The residential energy storage industry has gained significant momentum during the past year. Yet while there has been substantial progress, recent high-profile product launches have led to media attention that overestimates the current state of the industry. Despite the potential of residential battery energy storage systems to drive transformation in electric power systems, they are an economical investment only in select markets today.

Going forward, utility involvement in the residential energy storage system (RESS) market will be a turning point for the industry as utilities look to own, distribute or access these storage systems. This article explores the evolving economics of RESS, how utility involvement is rapidly shifting market dynamics and the potential for this technology to lay the foundation for the distributed energy revolution.

Evolving Economics

Residential storage is a flexible resource that provides benefits for both utilities and their customers. These systems are typically installed to help homeowners save money on monthly bills, improve the economics of new or legacy solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and act as a backup power source. In addition, RESS technology is increasingly being recognized for the grid services it can deliver. Benefiting from economies of scale from the consumer electronics and electric vehicle (EV) industries, RESS lithium ion battery costs have come down dramatically. By some estimates, costs have come down by 80 percent for an installed system in leading markets in the past 18 months. This industry’s growth is directly tied to a number of interrelated factors that will dictate residential storage economics, as well as market size in a given country.

One of the most significant factors that will dictate the residential energy storage industry’s growth is how domestic customers pay for electricity around the world. Adjusted compensation paid for excess solar PV generation, time-of-use pricing and the implementation of residential demand charges can quickly change the economics of RESS for a given customer. The reduced compensation paid for excess PV energy sent to the grid has been the foundation of the residential storage business case in leading markets. Due to the growth of the solar PV industry, compensation programs (including net metering and feed-in tariffs) are being phased out or replaced with alternatives.

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GE has added a flywheel energy storage option for some of its UPS products for critical facilities, a category that includes data centers.

Flywheels are an alternative to lead-acid batteries, the most common energy storage technology used by UPS systems today. Proponents of flywheels argue that they’re more environmentally friendly, require less maintenance and cooling than batteries do, and take up less space. Their drawbacks include much shorter ride-through times and the high amounts of energy needed to spin them.

Which option works best for a particular facility depends on many factors, including things like ride-through requirements, recharge time (it’s much shorter for flywheels), operating temperature, and power density, among others.

GE is introducing the new solutions in partnership with Calnetix Technologies subsidiary Vycon, a flywheel vendor that has had similar arrangements in the past with other major electrical infrastructure vendors, including Emerson Network Power and Schneider Electric, in the past. Neither of the two appears to be actively marketing the solutions.

Perhaps the most well-known vendor who is selling flywheel-based UPS systems for data centers is Austin-based Active Power. The company has recently agreed to be acquired by Piller, a subsidiary of the British engineering and industrial giant Langley Holdings, saying it has had difficulty raising capital to sustain operations.

One of Active Power’s most high-profile data center customer is Yahoo, which has deployed its flywheel-based UPS systems in its mega-scale data centers.

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Cleantech energy storage company Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) and the Southern California-based Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) have launched a water-energy project using advanced energy storage systems to better integrate renewable power, reduce demand on the electric grid and lower costs.

IEUA, a water supplier and wastewater facility, says it has installed 3.65 MW of energy storage projects at six regional water-recycling facilities and pump stations across its service area – helping meet the water demand of a thirsty SoCal and saving the agency 5%-10% on its energy costs each year.

Notably, the storage system will also help integrate IEUA’s renewable resources, which include 1 MW of wind, 3.5 MW of solar and 2.8 MW of biofuel cell generation.

According to IEUA, the first-of-their-kind systems have already been activiated.

“We remain proud of our investments in energy efficiency, renewable generation and sustainable water management practices,” said Terry Catlin, the agency’s board president. “Energy storage is the key to maximizing the value of those investments, allowing us to use our resources more efficiently, reduce costs for our customers and participate in building a more resilient electric grid for the whole region.”

“IEUA’s leadership when it comes to water management and renewable energy is recognized across the whole industry,” added Susan Kennedy, founder and CEO of AMS. “Displaying the foresight to tackle the water-energy nexus head on is further demonstration of that leadership on behalf of the agency, the industry and water customers all throughout its service territory.”

