A new report by the Smart Electric Power Alliance indicated 31 utilities, or 43 percent of the utilities surveyed for the study, added energy storage to the grid in the last year.

All told, 207 MW of energy storage was deployed last year in 829 systems. Utilities have now installed a total of 622 MW of energy storage in total.

As expected, California had the most energy storage established in 2016 at 120.5 MW, much of which was rapidly deployed in response to the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage leak. Indiana was the second at 22 MW, with Ohio at 16.1 MW.

Of the total added, 151 MW was used for utility supply. Non-residential accounted for 54 MW, with residential at 4.5 MW.

Energy storage is set to grow further, as the cost of battery-based storage has dropped more than 60 percent since 2012. Additionally, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would remove barriers to energy storage participation in wholesale markets. 

Click Here to Read Full Article

ALISO VIEJO, CA–(Marketwired – Aug 15, 2017) – XsunX, Inc. (OTC PINK: XSNX), a leading solar and energy saving technologies provider, announced today that sales interest in its popular solar car/truck port, energy storage, and EV charging configurations now outpace all other product offerings.

“Earlier this year, we outlined our anticipation that a sizable portion of our revenue growth will come from the sale of our solar car/truck port systems along with energy storage technologies,” stated Tom Djokovich, CEO of XsunX, Inc. “Today our solar car/truck port systems make up approximately 70% of the over $3.4 million in our current project bid channel and clients routinely request energy storage and/or EV charging solutions to be included in approximately half of all project’s we quote.”

This advanced level of paired energy production, management, and use sophistication seems to be evolving as the driving force for XsunX’s trajectory. The use of solar canopies that provide clients with the ability to utilize previously underutilized facilities such as parking areas, storage, or loading docks, combined with intelligent energy storage and EV charging further underscores the value of the Company’s offerings through the ability to meet a full range of client needs.

“We believe the numbers in our growing sales, and sales channel, underscore the value of investments we made early on in developing this turn-key product group, and we look forward to capitalizing on the market interest in these hybrid solutions, concluded Mr. Djokovich.”

Click Here to Read Full Article

In a move aimed at powering its transition to a low-carbon economy with energy storage, the UK is set to fund battery technology research to the tune of £246m ($320m).

Business and energy secretary Greg Clark is scheduled to announce a four-year investment round, called the Faraday Challenge, today.

According to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department, the funding will be distributed through three competition streams that will aim to boost UK-based R&D in storage technology.

A £45m research competition will be led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and will begin by creating a Battery Institute. This will consist of a consortium of universities and will aim to address the key industrial challenges in battery development.   

The next stage will be led by innovation funding body Innovate UK, which will hold R&D competitions designed to bring the most promising results of the Battery Institute closer to market.

For stage three, a competition led by the Advanced Propulsion Centre will focus on scaling up battery technology. The competition is aimed at finding the best proposal for a new open access National Battery Manufacturing Development facility.

Professor Philip Nelson, head of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), said batteries “will form a cornerstone of a low carbon economy, whether in cars, aircraft, consumer electronics, district or grid storage” and that “to deliver the UK’s low carbon economy we must consolidate and grow our capabilities in novel battery technology”.

Ruth McKernan, Innovate UK Chief Executive said: “By any scale, the Faraday Challenge is a game changing investment in the UK and will make people around the globe take notice of what the UK is doing in terms of battery development for the automotive sector.

“The competitions opening this week present huge opportunities for UK businesses, helping to generate further jobs and growth in the UK’s low carbon economy.”

Click Here to Read Full Article

New reports from Navigant Research indicate global power capacity additions for deployed utility-scale energy storage systems and distributed energy storage systems will exceed 50 GW by 2026.

Specifically, utility-scale additions are expected to grow from 1,158.8 MW now to 30,472.5 MW in 2026, and DESS additions should grow from 683.9 MW to 19,669.7 MW.

