Achieves numerous industry firsts based on diversity of systems, customers, and experience deploying and controlling systems.

Solidifying its position as the leading provider of intelligent energy storage, Stem, Inc. announced that it was the first customer-sited energy storage developer to help Southern California Edison (SCE) meet local grid reliability needs.

Leveraging a relationship with SCE through the utility’s Local Capacity Requirements (LCR) procurement, Stem became the utility’s first energy storage partner to bring online some of its systems that will be used to deliver flexible capacity in Southern California. The fleet includes North America’s largest indoor energy storage system (1.3 MW) at Park Place in Irvine, systems at John Hancock Insurance—also 1 MW—and Soka University in Aliso Viejo. On November 9, 2016, Stem dispatched its fleet to meet SCE’s demonstration test requirement in the LCR program as part of preparations to meet regional winter energy needs.

“The systems Stem has installed represent another step forward in our plans for a modernized grid that will enhance reliability and lower greenhouse gas emissions,” said SCE Vice President for Energy Procurement and Management Colin Cushnie.

In another industry first, Stem aggregated and deployed indoor and outdoor systems featuring three types of batteries and inverters at multiple sites for a diverse set of customers. The successful dispatch of capacity makes these systems the first distributed energy resource of its kind to be integrated into any of SCE’s demand response programs.

“This further demonstrates that Stem is building and operating the largest digitally-connected energy storage network and using world-class analytics to optimize the value of customers’ energy assets to deliver grid services,” said John Carrington, Stem’s CEO. “Our customers can begin saving money from day one and contribute to local reliability from these big, customer-sited systems.”

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The new system’s power capacity ranges from 30 to 200 kW power and up to 335 kWh. Occupying up to 4.5 square meters floor space, the QINOUS ESS QCompact includes a complete AC storage system and energy management system. The company claims the system is ideally suited for use in remote regions with no connection to a national grid as well as for grid-connected use in commercial or community applications.

The energy management system manages the flow of energy between various generation units, such as solar plants and diesel generators, and controls frequency and voltage in the grid. There is also a function that makes off-grid operation possible, so area networks can be supplied with a stable source of electricity in the event of a power failure.

QINOUS monitors the state of the components and the system performance is accessible via a secure web-based monitoring system. 

The energy storage housing is made of aluminum and high quality insulation material. The interior is divided into two compartments, with the area for the batteries and electronics  temperature-regulated and almost airtight to protect against aging which could result from high temperatures, dust, salt mist, insects, and moisture. The other compartment contains the heat exchanger and transformer.

A QINOUS ESS QcompactM with 90 kW and 165 kWh will soon be put into operation in a village in Tanzania.  Together with an existing solar facility, the company hopes it will ensure a clean energy supply for the village. “The solar facility in combination with our storage unit offers the ideal solution for the village to gain more independence from expensive, environmentally harmful diesel fuel,” says Busso von Bismarck, Head of Business Development at QINOUS. 

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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission just took its strongest step yet to initiate markets for energy storage across the nation.

The commission, which governs interstate power transmission and wholesale markets, proposed a rule Thursday that would require each regional transmission organization and independent system operator to create rules for energy storage to participate in wholesale markets. The new regulations would have to recognize “the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources,” which differ from traditional grid infrastructure in that they can act as both a load and a generator, and perform a multitude of functions if given the chance.

If approved, the proposed rule could greatly expand the role of energy storage in wholesale markets — and the size of the industry itself. So far, storage has been relegated to the few areas that passed enabling policies.

The PJM grid operator created a frequency regulation market and became the largest U.S. market for energy storage. It has seen 250.5 megawatts of cumulative deployments since 2013, according to GTM Research. The California ISO established a “non-generator” resource type that allowed storage to compete in the markets, and California became the second most prolific U.S. market for energy storage, with 73.2 megawatts deployed.

ISOs and RTOs serve about 70 percent of the country, so if FERC requires all ISOs and RTOs to adopt similar policies, the geographically cloistered storage industry could quickly go nationwide.

“This isn’t just clarifying existing rules; it’s redefining the rules to acknowledge the fact that energy storage cannot adequately participate right now and changing the rules to accommodate it,” said Daniel Finn-Foley, senior analyst for energy storage at GTM Research. “It’s a really big deal.”

