Energy storage should be properly valued and supported at federal level in the United States, according to a government document analysing and evaluating energy policy released by officials of the outgoing Obama administration.

The Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), a directive ordered by the president in 2014, is on its second instalment, with the first instalment published in April 2015. Although the name implies it be published once every four years, the review’s task force’s work is ongoing and therefore published in these instalments. The documents are designed to inform policymakers and will therefore undoubtedly be on reading lists for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.

While the April 2015 instalment, titled “Energy, transmission, storage and distribution infrastructure” looked at pipelines, wires and other aspects of the whole energy network in the context of how it could be modernised “to promote economic competitiveness, energy security and environmental responsibility”, the latest instalment looks at these three key areas within the confines of the electricity sector. Titled “Transforming the nation’s electricity system”, the report projects out to 2040 and makes more than 70 recommendations that it says “must be implemented to optimise and modernise the electricity sector”.

Looking at electricity from generation to end use, the report lauds progress made in certain areas, such as the rapid growth of environmental technologies as an industry in the US, quoting that 1.6 million people are employed in this sector, raising revenues of US$320 billion and exports worth US$51 billion, according to 2015 figures. It also highlights that in the US, air pollution has fallen even as electricity generation has grown between 1970 and 2014.

Among other key findings, it also recognises the growing need for system flexibility as more variable generation from renewables is added to the grid, which is transitioning from controllable generation and variable load to variable generation. This requires better controllable load, the report states, and cites energy storage, along with fast ramping natural gas generation and demand response as among a “number of flexibility options”.

From an economic and industrial standpoint, the report finds that the proliferation and combination of distributed generation such as solar PV, smart home devices and electric battery storage is leading to new business opportunities, which it says will “require a wide array of skills”.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Texas added energy jobs in November for the first time since Dec. 2014, when employment peaked during the oil boom and quickly fell as oil prices plunged.

Overall, Texas’ oil and gas industry has entered a recovery, as rig counts, oil prices and drilling permits rise, said Karr Ingham, an economist who compiles the Texas Petro Index, a mix of numbers that measure the health of Texas energy economy.

But while the state of energy industry is  improving, Ingham said, the recovery is likely to be long and slow. While the the November job gains are auspicious, they don’t begin to offset the tens of thousands of jobs lost during the downturn.

“Essentially, all we’ve done is stop bleeding at this point,” Ingham said .”But at least we aren’t continuing to bleed.”

Click Here to Read Full Article

On 30 November 2016, the European Commission officially released its “Clean Energy for All Europeans” package, also known as “Winter Package” i.e., moving the EU to meet its climate change target with numerous legislative proposals to reform the EU energy market. This legislation will have an important impact on the electricity market and the development of renewable-energy going forward.

The European Commission wants the EU to be ahead on the global clean energy transition. For this reason the EU has committed to cut C02 emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, while modernizing the EU’s economy, delivering jobs and growth for all European citizens. The legislative proposals include a new target for energy efficiency, achieving global leadership in renewable energies and proving a fair deal for consumers.

The Winter Package proposes an increase in the share of renewables in the energy generation mix to 27 percent, with half of this target being met via renewable electricity generation. With regards to energy efficiency, the European Commission proposed a target of a 30 percent increase by 2030 – a target slightly higher than the minimum 27 percent target which had been set by Member States in 2014. The Winter Package marks the beginning of a new energy revolution in Europe, recognizing that the region’s energy challenges have evolved over the last decades.

Since BREXIT, EU executives are seeking to highlight the advantages of being part of a unified bloc, with one of the executive priority being consumer right, pending to lower energy prices, reducing energy bills and removing barriers for generators to sell their renewable electricity and feed the grid.

For the time being, the EU executives have some work to do in order to show how the wholesale power market has dropped since the global financial crisis and the invoices of the end-user continue to increase around 3 percent year-on-year.

Click Here to Read Full Article

AUSTIN, Texas and SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (TEC), an association representing some of the largest electricity cooperatives in the United States, today announced a partnership with cleantech leader Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) to offer AMS services to its member cooperatives, and host an advanced energy storage system installed and operated by AMS at its Master Distribution Center in Georgetown, Texas.  

This partnership will allow TEC to offer its 75 member cooperatives preferred pricing for advanced energy storage systems and AMS services.  The system that TEC will install at its own 160,000 square foot Master Distribution Center will reduce TEC’s peak energy demand, while providing support to the electric grid.  It will also provide training and educational opportunities for all of TEC’s member cooperative electric utilities.  The project effectively demonstrates how utilities can use advanced energy storage to maximize efficiencies, reduce costs and enhance the reliability and security of their electric grids.

“Battery storage represents the next step in optimizing our use of renewable energy,” said Johnny Andrews, Chief Operating Officer, TEC Manufacturing & Distribution Services.  “We are excited to provide this technology to our members and to showcase how battery storage can maximize the efficiency of their electric grid. TEC is constantly looking for new and better technological solutions to support our members in their delivery of electricity.”

