Owing to massive cost reductions, Li-ion technology is now leading lead-acid batteries in the power storage category; it is even challenging sodium sulphur and flow for long-duration storage. IHS estimates that 90 percent of the utility-side of meter energy storage projects tracked are based on Li-ion battery technology. Underpinning the rapid cost reduction is the build-up of the supply chain for batteries in the auto and power sectors. Competition between China’s BYD, GCL, South Korea’s Samsung SDI, LG Chem and Japan’s Panasonic is intensifying. In the residential space GCL has launched a battery system at $450/kWh (excluding inverter) in Australia, nearly matching Tesla’s announced price of $3,000 for a 7kWh system.

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Driven by an increasing share of renewable energy and e-mobility, the energy storage market is exhibiting substantial growth, which Apricum expects will continue for the foreseeable future. This not only presents new opportunities for energy storage system suppliers, but also for material and polymer players who can add substantial value to these emerging markets by providing tailored components to achieve performance, cost and safety improvements.

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Secretary of state for energy Amber Rudd sent a clear message last week that the UK remains committed to carbon reductions. The country’s fifth carbon budget, put before parliament on 30 June, sets a legally binding target of 57 percent reductions by 2032, compared to a 1990 benchmark.

Campaigns such as the global RE100 initiative have a vital role to play in helping the UK to achieve its carbon goals. Since its launch nearly two years ago, RE100 has encouraged some of the world’s most influential companies to commit to buying 100 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources by a specific year. With 68 major companies from across the world currently signed up, the campaign is helping boost contributions from the private sector to renewable energy investment – a key ambition of the Paris Agreement.

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German manufacturer SOLARWATT is preparing to launch its MyReserve energy storage system in the UK by developing a partnership network with installers and designers.

The expansion has been prompted by a substantial investment by Stefan Quandt of the family that owns BMW, allowing the company to take advantage of what it sees as growing traction for solar energy in the UK.

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Lewes, DE — (SBWIRE) — 07/06/2016 — In this report, we analyze the Solar Energy Storage Battery industry from two aspects. One part is about its production and the other part is about its consumption. In terms of its production, we analyze the production, revenue, gross margin of its main manufacturers and the unit price that they offer in different regions from 2011 to 2016. In terms of its consumption, we analyze the consumption volume, consumption value, sale price, import and export in different regions from 2011 to 2016. We also make a prediction of its production and consumption in coming 2016-2021.

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New York storage advocates want the state to set storage mandates, directing utilities to acquire battery resources in an effort to bring more renewable power online. The NY-BEST group filed in June with state regulators, according to Microgrid Knowledge, calling for a ramp-up in capacity from 500 MW in 2020, to 1 GW in 2022, and 2 GW by 2025, with 4 MW by 2030. 

The state’s 50% renewables goal would require about a quarter of peak load to be sourced from storage, the group said.

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Nissan is ever moving forward with its commercialization of energy storage systems using ‘second-life’ lithium-ion batteries from electric cars.

The company’s most recent large-scale installation of re-purposed EV batteries power Webaxys’ data center at the Saint-Romain de Colbosc Eco Park in Normandy, France.

As you can see in the photo, Nissan is using battery pack set upright (not unlike BMW’s recent ESS solution) and enclosed in an external closet beside Eaton power electronics.

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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.”

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Energy Storage News – The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has reformed the Self-Generation Incentive Programme (SGIP) that finances the installation of distributed generation technologies, to now benefit long-duration technologies that previously missed out on the incentive, through the extended US$83 million a year for behind-the-meter storage.

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Automotive giant Nissan and power electronics and engineering group Eaton have installed an energy storage system at a data centre run by IT and cloud computing firm Webaxys’ in Normandy, France.

Data centres currently account for 1.5-2% of worldwide electricity consumption and this is growing fast. The nature of data centres means that they cannot afford to have power outages, which makes the use of intermittent renewable energy to power them a particular problem. However the new storage solution overcomes this issue by providing power on demand.

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