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Texas Grid Plans Jump In 2016 Solar & Wind Capacity

on March 28, 2016

Additions this year to the ERCOT grid in Texas are expected to be dominated by ⅔ from wind and solar PV, according to energy research from SNL. If SNL research proves true, this will be a huge boost to the generation of renewable electricity within this historic oil-producing state.

As Christian Roselund has written for pv magazine, “This is the beginning of a boom anticipated in Texas over the next 15 years.”

In spite of its abundant sunshine and massive open spaces, Texas has long trailed in the US solar market, a trend now changing, ElectricityPolicy concludes:

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Total US Sales of Electricity Down Last Year

on March 27, 2016

Total U.S. electricity sales in 2015 fell 1.1 percent from the previous year, representing the fifth time sales have fallen in the past eight years, according to a report published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The slump reflects declining electricity sales in the industrial sector and little growth in sales to the residential and commercial building sectors, despite growth in the total number of households and commercial buildings. The report also cites market saturation, increased-efficiency electrical equipment, slowing economic growth and the changing composition of the economy as drivers in the current down trend.

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How Soon Can Tesla Get Battery Cell Costs Below $100 per Kilowatt-Hour?

on March 26, 2016

Where does the lithium-ion battery industry — and most notably, Tesla/Panasonic — stand today on battery costs?

Solar veterans will recall a time not so long ago when the industry’s biggest dream was a PV module with a cost of 99 cents per watt. Obviously, the solar industry has long left that figure in the dust — module costs of 40 cents per watt are a reality in today’s market.

In fact, the 99-cent figure was more a VC-funding, press-ready construct than a real economic calculation.

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Study: US offshore wind farms costs could drop 55% in 13 years

on March 25, 2016

While wind energy has thrived in Europe, US developers struggled to put steel in the water due to high construction costs, Bloomberg noted.

Previously, developers offered their energy at a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) at $0.24/kWh or more, more than double the market rate, Bloomberg reports, which hurt development even more. But developing 2,000 MW could incentivize wind energy as a major clean resource in the New England region, the study said.

“An important policy finding of this study is U.S. states can, with thoughtful but straightforward policy, lower the cost of power from offshore wind,” the study noted.

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Cheaper battery technology for solar storage

on March 24, 2016

Researchers at WMG, University of Warwick have formed a new research partnership with battery technology innovators Faradion, and smart energy storage specialists Moixa Technology, to develop sodium-ion cells as a significantly lower cost alternative to lithium-ion batteries for solar energy storage. This collaboration is being part funded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.

A significant proportion of the cost of current solar energy storage systems comes from the commonly used lithium-ion battery. However by using highly abundant sodium salts rather than lithium, Sodium-ion cells are anticipated to be 30% cheaper to produce. This makes solar storage more accessible and opening up the possibility of domestic renewable energy storage to a greater number of households and businesses worldwide. Developments in this area could lead to a CO2 reduction of 500,000 tonnes each year.

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ERCOT: Ample Capacity to Meet Spring, Summer Peaks

on March 23, 2016

ERCOT said last week it continues to expect to have sufficient resources to meet projected peak-demand during the spring and summer, with more than 79,000 MW of generation capacity available.

The Texas grid operator is projecting a spring demand peak of 58,279 MW, a 700-MW increase from last November’s preliminary spring assessment, said Pete Warnken, ERCOT’s manager of resource adequacy, during a March 1 conference call. The revised peak is based on weather conditions from May 2006; the previous estimate used average weather conditions from 2002 to 2014.

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Ilika plc to launch world-first in battery technology at IDTechEx 2016

on March 22, 2016

Ilika plc (LON: IKA) is using the IDTechEx Conference in Berlin for the global launch of its ground-breaking micro battery technology on 27th April 2016. Its new family of batteries is set to revolutionise the design of sensors for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Ilika will be showing the product on stand G12 at the Energy Harvesting & Storage Europe Conference at IDTechEx and also at the ‘Demonstration Alley’. CEO Graeme Purdy will additionally be speaking on the topic of solid state micro- batteries for IoT at the conference at 4.40pm on Thursday 28th April.

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EIA: Gas poised to knock out coal from top spot in 2016

on March 21, 2016

Before April of last year, natural gas had never topped coal power. But 2015 closed out with a string of months where gas took the top slot, though the year ended with coal still generating slightly more energy. All-in-all, gas actually exceeded coal’s share in seven months last year, and EIA now indicates that trend is likely to grow.

“The recent decline in the generation share of coal, and the concurrent rise in the share of natural gas, was mainly a market-driven response to lower natural gas prices,” EIA said. Stricter environmental rules, including the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard and the planned Clean Power Plan, have also played a role.

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How California Schools Save Millions Using Energy Storage

on March 15, 2016

On March 1st, San Diego’s third-largest school district, Grossmont, joined the growing number of school districts in California turning to energy storage to save on their energy bills. Grossmont Union High School District in San Diego’s east county region announced plans to install a 7.4 megawatt-hour energy storage deployment at 14 sites in 9 district locations in a partnership with California-based Green Charge Networks*. The installation is expected to save the district more than $6.4 million in reduced utility costs over the life of the project. The energy storage system and installation came at no cost to the district through Green Charge’s performance-based Power Efficiency Agreement™ (PEA) shared savings model.

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Germany’s Second-Biggest Utility Plans to Launch a Residential Solar-Plus-Storage Offering

on March 15, 2016

Germany’s second-largest energy company, E.ON, is planning to launch a residential PV-plus-storage offering for the German market in April, the company has confirmed. The product will be based on Solarwatt’s MyReserve battery systems, which went on sale last year.

“We will collect feedback from the market and from customers, and then fine-tune the product,” said E.ON’s vice president of battery systems, Eliano Russo. “The final launch will be in September.”

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Texas Grid Plans Jump In 2016 Solar & Wind Capacity

Total US Sales of Electricity Down Last Year

How Soon Can Tesla Get Battery Cell Costs Below $100 per Kilowatt-Hour?

Study: US offshore wind farms costs could drop 55% in 13 years

Cheaper battery technology for solar storage

ERCOT: Ample Capacity to Meet Spring, Summer Peaks

Ilika plc to launch world-first in battery technology at IDTechEx 2016

EIA: Gas poised to knock out coal from top spot in 2016

How California Schools Save Millions Using Energy Storage

Germany’s Second-Biggest Utility Plans to Launch a Residential Solar-Plus-Storage Offering

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