As part of its nascent plans to begin expanding into other clean energy technologies, Danish wind energy giant Ørsted announced earlier this month that it completed its first standalone battery storage project, the 20 megawatt (MW) Carnegie Road battery project located in Liverpool, England.

The Carnegie Road battery storage project was announced in April of 2018 to be built in Liverpool, England, and which will provide services to the UK’s National Grid to support grid stability during shifts in power generation. While it would not be the company’s first foray into energy storage itself, it is the company’s first standalone, large-scale project.

The company had previously announced small demonstration projects in Denmark, the UK, and Taiwan, and currently boasts a behind-the-meter 2 MW battery at its Burbo Bank offshore wind farm which supports the 90 MW offshore wind farm’s production scheduling.

The newly completed 20 MW Carnegie Road battery project consists of three battery containers and associated power conversion systems, both provided by NEC Energy Solutions. Its primary function is to provide grid balancing services to National Grid, the company which operates the UK’s national electricity grid. Ørsted does not release megawatt-hour capacity figures for its battery storage announcements for “commercial reasons,” according to a company press representative.

“Climate change is a real and pressing threat to our planet and, in order to minimise its effects, we urgently need to decarbonise our electricity system,” explained Matthew Wright, UK Managing Director at Ørsted. “The good news is, we’re on the right path, especially in the UK, where we lead the world in deploying renewable technologies, such as offshore wind.

“We have a vision to create a world that runs entirely on green energy, and that means we will need more than just clean energy generation. That’s why we’re investing in energy storage systems like Carnegie Road, to accelerate the transition to a smarter, low carbon grid. Batteries, and other innovative storage technologies will form a critical part of an integrated green energy system required to ensure we keep the lights on without harming our planet.”

Anesco and Shell’s New Energies division are to partner on a utility-scale battery storage project in Norfolk, England.

The battery project, which is expected to have a capacity of 1.25MW/1.25MWh, is to be located adjacent to the Bacton gas terminal site, one of the company’s most significant energy facilities in the UK.

Anesco is to provide design, procurement, installation, commissioning and maintenance of the utility-scale system. While a specific timeframe for the project has not been disclosed, Solar Power Portal understands it is expected that the project be launched this summer.

Steve Shine, executive chairman at Anesco, said the news was an “exciting new” development for the storage sector. 

“It marks another significant milestone for us at Anesco. We have fully complied with Shell’s high standards of quality and safety and that is a massive compliment to the Anesco team,” he added.

The news follows recent reports that Shell is to double down on its focus on renewables and associated technologies, placing greater significance on its New Energies division which is dedicated to low carbon technologies crucial to the energy transition.

Last year Shell invested in domestic battery storage manufacturer sonnen in a bid to bolster its consumer offering, but the energy giant had yet to make any kind of move into the UK’s utility-scale storage market until today’s partnership. 

But the country’s utility-scale battery storage market is already home to many of the globe’s energy giants. The likes of Vattenfall, EDF and Centrica have all completed large-scale battery projects in recent years and, just last month, Orsted completed a 20MW battery near Liverpool. 

Earlier this week National Grid, within a wider Capacity Market consultation, outlined its expectation for the UK’s battery storage capacity to swell to as much as 1.7GW by the 2021/2022 winter period.

LONDON & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Highview Power, the global leader in long-duration energy storage solutions, announced today that it has partnered with Finland-based Citec, a global engineering firm specializing in industrial plants and projects, to modularize its gigawatt-scale cryogenic energy storage system. With a simplified design and streamlined engineering from Citec, a standard plant configuration of 50 MW/500 MWh can be easily and cost-effectively scaled up to multiple gigawatt hours, or down, without limitation.

“Last year, we launched the world’s first grid-scale liquid air energy storage plant, and in 2019 we will be commercializing our long-duration energy storage solutions globally,” said Javier Cavada, President and CEO of Highview Power. “Modularizing our liquid air technology will help us deploy our systems more efficiently and cost-effectively, providing an attractive advantage for project developers and investors.”

