The $2 million contract is part of the DoE’s FY2018 SETO funding programme and will develop a best-in-class next generation heliostat design, optimised for CSP technology projections of the next decade.

SolarReserve is partnering with South Africa’s Stellenbosch University and New Mexico based Sandia National Laboratories to conduct research and development.

The aim is to be able to use storage to store solar energy to meet peak demand periods, even at night.

Heliostats are the dual-axis solar tracking mirrors that concentrate and focus the sun’s energy onto an energy collection receiver atop a central tower.

Within the receiver, fluid flows through piping that forms external walls; this fluid absorbs the heat from the concentrated sunlight. In SolarReserve’s technology, the fluid utilised is molten salt, which is used both as a heat transfer fluid, as well as a thermal energy storage medium.

Kevin Smith, SolarReserve’s CEO, said: “We are excited to participate in this initiative and aggressively drive innovation that will lower delivered cost of solar electricity that has the added benefit of round-the-clock availability through energy storage.

“Through this award, we can develop breakthrough solutions for cost-effective sustainable energy now and for the generations to come – with the goal of fostering new industries and creating thousands of U.S. jobs.”

The heliostat field can account for up to 50% of a CSP project’s capital cost, hence it is a critical component in any cost reduction initiatives.

‘Europe’s largest’ energy storage pilot project at an industrial site, combining 2MWp of rooftop solar with a total of 4.2MWh of energy storage across a lithium-ion battery system and two flow batteries has been inaugurated in Belgium.

The distributed resources have been integrated into the microgrid ‘MiRIS’ (‘Micro Réseau Intégré Seraing’), a project “demonstrating the advanced integration of intermittent renewable energy resources” with batteries, producing a dispatchable energy resource, at the headquarters of CMI Group, a manufacturer of steam heat recovery systems, boilers and other thermal equipment for industry. CMI claims it is the largest project of its type so far in the continent.

Located in Seraing, Belgium, CMI subsidiary CMI Energy’s president said the project can help “eradicate the major flaw” of renewable energy, namely it’s intermittency of production. When the project was first announced, Jean-Michel Gheeraerdts also acknowledged that energy storage has other benefits that could increase its value even further.

“Energy storage and management can be applied in a number of fields as an alternative to diesel generators for unconnected regions, as a way of deferring investment in parts of the network, as a means of optimising existing photovoltaic or wind systems, and as an enabler of participation in the primary or secondary reserve markets,” Gheeraerdts said.

• BYD has supplied the lithium-ion battery system.
• VIZn Energy supplied one of the two flow battery systems: 400kW / 1200kWh (2.5 hours duration)
• Sumitomo supplied the other flow battery system: 500kW / 1750kWh (3.5 hours duration)

CMI integrated the lithium-ion battery system, while other partners included other CMI subdivisions which worked on power control systems and filling the flow batteries’ electrolyte tanks, PV installer Enersol and power supply specialist JEMA which installed the PCS.

The first element is pumped storage hydropower, a technology that has been steadily refined over the past 100-plus years. It is currently the most reliable, efficient and durable form of electricity storage. Pumped storage hydropower schemes are mainly found in mountainous countries, as they require a difference in elevation between two reservoirs, as well as sufficient amounts of water. When large volumes of power are generated, the excess electricity is used to pump the water from the lower reservoir to the higher one. If electricity demand increases, the water flows back down and drives turbines that in turn generate power. Pikl has implemented this principle completely underground. Subterranean tunnels are used to create the difference in elevation between the two underground reservoirs needed to produce electricity, regardless of the topography. This minimises the area required, and simplifies both the process of finding a location as well as the mandatory approval procedure.

Heat accumulators, where the thermal energy is stored, form the second component of the new storage concept. Thanks to its high specific heat capacity, water serves as an additional thermal energy storage medium for the underground pumped storage power plant. Renewable energy is used to heat the water to up to 90°C. Thermal energy is stored and used by means of heat exchangers installed in the underground reservoirs. When demand for heat is high, it can be supplied directly to consumers via district heating transmission lines.

Franz Georg Pikl also integrated district cooling technology into the concept – this method of cooling buildings is becoming increasingly significant – in the shape of absorption chillers. When required – in other words, on warm days – the hot water drives the chillers, which produce cooling energy that is distributed to customers along district cooling transmission lines. To ensure a constant supply of cooling energy to various temperature zones, this system can be modified by cooling the water of the underground pumped storage hydropower scheme – which could then be labelled a “cold-water pumped storage hydropower plant.”

Europe’s largest industrial energy storage facility has been inaugurated in Belgium.

The facility is a pilot project comprising energy storage and solar PV integrated with a microgrid. It is operated by CMI Energy at the company’s international headquarters in Seraing.

CMI makes industrial boilers, steam generators and HRSGs for concentrated solar power with thermal storage and the MiRIS (Micro Réseau Intégré Seraing) storage facility will help power the company’s headquarters, which currently consumes 1.3 GW a year.

