EQ Launches Magazine on Energy Storage

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CONT EN T

EQ Energy Storage Issue #01

Disclaimer,Limitations of Liability While every efforts has been made to ensure the high quality and accuracy of EQ international and all our authors research articles with the greatest of care and attention ,we make no warranty concerning its content,and the magazine is provided on an>> as is <<basis.EQ international contains advertising and third –party contents.EQ International is not liable for any third- party content or error,omission or inaccuracy in any advertising material ,nor is it responsible for the availability of external web sites or their contents

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RENEW POWER ANNOUNCES NEW AFFILIATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PRECOURT ENERGY INSTITUTE’S ‘STORAGEX INITIATIVE’ FOR NEW ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

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INDIA INDIA’S GOVERNMENT TO TENDER FOR 4,000 MWH OF ENERGY STORAGE

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The data and information presented in this magazine is provided for informational purpose only.neither EQ INTERNATINAL ,Its affiliates,Information providers nor content providers shall have any liability for investment decisions based up on or the results obtained from the information provided. Nothing contained in this magazine should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sale any securities. The facts and opinions stated in this magazine do not constitute an offer on the part of EQ International for the sale or purchase of any securities, nor any such offer intended or implied Restriction on use The material in this magazine is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. You may not modify,copy,reproduce,republish,post,transmit,or distribute any part of the magazine in any way.you may only use material for your personall,NonCommercial use, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. want to use material for any non-personel,non commercial purpose,you need written permission from EQ International.

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USA

POWER CENTER+ INTRODUCES DURACELL HOME ENERGY STORAGE PRODUCTS FOR THE NORTH AMERICA RESIDENTIAL MARKET

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JAPAN

FEATURED

HITACHI ABB POWER GRIDS TO DEPLOY 90 MW BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM AT FINNISH NUCLEAR PLANT

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

226 MWH OF VANADIUM FLOW BATTERIES ON TRACK FOR CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY POWER GROUP CCCE

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INVESTOR CONFIDENCE IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY STORAGE SECTORS HITS ALL-TIME HIGH

EUROPE

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WOOD MACKENZIE: US COULD BE A 12 GWH ENERGY STORAGE MARKET IN 2021

USA MAINE BECOMES 9TH US STATE TO ADOPT ENERGY STORAGE DEPLOYMENT TARGET

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TECHNOLOGY

5 ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS FOR THE ELECTRICAL GRID

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FEATURED

TECHNOLOGY

VANADIUM FLOW BATTERIES FOR A ZERO-EMISSIONS ENERGY SYSTEM

EQ

TLT COMPLETES FOURTH BATTERY STORAGE SALE FOR ILI ENERGY STORAGE PLC

ENERGY STORAGE DECEMBER- 2021

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INDIA

COLOMBIA’S FIRST-EVER BATTERY STORAGE TENDER WON BY CANADIAN SOLAR

Vertically-integrated solar PV company Canadian Solar has been awarded a 45MW / 45MWh battery storage project by Colombia’s Ministry of Energy and Mines.

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endering of Slate, a solar-plus-storage project which Canadian Solar’s development subsidiary Recurrent Energy is currently working on in King’s County, California.The ministry’s Energy Mining Planning Unit (UPME) launched the tender earlier this year, calling for proposals for deploying grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) technology to help alleviate system constraints and boost reliability of the grid in Barranquilla, in the Department of Atlantico area of northern Colombia. It will also aid addition of greater shares of renewable energy onto the network. UPME sought suppliers, construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) partners, and said designs could involve either a single system or distributed systems connected to strategically located substations. EnergyStorage.news reported in late June that of eight bid submissions considered “serious” by UPME, subsidiaries of Canadian Solar and Engie were among international players taking part, along with locally-headquartered companies. Canadian Solar announced its award. It said the Latin American nation’s government has granted a 15-year revenue structure, indexed to Colombia’s inflation or producer price index. The project is expected to reach commercial operation by June of 2023.

“We are very proud to have won this project in the first pure storage tender in Colombia. This is also our first energy storage project in the country and the Latin America region,” Canadian Solar CEO and chairman Dr Shawn Qu said.

Canadian Solar has been angling to gain a greater market share of the growing energy storage industry for some time, with standalone battery and solar-plus-storage new build and retrofit projects underway in key markets like the US state of California. Qu said that the company will continue to execute on its “global energy storage growth strategy”.

Canadian Solar recently said that its US-based development subsidiary Recurrent Energy has 2.3GWh of US battery storage projects either contracted or already in construction. Battery storage has been gradually gaining a foothold in the wider Latin America region, with potential for greater renewables integration and also adding reliability to often very fragmented electricity transmission networks.

This includes behind-the-meter commercial and industrial (C&I) storage in places like Mexico and Puerto Rico, as well as some large-scale front-of-meter projects in Chile.

NATIONAL GRID SAYS UK COULD NEED 13 GW OF ENERGY STORAGE BY 2030 TO ENABLE NET ZERO FUTURE

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Energy storage will be a significant enabler of the renewable energy adoption required for the UK to meet net zero by 2050, National Grid ESO said. he electricity system operator (ESO) arm of National Grid in the UK has outlined four different pathways for the future of energy in the country in its Future Energy Scenarios (FES) 2021 document, detailing the transformation of the energy mix and flexibility, the residential sector and the transport sector. Three of these scenarios in the tenth annual report see the country reach net zero by 2050, while the slowest of the four Steady Progression sees a 73% reduction in emissions by the middle of the century. Leading the Way, the most ambitious, sees a combination of high consumer engagement, technology and investment enable the nation to reach net zero by 2047, before going on to reduce emissions by 103% by 2050. While Consumer Transformation and System Transformation see different drivers enable Britain to hit its legally binding decarbonisation target. Among key messages to emerge from the report were that holistic energy market reform will be needed to drive flexibility, with as much as 13GW of electricity storage needed by 2030 to enable huge growth in renewables. National Grid ESO also said that significant investment is needed in whole system infrastructure, enabling up to 47GW of offshore wind to be connected by 2030 and 17GW of inter

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ENERGY STORAGE DECEMBER- 2021

connector capacity. Additionally, by 2035 at least 35TWh of hydrogen storage is needed across all net zero scenarios and a wide ranging rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and heat pumps.

Across all the ESO’s net zero scenarios, emissions from power sector are net negative by 2034. The sector relies on a mix of renewable energy generation, bioenergy with carbon capture usage and storage (BECCS), interconnectors and some nuclear. In the FES’s most ambitious scenario, Leading the Way, there is close to zero unabated natural gas generation from 2035 and no growth in new nuclear. Renewables grow aggressively to meet demand in their place. By 2050, electricity generation capacity hits 248GW with an additional 71GW of storage and interconnection.

Generation output is well over twice of today at 701TWh, the FES21 found, of which 96% is made of wind, solar, nuclear and BECCS. This is supported by high levels of interconnection, storage and some flexible hydrogen generation to meet peak demands.