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Moving water takes a big bite out of municipal budgets, particularly in places like Southern California, which has to import so much of its water supplies. That makes water use a prime target for energy savings.

The California Energy Commission estimates that moving and treating of water, and the treatment and disposal of wastewater and the energy used to heat and consume water account for nearly 20% of the electricity consumed in the state.

In addition to existing solar and wind power, in 2010 IEUA installed the largest fuel cell system powered by renewable biogas in the world and lowered its energy consumption by nearly 25% with using energy efficiency measures. The agency also had the first public building in the nation to be awarded a LEED platinum rating.

The opportunity to reduce demand charges makes batteries especially attractive for water utilities. AMS inked a deal for 7 MW, 34 MWh of storage at the Irvine Ranch Water District last month, and in July the company secured $200 million in funding from Maquarie to construct 300 MWh of capacity resources and demand management for utilities and certain commercial, industrial water and university customers in southern California.

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PV is now producing more electricity than coal in the U.K. But don’t expect a storage boom to follow.

According to GTM Research’s Global Solar Demand Monitor, the U.K. is the fifth largest market for solar demand globally — although installations are set to drop 65 percent next year due to policy uncertainty.

In addition, concerns over the eligibility for subsidies are forcing asset owners to delay adding storage to PV projects, said Jill Cainey, director of the Electricity Storage Network. 

The U.K. PV industry is largely supported through a Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROC) scheme that was designed before the advent of solar-plus-storage plant designs. 

PV asset owners wishing to add storage to their plants would have to reapply for ROC accreditation with their distribution network operator. Payments under the ROC scheme would then be suspended pending the outcome of the accreditation process. 

Even though any interim payments would still be awarded once the accreditation was granted, the temporary halt in cash flow “is something an investor would not be excited about,” Cainey said. 

This month, she attended a U.K. renewable energy trade show, Clean Energy Live, and “there were no solar farms deploying storage.” 

At the same time, the U.K. market for residential solar-plus-storage looks unlikely to take off in the near future because of unfavorable economics. 

Recent research by Delta Energy & Environment suggests the payback time for U.K. residential PV-plus-storage could be 16.9 years for a new system and 24.5 years for a retrofit, not taking subsidies into account.   

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One of the top electric vehicle charging station firms in the US, EVgo, has won an Energy Storage North America 2016 Innovation Award for its Stationary Storage + Electric Charging (SSPEC) project, according to an email sent to CleanTechnica.

To explain, the EVgo SSPEC project was created to help develop ways of lowering the cost and immediate power demand of electric vehicle (EV) charging to host facilities. To be more specific, it explores the incorporation of energy storage with DC Fast Charging infrastructure.

The project used 4 BMW Group 2nd-life batteries taken from retired test fleet EVs. The batteries were used alongside a solar photovoltaic (PV) system and intelligent site power control.

“DC Fast Charging plus storage presents an exciting opportunity for drivers and charging companies alike,” stated Terry O’Day, Vice President, Product Strategy and Market Development at EVgo. “This project has the potential to shortcut some of the barriers facilities face when looking to install DC Fast Charging stations by reducing operating costs, improving charging service and convenience for EV drivers, and ultimately can help to put more electric vehicles on the road.”

The email provides more information: “For the SSPEC project, EVgo partnered with the University of California San Diego, which is recognized as one of the top 15 research universities worldwide and operates what is considered one of the world’s most advanced microgrids. EVgo worked with UC San Diego to locate a demonstration site on the campus microgrid that would also ensure the stations would be accessible to the public and which results in the chargers serving over 100 drivers per week. The project is part of the CPUC Technology Demonstration Program, a program designed to help demonstrate the benefits of energy storage coupled with public DC Fast Charging stations.”

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A boom in desalination could create new opportunities for energy storage as developers seek to maximize output from assets powered by wind or solar.

“As soon as solar-plus-storage can compete with [traditional] generation prices, there will be a huge market,” said Thomas Hillig, managing director of Dr. Thomas Hillig Energy Consulting, a consultancy focused on off-grid energy markets.