CMI said that the plant is also intended “to demonstrate advanced integration of intermittent renewable energy resources with battery-based energy storage to produce a fully dispatchable renewable energy resource”.

CMI Energy president Jean-Michel Gheeraerdts said: “We now have ways to use green energy sources that eradicate their major flaw: intermittent production. Energy storage and management can be applied in a number of fields as an alternative to diesel generators for unconnected regions, as a way of deferring investment in parts of the network, as a means of optimizing existing photovoltaic or wind systems, and as an enabler of participation in the primary or secondary reserve markets.”

MiRIS consists of a 2 MW photovoltaic system with 6500 rooftop and carport panels, plus 4.2 MW of energy storage comprising a lithium-ion battery system and two different flow battery systems.

The technology showcase interconnects with the building’s electrical network and its DSO 15kV distribution service connection.

Gheeraerdts said that MiRIS “will facilitate investigation of the interoperability of renewables and different energy storage technologies for a variety of user energy profiles, particularly with respect to renewable energy time shifting and energy resale to the grid. MiRIS will also enable evaluation of microgrid ‘islanding’ operation, potential grid ancillary service opportunities, and the influence of user demand response.”

The U.S. residential energy storage market overtook front-of-the-meter installations for the first time in the second quarter of 2018, according to a joint report by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewable Energy Consulting and the Energy Storage Association.

The incentive program from SRP comes in addition to new tariff structures from other regulated utilities in Arizona, which are expected to encourage more residential storage, Wood Mackenzie Senior Energy Storage Analyst Brett Simon told Utility Dive last month.

The study is “a landmark effort to understand the value” that distributed energy storage will have on customers and utilities, NREL said.

“Phase 1 is already underway,” Adarsh Nagarajan, NREL research engineer, told Utility Dive in an email statement. “The focus is more about collecting diverse data,” he said.

The first phase will manage granular resolution data on battery performance along with advanced battery testing data. Customer battery use and battery system performance data could be used in future stages of the NREL study “to develop modeling and simulation tools to assess the customer benefits and distribution network impacts of” battery systems.

The goal is to collect data from about 450 of the potential 4,500 SRP storage customers, according to Nagarajan. SRP reports that nearly 500 signed up, reserving their incentive. Battery systems charged by on-site renewable resources, like solar panels, are also eligible for the 30% federal tax credit.

Researchers in Akron, Ohio, are filling silos with sand in hopes it might lead to the next breakthrough in energy storage.

Echogen Power Systems, founded 11 years ago on the principle of capturing heat for energy, is among 10 recipients to receive millions of dollars in Department of Energy funding for long-duration energy storage.

In the Midwest, a team from Michigan State University was also selected. A common theme between the Ohio and Michigan projects: heating up cheap materials to reduce storage costs.

“In order to get a large penetration of renewable energy onto the grid, we really need low-cost and robust forms of energy storage,” said James Klausner, chair of Michigan State University’s Mechanical Engineering Department.

By storing thermal energy in relatively cheap materials, the researchers are looking for a low-cost, long-duration technology to support widespread deployment of renewables.

Echogen received $3 million and MSU received $2 million through a DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program. The DAYS program focuses on storage for roughly 10 to 100 hours, and projects must also demonstrate a path to commercialization.

Echogen’s project turns thermal energy into electricity with sand as the storage medium. The process involves using a carbon dioxide heat pump cycle to convert electricity into thermal energy by heating a reservoir, which is converted back into electricity on demand. The product is geared toward larger-scale projects at 50-100 MW capacities.

“Using these low-cost storage media, we can keep increasing capacity for megawatt hours almost indefinitely,” said Echogen chief technology officer Tim Held, adding that storage durations could exceed 100 hours.

French power giant EDF has acquired a 50% stake in the Togo-focused unit of off-grid renewable energy specialist BBOXX, with EDF adding its financial clout to speed up solar home system deployments and its technical expertise to improve the energy storage offering.

The new joint venture seeks to progress BBOXX’s operations in Togo where it has been supplying solar home systems with batteries since 2017 and through which it now supplies power to 26,000 Togloese. The solar systems are eligible for mobile payments and they allow customers to power domestic appliances, such as TVs, radios, fans and mobile telephone chargers. So far BBOXX has opened 20 shops and employs around 100 people in this African country.

Along with its 50% stake in BBOXX Togo, EDF will aim to improve the performance of the battery storage solution, having been working on this technology as part of its Electricity Storage Plan, aiming to develop storage capacity of 10GW worldwide by 2035. EDF’s R&D department will also be testing and certifying solar kit components.