By 2030, between 34GW and 77GW of new wind and solar generation could be needed to meet demand across the scenarios.

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INDIA

INDIA STATE-OWNED POWER PRODUCER NTPC WANTS TO INSTALL 1 GWH OF ENERGY STORAGE AT POWER PLANTS NTPC, an independent power producer (IPP) in India with over 65GW of power plants across the country wants to install 1,000MWh of energy storage at its existing generation facilities.

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he government-owned company has invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the installation of battery energy storage systems (BESS) at multiple power plant sites, with the primary aim of enabling higher shares of renewable energy in NTPC and the country’s energy mix.Indian stock market-listed NTPC is seeking parties to deploy 1,000MWh of battery storage across its mix of thermal generation and renewable energy power plants.

NTPC operates gas, coal, hydroelectric and renewable energy assets and noted in an EOI document that it is targeting increasing its generation capacity to 130GW by 2032, including 60GW of renewable energy.Meanwhile India’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has produced a recent report which said that about 27GW of grid-scale energy storage systems with four-hour storage duration is required by 2030.The Ministry of Power has supported BESS deployment by stating that it will waiver Interstate Transmission Charges on energy supplied to and from BESS commissioned by mid-2025, if at least 70% of the energy used to charge batteries comes from renewable sources.

NTPC RECOGNISES MULTIPLE APPLICATION, MULTI-PURPOSE VALUE OF BATTERY STORAGE NTPC said however that while the role of BESS in directly supporting renewable energy sources’ integration to the grid is likely to become well accepted in the near future, for now, the use of fast-responding batteries for high power applications that support the grid, like frequency response and other ancillary services, is already well documented around the world.In late May, India’s Central Electricity Regulatory Commission drafted ancillary services market regulations that would allow energy storage and demand response sources to participate, helping to maintain the grid’s frequency within the bounds of the 50Hz it needs to operate at.Digitally-enabled batteries are capable of responding within fractions of a second to grid signals to correct the supply and demand of power that maintains the frequency, much faster than fossil fuel plants can, and without the associated emissions. Grid-scale battery systems the utility is seeking to deploy will have their applications focused mainly on providing primary and secondary frequency reserves to the grid, as well as enhancing the available and quality of power reserves in the grid. However, NTPC recognised the ability of BESS to perform multiple applications and stated that in addition to ancillary services, systems deployed at its thermal or renewable facilities could also perform peak time shifting — storing surplus energy from low demand periods for injection into the grid at peak times.

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They could also be used to reduce time taken to ramp up and ramp down thermal generation plants and reduce the amount of Unscheduled Interchange events, when generators are unable to fulfil their capacity injection commitments to the grid.Using BESS for multiple applications will mean they are able to offer the widest range of benefits possible but also justify the high investment costs, NTPC said.NTPC is seeking BESS projects under design, build and operate or co-investment partnership business models, and it open to other possible business models. Applicants need to have previous experience of installing grid interactive BESS with 5MW / 5MWh cumulative capacity or more.NTPC listed 23 thermal power plants, 13 solar PV plants and one wind power plant that it operates across various Indian states. The EOI period opened on 26 June 2021 and applicants have until 10 August 2021 to respond before bids open.

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ENERGY STORAGE DECEMBER- 2021

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INDIA

VISION MECHATRONICS DELIVERS INDIA’S FIRST MEGA WATT SCALE HYBRID ENERGY STORAGE PROJECT The Hybrid Energy Storage Project has a combination of "World's Smartest Lithium Batteries" together with tubular gel batteries (lead acid variant) to achieve economic long duration backup.

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aryana, India, 20 July, 2021: Vision Mechatronics a leading name in the Energy Storage Industry has offered a ZeroBlackout Solution to Brahmakumaris at Om Shanti Retreat Centre. The Retreat Centre have opted for a Solar based unique combination of MW scale Hybrid Battery storage system i.e., Lithium-Lead hybrid which has utilized the existing old batteries with the fresh new Lithium Batteries to have a long duration backup to ensure that there is a smooth power transition when the grid fails. Adding further Dr Rashi Gupta, Managing Director, Vision Mechatronics who is fondly known as “Batterywali of India said, “All our work and products are developed & manufactured in India. Using a hybrid battery energy storage system has ensured that there is maximum utilization of existing resources at the time of addition of new ones to achieve a cost of energy at Grid Parity. Opting for hybrid energy storage model can help commercial entities reduce their initial capex investment by 35 to 40% for a long duration energy storage project. With the recent launch of ACC battery scheme, India offers a great opportunity for energy storage and e-mobility market and this is our contribution in making India truly Aatmanirbhar.” Often weaker grid in remote areas cannot handle the loads connected to them and gets overloaded. Integrating solar with energy storage, a micro grid is formed which supports the conventional grid and can supply load even in absence of the grid. Lithium based energy storage is usually commercially viable only upto 4 hours, so it was important to have a commercially viable solution for 8 to 18 hours and we could achieve this by Hybrid Energy Storage which is a combination of “Worlds Smartest Lithium Batteries” together with tubular gel batteries (lead acid variant).

This microgrid effectively performs the functions of Backup, Frequency Regulation, GridFeed, Voltage Regulation, Black Start, Smooth Power Transition, Diesel Replacement. The system also has preventive and predictive monitoring to detect faults in advance to ensure smooth and reliable functioning.

Thus, this power generated from the Sun through solar panels then stored in the batteries can be used for any purpose like running the heavy-duty studios, electric irons, induction cooktops, computers, washing machines, community kitchen appliances, baking ovens, air-conditioners, submersible water pumps etc. and of course the lights and fans. It is clean and green energy to the campus. The Director of the Om Shanti Retreat Centre, Sister BK Asha said, “This unique project will add a lot of value to the campus and enable us to offer wide and uninterrupted services to the society. Just as Supreme Soul is the Sun of Knowledge and offers unlimited knowledge, purity, peace and happiness to all His children, similarly Sun is also the source of unlimited light and energy for mankind and this planet. It is always beneficial to revert back to the original source for receiving energy, whether it Is spiritual energy or solar energy. Thus, this project has enlightened new hopes in all of us that we can live peacefully and in harmony with nature in a sustainable way”.

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ENERGY STORAGE DECEMBER- 2021

India’s first Mega Watt Scale Hybrid Energy Storage Project in Haryana was unveiled by BK Brother CA Brij Mohan, Addl

Secretary General in the presence of senior Rajyogis BK Sister Asha Director- ORC, BK Sister Shukla -Director ORC, BK Sister Pushpa – Director Brahma Kumaris Pandav Bhavan Delhi, BK Sister Neelu, BK Brother Banarsi Brahma Kumaris Mount Abu, BK Sister Geeta – Director ORC, BK Sister Chakradhari – Director Brahma Kumaris Russia , Mr. K.S.Popli- Consultant to International Solar Alliance, Dr.Rashi Gupta-Managing Director, Vision Mechatronics Pvt Ltd, BK Brother T K SinghDirector, Electromech Controls (EMC) Mr.Tobias Winter – Director at Indo- German Energy Forum SO – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Mr. Subhramanium Pulipaka- CEO NSEFI, Mr. Reji Pillai- President- India Smart Grid Forum also visited the site.