Navigant said energy storage has grown significantly in early-adopter markets and new markets alike. Utilities are also turning to them to help with grid modernization, changing regulations and new business models.

“Worldwide, the energy storage industry continues to gain momentum, with an increasing number of new projects being announced and commissioned,” says Alex Eller, research analyst with Navigant Research. “While most activity remains highly concentrated in select markets, newly announced projects indicate that significant geographic diversification is taking place.”

Though five countries now account for 58 percent of new energy storage capacity, that number will drop to 51 percent by 2026.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Powin Energy has entered into a contract with San Diego Gas & Electric to deliver a 6.5 MW/26 MW/h battery energy storage system in Escondido, California.

The project is subject to approval by the California Public Utilities Commission.

The proposed system will improve reliability on the existing electrical grid by optimizing the intermittent output of renewable energy sources, and allow SDG&E additional flexibility for its energy sources.

“I appreciate the confidence SDG&E has shown in Powin Energy by selecting us for this important project. We continue to find that utilities and IPPs see tremendous value in the fact we do our own engineering, software development, and manufacturing. It makes it easy for us to be adaptable to a given project’s unique requirements rather than offering one-size-fits-all solutions,” said Geoffrey Brown, president of Powin Energy.

CPUC has mandated SDG&E procure at least 165 MW of energy storage by 2020 and have all projects operational by 2024. To date, the utility has over 94 MW of deployed or contracted energy storage over 20 projects.

Powin Energy’s Stack140 is a modular, purpose-built 140 kWh battery array that scales from 125 kW to multiple megawatt applications. It is available in both indoor and NEMA 3R outdoor models, each of which is engineered to maximize energy density and minimize system footprint. 

Click Here to Read Full Article

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has estimated energy storage and renewable fuels other than hydro, wind and solar together provide four percent of electric capacity in the United States.

As of the end of last year, 195 utility-scale geothermal units were in operation, totaling 3.7 GW. The largest cluster of these are the Geysers complex in Northern California, which has a capacity of 943 MW.

Wood and wood waste biomass makes up the largest share of biomass at 10.2 GW of capacity. Municipal solid waste, landfill gas and other waste biomass have capacities of 2.2 GW, 2.12 GW and 0.8 GW respectively.

California leads the nation in hydroelectric pumped storage, geothermal, landfill gas and battery capacity, while Florida leads in municipal solid waste. Virginia’s Bath County is the site of a 3 GW hydreoelectric pumped storage plant, which is the largest in the nation. All geothermal capacity is located in seven states in the western United States, while landfill gas and wood waste generators are in 44 states and 32 states respectively.

Nearly all currently operating batteries and flywheels were added after 2010. Battery storage now totals 540 MW, with half located in California, Illinois and West Virginia. Nearly all of the nation’s 44 MW of flywheel storage are located in New York and Pennsylvania. 

Click Here to Read Full Article

Energy storage has been called a “game changer,” a “panacea,” and a “disruptor.” It has garnered widespread interest from electric companies, residential customers, businesses, manufacturers, regulators, and policymakers. Its potential for growth has been described as “astronomical” and “colossal,” and its benefits sometimes touted as incalculable. Indeed, energy storage has the potential to be a true game changer.

It is a very promising technology that, along with other elements of a diverse resource mix, will benefit consumers by allowing greater penetration of renewable energy; creating more dynamic generation, transmission, and distribution systems; and enabling transportation electrification, microgrids, smart grids, smarter cities and communities, and all the visions of the future energy grid.

Energy storage technologies include batteries, flywheels, compressed air, thermal storage, and pumped hydropower. These technologies all provide a way to save previously generated energy and to use it at a later time, which is why energy storage is such a useful and versatile resource for electric companies and their customers.

Although energy storage has been around for decades in one form or another, only recently has it become a viable technology able to provide multiple benefits to customers as well as the energy grid, and energy storage is well on its way to becoming an integral part of our electricity system. While costs are still relatively high for many energy storage devices, costs are rapidly declining for some storage technologies, facilitating their deployment.