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Tesla stores aren’t just for cars anymore.

The maker of electric vehicles said on Monday that it has revamped “dozens” of locations to display the Powerwall home battery and informative graphics on energy storage. The additions coincide with Tesla Motors’ acquisition of solar energy company SolarCity, which was approved by shareholders on Thursday and closed Monday.

The Powerwall home battery stores solar energy for use at night and in cases of power grid failure. The batteries were added to stores in California, Hawaii, the U.K. and Australia, among other locations in North America and Europe. Tesla customers can order the battery in-store or online.

Tesla’s inclusion of energy products takes it further away from the traditional dealership model. The automaker has battled state governments to sell vehicles directly to consumers rather than through a franchised dealership network.

It typically places stores and galleries in locations with high foot traffic, such as shopping malls, instead of stand-alone storefronts.

Though the home batteries have only been added to stores in markets that have shown strong demand for energy products, Tesla said it plans to expand the offerings to more locations.

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VANCOUVER , Nov. 21, 2016 /CNW/ – VanadiumCorp Resource Inc. (TSX-V: “VRB”) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has joined Energy Storage Canada (ESC). The ESC is the only energy storage industry association in Canada . ESC was founded in 2012 as a subgroup of the Corporate Partners Committee under the Smart Grid Forum.

Storage is the key to making renewable energy a fully competitive component of any electrical grid. It can make our grid cleaner and more efficient, for the benefit of all consumers – large and small, urban and rural. There is the opportunity, in Canada , to become world leaders in developing energy storage technologies like the vanadium redox flow battery (VRB, VRFB).

VanadiumCorp is launching many initiatives relating to the development of high purity vanadium required for the rapidly growing application of the VRFB.  VRFBs are internationally recognized as proven and commercialized energy storage technology. Since 1984, VRFB technology has evolved parallel to lithium and has increased in energy density for larger applications. Grid scale long duration energy storage is necessary for the emerging need of grid security and modernization. In recent years, the VRFB and high density vanadium lithium batteries have also emerged in applications such as electric vehicles (EVs). There are many advantages of using the single element vanadium in the electrolyte (VE) of a VRFB.  The contained VE never degrades, loses charge or emits any heat or emissions. Without any need for disposal, the reusable VE defines the VRFB as 100% green, sustainable energy storage. The VRFB also outperforms most competing technologies to store the intermittent and disruptive nature of renewable energy. The are very few economical sources of VE globally. Developing stable, low cost supply of VE is critical as VE represents ~42% of the cost of the VRFB system as the core component.

Members of ESC share the common mission to advance the energy storage industry in Canada through collaboration, education, policy advocacy and research. The ESC takes an unbiased view towards technology and is supported by the contributions of our active members. Energy Storage Canada works closely with other energy storage alliances and associations to push the industry forward.

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However, for these units to be tiny yet still efficient, the highest energy density must go into the smallest area.

One approach to carrying this out is to construct microbatteries using films with a thickness of just a few micrometers or less and to replace traditional electrolytes with solid-state ones. Thin film batteries have demonstrated relatively high energy density, which is the amount of energy they can store in a given area. However, they are afflicted by limited cycle life and poor power density, meaning they are slow to charge and discharge.

Microsupercapacitors are a faster alternative, and these may prove suitable for applications requiring power pulsing and very long cycle life.

“Also, while batteries must be charged at a constant voltage, a supercapacitor charges most efficiently by drawing the maximum current that the source can supply, irrespective of voltage,” said KAUST Professor of Material Science and Engineering Husam Alshareef from the University’s Functional Nanomaterials & Devices group.

This makes supercapacitors more appealing for self-powered system applications where the power source may be intermittent.

Alshareef’s team has now developed integrated microsupercapacitors with vertically-scaled three-dimensional porous current collectors made from nickel foams to improve microsupercapacitor performance. The pores in the foam work to increase the surface area.

“This three-dimensional porous architecture allows excellent electrolyte permeability, good conductivity and faster ion transportation with maximum mass-loading of active material, which increase energy and power density in a given area,” Alshareef said.