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INDIA

RENEW POWER ANNOUNCES NEW AFFILIATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PRECOURT ENERGY INSTITUTE’S ‘STORAGEX INITIATIVE’ FOR NEW ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT The StorageX Initiative at Stanford leverages the resources of industrial partners, to help overcome real-world barriers in energy storage. – Collaboration will focus initially on large scale battery performance in India. – The collaboration will assist ReNew in optimizing its storage solutions.

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eNew Power (“ReNew” or “the Company”), India’s leading renewable energy company, announced a collaboration agreement with the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University and its StorageX Initiative (“StorageX”). StorageX is an academicindustry-government initiative that aims to solve the most pressing real-world challenges in battery storage. ReNew’s collaboration with StorageX will focus initially on challenges surrounding grid level battery usage and performance in India, with an eye toward optimizing the performance of storage assets, and ultimately driving stable and firm power delivery to the grid. ReNew will participate in StorageX through the Stanford Energy Corporate Affiliate (SECA) program, which facilitates interactions between organizations and Stanford faculty and graduate students across the full range of energy-related topics. Through its membership in the SECA program, ReNew will have access to world-class research and opportunities for collaboration on research, education and training. Speaking about the affiliation,

Founder, Chairman and CEO of ReNew Power, Mr. Sumant Sinha said, “The collaboration with Stanford’s StorageX Initiative will broaden ReNew’s field of vision and help us in recognizing promising new technologies quickly.

Reliable renewable power generation in India is critical to meeting the government’s goal of putting 450 gigawatts of renewable power online by 2030.ReNew is proud to work with Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy in ensuring that economical and efficient energy storage technologies become critical in reducing the intermittency of renewable power in countries around the world.”

Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ReNew Power

Grid scale battery storage has emerged as a crucial enabler for solidifying India’s long-term plans for firm, reliable electricity from grid-integrated renewable sources. The ability to deliver reliable power from renewable sources at peak and off-peak hours is critical to power distribution companies’ plans to meet obligations for purchasing renewable power.

Recognizing this increasing importance, in January 2020, ReNew bid on and won India’s first auction for renewable power generation combined with energy storage for guaranteed peak power supply capability. The 300 MW project was awarded by the Solar Energy Corporation of India. Additionally, ReNew has also won a tender to provide 400 MW of “Round-the-Clock” power, through renewable sources. This tender, held in May 2020, was India’s first to require “Round-the-Clock” reliable power generation from renewable sources.

This project will use a combination of wind and solar renewable generation assets, along with storage technology, to provide annual capacity utilization of 80% – approximately double that of regular renewable energy generation projects.

Source: altenergymag

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ENERGY STORAGE DECEMBER- 2021

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INDIA TO CALL BIDS FOR 4 GWH OF GRID-SCALE BATTERY STORAGE Large battery storages can help India’s electricity grids, given the intermittent nature of electricity from clean energy sources such as solar and wind.

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here is growing traction for India’s playbook for developing a battery storage ecosystem that involves setting up 50-gigawatt hour manufacturing capacity for advance chemistry cell batteries NEW DELHI : In a push for India’s green economy and helping national grid management functions, the government plans to call bids for setting up around 4000-megawatt hour (MWh) of grid-scale battery storage system at regional load dispatch centres (RLDCs).

This was announced by union power and new renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh at a conference organised by lobby group Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Large battery storages can help India’s electricity grids, given the intermittent nature of electricity from clean energy sources such as solar and wind. One GWh (1,000-MWh) of battery capacity is sufficient to power 1 million homes for an hour and around 30,000 electric cars.

According to Singh, this “storage which will sort of act as instant intervention mechanisms wherever whenever there is any sharp fluctuation because of renewables.

And part of that will be reserved as an ancillary to the grid controller, and part will made available to the developer.”

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The state-run Posoco oversees the country’s critical electricity load management functions through the NLDC and a set of regional load dispatch centres (RLDCs) and state load despatch centres (SLDCs). India has 33 SLDCs, five RLDCs—for the five regional grids that form the national grid—and one National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC). “So, that the developer can use that part storage on a commercial basis. So, some people can park their energy there during mid-day or when wind is heavy and then draw from it during peak hours,” Singh added.

There is growing traction for India’s playbook for developing a battery storage ecosystem that involves setting up 50-gigawatt hour manufacturing capacity for advance chemistry cell batteries.

A case in point being Reliance Industries Ltd which recently announced its plans to set up an advanced Energy Storage Giga factory.

State-owned NTPC Ltd recently floated a global tender for 1 GWh of grid-scale battery storage. The plan involves designing, building and operating such a system and also offers coinvestment partnership. As part of its energy transition efforts, India is working towards electrification of economy by developing action plans for greening of electricity. According to India’s apex power sector planning body Central Electricity Authority (CEA), by 2030 the country’s power requirement would be 817GW, more than half of which would be clean energy.

Source: livemint

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INDIA

INDIA’S GOVERNMENT TO TENDER FOR 4,000 MWH OF ENERGY STORAGE Indian government is set to launch 1,000MWh tenders for energy storage across each of four Regional Load Dispatch Centres (RLDCs), the country’s Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy said at an event.

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inister of Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh speaking at the event hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry last week. Minister RK Singh appeared at the online meeting, held by the Confederation of Indian Industry to discuss the aims and implementation of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Self-Reliance for Renewable Energy Manufacturing initiatives which were announced by the government of prime minister Narendra Modi last year. Singh said that India is aggressively pursuing its decarbonisation goals and is on course to overshoot goals set in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to meet the Paris Climate Accord’s agreed measures to limit global warming to below 1.5°C. Nonetheless, enthusiasm for accelerating the energy transition has not been dampened by complacency, the minister said. One of the keys to this acceleration will be to raise demand and various measures will be enacted, such as more stringent obligations to purchase renewable energy, supporting green hydrogen production and use by heavy industry and making green energy in India an attractive investment prospect. Energy storage will be important to facilitate integrating a planned 450GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 onto India’s electricity networks,

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and the government is planning an initial tender of 4,000Wh of energy storage capacity which can act as “instant intervention mechanisms”.The storage will deal with the fluctuations of solar and wind energy as the renewable resources hit the grid in the form of ancillary services. That capacity will be made available to grid operators, but Minister Singh said that part of the storage capacity will also be made available to asset developers for use on a commercial basis, allowing them to “park their energy” when solar or wind production is at its highest, for use later during times of peak demand. This dual stakeholder approach will involve both the Indian distribution companies (discoms) as well as developers. Singh said that the government is going to continue to create demand and add more opportunities to grow that renewable capacity, which, in line with the theme of the event, he said he wanted to see based on manufacturing in India. While there have been various tenders for solarplus-storage in India hosted by regional state governments and by national entities like the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), and state-owned power producer NTPC recently opened a tender for 1,000MWh of energy storage across various existing power plant sites among its 65GW generation fleet, the 4,000MWh tender alluded to by the Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy represents a significant push forwards at national government level towards enabling broader deployment of energy storage.

