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New Flow Battery Yields High Energy Storage Capabilities

on July 23, 2018

RandD Using a liquid metal, researchers have improved the energy storage capabilities of flow batteries, while also reducing production costs.

Researchers from Stanford University have created a new type of flow battery with a liquid metal that more than doubles the maximum voltage of conventional flow batteries, which could lead to large-scale wind and solar electricity storage possibilities..

Flow batteries have long been considered as a strong candidate to store intermittent renewable energy, but ultimately have been limited by the kinds of liquids needed that either do not produce enough deliverable energy, require extremely high temperatures or use toxic or expensive chemicals.

Conventional flow batteries have aqueous solutions on both sides, but are constrained in voltage by water splitting.

The researchers were able to bypass the limitations by mixing sodium and potassium to form a liquid metal room temperature that could be used as the fluid for the negative side of the battery. This new combination could have theoretically at least 10 times the available energy per gram as other candidates for the electron donor-side fluid of a flow battery.

“We still have a lot of work to do, but this is a new type of flow battery that could affordably enable much higher use of solar and wind power using Earth-abundant materials,” PhD student Antonio Baclig said in a statement.

The researchers developed a ceramic membrane comprised of potassium and aluminum oxide that allowed them to keep the negative and positive materials separated while allowing current to flow, while more than doubling the voltage of conventional flow batteries. The batteries also remained stable for thousands of hours of operation.

The higher voltage enables the battery to store more energy for its size, while also reducing the cost to produce the batteries.

“A new battery technology has so many different performance metrics to meet: cost, efficiency, size, lifetime, safety, etc.,” Baclig said. “We think this sort of technology has the possibility, with more work, to meet them all, which is why we are excited about it.”

Ontario’s GAC Policy Inspires Another 42MWh of C&I Energy Storage

on July 23, 2018

Energy-Storage-News Currently attracting developers and investment alike, the opportunity to reduce energy costs for businesses in Ontario has led to an agreement for another 42MWh of energy storage from project developer NRStor and solutions provider IHI Inc.

Ontario’s commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage space has been found to offer one of the best policy-driven economic opportunities for reducing peak demand and therefore electricity bills in the Global Adjustment Charge.

The policy is a means by which to pay for the Canadian province’s grid upgrades and maintenance as well as for the development and promotion of clean energy and energy efficiency. Energy-Storage.news has reported on numerous multi-megawatt projects from the region in recent months, including last week, when multinational utility Enel said its second megawatt-scale C&I project in Ontario would save the customer, food packaging company Amhil North America, around 20% on current energy costs at the facility where the installation is being made.

In an announcement made this morning, NRStor, a developer founded in Canada in 2012, said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with IHI Energy Storage, with the latter set to supply energy storage solutions for eight contracted projects which will add up to 42MWh of energy storage. The projects will be completed during 2019, with no further details of timelines given at this stage.

Each project will be a behind-the-meter, customer-sited lithium-ion battery system. IHI Energy Storage will deliver batteries, inverters, temperature-controlled enclosures and balance of plant components as well as putting the solutions under warranty and performing operations and maintenance (O&M) tasks. They will utilise IHI Energy Storage’s proprietary software, ESWare.

NRStor in early 2017 closed a deal with a union-backed pension fund, Labourers’ Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada (LiUNA), which committed CAN$200 million (US$151 million) of project financing towards NRStor projects. That deal was considered something of a vindication of the appeal of the Ontario energy storage market, as was the market entry of SUSI Partners, a Switzerland-headquartered investment fund aimed at encouraging institutional investors to get on board with energy storage, which reached its first closing at €66 million (US$70.4 million) in April last year. NRStor itself is also active in other areas, striking a deal with advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) firm Hydrostor for a potential roll-out of the latter’s utility-scale systems across Canada.

Navigant: Energy Storage PCS Becoming a ‘Crowded Market’

on July 23, 2018

Energy-Storage-News The market for power conversion systems (PCS) used in energy storage is becoming “increasingly crowded” with competitors, while the diverse field of players will contribute to “rapid technological innovations and price reductions”, Navigant Research has said.

Due to it being home to some of the largest and fastest growing markets for energy storage, the Asia-Pacific region could represent as much as 43.2% of the overall global market cumulatively for energy storage PCS.

According to ‘Innovations in power conversion technology for grid storage’, a new report from Navigant, North America, Western Europe and Latin America will be other big contributors to the overall picture, although authors Alex Eller and Peter Asmus wrote that “all world regions are expected to see significant growth over the 10-year forecast period”. Navigant also added that while North America is likely to see a higher capacity of energy storage installations in the next few years, Western Europe will deploy more distributed systems – at higher price points – than North America, meaning revenues from PCS market will be higher.

