A new housing development in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul will use grid-interactive electric thermal water heaters to enable the Midwest’s first community energy storage project.

Country Joe Homes’ Legacy 2 development in Lakeville is building 79 homes over the next two years. Each home will have 80-gallon water heaters manufactured by Steffes Corp.

The sophisticated water heaters will allow Great River Energy (GRE) and Dakota Electric Association — the cooperative providing electricity to the development — to use them as community storage capable of integrating the state’s growing wind and solar resources.

“The water heaters behave as a battery and absorb energy, mainly at night, but they can be turned on and off in a moment’s notice,” said Gary Connett, Great River Energy’s director of member services.

“The game-changer for us is this variable generation in our future and here today. Renewables and more photovoltaics means all of a sudden we need something more dynamic than the water heater of the past,” he said. “This is where this grid-interactive water heater has benefits.”

While the utility’s current water heater program offers customers two options to charge water heaters in return for better rates on their bills, the Legacy 2 development’s water heaters allow real-time charging and energy storage, Connett said.

Water heaters can represent as much as 40 percent of a household’s energy use. Being able to nimbly control water heaters will allow Great River Energy to offer sophisticated energy services to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, the regional grid operator.

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Indian Discom (distribution company) Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power-DDL) and German government-owned entity GIZ have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work jointly on promoting rooftop solar, energy storage systems, EVs and smart grid initiatives.

The two bodies plan to research and conduct studies on these areas and organize capacity building programs jointly for channel partners, project developers, financial institutions, government departments, distribution utilities, and public sector undertakings (PSUs).

Another aim is to promote standardised rooftop PV systems for the broader Indian public by the year 2022. GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), is a development agency focusing on consulting and capacity building activities in areas including rural development, sustainable infrastructure, energy and climate change. 

Praveer Sinha, CEO and managing director, Tata Power–DDL, said: “The collaboration with an institution like GIZ will provide impetus towards adoption of clean, efficient and smart technology in the utility space. We are confident that the collaboration will help us to learn and achieve a greener and sustainable solutions. usage of energy efficient technology is a unique and cost-effective solution to our consumers to optimize operational efficiency and thereby help us to provide them value added services.”

Joerg Gaebler, principal advisor, GIZ said, “We expect the collaboration with Tata Power-DDL will help us in designing and implementing tailored solutions by developing a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by distribution utilities in promoting mature clean technologies like rooftop photovoltaics.”

The governments of India and Germany are already closely aligned in energy maters and the two are collaborating on enhancing the Indian grid’s ability to absorb renewable power.

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Eos Energy Storage has installed and commissioned a 1MWh Eos Aurora battery system at a wastewater treatment plant in Caldwell, New Jersey.

This system will serve as a main component of utility Public Service Electric and Gas Company’s (PSE&G) on-site energy storage microgrid that will help keep the facility operational during extended power outages.

The microgrid system includes an Eos Energy Storage system, along with an 896kW solar PV system designed and installed by Advanced Solar Products. Siemens Energy Management integrated the Eos Aurora system, solar facility, and existing diesel generator — utilising Eos Znyth technology as the base of the microgrid. Znyth use zinc hybrid cathodes, which Eos claims makes its batteries 30% to 40% lower cost than comparable lithium-ion systems.

The company is shipping its systems this year for US$160 per kWh and once it scales up into larger utility-scale systems, Eos says it could give solar-plus-storage projects an LCOE of below 10 cents per kWh. Utility Engie is testing Eos Znyth batteries, stacked into Eos’ ‘Aurora’ branded grid-scale systems, in Brazil, while Eos also has an agreement to collaborate with engineering giant Siemens on developing energy storage systems with AC power conversion and controls.

The Caldwell wastewater treatment plant microgrid stands as part of a 3MW portion of PSE&G’s Solar 4 All program — a plan that looks to develop projects that mesh solar with other technologies to strengthen the electricity grid.

Todd Hranicka, director of solar energy at PSE&G, said: “One of the goals of our Solar 4 All program is to help support the growth and development of solar and related industries in New Jersey. So we were especially happy to include the battery technology from a fellow New Jersey company like Eos into a project that helps make our electric system and a piece of critical infrastructure more reliable and resilient.”

Construction of the storage system was a joint undertaking between Advanced Solar Products, Eos, and Siemens Energy Management.