Under the agreement, AMS will design, install and operate a 200 kWh advanced energy storage system at TEC’s Georgetown Master Distribution Center, which supports electrical cooperatives across Texas and serves as TEC’s classroom training facility.

“We are excited to be working with Texas Electric Cooperatives,” said Susan Kennedy, AMS’s Chief Executive Officer.  “TEC is a national leader in the cooperative electricity business, and this project will not just contribute to grid modernization and resiliency for its member agencies in Texas; it will serve as a tremendous learning opportunity for cooperatives serving rural areas across the U.S.”

Click Here to Read Full Article

Last year, Tesla announced that it was working with Southern California Edison (SCE) to create the largest lithium-ion battery in the world. This project will install 20 MW (80 MWh) Powerpack systems at the Mira Loma substation to provide grid-scale power in response to possible power shortages. Tesla announced that they were looking to deliver these systems to the substation by the end of 2016.

Now, Electrek reports that not only is the project up and running, but the company was actually able to meet the ambitious deadline they set, with the substation having been completed in late December of 2016. According to Electrek:

“While Tesla and SCE haven’t officially launched the new substation yet, sources familiar with the new Powerpack installation told Electrek that it was completed a few weeks back – late December – and brought online so that the electric utility can start using it to manage peak demand.”

The substation is equipped with 400 units of the Tesla Powerpack 2, each capable of providing 210 kWh of energy —over double the capacity of the first generation Powerpack.

A TRULY SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Given its total capacity, the substation can hold enough energy to power 2,500 homes for a full day. However, it will be used to support SCE’s existing power sources instead so that it can service a bigger number of households. By storing electricity outside of peak hours, the substation can help deliver electricity even when demand is high and reduce reliance on natural gas peaker plants.

There are other projects currently in the works that could rival the scale of this initiative, but the Tesla-SCE energy storage project is the only one that’s already in operation. This is also the first large-scale utility application of Tesla’s Powerpacks. And should it prove to be successful, it could pave the way for traditional peaker plants to be replaced by battery-powered, energy storage stations.

This project alone marks a shift among current power suppliers who want to focus on finding cleaner and more reliable sources of energy. And following its merger with Solar City, Tesla is in a key position to continue work on various large-scale solar and energy projects.

Click Here to Read Full Article

WASHINGTON — Energy storage facilities should be permitted to provide multiple services and earn both cost- and market-based revenue streams, FERC said last week in a policy statement clarifying its prior rulings on the issue.

“Enabling electric storage resources to provide multiple services (including both cost-based and market-based services) ensures that the full capabilities of these resources can be realized, thereby maximizing their efficiency and value for the system and to consumers,” the commission said in the statement, which was approved on a 2-1 vote (PL17-2).

The commission said that storage resources, which can switch from providing one service to another almost instantaneously, may not be cost competitive without multiple revenue streams.

Chairman Norman Bay and Commissioner Colette Honorable said their position is supported by most of those who testified at the commission’s technical conference Nov. 9 or provided comments afterward. “Commenters believe that the key question is not whether to allow multiple-use applications for electric storage resources but how to allow and enable such applications,” they said. (See FERC Panelists Debate Storage Uses, Compensation.)

Bay and Honorable said the statement was needed to address “potential confusion” over FERC precedent in two previous rulings.

Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur dissented. LaFleur wrote that she agreed that the “commission should be flexible and open to proposals that go beyond the model contemplated” in the prior orders but said the issue should have been considered as part of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the commission issued Nov. 14. (See FERC Rule Would Boost Energy Storage, DER.)

Click Here to Read Full Article

The government has released plans to spend £28 million on reducing the cost of energy storage, advancing demand side response technologies and improving energy efficiency measures for UK industry.

After putting storage and energy efficiency at the centre of new efforts to reduce the cost of decarbonisation, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has today unveiled the new funding across a range of initiatives.

Under the new investment announced by Nick Hurd, minister of state for climate change and industry, up to £9 million will be spent on a competition to reduce the cost of energy storage, including electricity, thermal, and power-to-gas storage. This will include a further £600,000 for feasibilities studies of potential large-scale future storage demonstrators.

Applicants will be able to apply to two tranches under the energy storage cost reduction competition in March and June, while registration for the energy storage feasibility study competition is be required by 27 April.

Hurd said: “Innovation in energy will play an important role to shape our low carbon future to rebuild an outdated energy system. That’s why we’ve increased our financial support, helping to create jobs and opportunities for people across the UK.”

BEIS failed to include any support for mature renewable energy technologies in its industrial strategy, instead opting for offshore wind. This has continued in today’s funding announcements, with £1.3 million to be invested in an Offshore Wind Innovation Hub.