The report also identifies some of the key and leading players in the nascent ES PCS market: digital automation specialist ABB, Dynapower, Hyosung, Rhombus Energy Solutions and Solaredge, for a deeper look. It also looks at products and system setups from specific vendors, including Ideal Power, SolarEdge and Tesla.

Navigant also gave predictions for price reduction trajectories for PCS, although figures will only be made available to subscribers to the company’s research service. Nonetheless, it did say that the energy storage industry’s focus on battery price reduction has diminished as the market has matured, resulting in increasing efforts to reduce costs for balance of system (BOS) components and the PCS.

Renewable energy sources producing DC power, such as solar PV, and variable AC (wind), use PCS to convert their energy to regulated AC power which can be grid-integrated, thus, “PCS enable the utilisation of renewables, storage, and microgrids on a large scale”.

“The market for energy storage PCS is growing increasingly crowded as new companies enter the market leveraging a variety of backgrounds and expertise to introduce new products,” the authors wrote.

Market participants come from a range of backgrounds and expertise, from more pure play component vendors to those with a track record of developing inverters and other products for solar and wind.

According to Eller and Asmus, there are three key innovations or areas of innovation likely to drive the market forward: Smart islanding and backup power, where inverters and PCS combine to provide resilience and uninterruptible power systems (UPS) in the event of grid outages or off-grid use; cost reductions, driven by innovations in materials and components, including improvements in system architecture that reduce the complexity of system design; and the use of energy storage to support grids, with “features such as automatic reactive power support and variable settings to ride-through disruptions” helping with the integration of variable renewable energy through coordinating the different distributed energy resources (DERs) attached to grids.

Proposed Solar Arrays in Clark County Include Battery Storage

on July 22, 2018

The next big trend in solar energy has arrived in Nevada, and for once the batteries are included.

Construction is slated to begin in Clark County next year on two of the largest solar arrays ever built in the state and the first to incorporate batteries to enable power delivery at night.

The proposed Yellow Pine Solar Project, 10 miles southeast of Pahrump, would combine photovoltaic panels and lithium-ion batteries to generate up to 500 megawatts of electricity for use in Nevada on about 3,000 acres of public land near the California border.

The Gemini Solar Project, 25 miles northeast of Las Vegas, would eventually generate up to 690 MW with some battery storage on about 7,100 acres of public land just east of Interstate 15 along the road to Valley of Fire State Park.

Industry experts expect to see more developments like these as battery costs decline and the technology continues to improve.

“Solar and storage go together like peanut butter and chocolate — great on their own and even better together,” said Jessica Scott, regional director for the Oakland, California-based advocacy group Vote Solar.

BLM seeking input

The Yellow Pine project is being developed by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, a Florida-based company that ranks as the largest renewable energy producer in North America. NextEra already operates two solar arrays in Clark County — the 250 MW Silver State Solar Power South in Primm and the 20 MW Mountain View Solar plant in Apex.

Gemini is a joint venture by Australia’s Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and California-based Arevia Power, which plan to develop 440 MW of solar capacity for use in Nevada in the first phase of development. Another 250 MW of generating capacity would be added in the second phase, with the power to be sold in Nevada or exported to Arizona and California.

The Bureau of Land Management is now accepting public comment on both projects as part of separate environmental reviews.

Some conservationists have raised concerns about clearing large swaths of desert for utility-scale arrays instead of placing solar panels on rooftops or in already disturbed areas. The Nevada-based environmental Basin and Range Watch is opposed to the Yellow Pine in particular because of all the Joshua trees, yuccas and desert tortoise habit that would be destroyed to make way for the project.

“Basin and Range Watch supports renewable energy, but we believe it can be used on already developed space,” Kevin Emmerich, the group’s director, said in an email. “Las Vegas is having another major growth boom, and all of the rooftops can be utilized for solar panels. Why destroy valuable habitat for desert species when more environmentally friendly options are out there?”

Partners Secured for World’s Largest Energy Storage Plant

on July 22, 2018

Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) has selected Hummingbird Energy Storage, a subsidiary of esVolta, to develop an energy storage system in Santa Clara County, California.

The firm will develop, build, and operate the Hummingbird Energy Storage project, a 75MW / 300MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility.

The energy storage system is expected to be complete by December 2020.

The project will be the largest battery system in the world, according to a statement.

The system is being designed to help PG&E provide affordable and reliable energy to its customers. The plant will provide ancillary services to California’s grid whilst enhancing reliability, especially during peaks.

The system is expected to help California achieve its renewable energy targets as it will facilitate integration of renewable energy resources including solar and wind. Read more: Eight trends impacting solar and storage industry

A Solar Power & Energy Storage Revolution Is Upon Us

on July 20, 2018

Cleantechnica A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance describes some of the implications of the growing solar power and energy storage trend as it relates to the current, centralized utility-based electricity distribution model. Because solar and energy storage can be cost competitive with grid electricity prices in some places, consumers now have an alternative to only using utility-based electricity. Report author John Farrell answered some questions for CleanTechnica.