Source: energy-storage

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ENERGY STORAGE DECEMBER- 2021

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CORPORATE FUNDING INTO BATTERY STORAGE HAS EXCEEDED US$11 BILLION SO FAR THIS YEAR Companies in the battery storage sector attracted US$11.4 billion in corporate funding in the first nine months of 2021, a 363% rise on the same period of last year.

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imilarly, venture capital (VC) funding into the sector increased considerably: US$5.5 billion was raised from 59 deals, compared to just US$1.2 billion in 21 deals over the same respective periods. Battery storage companies’ corporate funding activity also dwarfed the other two sectors’ — with a total of US$13.5 billion raised across all three. Smart grid companies raised US$1.867 billion and energy efficiency US$595 million. However in 2020 the sector rebounded strongly in the latter part of the year. A total US$6.5 billion corporate funding was raised for the whole of 2020, more than double the US$2.8 billion raised in 2019; so either way, it looks like 2021 shows a strong appetite for corporate investment into battery storage.

NORTHVOLT TOPS VC CHART YET AGAIN Once again, Sweden-headquartered lithium-ion battery manufacturing startup Northvolt was top of the table for venture capital-funded deals. Northvolt, which recently announced a US$750 million R&D and commercialisation centre along with its dozens of gigawatthours of cell and systems production facilities under construction, raised US$2,750 million from VC investors. These investors included Volkswagen, OMERS, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Scania, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and a number of others. Also in the top five VC-funded deals were a US$590 million Series F funding round by Sila Nanotechnologies in second place. Sila is developing next generation materials for lithium battery design.

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Once again, Sweden-headquartered lithium-ion battery manufacturing startup Northvolt was top of the table for venture capital-funded deals. Northvolt, which recently announced a US$750 million R&D and commercialisation centre along with its dozens of gigawatthours of cell and systems production facilities under construction, raised US$2,750 million from VC investors. These investors included Volkswagen, OMERS, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Scania, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and a number of others.

Also in the top five VC-funded deals were a US$590 million Series F funding round by Sila Nanotechnologies in second place. Sila is developing next generation materials for lithium battery design. One curious thing to note is that the third-placed deal in the VC deal chart was achieved by Form Energy, a company which, like Northvolt and Sila Nanotechnologies, has a former Tesla executive as CEO. Fifth in the list was another novel long-duration battery storage tech company, Ambri, which makes a high temperature liquid metal battery and raised US$144 million in a deal that was also announced as closed in August. Investors included Bill Gates again, Japan Energy Fund and Reliance Industries, which is looking into building Ambri systems in India.

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‫ﺟﻤﻌﻴﺔ اﻟﺸﺮق اﻻوﺳﻂ ﻟﺼﻨﺎﻋﺎت اﻟﻄﺎﻗﺔ اﻟﺸﻤﺴﻴﺔ‬

‫‪Middle East Solar Industry Association‬‬

‫‪M i d d l e E a s t & N o r t h A f r i c a‬‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺸــــــــــــــــــــﺮﻕ ﺍﻷﻭﺳــــــــــــــــــــﻂ ﻭﺷﻤـــــــــــــــــــﺎﻝ ﺍﻓﺮﻳﻘﻴـــــــــــــــــــﺎ‬

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‫‪Empowering Solar across the Middle East‬‬

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EUROPE

BURKINA FASO: PPPS FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF GREEN ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS In Burkina Faso, the government intends to accelerate the deployment of battery-based electricity storage systems in the coming years. Ouagadougou will rely on public-private partnerships (PPP). This approach is already supported by several development partners.

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he Burkinabe government is developing a roadmap to guide it in diversifying its electricity mix. This strategy is being developed with the Société nationale d’électricité du Burkina Faso (Sonabel). The West African country will rely more on clean energy to increase its installed capacity and accelerate its electrification. In recent months, Burkina Faso has received several financing packages, notably from private investors and international donors, for the production of solar energy. Like wind power, solar energy is intermittent and only feeds the grid during the day. To solve this problem, Burkina Faso wants to direct some of the funding to battery-based electricity storage systems that will meet demand after sunset. To deploy these solutions, the government will rely on the private sector, which is already behind many solar projects in the country.

SUPPORT FROM DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS According to the Burkina Faso government’s roadmap, by deploying 60-70 MW (160-220 MWh) of independent battery electricity storage solutions (i-BESS), the energy sector could potentially save between 800 million and 1.8 billion CFA francs (€1.2 million to €2.7 million) per year, while reducing CO2 emissions.

Burkina Faso is unveiling its ambitions at a time when the market for electricity storage is set to grow worldwide with renewed investor interest in renewable energy.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the deployment of electricity storage in emerging markets is expected to increase by more than 40 percent per year between 2020 and 2025. The Burkinabe government’s plan was developed with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The World Bank Group’s private sector financing arm plans to continue supporting the implementation of this roadmap through the Conflict Affected States in Africa (CASA) initiative. This program, launched in 2009, supports countries devastated by conflict by providing financing to rebuild their private sectors to create jobs and economic opportunities. Burkina Faso is among the Sahel countries most affected by insecurity caused by terrorist movements. The CASA initiative is supported by Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. In addition to the IFC, the strategy to deploy electricity storage systems in Burkina Faso is already supported by the governments of Denmark and Japan.

SCALING BATTERY CAPACITY IN EUROPE: A CONVERSATION WITH EVAN HORETSKY The Tesla gigafactory designer offers insights into what can be done to improve electric-vehicle battery manufacturing in Europe- a move that could drive the region into a cleaner future.

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o many consumers, the decision to drive an electric vehicle (EV) will hinge on the promise of a high-quality, high-capacity battery powering the engine. As such, the large-scale arrival of EVs on the main stage of global vehicle sales will be predicated on significant acceleration of EV battery production and capacity. In the European Union, total annual battery capacity will need to scale from the current 60 gigawatt hours (GWh) to 900 GWh to meet the European Union’s 2030 decarbonization targets. McKinsey Partner Evan Horetsky helped plan and build all of Tesla’s gigafactories in China, the United States, and most recently in Berlin, Germany, where he served as the director of engineering, procurement, and construction. He spoke with us about the role of gigafactories, breaking down organizational silos, and prioritizing decarbonization of the supply chain.

ENERGY STORAGE DECEMBER- 2021

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FEATURED

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REASONS WHY EV CHARGERS BOOST EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION...

The automotive industry is at the doorstep of a new era. Today, one in ten vehicles sold in Europe is electric. By 2030, it’s estimated that there will be up to 240 million electric vehicles (EVs) on the roads worldwide.