The company is working on multiple projects in both Europe and the U.S., with construction expected to begin this year.

Highview Power selected Citec as its engineering partner because of the company’s proven track record of modularizing industrial plant products, as well as the global resources and a strong understanding of delivering engineering projects around the globe. The first modular solution will be designed with a standard configuration of 50 MW/500 MWh and can then be customized to the individual needs for varying storage capacities.

“This first project is to develop a modular solution for one storage capacity, and from this basis, repeated projects with localization and for varying storage capacities will be developed,” said Johan Westermarck, CEO, Citec. “We are very excited to begin work on this first project – both parties’ ambition is to create and establish a long-term partnership. The business cooperation with Highview Power is strategically important as it brings Citec to the frontline of new energy solutions that are eagerly needed to balance the increasing solar and wind production capacity.”

Replacing Fossil Fuels

As momentum builds toward adding more renewable energy sources to the power grid, giga-scale energy storage is the necessary foundation to make these intermittent sources of power reliable enough to become the baseload and reach a target of 100 percent renewable power. “Our cryogenic energy storage systems are equivalent in performance to – and could replace – a fossil fuel power station,” said Cavada. Highview Power’s system can also support electricity and distribution systems while providing additional security of supply.

Energy efficiency and sustainability firm Ameresco announced that Jacqueline DeRosa has joined the company as vice president for energy storage. 

DeRosa’s career spans more than 25-years in energy policy and regulatory reform, energy storage consulting, and commercial project development.

“We are thrilled that Jacquie has joined the Ameresco team,” Michael T. Bakas, Executive Vice President, Ameresco said. “Her market and industry expertise will prove invaluable in assisting Ameresco to continue to lead in shaping the transforming Distributed Energy Resource space, and providing long-term value for our existing and new customers.”

Prior to joining Ameresco, DeRosa was the Vice President for Emerging Technologies at Customized Energy Solutions (CES), where she advised clients on how to value energy storage resources and interpret the changing market rules. Prior to CES, DeRosa worked for the California ISO in the areas of policy and market design. She has also worked on international energy sector restructuring matters for United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and in power project development for an independent power producer. She began her career at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“I have been working to accelerate the integration of new technologies into competitive power markets and I’m eager to focus my expertise and passion to develop clean and sustainable energy projects at Ameresco,” she said. “Energy storage and distributed resources are thrusting the electric power industry into a new paradigm, and it is a tremendous opportunity for me to join such an accomplished organization at this dynamic time in the industry.”

DeRosa serves on the Board of Directors for the national Energy Storage Association (ESA) and has been involved in ESA’s efforts to educate stakeholders about new technologies and promote fair rules for energy storage. She is frequently invited to speak at industry conferences worldwide and has contributed to publications and podcasts concerning the benefits of energy storage technology.   

Companies in search of more renewable energy to power their growth can take heart from the example of Texas. The Lone Star State relies most heavily on natural gas and coal to generate electricity. It also has a fairly healthy nuclear sector. However, wind power has already leapfrogged past nuclear in Texas, and coal could be the next domino to fall. A new study indicates that the right balance of wind and solar power could provide for a reliable grid, without having to depend on expensive energy storage systems.

The New Texas Renewable Energy Study

The new study comes from Rice University under the title, “Assessing solar and wind complementarity in Texas.” The study was performed by undergraduate student Joanna Slusarewicz and Rice professor Daniel Cohan, an environmental engineer.

In a press release, Slusarewicz explained the goal of the project:

 . . . batteries remain too expensive to store Texas-sized amounts of energy for later use. “I did this project to see if there is a way, before we even start building more wind and solar farms, to distribute their current output to take advantage of differences in climate throughout the state,” Slusarewicz said.

Cohan added:

…Only in the past couple of years has solar become competitive with wind. Now Texas has two strong renewable options. That’s why this is the time to look at integrating these sources so they can do better than either can do on its own.

