy storage of all types, including renewable hydrogen as an export opportunity.

Finkel’s new report Taking Charge: The Energy Storage Opportunity for Australia is a 9-page summary and update of a detailed report on energy storage by the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) released in November 2017.

Readers may remember that report highlighted how little additional storage was needed – even with up to 35 per cent to 50 per cent wind and solar in the system, but also how critical it would be to a modern, decarbonised grid. Its conclusions were immediately attacked by conservatives as “eco-evangelism”.

The latest report includes updated data – such as the 21,000 battery storage systems estimated to have been installed in Australian homes in 2017.

More importantly, it includes much detail about the opportunities ahead, and comes at an important time as Australia’s political debate once again resolves, sometimes crazily, around the level of wind and solar that can be incorporated into the grid.

“We are entering an era of rapid technological transformation in electricity generation and usage,” Dr Finkel said in a statement.

“Energy storage technologies can not only help us benefit from the transition but to prosper through the creation of new industries, new jobs and opening up export markets.”

Over one thousand days is a long time to spend on any number of things, let alone a single project for a commercial & industrial (C&I) customer. But when planning and building the largest commercial battery system using second-life and new modules in Europe, and when the customer in question happens to be the most successful club in the history of Dutch football, it seems that is the amount of time needed.

We know this thanks to the completion of the 3MW/2.8MWh energy storage system launched at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff ArenA last week, a project long in preparation and open now to great fanfare by the project partners.

Home to Ajax football club of the Dutch Eredivisie, the stadium hosts around 15 league home games a season as well as international ties, European cup encounters and a range of non-sporting events throughout the year. Keeping the lights on during these high profile events is of paramount importance, and offers the perfect application of energy storage.

The system – brought together by a power electronics company, a car company, an aggregator, a sustainable construction firm, and an arena – offers a new energy paradigm for the stadium. Charged from the 1MWp solar on the roof as well as some grid supply, the battery’s primary function is to provide uninterruptable back-up power to the venue.

The battery, charged to 100% for such events, can be called on to provide full power to the ArenA for one hour during a major event with maximum energy intake, or three hours if dispensable consumers (e.g. kitchen facilities) are disconnected.

Comprised of 250 second life battery packs with 340 first life battery modules from Nissan, controlled by four bi-directional inverters from Eaton and managed by a control system from The Mobility House, the system can also perform peak shaving during these high demand events to limit the impact on a constrained local grid system.

When not providing these functions, the system is leveraged to perform frequency regulation by charging or discharging batteries based on grid operator requests. Using its own generation from onsite solar, the system can also trade energy on the wholesale market while supporting the grid.

This kind of stack will be familiar to some but according to Henk van Raan, director of innovation at the Johan Cruyff ArenA, it offers specific advantages to the location.

Without energy storage, the EU target for renewable energy cannot be reached. And that can only succeed if the incentives for investment are set correctly and if “ownership unbundling” rules in the EU energy market are strictly enforced, writes  Dr. Hans Wolf von Koeller.

Dr. Hans Wolf von Koeller is Head of Energy Policy at STEAG GmbH, a German company which plans, constructs, and operates power plants and distributed energy facilities using fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. 

Did you know that The Landlord’s Game is the predecessor of the popular board game Monopoly? In 1903, Elizabeth Magie developed the Landlord’s game, and created two sets of rules for her game: an anti-monopolistic set in which all were rewarded when wealth was created, and a monopolistic set in which the goal was to create monopolies and crush opponents.

Monopoly is still fashionable, the design has changed and so has the owner of the trade mark. But the rules of the game itself are not for sale. The most powerful players cannot climb to new levels of dominance where they are able to gain control of the game.

So, is the energy system any different? Unbundling in the EU energy market was intended to create a kind of anti-monopolistic set of rules. Competition in a European energy market was meant to lead to lower prices for customers but also secure the supply of energy, especially electricity. At the core of unbundling is a strict separation of the natural monopoly at all grid levels from power production, supply to customers and load management.

However, these fundamental principles risk being endangered by the electricity market reform currently under discussion at European level. Under the upcoming Austrian presidency of the EU, the Council and the European Parliament are expected to agree on a set of rules that foster innovative solutions for new services to participate in the system, including electricity storage.

Yes, EU energy rules are under constant change. This alone is already challenging for all players. But the greatest threat is if the rule makers decide to allow the game board – the grid – to take an ever increasing part in the game.

