Energy storage lies at the heart of grid digitisation and is part of a larger trend of technologies that is disrupting South Australia’s network for the better, according to Terry Teoh, General Manager of Engineering at ZEN Energy.

Ahead of his presentation on monetising storage at the grid edge in Adelaide’s CBD at the Australian Energy Storage Conference, June 14 – 15 2017 at the new International Convention Centre Sydney, Mr Teoh said battery storage currently has strong market potential in South Australia and the National Electricity Market (NEM).

“Energy storage and the ability to perform peer transactions lie at the heart of grid digitisation and will drive the democratisation of energy, just as we are seeing the democratisation of services, media and R&D,” Mr Teoh says.

“Global experience shows that commercial behind the meter storage is challenging. Yet the market potential in South Australia, and more broadly in the NEM states, is significant.”

Mr Teoh and Zen Energy are undertaking a groundbreaking project demonstrating real-time optimisation and monetisation of battery storage in the NEM by connecting four high-profile Adelaide CBD buildings to 513kWh of behind the meter storage.

The four sites – the Art Gallery, State Library, Adelaide High School and the Adelaide City Council works depot in Thebarton – were chosen for their contrasting load and occupancy patterns, and their potential to apply battery storage in conjunction with solar and demand response.

In his interview for the Australian Energy Storage Conference, Mr Teoh said the $1 million project will play a defining role in opening up the commercial storage market, starting in South Australia.

“It will provide real implementation experience and benefit quantification of batteries located in commercial sites, monetising multiple value streams,” he says.

“It will turn a theoretical concept into a commercially executable reality for commercial and industrial customers looking for a lifeline to alleviate their energy price distress in South Australia.”

Zen has also been working on other battery storage projects including the ‘Big Battery Project’ which proposes installing a battery in Port Augusta capable of storing between 50-150MWh of energy. This is one of the projects aiming to address South Australia’s grid instability and the need for a backup if power is lost.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Energy storage lies at the heart of grid digitisation and is part of a larger trend of technologies that is disrupting South Australia’s network for the better, according to Terry Teoh, General Manager of Engineering at ZEN Energy.

Ahead of his presentation on monetising storage at the grid edge in Adelaide’s CBD at the Australian Energy Storage Conference, June 14 – 15 2017 at the new International Convention Centre Sydney, Mr Teoh said battery storage currently has strong market potential in South Australia and the National Electricity Market (NEM).

“Energy storage and the ability to perform peer transactions lie at the heart of grid digitisation and will drive the democratisation of energy, just as we are seeing the democratisation of services, media and R&D,” Mr Teoh says.

“Global experience shows that commercial behind the meter storage is challenging. Yet the market potential in South Australia, and more broadly in the NEM states, is significant.”

Mr Teoh and Zen Energy are undertaking a groundbreaking project demonstrating real-time optimisation and monetisation of battery storage in the NEM by connecting four high-profile Adelaide CBD buildings to 513kWh of behind the meter storage.

The four sites – the Art Gallery, State Library, Adelaide High School and the Adelaide City Council works depot in Thebarton – were chosen for their contrasting load and occupancy patterns, and their potential to apply battery storage in conjunction with solar and demand response.

In his interview for the Australian Energy Storage Conference, Mr Teoh said the $1 million project will play a defining role in opening up the commercial storage market, starting in South Australia.

“It will provide real implementation experience and benefit quantification of batteries located in commercial sites, monetising multiple value streams,” he says.

“It will turn a theoretical concept into a commercially executable reality for commercial and industrial customers looking for a lifeline to alleviate their energy price distress in South Australia.”

Zen has also been working on other battery storage projects including the ‘Big Battery Project’ which proposes installing a battery in Port Augusta capable of storing between 50-150MWh of energy. This is one of the projects aiming to address South Australia’s grid instability and the need for a backup if power is lost.

The South Australian Government has also recently released a $550 million comprehensive energy plan for the state that includes the construction of Australia’s largest battery.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Of all the great initiatives that came out of South Australia’s energy plan on Tuesday, one thing doesn’t appear to make sense: why spend so much money on a peaking gas generator when storage options are clearly cheaper?

The big question was over these two sums: The $360 million in government monies set aside for a 250MW gas plant that might rarely be switched on, and the $20 million that treasurer Tom Koutsantonis says could be enough to get a 100MW battery storage facility built by the private sector before summer.

Surely, analysts and pundits say, spending more on battery storage is going to give a bigger and more immediate bang for the buck than the gas generator. And they won’t become a redundant asset as the gas peaker threatens to be in as little as five years time.

In theory, those sums suggest, South Australia could cause some 1.8GW of battery storage to be built for the same taxpayer funds as a gas generator. Of course, it is much, much more complex than that.

The reality is that the $150 million set aside in the new Renewable Technology Fund is probably going to support more battery storage than can be sustained under current market rules. (Indeed, some of it is earmarked for solar thermal, pumped hydro or even hydrogen).