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TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Oct. 25, 2017) – Sparton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SRI) (“Sparton” or the “Company“) is pleased to report that that the Chinese Central Government has recognized battery technology as the key technology in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

On September 22, 2017 the China National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) and the National Energy Commission (“NEC”), jointly released Document 1701, “Guidance on the Promotion of Energy Storage Technology and Industry Development”.

In this comprehensive and far reaching document, various private, State and Federal institutions, and energy generating utilities in China, are encouraged to support, further develop, and make expanded use of various forms of evolving energy storage technologies. The NDRC and NEC, in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and other relevant departments, have been mandated to coordinate, establish and improve measures to effectively promote energy storage initiatives.

China is the world leader in renewable energy power generation. The need for supporting energy storage programs, using various technologies, has been long recognized as part of China’s long-term planning. Document 1701 affirms that the storage industry is of strategic significance for building a modern, clean, low carbon, safe and efficient energy industry.

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Battery storage is breaking into an ever longer list of grid-scale configurations, as new business cases arise.

Every major solar developer has begun at least contemplating storage paired with solar, even if few large projects have yet been built. GE has already paired batteries with its gas generators for fast-ramping grid services; it expects the setup to prolong the life of the gas asset.

Last week the roster of possibilities expanded when two companies announced new storage plant combinations: batteries with solar and wind power to provide consistent electricity in Australia, and a hydropower plant-plus-storage to tap the challenging PJM frequency regulation market.

The onus is on the developers to prove these newfangled plants can make money, but they’ve already expanded the range of uses for grid storage technology.

Wind and solar and storage, oh my!

Windlab and Vestas will develop a solar-plus-wind-plus-storage project in Queensland, Australia called the Kennedy Energy Park by the end of 2018. This will include 43.2 megawatts of wind capacity, 15 megawatts of solar and 2 megawatts of storage.

That’s the first system of its kind that’s been publicly announced, said Hong Durandal, a business analyst covering hybrid systems at MAKE.

A single control system will operate all three resources, to optimize energy production and availability. Vestas will provide a 15-year active output management service for the site.

“By pairing two different generating assets such as solar and wind with energy storage, the system is more reliable and flexible than individual standalone solutions,” Durandal said. “A wind-solar-battery system is more resilient against unforeseeable circumstances such as prolonged cloudy days with poor sunlight or days with low wind speeds.”

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Chris Pritchett is a contract lawyer working in Britain for law firm Foot Anstey, as a partner heading up the energy and environment practice. Pritchett recently served as moderator for the “Developers and financiers debate” at the Energy Storage Conference at the Solar & Storage Live 2017 show in England. In attendance were fund managers and project developers and a robust discussion followed. Afterwards, Andy Colthorpe caught up with Chris for an in-depth interview on camera.   

One main topic that comes up often is the relative complexity of modelling returns for energy storage projects, compared to the simplicity enjoyed by solar developers and financiers.

“[With the feed-in tariff (FiT), renewables obligation (RO) and PPAs]… you got used to a quite straightforward and really quite easily modellable return. You knew what it was going to be – it was government-backed for 20-25 years. There has been a journey whereby the investment community has had to detach themselves from that way of thinking.

“Some of the most sophisticated guys haven’t come from that background, they’ve come from tech investment. Actually, they’re far more used to the way this is working. There’s still a willingness to say, ‘what’s the aggregation agreement, or the FFR (fast frequency response) agreement? That’s the financeable proposition’.

“And you say ‘no, actually, here… is an asset – we’ve got grid, all the connections, we’ve got the battery modules and control system. And we’ve got a world of opportunity, where somebody, at some point, will pay you to do lots of stuff with it’.

“People who are well placed to take advantage of that market will be people with assets deployed and ready to go.”   

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The race is on for storage solutions that can help provide secure, reliable electricity supply as more renewables enter Australia’s electricity grid.

With the support of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), we have identified 22,000 potential pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) sites across all states and territories of Australia. PHES can readily be developed to balance the grid with any amount of solar and wind power, all the way up to 100%, as ageing coal-fired power stations close.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind are now the leading two generation technologies in terms of new capacity installed worldwide each year, with coal in third spot (see below). PV and wind are likely to accelerate away from other generation technologies because of their lower cost, large economies of scale, low greenhouse emissions, and the vast availability of sunshine and wind.