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Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric showed no mercy for climate change policy, but there’s reason to believe energy storage will continue to flourish under his presidency.

It’s not clear that Trump himself thinks much about energy storage. There are few, if any, instances of him mentioning it specifically in public. The 2016 GOP party platform, though, promised that a Republican administration would “find new ways to store electricity, a breakthrough of extraordinary import.” That reference came in the context of grid modernization and resilience efforts.

It’s worth noting that, even under President Barack Obama’s diligent efforts to expand clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, federal energy storage policy is still virtually nonexistent. A bill to give storage an income tax credit like the one solar energy enjoys has been introduced in both houses of Congress, but hasn’t moved very far. When the White House hosted a storage summit this summer, it showcased a collection of ongoing efforts, but did not break much new ground.

The states that have largely driven the expansion of distributed energy resources through strong policy and regulatory action will continue to do so, and their ranks are growing. 

“There are a lot of opportunities that will now shift from a federal focus to a more distributed focus, no pun intended, with cities and states in particular,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), one of the most vocal proponents of energy storage on Capitol Hill.

Any industry would be remiss, though, to not seek greater representation in the policy agenda of an incoming administration. For energy storage, this likely means a pivot from messaging around decarbonization and renewables integration to a greater emphasis on the role of storage as infrastructure for a safer, more resilient grid. 

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Would the transition to renewables happen faster if the installations looked better, and were more integrated into the public space, rather than relegated to a roof or back lot? Perhaps we’d see more smart renewable infrastructure installations if some of it were to include stylish and functional all-in-one devices such as the one from the startup Totem Power.

Cities are already full of power and communications infrastructure, but with the rapid adoption of wireless communication, and the coming wave of electric vehicles, combined with the affordability of distributed energy generation (such as on-site solar), perhaps it’s time to upgrade some of it. A smart city will require smarter infrastructure, and the Totem Power platform, which combines solar power, communications, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging, is an attempt to meet that need by redesigning what it calls “smart utility.”

The first Totem model, which is expected to launch in the summer of 2017, will incorporate a 5 kW solar array at the top, a 44 kWh battery system, efficient (‘smart’) lighting, along with WiFi and 4G communications equipment and an EV charger. The units are designed to be integral and stylish additions to urban infrastructure, and while not sized large enough to power most businesses on their own, could be installed on business properties, parking lots, or sidewalks to add energy storage and communications functionality.

One key benefit claimed by Totem Power is resiliency, in that this distributed energy generation and storage device would enable critical services to be maintained in emergency situations, and “communications powered by Totem will continue to operate in the event of grid failure.” Another is increased access for connected devices and consumers through street-level communication arrays, which the proliferation of the Internet of Things and the coming days of autonomous vehicles will require more of. And of course, adding more EV charging points, which will allow more flexibility for electric car drivers, is an important step toward a cleaner transport system.

There’s no word yet on the price for this model, but Totem Power has more info.

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Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas is setting up shop in Sunnyvale, California, just 12 miles from the Palo Alto headquarters of Tesla Motors, the electric car manufacturer that’s been marketing the Powerwall, its own branded residential energy storage unit, since last year. Eventually, Daimler has said, it will roll out industrial systems like those that Tesla is already installing

Meanwhile, BMW, Nissan and General Motors all have moved forward with plans to introduce their own versions of these power systems to help renewable-energy-loving homeowners reduce their dependence on their local power grids.

The move is part of a profound shift underway in the auto industry, as autonomous driving, ride-sharing and electric motors seem poised to radically change motorized transport. Car companies see great synergy in their development of electric cars, hoping to carve a niche for themselves in a completely different industry. Whether there’s a large market for home battery storage systems branded with an automaker’s logo remains to be seen, but no maker of electric cars is sitting idle.

“There’s a certain amount of brand desirability around a battery being from Tesla or Mercedes,” Sam Wilkinson, senior researcher of the solar and energy storage industry at IHS Markit, told Salon. “Does the same rationale to the consumer apply in this sector? I’m a little bit skeptical of that, but I think the important thing is to look into the future where the relationship between stationary energy storage and electric vehicles will become much tighter and much more integrated.”

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