Up to £7.6 million will also be available for demonstrator projects intended to advance energy demand side response technologies, with 9.2 million to be spent on an industrial energy efficiency accelerator.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Trump’s infrastructure wish list includes many provisions observers would expect — the document is heavy on the bridges and road projects he promised throughout the campaign would create jobs for Americans. 

Those in the utility industry who hoped that affinity for big infrastructure projects would translate into power sector programs may take heart in the document released by McClatchy on Tuesday. Just how the Trump administration plans to encourage the projects remains unclear, but it could give an indication of the White House’s priorities.

Of the 50 infrastructure projects, seven focus on the electricity sector:

• #9: The Plains and Eastern transmission lines, which aim to move wind power from the Oklahoma panhandle to load centers in Tennessee;
• #12: Hydroelectric Plants operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, many of which are slated for upgrades;
• #16: The TransWest Express Transmission line, which would deliver renewable energy produced in Wyoming to load centers in California, Nevada and Arizona;
• #17: The Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind projects, an up-to 3,000 MW wind energy project in Wyoming;
• #20: The Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a multi-utility project that would transport gas from West Virginia down through North Carolina;
• #21: The Champlain Hudson Power Express, a hydropower project that could bring up to 1,000 MW of clean power to the New York metro, and;
• #49: Energy Storage and Grid Modernization in California, which highlights the mitigation efforts taken during the Aliso Canyon natural gas shortage.

It’s not clear whether the document is a draft or finalized edition, nor whether it has been submitted to congressional lawmakers. But according to McClatchy, the National Governors’ Association asked state governments for input on an infrastructure program list for the transition team last month, and that list is nearly identical to the one compiled by the White House. 

Though the NGA list was preliminary, the association’s letter to state governments pledged “there will be a more formal process for states to submit information” once Trump takes office. 

Click Here to Read Full Article

ASTANA – Primus Power, a provider of long-life and long-duration energy storage systems, is working on its second project in Kazakhstan with Samruk Energy, a subsidiary of the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund. Primus Power’s innovative EnergyPod has been used to deal with specific energy issues internationally, and now will be showcased as one of the best energy storage solutions at the upcoming EXPO 2017.

Based in Silicon Valley, Primus Power was established back in 2009. It offers innovative flow batteries for international microgrid, utility, military, commercial and industrial customers. The company has received 32 patents in seven countries.

“Flow batteries offer a unique advantage for grid storage. As Bill Gates remarked in launching the Breakthrough Energy Coalition in November 2015, unlike lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries could last for decades and the rechargeable electrolyte liquid could last indefinitely,” says the company’s website.

“Simply put, Energy Pod is a giant rechargeable battery – giant not in terms of the sizes, but in terms of its capacity and power. It is very flexible in its usage,” said General Director of Primus Power in Kazakhstan Ruslan Rakymbay in an interview with The Astana Times.

Also, it takes five to six hours for a flow battery to discharge, while widely used lithium-ion batteries are unable to show such characteristics.

The low-maintenance EnergyPod can solve issues such as high demand charges or grid outage and islanded operation, the likes of which it has managed to resolve at the ICL Phos-Chek Facility or U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The system can also help manage unstable electricity generation from renewable sources, said Rakymbay.

“We have to take account that while using renewable power sources, the energy flow depends on the wind or sun activity. For example, there can be energy surges due to cloud movement, so generation jumps and the grid infrastructure – stations, substations, transformers and the whole interconnections – suffers from those energy leaps,” he added. EnergyPod smoothes out those jolts by giving its own energy during such leaps, so the flow is constant.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Project funding for energy storage jumped to US$820 million in 2016 from just US$30 million in 2015, while Sonnen was revealed as the energy storage company to raise the most VC funding this year.

The latest quarterly report from Mercom Capital on financial activity in battery storage, smart grid and energy efficiency wraps up the results for the entirety of 2016. It found that during the year, energy storage companies raised US$820 million in project funding across seven deals, compared to US$30 million across three deals in 2015.

The majority of this project funding, US$625 million, was raised in the third quarter of the year and included Tabuchi America netting US$300 million for residential work and Advanced Microgrid Solutions with US$200 million of project financing from Macquarie Capital.

VC funding winners

Most significant among 11 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2016 – coincidentally the same number as was seen in 2015 – was the US$1.1 billion acquisition of battery and system maker Saft by oil major Total. The company has also invested in the likes of Stem, Sunverge, Powerhive and Off-Grid Electric within the storage sector and SunPower in solar. Analysis firm Lux Research said in August that Total and other oil majors had significant funds available to invest and should try and get a foothold in the energy storage market.

Meanwhile, the number of VC investors in energy storage grew annually last year, to 62 from 57 in 2015. The overall figure invested fell very slightly, from US$397 million in 37 deals in 2015 to US$365 million in 38 deals in 2016. Total corporate funding, which included debt and public market financing, reached US$540 million in 2016, again a drop from the previous year when it saw US$676 million of corporate funding used.

Click Here to Read Full Article