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hile there’s no doubt EVs are gaining momentum, nearly four out of five EV drivers in the US say there are not enough charging options at work.

With the majority of EV drivers and potential EV drivers employed full-time, chances are many of your employees already drive electric or will be looking to make the switch soon. By stepping up to support EV drivers, your business has the potential to reap many benefits. Not only can EV charging provide your brand with a competitive edge, but it can also benefit your employees and customers, and lay the groundwork for a greener future.

So, how exactly does workplace charging impact employee happiness? From offering a convenient amenity to boosting productivity, the benefits might surprise you. Read on to learn five key reasons why adding EV chargers to your workplace will delight your employees for years to come.

EV charging at work is convenient When it comes to workplace charging, offering convenience for your employees is one of the most obvious benefits. Instead of just relying on home charging to charge their vehicle, EV drivers prefer to charge wherever they are. Known as the top-up model, this approach means charging can happen anywhere; at home, work, around the city, or out of town. The main reason EV drivers prefer this model is it eliminates the (somewhat overblown) fear of range anxiety. While running out of power in the middle of nowhere is unlikely given eight in ten European drivers travel less than 100 km a day, providing employees with a place to charge at work gives them peace of mind. Plus, as 36 percent of EV drivers think EV charging is too time-consuming, why not make them even happier by letting them charge during office hours?

With a fully charged EV by the day’s end, your employees can get on with their life outside of work with ease.

What’s more, not all EV drivers have access to home charging, making workplace charging even more essential. Providing EV charging for your employees demonstrates your business is a responsive and committed employer. This brings us to our next point:

EV charging at work boosts productivity It’s the little things that matter when it comes to boosting employee productivity—and pleasing employees with EV charging has the potential to do just that. Thanks to offering the convenience of charging at work, you save your employees time and worry. With less time wasted searching for a place to charge, your employees are more likely to be on time (think of all those valuable hours of productive time added back to an employee’s day). They may even work a little longer to wait for their EV to fully charge. Moreover, providing your employees an amenity they truly need can make them feel valued.

Employees who feel valued by the business are more engaged and productive. With a deeper level of trust and security at work, your workforce will have more energy to create value—a win-win for your employees and your business.

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EV charging helps to attract and retain top talent Alongside keeping your existing workforce happy and productive, adding EV charging can also play a part in attracting new talent.

More and more, employees expect their workplace to be socially and environmentally conscious. In fact, as found in LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Culture report, 86 percent of millennials would consider taking a pay cut to work for a company whose values align with their own. It makes sense then to see that improving a facility’s image is one of the top five issues on the agenda for facility managers. With energy-efficient buildings earning major “PR points” in the public eye, certifications like LEED and BREEAM are highly sought after—and guess what earns certification points?

EV chargers of course. Installing EV charging stations at your workplace is an effective way to showcase support for innovation and improving the environment. Approximately two in three (potential) EV drivers think electric cars are part of the solution to fight climate change. This means you can attract talent who share a passion for the issues you’re trying to solve. Moreover, you can enable employees to play a key role in accelerating the global EV movement.

EV charging helps employees reduce their carbon footprint Transport represents almost a quarter of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in cities. About six in ten among the general public say reducing CO2 emissions in transportation is important to them. Experts broadly agree that EVs create a lower carbon footprint over the course of their lifetime than their gas-guzzling counterparts. With technology advancing, and EV production improving, these CO2 emissions are set to reduce even further. By offering workplace charging infrastructure, you can significantly lower your carbon footprint from employee and customer travel. For companies with a lot of employees, emissions from employee commutes add up quickly. Encouraging employees to transition to EVs can make a serious impact when it comes to reducing emissions. What’s more, if EVs are powered by your building’s solar installation, they’ll emit 90 percent less harmful emissions in their lifetime than conventional cars—all things your purpose-driven employees will be happy about.

EV-driving employees can claim a range of tax incentives

Government’s around the world are committed to increasing the number of EVs on the road to meet ambitious climate change targets. To reflect this priority, the way vehicles are taxed offers a range of incentives for companies and EV-driving employees alike. 21 out of 27 EU member states apply CO2-based taxation to passenger cars. There are many variations. In the UK for example, the government introduced tax cuts for employees using corporate EVs for personal use. In Germany, on the other hand, private and company car owners of plug-in electric vehicles that charge their cars in their employer premises are exempt from declaring this as a cash benefit in their income tax return. What’s more, EV owners that charge their vehicles at home can even benefit from a tax reduction.

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GOLETA PLANNING COMMISSION APPROVES ENERGY STORAGE FACILITY

The Goleta Planning Commission approved the development plan and conditional use permit for a new 60-megawatt lithium ion energy storage facility.

The Goleta Energy Storage facility will consist of 62 pre-manufactured energy storage “cabinets” called Megapacks. Each Megapack contains 17 Tesla battery modules.

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he project also will include construction of an underground tie-in and electrical infrastructure in order to connect to the existing Southern California Edison Isla Vista substation. According to the staff report, the facility will provide 87,600 megawatt-hours annually, which is equivalent to supplying annual energy demands to 13,257 homes in California. Because Southern California Edison would be able to store power from solar- and wind-powered sources with the project, it is considered a renewable energy project.

That makes the project consistent with Goleta’s Strategic Energy Plan and its goal of using 100% renewable energy by 2030. Ryan Hulett with Upstream Clean Energy said that after the facility is online, Southern California Edison also will look into retiring the Ellwood peaker plant.

It really is reducing fossil fuel use. The alternative to building these battery storage facilities was to build another power plant in Oxnard,” said Katie Davis, chair of the Sierra Club Los Padres Chapter. “I am confident this will help us retire Ellwood, which is a very old and polluting power plant.”

The project also received support during public comment from representatives of the Clean Coalition. The Goleta Energy Storage facility will be located at 6864 and 6868 Cortona Drive, southeast of the Storke Road and Highway 101 southbound on-ramp intersection. The facility is also directly adjacent to the new Cortona Point Apartment Complex, which isn’t occupied by tenants yet.

A hazards analysis and risk assessment report for the project showed a low probability of battery fires with one battery failure per 10,000 years. The Megapacks also are designed to prevent fire from spreading, and power can be removed from affected cells if a fire does occur. While specific zoning for the parking lot of the facility does not require electric vehicle charging stations, the Planning Commission did add a condition that the applicant add a minimum of two EV charging stations. Some commissioners were wary of adding the condition, given how late in the approval process it was and since there are EV charging stations available across the street from the facility. Ultimately, each commissioner who voted was in favor of approving the Goleta Energy Storage facility. Commissioner Jennifer Smith, who had concerns about the interpretation of the conditions and errata of the motion, abstained from voting.

“I don’t think any commissioner would question the utility and the benefit proposed by this project, but I would rather city staff take some time to take this back and get it right,” Smith said.

The errata involved the requirement that the applicant must provide environmental insurance for the project.