“It’s pretty important to have high utilization, because the desalination equipment is very capital-intensive. After having done the investment, they want to run it as intensely as possible. If we go off-grid, there has to be storage because utilization has to be high.”

Currently the market for energy storage attached to desalination plants is still in its infancy because of the cost of batteries. With most desalination projects, “You pretty much have the choice of where to put them,” Hillig noted.

In such cases, developers will naturally tend to choose locations where energy is cheap and plentiful. Thus, for the vast majority of desalination plants today, solar-plus-storage is still “not feasible. It’s a nice concept; a market of the future,” he said. 

But the picture is changing as demand for desalination grows and solar-plus-storage becomes more competitive. Currently, desalination serves around 1 percent of the global population, or almost 746 million people.

But desalination capacity increased 57 percent between 2008 and 2013, according the market research organization Global Water Intelligence (GWI) and the International Desalination Association.

GWI said desalination could be needed for up to 14 percent of the world population by 2025, based on United Nations figures for water scarcity. Renewable energy is already being considered as the power source of choice for many new desalination projects.

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Lockheed Martin has implemented an energy storage system at the company’s facility in Syracuse, New York, and selected electric utility firm ENGIE to support operation of the system.

The GridStar lithium storage is designed to help Lockheed reduce power consumption and carbon emissions as well as to provide energy supply to the New York Independent System Operator, Lockheed said Wednesday.

Lockheed’s energy business designed the installation using project analytics tools and ENGIE-made energy storage operating software.

Frank Armijo, vice president of Lockheed’s energy unit, said the company provides turnkey energy storage services to various utilities, independent power producers, commercial and industrial customers and developers in efforts to help clients meet sustainability goals.

GridStar comprises modular, scalable, purpose-built energy storage units and each  storage unit is designed to generate up to 375 kilowatts of power and store up to 600 kilowatt hours of energy.

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Energy storage company Doosan GridTech has won its first project in the US.

The deal will see the US-based firm supply advanced energy storage solutions for solar power generation to the Kingsbury substation, which is operated by Texas utility Austin Energy.

The contract marks the company’s first order since South Korea‘s Doosan Group acquired US-based storage software solutions provider 1Energy Systems three months ago and changed its name to Doosan GridTech, which is now part of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction.

Doosan GridTech chief executive Dae-jin Choi said: “The global energy storage systems  market is projected to grow exponentially at an average annual rate exceeding 20 per cent.

“Doosan will increase the competitiveness of its integrated solutions by banking on its advanced software technologies, and will be supplying more of its energy-efficient storage system solutions in the North American region.”

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction entered the energy storage and microgrid market in September 2015 when it won a contract to supply a 2.4 MW storage solution to the Korea Power Exchange.

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NEC Energy Solutions, a unit of NEC Corp., announced that it is supplying the Sterling Municipal Light Department of Sterling, Massachusetts with a 2 MW, 3.9 MWh GSS grid energy storage solution.

Once complete in December of this year, it will be the largest battery-based energy storage system installed in New England and the first utility scale project in Massachusetts.

It will improve grid resiliency against weather-related power outages, while providing enhanced clean energy usage and cost savings to the town of Sterling. Town, State and NEC ES officials commemorated the project today in an official groundbreaking ceremony.

To reduce Sterling’s carbon footprint, SMLD has been installing large amounts of photovoltaic solar and is currently ranked seventh in the nation in installed PV per capita. However, SMLD desired greater resiliency and further modernization of its grid.

The energy storage system will work in conjunction with the overall installed base of PV solar to provide the needed energy resiliency, particularly to critical town departments such as police, dispatch, and fire service.

It will also provide transmission capacity charge savings from reducing peak demand, which will deliver energy cost saving benefits to the community. NEC ES is providing its turn-key GSS energy storage solution which includes a single 53’ container housing 3.9MWh of lithium ion batteries, a 2MW power conversion system, and proprietary NEC ES AEROS controls software suite. NEC ES will also provide service and maintenance packages to SMLD for the GSS energy storage installation.

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