Although PV and wind are variable energy resources, the approaches to support them to achieve a reliable 100% renewable electricity grid are straightforward:

• Energy storage in the form of pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) and batteries, coupled with demand management; and
• Strong interconnection of the electricity grid between states using high-voltage power lines spanning long distances (in the case of the National Electricity Market, from North Queensland to South Australia). This allows wind and PV generation to access a wide range of weather, climate and demand patterns, greatly reducing the amount of storage needed.

PHES accounts for 97% of energy storage worldwide because it is the cheapest form of large-scale energy storage, with an operational lifetime of 50 years or more. Most existing PHES systems require dams located in river valleys. However, off-river PHES has vast potential.

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After CEO Elon Musk extended an offer to help Puerto Rico earlier this month, Tesla is following through on a pledge to contribute to rebuilding the power grid devastated by Hurricane Maria, leaving thousands of people without electricity.

In a tweet Tuesday, Tesla posted photos of Hospital del Niño and the solar and power storage project that’s beginning there using the company’s Powerwall batteries. Musk has also donated $250,000 to relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

Musk first hinted at helping to rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid in a tweet on October 5th; Governor Ricardo Rosselló promptly replied with, “Let’s talk.” Since then, numerous other companies have offered to help find power solutions for the territory that sustained upwards of $90 million in damage in late September from Hurricane Maria.

Last week, however, Whitefish Energy, a small firm from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s Montana hometown, said it would be awarded the $300 million contract to fix Puerto Rico’s electricity problem.

Rosselló has said the goal is to get 95 percent of Puerto Rico’s power back online by Christmas.

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The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved funds of USD$350,000 for energy storage and grid modernisation in the Caribbean.

The grant was approved to assist utilities and stakeholders with design and planning of storage and grid solutions, in an effort towards clean energy across the region.

Tessa Williams-Robertson, head at Renewable Energy at CBD said, “Through this project, utilities and energy stakeholders will receive the support and technical advisory services needed to identify suitable investments in energy storage and grid modernisation technologies and properly plan for implementation and operational management”.

The Canadian Support to the Energy Sector in the Caribbean (CSES-S) fund will provide technical assistance supporting up to six energy storage and/or grid modernisation proposals, from the Bank’s Borrowing Member countries (BMCs).

The CSES-S Fund provides technical assistance over a four-year period; it was launched in 2016 and has since supported 15 technical assistance projects. The projects include 10 capacity-building projects, four development support projects and one regulatory support project, with the capacity-building projects reaching over 500 people.

The Canadian Government provided CAD$5 million (USD$3.9 million) in grant resources to the CDB to support public and private actors in the energy sector.

The Canadian government invests through the fund in legislative and regulatory Support, investment project support and capacity building, to supply energy projects and increase knowledge and expertise, in order to achieve sustainable energy targets.

In May 2017 CBD approved projects including: the Building Capacity for Disaster Risk Management and Climate Project in Haiti as well as an Energy Efficiency Measures and Solar Photovoltaic Plant undertaking in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

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A number of years ago, one of the smartest entrepreneurs in the electric industry (as evidenced by the timing of his sale of generating assets to a big energy producer) bought a hybrid car. He said it was a mobile electric battery and that he’d sell electricity back to the grid from it, sooner or later. That was a while ago. Now every major automotive manufacturer around the world is making a big commitment to electric vehicles (EVs). And yes they are basically mobile batteries. 

Renault, which has cross ownership arrangements with Nissan and Mitsubishi, just announced the creation of Renault Energy Services. This new corporate unit is dedicated to a broad array of challenges: the smart grid, charging systems and electric storage.

Because these are automotive companies, the electric vehicle as the center of the operation. But if we learned that an electric utility was exploring these three areas in some integrated way we would certainly not be surprised either.

Nissan officials in the United Kingdom (where incidentally there is little reserve electric generation capacity in the conventional network) claim to have an “intelligent charging strategy”. This facilitates recharging car batteries at off peak periods. The added benefit here is the potential for better utilization of renewable energy sources like wind power, which are often under-utilized during off peak periods.

If large numbers of vehicles eventually do recharge batteries during off peak hours, it implies several changes for the utility industry. First, all those extra vehicles drawing power off peak would boost asset utilization rates substantially–a pretty big positive. However, the same so called intelligent software that directs the battery to recharge during off peak hours, can also be programmed to resell power back to the utility when power prices are high, assuming the vehicle won’t be used.

In a sense, all of our driveways and streets could be lined with thousands of what amounts to very small power plants. All with the potential eventually to sell electricity back into the grid. Planning for future electric power generation needs just got a lot more complicated.

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