This is the latest investment from EDF into the African renewables sector, having been working in the Ivory Coast with Off-Grid Electric, recently starting operating in Ghana and offering solar pump irrigation solutions to farmers in Kenya. The firm has also been active in Africa’s utility-scale solar tenders under the World Bank’s ‘Scaling Solar’ programme, for example in Ethiopia and Zambia.

Under the new joint venture, EDF and BBOXX, which also plan to work together in other African countries, will first focus on the Togo government’s electrification programme, known as ‘CIZO’, which aims to supply more than half a million households with solar home systems by 2030. The two partners are aiming for a market share of 35% in Togo by 2024.

Mansoor Hamayun, CEO and co-founder of BBOXX, said: “Working with global partners like EDF shows our commitment to scaling up, mobilising greater investment, generating meaningful impact and powering the economic development of some of the world’s least developed communities.”

CMI Energy, part of Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie (CMI) Group, has opened an industrial energy storage facility called the Micro Réseau Intégré Seraing (MiRIS) in Seraing, Belgium.

Located at the CMI Group’s international headquarters, MiRIS features renewable, as well as energy storage systems, and is integrated with a microgrid.

The renewable portion of MiRIS includes a 2MWp, 1.75GWh per year, the photovoltaic system with 6,500 rooftop and carport panels, while the 4.2MWh energy storage part comprises a lithium-ion battery system and two different flow battery systems.

CMI Energy president Jean-Michel Gheeraerdts said: “We now have ways to use green energy sources that eradicate their major flaw – intermittent production.

“Energy storage and management can be applied in a number of fields as an alternative to diesel generators for unconnected regions, as a way of deferring investment in parts of the network, as a means of optimising existing photovoltaic or wind systems, and as an enabler of participation in the primary or secondary reserve markets.”

The company noted that its new energy storage pilot plant has been designed to demonstrate an advanced integration of intermittent renewable energy resources with battery-based energy storage to produce a fully dispatchable renewable energy resource.

Additionally, MiRIS will focus on the interoperability of renewables and different energy storage technologies for a variety of user energy profiles.

SERAING, Belgium — CMI Energy, part of CMI Group, will be inaugurating Europe’s largest industrial energy storage facility on October 26, 2018. The MiRIS (Micro Réseau Intégré Seraing) energy storage pilot plant consists of energy storage and PV integrated with a microgrid. The purpose of the full-scale pilot project is to demonstrate advanced integration of intermittent renewable energy resources with battery-based energy storage to produce a fully dispatchable renewable energy resource. MiRIS is located at the CMI Group’s international headquarters, located in Seraing (Belgium).

Jean-Michel Gheeraerdts, President of CMI Energy, when announcing the MiRIS project said, “We now have ways to use green energy sources that eradicate their major flaw: intermittent production. Energy storage and management can be applied in a number of fields as an alternative to diesel generators for unconnected regions, as a way of deferring investment in parts of the network, as a means of optimizing existing photovoltaic or wind systems, and as an enabler of participation in the primary or secondary reserve markets.”

MiRIS consists of renewable and energy storage systems. The renewable part includes a 2 MWp, 1.75 GWh/yr., photovoltaic system with 6,500 roof top and carport panels. The 4.2MWh energy storage part consists of a lithium-ion battery system and two different flow battery systems. The technology showcase interconnects with the building’s electrical network and its DSO 15kV distribution service connection. The existing facility consumes approximately 1.3 GWh/yr.

MiRIS will facilitate investigation of the interoperability of renewables and different energy storage technologies for a variety of user energy profiles, particularly with respect to renewable energy time shifting and energy resale to the grid. MiRIS will also enable evaluation of microgrid “islanding” operation, potential grid ancillary service opportunities, and the influence of user demand response.

A new-build school in the northern coastal suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, has become the first in Australia to be powered 100 per cent by rooftop solar and battery storage.

Atlantis Beach Baptist College in Two Rocks – which opened for business in February 2017 – sources all of its power, 24/7, through 20kW of rooftop PV and 30kWh of battery storage. Solar heat pumps are used for hot water.

The off-grid school initially chose to operate on diesel fuel generators, because the cost of connecting to the grid in early 2017 – around $250,000, according to the school’s principal – was ruled out as economically unfeasible.

The switch to solar – which was completed this month – was coordinated by Sydney-based company Upstream Energy, allowing the College to switch to solar and storage for no up-front cost.

To pay for the system, ABBC buys the solar power at a fixed rate from Upstream each month, just as it would do for grid power, with an electricity retailer.

Upstream says the solar and storage system – currently quite small – will grow in line with the campus, as more students enrol and more buildings are built. Upgrades will also come at nil capital cost.

At this stage, the school caters to students from pre-kindergarten to Year 10.

“The annual energy consumption of the campus is approximately 25,000kWh and the new solar and storage system will deliver up to 32,390kWh of sustainable energy at a substantially lower cost than what it would cost … to procure a grid connection,” Upstream Energy managing director Nathan Begley told the North Coast Times.