1. Are you expecting home energy storage to continue decreasing in price?

Yes, definitely. I’ve heard of prices today close to $500 per kilowatt-hour of capacity. I’d expect that to fall to closer to $100 in 5-10 years.

2. Is it likely that home solar power systems will be increasingly paired with home energy storage?

For sure. Given the evidence that pairing the systems can help decrease payback times under net metering successor policies (and the benefits of backup power), I expect to see that increase.

3. How can utilities plan for more and more homeowners using solar power and energy storage?

Don’t build any central-station power plants and instead look for ways to make money supporting choices customers will make anyway. Restructure rates to encourage customers to use their distributed energy systems to aid the grid (e.g. by storing energy when cheap and selling it back when expensive).

4. Will utilities ever become obsolete, or will they exist to back up individually owned solar and energy storage systems?

It depends on how you define a utility. Vertically integrated utilities that combine generation, transmission, and distribution aren’t suitable for a market in which customers can substantially fulfill the generation needs of the system locally. What we don’t need is centralized planning, what we do need is coordination.

5. Are you expecting that more and more homeowners will go off-grid completely, or will they remained grid-tied, most likely?

I don’t expect many homeowners to go off-grid at all in the next decade, but that depends a lot on whether they live in a particularly good region for it and if the utility makes it worthwhile with high fixed charges or other dumb policies.

6. How does the increasing number of EVs figure into the home solar and energy storage picture?

As we reported last year, increasing EV deployment can increase the local grid capacity for distributed solar. It’s also a large source electricity demand that can typically be time-shifted. It’s not quite as useful as a standalone battery until there are viable, commercial vehicle-to-grid services or ways for a vehicle owner to tap the battery.

7. Are there states currently that are leading the others in terms of solar and energy storage adoption?

Massachusetts comes to mind, as do Hawaii and California. Mostly those that have required utilities to do it, provided strong incentives, or where the economics have driven customers to it on their own.

8. Have you seen any cases where homeowners use their own electricity from home energy storage to avoid peak usage charges?

Personally? No. But I’m sure if you talk to Sunrun they will say that’s why 1 in 5 residential customers in California are combining solar and storage.

9. Are you expecting more home energy storage products to enter the market to increase competition?

Yes.

Microgrids Hold The Key To Providing Power For All

on July 20, 2018

United Nations delegates met in New York in July to assess how much progress has been made towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 aims to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity that were signed by 193 countries.

This year, the meeting was focused on how to ensure access to affordable and reliable energy, water and safe and resilient cities (goals 6, 7 and 11 0f the SDGs).

The three issues are closely connected, according to Itamar Orlandi, head of Frontier Power Research at Bloomberg NEF, the clean energy analysts, in a blog on the company’s website. Since Thomas Edison launched the world’s first utility company in 1882, “electricity has become one of the most basic components of modern life, often taken for granted”, he writes.

“Yet, 136 years on, the industry is still not in a position to serve some 14% of the globe’s population. At this pace, some 700 million people will still not have power by 2030,” he adds.

However, decentralized renewable power technologies, in particular off-grid solar and microgrids, provide the opportunity for areas without access to the electricity network to “leapfrog” the grid. Microgrids consist of some kind of generation capacity and some kind of energy storage. In the past both functions have been performed by diesel generators, but increasingly the generating capacity will be solar and the storage will be battery storage.

While power generated using solar and a microgrid is more expensive than retail grid-connected power, it is hundreds, or even thousands, of times cheaper than the cost of extending the grid to households that are not currently grid-connected. This makes microgrids an attractive option for the 892 million people without power that are living on less than $5.50 a day, who have very modest power demands.

In many emerging markets, there are many people without power but living near to existing cities, and for them it makes sense to simply extend the grid. But Bloomberg NEF estimates that solar home systems and microgrids could grow to become a $64 billion market by 2030 as, from the mid-2020s onwards, more people will be gaining access to power through decentralized technologies than through grid connections.

This is because there will be fewer places left where it is economic to connect to the grid, while components will be cheaper, supply chains will have become more established and there will be a higher consumer uptake of home solar systems. “Of the 238 million new households to get electricity between now and 2030, 72 million will use solar home systems and 34 million will benefit from microgrids,” Orlandi says.

No Longer a Novelty, Clean Energy Technologies Boom All Across the US

on July 20, 2018

Greentech-Media It was 1997, and stakeholders were working hard to help craft the first renewable energy standard in the State of Massachusetts, which ultimately passed as part of an electric utility restructuring act. At that time, the notion that Massachusetts would be one of the top solar states in the country was almost laughable, recalls Rob Sargent, who currently leads the energy program at Environment America.