The point about energy storage is a critical one. The market for small scale, on-site energy storage is growing rapidly, but utility scale systems are still a long way from commercial viability due to their expense.

Currently, pumped hydro is the only large scale, low cost storage system available in the U.S., and appropriate sites for those facilities are few and far between.

Complementarity and grid stability

“Complementarity” refers to balancing the output of solar and wind power facilities.

Because wind and solar rely on natural conditions, the peak performance of wind turbines and solar panels varies considerably over time. The output can be optimal at different times of day, in different seasons, and in different regions of the same state.

Following a report on Friday that Hawaiian Electric has contracted PPAs with 75MW of solar projects including battery storage with developer Clearway, the utility has put before regulators proposals for five other grid-scale projects.

Energy-Storage.news reported last week that Clearway has been awarded two grid-scale solar-plus-storage projects on the island of Oahu, one of 39MW PV generation capacity linked to 156MWh of energy storage (the Mililani 1 Solar plant) and another of 36MW PV and 144MWh energy storage (Waiawa Solar project).

In total, Hawaiian Electric Company group companies have submitted to the regulator, Hawaiian Public Utilities Commission, seven projects of this type. There will be one more project on Oahu, two on the main Hawaii Island and two on the island of Maui. If all approved the projects will add 262MW of PV capacity to the islands’ networks, as well as 1,048MWh of energy storage.

Each project will have four hours of energy storage duration, currently thought to be the upper limit which can be effectively provided by lithium-ion batteries. The battery systems will help reduce the usage of fossil fuels in Hawaii, particularly at times of peak demand and other times when solar production is low.

As has often been stated on this site, as a series of islands within a modern economy, energy use in Hawaii has historically been linked with the expensive import of polluting diesel fuel. This has led to some of the highest rates of rooftop solar deployment, as well as supplying a solid business case for using batteries to create dispatchable solar power plants.

While fossil fuel generation in the state comes in at a price of around US$0.15 per kilowatt-hour, two of the proposed projects hit prices of US$0.08 per kilowatt-hour, with even the most expensive, Paeahu Solar on Maui by Canadian developer Innergex coming in at an expected US$0.12 per kWh. It is also worth noting that Paeahu Solar is the smallest project on the list by some way at 15MW / 60MWh, implying that scale plays some part in setting prices.

Premier Inn, a chain of budget and competitively priced hotels in the UK, has installed a 100kW lithium ion battery at its Gyle at Edinburgh Park hotel in the Scottish capital, claiming it to be the first ‘battery-powered hotel’ in Britain.

The battery itself was supplied and installed by Premier Inn’s project partner in energy giant E.On, which will also take care of the battery’s operation via the company’s remote energy management centre in Glasgow. 

While precise technical details of the battery have not been disclosed, the 3m3 battery will take two hours to fully charge and will be used for between two to three hours per day by the site, depending on the needs of the national grid. 

Details pertaining to project financing have also not been disclosed. As well as aiding the hotel to shift its peak-time energy demand, E.On is to also use the battery to provide grid services, allowing the hotel to benefit from additional revenue streams. 

Premier Inn said the Edinburgh hotel had been chosen as the site of the trial due in part to Scotland’s high penetration of variable wind power.

Should the project be deemed a success, Premier Inn has stated it would consider extending the trial to further hotels, with 169 of the brand’s hotel’s currently benefitting from on-site solar installations. 

Richard Oakley, customer accounts director at E.On, said that adding the “flexibility of battery storage” to the site, the utility would be able to help parent company Whitbread upgrade to a “full-board option” of energy management benefits. 

“Premier Inn is showing how hotel chains and large power users can further save money, reduce their carbon footprint and support the development of a lower-carbon, smarter energy grid in the UK,” he said.

January 7 (Renewables Now) – Canada’s Innergex Renewable Energy Inc (TSE:INE) confirmed it has sealed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for two solar-plus battery projects on the Hawaiian islands with a combined photovoltaic (PV) capacity of 45 MW.