“While [the project] may not check every single box, I think it checks enough boxes for me to be supportive of and for the community and the Central Coast to benefit from,” Commissioner Sam Ramirez said. According to Hulett, the Goleta Energy Storage facility will come online in about six months, and the capital cost for the project will be $50 million to 60 million.

Source: noozhawk

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GLOBAL ENERGY STORAGE MARKET SET TO HIT ONE TERAWATT-HOUR BY 2030

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The U.S. and China will lead, claiming over half of the global installations by the end of this decade.

nergy storage installations[1] around the world will reach a cumulative 358 gigawatts/1,028 gigawatt-hours by the end of 2030, more than twenty times larger than the 17 gigawatts/34 gigawatt-hours online at the end of 2020, according to the latest forecast from research company BloombergNEF (BNEF). This boom in stationary energy storage will require more than $262 billion of investment, BNEF estimates.

BloombergNEF’s 2021 Global Energy Storage Outlook estimates that 345 gigawatts/999 gigawatt-hours of new energy storage capacity will be added globally between 2021 and 2030, which is more than Japan’s entire power generation capacity in 2020. The U.S. and China are the two largest markets, representing over half of the global s torage installations by 2030. The clean power ambitions of state governments and utilities propel storage deployment in the U.S. In China, the ambitious installation target of 30 gigawatts of cumulative build by 2025 and stricter renewable integration rules boost expected storage installations.

Other top markets include India, Australia, Germany, the U.K. and Japan. Supportive policies, ambitious climate commitments, and the growing need for flexible resources are common drivers.

Regionally, Asia-Pacific (APAC) will lead the storage build on a megawatt basis by 2030, but the Americas will build more on a megawatt-hour basis, because storage plants in the U.S. usually have more hours of storage. Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) currently lags behind its counterparts due to the lack of targeted storage policies and incentives, which may be surprising, considering Europe’s ambitious climate targets. Growth in the region could accelerate as renewables penetration surges, more fossil-fuel generators exit and the battery supply chain becomes more localized.

Yiyi Zhou, clean power specialist at BNEF and lead author of the report, said: “The global storage market is growing at

an unprecedented pace. Falling battery costs and surging renewables penetration make energy storage a compelling flexible resource in many power systems. Energy storage projects are growing in scale, increasing in dispatch duration, and are increasingly paired with renewables.” BNEF’s forecast suggests that the majority, or 55%, of energy storage build by 2030 will be to provide energy shifting (for instance, storing solar or wind to release later). Co-located renewable-plusstorage projects, solar-plus-storage in particular, are becoming commonplace globally. Customer-sited batteries, both residential and commercial & industrial ones, will also

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grow at a steady pace. Germany and Japan are currently leading markets, with sizeable markets in Australia and California. BNEF expects energy storage located at homes and businesses to make up about one quarter of global storage installations by 2030. The desire of electricity consumers to use more self-generated solar power and appetite for back-up power are major drivers. Other applications, such as using energy storage to defer grid investment, may remain marginal in most markets out to 2030. Build could pick up, if regulatory barriers are removed and incentives are aligned for network owners to consider storage as an alternative to traditional infrastructure investment. Yayoi Sekine, head of decentralized energy at BNEF, added: “This is the energy storage decade.

We’ve been anticipating significant scale-up for many years and the industry is now more than ready to deliver.” Rapidly evolving battery technology is driving the energy storage market. The report finds that the industry is adopting multiple lithium-ion battery chemistries. In 2021, lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) will be used more than nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) chemistries for stationary storage for the first time. LFP will become the major lithium-ion battery chemistry choice in the energy storage sector until at least 2030, driven by its dominant role in China and increasing penetration in the rest of the world. BNEF also updated its technology outlook to include sodium-ion batteries, a lithium-ion battery contender, which could play a meaningful role by 2030. Besides batteries, many non-battery technologies are under development, such as compressed air and thermal energy storage. Many of these can provide longer dispatch duration compared to batteries, looking to supply during prolonged periods of low renewable energy generation in future net-zero power systems. However, BNEF expects batteries to dominate the market at least until the 2030s, in large part due to their price competitiveness, established supply chain and significant track record. If new technologies successfully outcompete lithium-ion, then total uptake may well be larger.

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ENERGY STORAGE DECEMBER- 2021

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TLT COMPLETES FOURTH BATTERY STORAGE SALE FOR ILI ENERGY STORAGE PLC TLT has completed the sale of a 50MW battery storage project in Kintore near Aberdeen to SUSI Storage Development UK on behalf of ILI Energy Storage PLC (ILI), the clean energy development company.

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he transaction is the fourth battery storage sale TLT has completed for ILI Group in the last year, and follows hot on the heels of the sale of a 50MW project in Nairn to Foresight Group in September. The four transactions bring 200MW total capacity to market and will play a critical role in the decarbonization of the electricity grid. The teams were led by partner Damien Bechelli and legal director Joanna Hamilton, with solicitors Amy Tough and Allison Bruce acting on both deals and legal director Kirsty Smith acting on the sale to Foresight Group.

Damien Bechelli, corporate partner at TLT, says: “With COP26 only weeks away, all eyes are on Scotland so it’s particularly exciting to be a part of the clean energy transition taking place.

We are very pleased to support Mark and ILI’s ambitious plans to grow the battery storage and pumped storage hydro markets in Scotland.”

Mark Wilson, CEO of Intelligent Land Investments, comments: “These are such significant deals as battery storage has a critical role to play in the future of our energy system and the race to net zero. We are planning to bring another 150-200MW of battery storage projects to market by the end of the year, with a further 600MW expected to be ready for sale during 2022.

I cannot thank TLT enough for their expert advice and incredible support in getting these transactions across the line. Their experience in clean energy is second to none and that really does make a difference. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with them on these transactions.”

Source: tltsolicitors 16

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226 MWH OF VANADIUM FLOW BATTERIES ON TRACK FOR CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY POWER GROUP CCCE California power provider Central Coast Community Energy (CCCE) has announced four new grid-scale battery energy storage projects, including three long-life flow battery projects.