File this one under “I” for I’m not dead yet. The iconic US company GE has been weathering stormy seas of late, but its Power Conversion business is still alive and contributing to the renewable energy revolution. In the latest development, GE has just won a high profile contract to supply its high tech variable speed equipment for the massive new $1.87 billion Fengning hydropower and energy storage project in China’s Hebei Province, billed as the biggest facility of its kind in the world.

A Variable Speed Twist On The Old Pumped Energy Storage Tale

The roots of pumped hydro energy storage go back to the 19th century, but the technology really blossomed in recent years with the advent of renewable energy.

The basic idea is to use excess renewable energy to pump water uphill to a reservoir, which serves as a “natural battery,” sometimes called a water battery. When called for, the water is released to a hydropower plant downhill, which means that gravity does all the heavy lifting.

That’s just the basics. Getting the system to work with maximum efficiency is the tricky part.

Earlier this week, GE shared news that describes how the company’s variable speed technology will amp up the Fengning hydropower plant.

The Fengning plant has a capacity of 3.6 gigawatts. The pumped storage will add another 1.8 GW of capacity. Here’s the rundown on the role that variable speed drive will play:

Variable speed drive technology provides a full range of speed that is the best performing and most economical to pump water to the upper reservoir—when in the saving mode—or to release water to a lower reservoir to generate power.

GE’s contribution to the Fengning project will consist of two variable speed converters to match two generators provided by the company ANDRITZ Group, and one static frequency converter for four generators provided by China’s Dongfang Electric Machinery Co., Ltd.

Aside from greater efficiency, China is also counting on variable speed equipment and the Fengning plant to help ensure grid reliability during the Winter Olympics in 2022, when electricity consumption is expected to soar.

‘Batwind’, a much-talked about battery storage project due to being the first grid storage system connected to an offshore floating wind farm 25km off the Scottish coast, is now online.

In January, the project was described as holding great potential to learn from in showing how renewable energy could become a provider of baseload energy, by Statoil (now known as Equinor) and Masdar, two of the project’s partners which have committed to studying and analysing its performance.

The 1MW/1.3MWh ‘Batwind’ battery, designed and constructed by system integrator Younicos, is now complete and paired with ‘Hywind Scotland’, the floating offshore wind farm near Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.

“By adding energy storage capabilities to another world “first” – the world’s first floating wind farm – we hope to demonstrate the essential role that storage plays as we continue pushing the frontier in producing sustainable energy,” Younicos managing director Karim Wazni said.

“Specifically, we’ve equipped Batwind with our intelligent Y.Q software, which ensures that the battery ’learns’ the optimal storage conditions. Our software tells the battery when to store electricity and for how long, and when and how much to inject back onto the grid.”

Equinor has described the project as the first step towards a “scalable, global renewables energy storage system” and said it and Masdar are together developing the algorithms that instruct the system when to store power and when to send it to the grid. The software behind the algorithms will incorporate various data sources including weather forecasting, market pricing, maintenance, expected consumption data and how, when and if to provide grid services.

“Digitalisation is a key driver here. The more we feed Batwind’s power management system with data, the smarter it gets. In addition, Batwind can be utilised for other renewable energy sources including solar and onshore wind. We believe this will expand the market for all renewable energy sources,” Sebastian Bringsvaerd, development manager for Hywind and Batwind with Equinor.

A group of billionaires including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, and Richard Branson have invested in Form Energy. The company, out of MIT, is designing a new type of battery, thought to be based on sulfur. If early reports of success turn into practical solutions, the technology could store energy for months at a time at a fraction of the current cost.

The Readily-Available Solution

Form Energy has so far been reticent to reveal the exact details of their new technology. However, Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor and one of the company’s founders, has confirmed that one of the solutions it is pursuing is a “sulfur-flow battery.” Chiang described this technology in some detail in a scientific paper in 2017.

Flow batteries generally consist of two tanks containing some form of electroactive chemical elements. The liquid is pumped through a central charging chamber containing positive and negative electrodes (anode and cathode). This is where the energy storage and energy release process takes place. The chamber is separated in two by a membrane that ensures the liquids don’t come into actual contact with each other, as shown in the video.

The advantages of flow batteries include easy scalability and long cycle life. Among its disadvantages are relatively low energy density and high component cost.

Form Energy’s use of sulfur, which is both cheap and abundant, lowers those costs dramatically.

As described in PV-Magazine, the battery uses sulfur in the anode and aerated liquid salt in the cathode. Oxygen flowing in and out of the cathode makes the battery discharge and charge.

“This battery literally inhales and exhales air, but it doesn’t exhale carbon dioxide, it exhales oxygen. What this does is create a charge balance by taking oxygen in and out of the system,” Yet-Ming Chiang explained to PV-Magazine.