Battery storage – in current market rules – will trade only on energy market volatility and the arbitrage between high and low prices (fill it up with cheap excess wind and solar and sell it at high, peak demand prices).

The more storage that is added, then the less volatile the market will become, and the less money that can be made.

So storage will probably not be fully economic and widespread until the overall market rules are changed and battery storage technologies can access its multiple value streams.

This will come from rule changes such as dumping the 30 minute settlement in favour of a 5 minute settlement, and the introduction of a new ancillary service market, and maybe for grid augmentation.

Then there will be nothing stopping it, although longer-dated storage such as solar thermal, pumped hydro or even hydrogen will also be needed at various points in the transition to 100 per cent renewable energy.

But it is the volatility that the South Australia government wants to kill as soon as it can. The state has always had a volatile electricity market, courtesy of its stringy network, daytime manufacturing and high air con use.

Click Here to Read Full Article

New York, NY, November 15, 2016 – Eos Energy Storage (“Eos”) – pioneer of the safe, ultra-low cost Znyth^® battery – today announced that Jim Hughes, former CEO of First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), has joined as Chairman of the Board to guide the company’s transition from technology development to commercial manufacturing and product deployment. The wealth of knowledge and experience Hughes brings from his time at the helm of First Solar – a pivotal player in the creation of utility-scale solar energy – will be invaluable during this important stage in Eos’ growth.

The appointment of Hughes as Chairman of the Board comes on the heels of the company’s announcement of a $23M Series D equity financing and commencement of volume battery production with a multi-billion dollar contract manufacturing partner capable of meeting 100+ MW per year demand.

“The tremendous progress made on cost over the last several years leaves energy storage looking remarkably similar to the solar industry around 5 years ago,” observed Jim Hughes. “The cost reductions have been so rapid that I don’t think the broader energy industry yet recognizes the value it will represent as part of the system and that the economics of energy storage are not only competitive but have the near term potential to be disruptive.  Eos has focused on developing a technology and product that outcompetes the lithium ion incumbent, not just on dollar per kWh upfront capital cost but on the lifetime cost of energy delivered.  This is going to give Eos the ability to win significant market share and drive profitability. A sharp focus on cost, quality and challenging yourself to beat the toughest competition has proven to be a winning strategy time and again both in traditional energy and renewables.  Much as First Solar has proven that it can compete effectively with its differentiated thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) modules against the leading players in crystalline silicon PV, I firmly believe Eos will demonstrate the same ability within the energy storage arena with its differentiated zinc hybrid (Znyth™) technology.”

During his four years as CEO of First Solar, Hughes managed the company from a $450M loss in the first quarter of 2012 to a $171M profit in the first quarter of 2016. Also during that time, the company set new records for solar cell efficiency, made fundamental changes to power plant architecture, continued to drive down solar costs, and expanded module manufacturing to support an industry-leading over 13GW installed base.

Click Here to Read Full Article

According to the latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, a quarterly publication from GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association (ESA), the U.S. deployed 41.2 megawatts of energy storage in the second quarter of 2016, an increase of 126 percent over the first quarter of the year.

Year-over-year, energy storage deployments were up just 1 percent. What the market lacked in annual growth, however, it made up for in geographic and market-segment diversification.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Some utilities may think that it will be up to a decade before there is a mass market uptake of battery storage, and the chair of the Australian Energy Market Operator may even try to convince themselves that the technology won’t be commercial for another two decades, but they might be kidding themselves: New research suggests that the cross-over point between the value of solar and storage and grid prices for Australian households may occur within one year.

Click Here to Read Full Article

A world leading large-scale solar and battery storage project in north Queensland has drawn interest from the world’s biggest miner, BHP Billiton, which says it is looking at the technology for its remote and off-grid mine sites.

The project, near Lakeland south of Cooktown, will combine 10.4MW of solar PV with 1.4MW/5.3MWh of lithium-ion battery storage, and is being pitched as a world-first for remote, edge of grid technology, and one likely to trigger a host of similar projects across Australia.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Even at current market prices, various different energy storage options make economic sense for renewable energy projects in some locations, according to new research from MIT.

The energy storage options profiled by the study included: battery systems, pumped hydroelectric storage, and compressed air energy storage, amongst others. While these options are economically a good choice in some locations, in other locations, they are not.

The study also found that “regardless of the particular circumstances at a given location, certain features of how electricity prices fluctuate are common across locations and do favor some specific types of storage solutions over others.”

Click Here to Read Full Article

Leading investment bank Morgan Stanley believes the Australian energy market is seriously underestimating the grow of solar and battery storage, and says the technology will be installed at rates four times quicker than the incumbent energy industry expects.

In a new detailed report, Asia Insight: Solar and batteries, Morgan Stanley expects the market for battery storage to grow from about 2,000 Australian homes now to one million by 2020. But its “high case” suggests the take-up could be double that – up to 2 million homes by 2020.

Click Here to Read Full Article