The deals with the Hawai’i Electric Light Company and the Maui Electric Company are for the Hale Kuawehi and Paeahu schemes, both of which are scheduled for completion in 2022, Innergex said on Friday. Located on Hawaii island, the 30-MW Hale Kuawehi PV park will be able to produce an average of 92,000 MWh of electricity per year and will incorporate 120 MWh of battery storage capacity. The Paeahu solar plant, with a capacity of 15 MW, will be set up in Maui and will have a 60-MWh energy storage system. Its average annual output will be around 45,000 MWh.

The PPAs have been filed for review with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Innergex said. It explained that the contracts are for dispatchable power, which will help maintain the grid stability on the two islands.

The two projects mark the Canadian firm’s foray into the energy storage sector. Its president and CEO Michel Letellier said: “With these two important and unique projects in Hawai’i, we are excited to enter the growing and promising battery energy storage market, in which we intend to become a key player.”

While market opportunities for energy storage in Texas are considered to be limited, the largest battery project in the state so far, a 42MWh system, has just come online.

Texas has no capacity market payment mechanism, utilities are not allowed to own storage due to competition rules as it is still classed as a generation source and as early as March this year, analysts were saying that frequency response markets for the state’s main network operator, ERCOT, are rapidly reaching its maximum cap.

Thus far, the state has deployed a large amount of wind power generation and some batteries have been deployed at wind farms to limit the curtailment of the generators’ excess energy. However, integrated power company Vistra Energy, identified that some niche opportunities exist to use batteries for the integration of solar energy, while also seeing a half-formed business case for energy arbitrage, charging batteries cheaply with off-peak grid power or renewables.

Located at the 180MW Upton 2 solar plant, West Texas, Vistra Energy’s subsidiary Luminant delivered a 10MW / 42MWh lithium-ion battery system. Upton 2 is capable of generating 200MW during peak solar production hours and the batteries allow some of that extra generation to be captured and then discharged during peak times. The batteries can also be charged with off-peak power from the grid at night, which again can be resold at higher prices when demand has risen. In Texas that’s also likely to include a proportion of wind power, Vistra said. A recent 10MWh project announced by RES (Renewable Energy Systems) for utility CPS Energy also serves a similar purpose.

An investor’s note: “Batteries, renewables and electrification of transport” published by Vistra during 2018 shows that the company identified opportunities across a number of service areas of major US transmission network operators, including California’s CAISO, the New York NYISO, Texas’ ERCOT and PJM across 12 states in the Mid-West.

Of all the strange things we do as a race on this planet, refining and over-complicating things are some of them. We’re never satisfied with letting things be and often time favor extravagant conspiracy theories over reality. After all, how would the opposing piston engine and the convoluted internal combustion engine system have worked until now otherwise? Even though it has brought us this far, we need to get rid of inefficiency for more effective solar thermal energy storage systems.

So, How About Turning Sunshine Into Liquid Fuel For Solar Thermal Energy Storage?

The thought of turning sunshine into liquid fuel might sound like a step back, but hear me out. The solar thermal energy storage system I’m referencing uses a liquid isomer to store and release solar energy. The discovery could lead to more widespread use of solar energy throughout the world, according to the researchers behind it.

According to BigThink, Swedish scientists from the Chalmers University of Technology figured out that using a norbornadiene compound that reacts to sunlight has some potential in this regard. It rearranges its carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen atoms, which can be stored in an energy-storing isomer called a quadricyclane. Quadricyclanes hold up to 250 watt-hours of energy per kilogram, even after cooling down for a long time. And they doesn’t break down after being recycles.

One of the biggest energy problems for northern and southern countries is with the harvesting and storing of their vast solar energy. These countries have made great strides with hydro and thermal energy systems, but solar thermal energy storage is still a developing field. By using a cobalt-based catalyst, the energy is released as heat, much like how concentrated solar molten salt tanks work. This makes solar energy transportable and a contender for on-demand energy needs.