Today, renewable energy is taking off in virtually every state in the nation.

A new report and interactive map released this week by Environment America takes stock of U.S. clean energy progress to date. It finds that leadership is no longer concentrated in select parts of the country, but that it is distributed across states with varying economic and democratic makeups.

“You’re seeing an evolution that’s happening everywhere; and it will be interesting to see what will happen 10 years from now,” Sargent said.

The “Renewables on the Rise” report highlights how much has changed in a relatively short period of time, which can be easy to forget.

Today, the U.S. produces nearly six times as much renewable electricity from the sun and the wind as it did in 2008, and nine states now get more than 20 percent of their electricity from renewables.

Last year, the U.S. produced a record amount of solar power, generating 39 times more solar power than a decade ago. In 2008, solar produced 0.05 percent of electricity in the U.S. But by the end of 2017, solar generation reached more than 2 percent of the electricity mix — enough to power 7 million average American homes.

Wind has also seen dramatic growth over the last decade. From 2008 through 2017, American wind energy generation grew nearly five-fold. Last year, wind turbines produced 6.9 percent of America’s electricity — enough to power nearly 24 million homes. And the forecast shows even more growth as America’s offshore wind industry begins to takeoff.

Meanwhile, the average American uses nearly 8 percent less energy today than a decade ago, thanks in large part to energy efficiency improvements.

The U.S. transportation fleet is also transforming. Last year, sales of all-electric vehicles broke past 100,000 annual sales for the first time, with 104,000 units sold. As recently as 2010 the number of EVs on American roads numbered in the hundreds, even including plug-in hybrid vehicles. Now there are more than 20 pure-electric models on the market, ranging from affordable commuter cars to ultra-fast luxury vehicles.

Navigant: Energy Storage PCS Becoming A ‘Crowded Market’

on July 19, 2018

Market participants come from a range of backgrounds and expertise, from more pure play component vendors to those with a track record of developing inverters and other products for solar and wind.

More Energy Storage Looming For Wind Power

on July 19, 2018

Cleantechnica It wasn’t that long ago that solar power and wind power were labeled as marginal, ‘green’ electricity, but in the last five years or so they have become much more affordable and economically more feasible than conventional sources like coal and nuclear.

What supported solar along the way partly was the emergence of energy storage in the form of battery systems. Electricity can now be made by solar power systems and the excess can be stored for usage at night or on less sunny days. At least, solar power has been paired successfully with energy storage, and it is catching up with solar power. The cost of this newish technology is dropping, “The overall estimated cost fell 32% in 2015 and 2016, according to the 2017 GTM Reseach utility-scale storage report. That will slow over the next five years, GTM reported. But battery storage is — in certain places and applications — on its way to cost-competitiveness.”

According to Lazard, it could drop another 36% between 2018 and 2022. The UC-Berkeley research study, “Energy Storage Deployment and Innovation for the Clean Energy Transition,” predicted lithium-ion batteries could hit the $100 per kilowatt-hour mark in 2018.

FERC Order 845, from this April, made conditions more favorable for wind energy storage, “FERC Order 845 is more important for wind developers because it changes the interconnection rules. A developer with underused interconnection capacity can now add storage without a new interconnection, allowing the wind developer to profit from underused interconnection capacity in a way that was not possible before,” said RES Group Chief Technology Officer Andrew Oliver.

It isn’t only lithium-ion batteries that have potential to back up wind power systems, as flow batteries might work too, “Due to its scalable energy capacity the Vanadium redox battery is a highly promising option to support our advanced technology offers for isolated and grid connected systems,” said Antonio de la Torre, SGRE’s chief technology officer.

The notion of cost-competitiveness can be a strange one, because the costs of fossil fuels go far beyond extraction, processing and shipping. What is the cost of burning oil and coal on human health and the planet? Fossil fuels have always had much higher costs than have been acknowledged, so comparing them directly with those of solar and wind is quite misleading.

New Flow Battery Yields High Energy Storage Capabilities

Ontario’s GAC Policy Inspires Another 42MWh of C&I Energy Storage

Navigant: Energy Storage PCS Becoming a ‘Crowded Market’

Proposed Solar Arrays in Clark County Include Battery Storage

Partners Secured for World’s Largest Energy Storage Plant

A Solar Power & Energy Storage Revolution Is Upon Us

Microgrids Hold The Key To Providing Power For All

No Longer a Novelty, Clean Energy Technologies Boom All Across the US

Navigant: Energy Storage PCS Becoming A ‘Crowded Market’

More Energy Storage Looming For Wind Power

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