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CCE, one of the US state community options aggregator (CCA) energy provider groups, said it selected the projects in response to a request for proposals (RfP) it issued in June. In total, 21 proposals were submitted from 16 developers and two more energy storage projects are still being considered alongside the four announced. In what could be the largest utility acquisition of the technology so far in the world, vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) systems with a storage life of eight hours will be built ranging in size from 6MW / 18MWh to 16MW / 128MWh, along with four-hour lithium-ion battery system. CCCE gave an estimated date of 2026 for all approved projects to be operational. The largest VRFB project in California to date is believed to be the 2MW / 8MWh system inaugurated in 2017 in the service area of ​​the San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG & E) utility in a government-backed project. of the state, as well as by the state of Japan New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

“These local energy storage projects will create jobs, support the efficiency of independent energy storage, contribute to grid stability statewide, and support California’s transition to clean and renewable energy,” said the director. CCCE Executive Tom Habashi. “Long-term energy storage plays an integral role in all of this. Central Coast Community Energy is proud to innovate with emerging technologies within our service area. “ Community choice aggregators give consumers the option to select what sources their energy comes from. Many are opting for green power, and according to the California Community Choice Association, long-term contracts for 2,645.4MW / 9,237.6MWh of energy storage have been signed by CCA in the state earlier this month. In July, Central Coast Community Energy signed contracts for 778MW of renewable generation and 118.75MW of energy storage in a joint acquisition with Silicon Valley Energy, another of the CCAs. As noted in yesterday’s report on Energy-Storage.news On a proposed 400MW / 3200MWh advanced compressed air energy storage project in California by Hydrostor, the state’s regulatory Public Utilities Commission has moved to acquire 1,000MW of longterm energy storage by 2028. This is believed to be the first competitive long-term storage acquisition planned in the US Meanwhile, a group of CCA, not including CCCE, is requesting 500MW of long-term storage. The call, issued in October 2020, is already closed and a decision is pending. With California’s

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Tom Habashi , CCCE EXECUTIVE combination of a 2045 carbon-free electricity target and grid power shortages, particularly during peak summer periods, the state’s need for energy storage is acute. State Governor Gavin Newsom moved earlier this year to accelerate development of the energy storage project, along with renewable energy.

Newsom has also proposed to earmark hundreds of millions of dollars in financial support for long-term energy storage development in California. A report from consultancy Strategen earlier this year said California could need 55 GW of long-term storage by 2045 to achieve its decarbonization goals while making the electricity supply robust and reliable. Another report, released this week by the recently formed Long-Term Energy Storage Council (LDES Council), stated that up to 140 TWh of long-term energy storage may be needed worldwide by 2040 to limit the worst impacts of the climate change.

Source: 6park

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WHY IS EV CHARGING STOCK EVGO CRASHING?

An analyst downgrade breaks the stock’s winning streak.

The market seems to have found an excuse to book profits in the EV charger stock after its recent jaw-dropping rally.

WHAT HAPPENED Shares of EVgo (NASDAQ:EVGO) crashed on Monday, slumping by 14.3% as of 12:45 p.m. EST. Today’s drop brings the electric vehicle (EV) charging stock’s seemingly unstoppable ride from last week to a grinding halt. An analyst downgrade is to blam

SO WHAT This morning, Credit Suisse analyst Maheep Mandloi downgraded his rating on EVgo to neutral from outperform, citing the stock’s recent rally that already appears to have baked in the potential benefits of EVgo’s recent partnerships and the infrastructure bill.

Mandloi also sees EVgo facing competition from new entrants despite its first-mover advantage. He still raised his price target on the stock to $17 a share from $11, but with EVgo shares closing Friday at $18.90, the stock has now tumbled below $17 as of this writing. EVgo shares stunned the markets last week by nearly doubling in value on multiple catalysts. The passage of President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was the biggest one, as it includes $7.5 billion worth of investment on building a network of 500,000 EV chargers across the U.S. With EVgo also extending its partnerships with Uber Technologies to provide its drivers with greater incentives to use EVgo’s services, and with General Motors to build another 500 charger stalls, the stock continued to rally. To add fuel to the fire, EVgo delivered a surprise profit for its third quarter and upgraded its full-year outlook.

NOW WHAT To be sure, EVgo wouldn’t have turned a profit in the third quarter if not for one-time gains unrelated to core operations. But EVgo’s fast chargers have strong prospects, especially as they also run entirely on renewable energy.

With Biden’s infrastructure program placing strong emphasis on renewable energy, many believe EVgo’s chargers could see stronger demand. That said, EVgo shares undeniably ran up too much, too fast. And with the stock still commanding a stunning market capitalization of around $4.4 billion even after today’s price drop, it’s not surprising to see some analysts turning cautious and traders taking profits off the table. Should you invest $1,000 in EVgo, Inc. right now? Before you consider

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EVgo, Inc., you’ll want to hear this. Our awardwinning analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now… and EVgo, Inc. wasn’t one of them. The online investing service they’ve run for nearly two decades, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has beaten the stock market by over 4X.* And right now, they think there are 10 stocks that are better buys.

Source: fool

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ENERGY STORAGE STARTUP 'MATTER' PARTNERS 'ARAI' FOR NEXT GEN MOBILITY SOLUTIONS

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The two parties have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). nergy storage start-up Matter on Monday said it has entered into an agreement with Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) for collaboration in next-generation mobility solutions. The two parties have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which they will collaborate in next-generation mobility solutions in the areas of functional safety, electronics reliability and cyber security, the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the collaboration, Matter Founder and CEO Mohal Rajiv Lalbhai said,”We are extremely confident the association with ARAI, which is the leading automotive R&D organisation in India, coupled with Matter’s technology development capabilities will widen the horizons of growth for EV’s and energy storage solutions in India.” ARAI Director Dr Reji Mathai said the collaboration will open new opportunities in the field of electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage solutions by leveraging ARAI’s experience, expertise, and equipment. “With ARAI’s rich resource pool, and Matter’s capabilities, we can achieve scalable growth in the next generation Mobility solutions through this association,” Mathai added. Under the MoU, a framework for cooperation on various projects will be established. These include testing, validation and pre-certification of EV, systems and components; testing of EVs for noise, vibration and harness simulation; next generation

Mohal Rajiv Lalbhai , MATTER FOUNDER AND CEO power electronics; and vehicle and component level simulation focused on EVs and energy storage systems, the

statement said.

Source: business-standard

POWERING UP NEXT-GENERATION ENERGY STORAGE “Energy storage devices need to be improved for further electrification of transportation and energy storage systems for renewable energy sources,” Schaefer said. “To meet these demands, beyond-lithium-ion battery systems have gained attention. Among the beyond-lithiumion battery systems, rechargeable magnesium metal batteries are an attractive system due to the abundance of magnesium and the high volumetric capacity of magnesium metal anodes.” Ion batteries comprise two electrodes, a negative called an anode and a positive called a cathode, with an electrolyte, typically a salt dissolved in a liquid or dissipated across a gel, connecting the two. When charge is applied to an electrode, an electrochemical reaction occurs that splits molecules into basic components. These components, typically atomic ions and electrons, separately travel to the opposite electrode to recombine in a way that either discharges energy to a connected devices or draws in energy from a power source. According to Schaefer, magnesium metal batteries with non-liquid electrolytes have been understudied, as they suffer from serious ion transport and/or interfacial chemistry issues. Magnesium metal batteries with liquid electrolytes offer promise, Schaefer said, yet they suffer from the same issues as lithium-ion batteries – volatility, flammability, and possible leakage – plus corrosivity and/or reversibility issues.