Yet, as penetration of energy storage increases, the limitations of existing rules and regulations are becoming increasingly apparent, prompting a review of state and federal policies aimed at reducing regulatory barriers and allowing these technologies to participate in the marketplace on a comparable basis with other resources.

Click Here to Read Full Article

A new report from Navigant Research concluded the global market for distributed solar plus energy storage is expected to reach 27.4 GW and $49.1 billion by 2026.

“An emerging confluence of technical, economic, and regulatory factors is beginning to drive growth in the residential, C&I, and remote, off-grid DSES markets,” said William Tokash, senior research analyst with Navigant Research. “Beyond this, coupling battery energy storage technology with solar PV and virtual power plant software technology will allow this class of DER to be dispatchable from a grid operator standpoint to address intermittency and provide grid services as well.”

Navigant said distributed solar plus energy has the potential to grow quickly for residents in remote locations without access to electricity or reliable grid electricity services. 

Click Here to Read Full Article

The San Diego County Water Authority announced it will seek detailed proposals for a potential energy storage facility at the San Vicente Reservoir that could total up to 500 MW. The official RFP will go out this summer.

The request for proposals follows a January request for letters of intent to measure interest in the facility. In response, the Water Authority received 18 responses from qualified parties, including five full-service entities that would finance, design, permit, built and operate the potential project and secure an off-taker for the produced energy. The other respondents included two developers, five off-takers, and six other parties interested in constructing the project, providing equipment for the project or serving as a consultant for engineering, procurement, and construction services.

“We wanted to find out if there really is a broad desire among potential stakeholders to see a project like this in our region, and now we know there is,” said Mark Muir, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “We’re now going to gather more details about how it could come together for the benefit of ratepayers.”

The Water Authority intends the project to ease pressure on the electric grid, keep electric service reliable and keep water rates from rising by providing a new source of revenue.

Discussions with entities that responded to the RFP confirmed the authority’s findings from feasibility studies that began in late 2013. Namely, the project would help stabilize the grid, the project size is appropriate and infrastructure to support the project already exists.

The project would include an interconnection and pumping system between the reservoir and a new, smaller reservoir uphill that would be used during off-peak energy use periods to pump water uphill to the upper reservoir and create a bank of stored hydroelectric energy. That energy would be released to the lower reservoir as needed.

The Water Authority already operates a similar energy storage facility at Lake Hodges with a capacity of 40 MW. 

Click Here to Read Full Article

The San Diego County Water Authority announced it will seek detailed proposals for a potential energy storage facility at the San Vicente Reservoir that could total up to 500 MW. The official RFP will go out this summer.

The request for proposals follows a January request for letters of intent to measure interest in the facility. In response, the Water Authority received 18 responses from qualified parties, including five full-service entities that would finance, design, permit, built and operate the potential project and secure an off-taker for the produced energy. The other respondents included two developers, five off-takers, and six other parties interested in constructing the project, providing equipment for the project or serving as a consultant for engineering, procurement, and construction services.

“We wanted to find out if there really is a broad desire among potential stakeholders to see a project like this in our region, and now we know there is,” said Mark Muir, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “We’re now going to gather more details about how it could come together for the benefit of ratepayers.”

The Water Authority intends the project to ease pressure on the electric grid, keep electric service reliable and keep water rates from rising by providing a new source of revenue.

Discussions with entities that responded to the RFP confirmed the authority’s findings from feasibility studies that began in late 2013. Namely, the project would help stabilize the grid, the project size is appropriate and infrastructure to support the project already exists.

The project would include an interconnection and pumping system between the reservoir and a new, smaller reservoir uphill that would be used during off-peak energy use periods to pump water uphill to the upper reservoir and create a bank of stored hydroelectric energy. That energy would be released to the lower reservoir as needed.

The Water Authority already operates a similar energy storage facility at Lake Hodges with a capacity of 40 MW. 

Click Here to Read Full Article