“Solid polymer electrolytes are potentially advantageous due to higher thermal, mechanical and electrochemical stability compared with liquid electrolytes as well as lower cost and density relative to inorganic solid-state electrolytes,” Schaefer said. “While lithium ionconducting solid polymer electrolytes have been widely researched, reports on successful magnesium ion-conducting versions are relatively limited.” As such,

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understanding of how ions react and transport through the system is also limited, Schaefer said. Her team analyzed how magnesium polymer electrolytes made of a magnesium-based salt in polymer, known as PCL-PTMC, compared to the common polyether electrolyte. Both electrolytes were studied in contact with magnesium metal anodes. The ion speciation of each were examined via spectroscopy techniques, revealing that magnesium ions in the PCL-PTMC exist as ion complexes, bonded to other ions instead of as free magnesium ions. “As previously reported with lithium salts, the interaction between positively charged ions and the polymer chain in PCL-PTMC was weaker than for the other polymer,” Schaefer said, noting that weaker interactions can improve conduction of the positively charged ions. “However, polarization of cells containing the magnesium PCL-PTMC electrolyte resulted in highly dispersed, particle-like deposits.” Schaefer hypothesized that the magnesium complexes identified via spectroscopy decomposed on the electrodes after they were involved in conduction, which inhibited the electrodes from further interactions. Next, her team plans to explore other salts, as well as other electrolyte interfaces, to protect the magnesium electrode from undesirable chemical deposits. “Our future work will focus on methods to overcome the interface issues and to quantify the magnesium conduction,” Schaefer said. Other contributors include Bumjun Park, Sarah G. Pate, Jiacheng Liu and Casey P. O’Brien, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame; and Rassmus Andersson, Guiomar Hernández and Jonas Mindemark, Department of Chemistry-Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University in Sweden.

Source: nanowerk

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UNLOCK POTENTIAL OF ENERGY STORAGE ALONGSIDE RENEWABLES, CANADIAN REGULATORS AND LEGISLATORS URGED Battery storage at an industrial site in Ontario. So far, this use case is the dominant means of getting storage deployed in Canada and is focused entirely on the province’s grid operator IESO’s Global Adjustment Charge regime.

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new document outlines how Canada can reach its national goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, but only if the regulatory and policy landscape is radically altered to enable the massive buildout of wind, solar and energy storage. Last week, an urgent call to action was issued by the Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA), a trade group with more than 300 member organisations. CanREA outlined five priority actions that would greatly speed up the country’s transition to low carbon energy, including specific moves to support the deployment of energy storage. “We have no time to waste. Getting to net-zero by 2050 will require Canada to build out wind energy, solar energy and energy storage at an unprecedented scale and speed,” CanREA president and CEO Robert Hornung said. “These technologies will play a central role in driving the rapid decarbonisation and massive expansion of electricity production required to make net-zero a reality.”

The five main priorities are: 1. Decarbonise the country’s electricity production by 2035: immediate actions to achieve this would include adopting a Clean Electricity Standard so that a growing minimum of power on the grid has to come from low carbon sources and ensuring natural gas generation is exposed to carbon pricing by 2030.

2. Modernise electricity markets and regulatory structures to enable the lowest-cost pathway to grid decarbonisation and expansion: defining and providing economic value for services to maintain grid stability and security and supporting newer technologies, like batteries, that can provide those services is recommended as an immediate action on this. Barriers to market participation for such resources should be removed, CanREA said.

3. Diversify and expand procurement opportunities, ensuring cost-effective outcomes from procurement processes for new, decarbonised electricity generation: within the deregulated electricity market in Alberta, this means market and regulatory reforms are needed immediately to remove barriers to participation for energy storage and distributed energy resources (DER) and other disruptive technologies. Elsewhere, procurement processes should be designed to maximise competition in procurement processes.

4. Prioritise efficient use and regional approaches to transmission infrastructure: an immediate action on this is that energy storage and DERs should be considered as effective non-wires alternatives to the more costly investment in grid infrastructure, CanREA said.

5. Implement comprehensive strategies to support increased use of decarbonised electricity and green hydrogen in transportation, buildings and industry sectors: Canada needs to develop comprehensive electrification and green hydrogen strategies, the trade group argued.

While south of the border, the US has rapidly become a leading energy storage market, this has not been the case in Canada, even accounting for the relative difference in population size and urban population.

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Robert Hornung , CANREA PRESIDENT AND CEO At the moment, the biggest opportunity for batteries in the country is for commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage in the province of Ontario. An electricity pricing regime called the Global Adjustment Charge (GAC) run by transmission operator Ontario Independent System Operator (IESO) means companies with large electric loads are charged a hefty premium for drawing power from the grid at peak times. Using batteries to shave that peak can reduce costs significantly. As an example of this, earlier this month, Canadian power developer, asset manager and independent power producer (IPP) SWITCH Power announced the CA$5.6 million (US$4.43 million) financial close of a portfolio of commercial behind-the-meter projects. SWITCH closed an equipment procurement loan and equity financing for the 3.5MW, five project portfolio which it is buying from developer Peak Power Inc. Peak Power is a provider of optimisation software and services and recently sold SWITCH the projects as part of a wider 25MW / 44MWh transaction across nine projects. SWITCH said the majority of revenues generated by the battery storage, installed at commercial buildings, will come from Energy Services Agreements with building owners. SWITCH gets a percentage of cost savings that the battery energy storage system (BESS) technology will enable by reducing the Global Adjustment Charges. Also during this month, the IESO announced a solarplus-storage microgrid project in partnership with decentralised and decarbonised energy software and solutions company Opus One, municipal utility Elexicon Energy and homebuilder Marshall Homes. Altona Towns, a new-build community of 27 homes will be integrated with a microgrid using 25kW of rooftop solar PV and a 250kW / 500kW BESS. IESO is part-funding the project through its Grid Innovation Fund to see if the model or its learnings can be replicated and rolled out elsewhere. In

September, Justin Wahid Rangooni, executive director of Energy Storage Canada, another trade association, blogged for this site that "Energy storage needs to be at the heart of policy and regulation decarbonisation and modernisation of the grid, something which hasn’t happened yet," Rangooni said. Much earlier in the year, in March, Rangooni did say "Some first steps are being taken by grid operators to recognise the value of energy storage in Canada, including a pilot grid services tender

by Alberta’s grid operator and the publication of interim market rules and manuals for energy storage’s participation in energy markets by the Ontario IESO."

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'THE ENERGY STORAGE DECADE’: GLOBAL MARKET POISED TO REACH 1 TWH BY 2030, BNEF FINDS Global energy storage deployments, including customer-sited storage, will reach 358 GW/1,028 GWh by the end of the decade — a twentyfold increase over 2020 figures — according to an analysis released Monday by BloombergNEF.

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he U.S. and China together are expected to represent over half of that deployment by 2030, with India, Australia, Germany, the U.K. and Japan also becoming top markets.

According to the analysis, supportive policies, aggressive climate goals and the need for flexible resources will drive growth in all those regions. The global energy storage market is growing at an unprecedented pace, Yiyi

Zhou, report lead author and clean power specialist at BNEF, said in a statement, adding, “Falling battery costs and surging renewables

penetration make energy storage a compelling flexible resource in many power systems. Energy storage projects are growing in scale, increasing in dispatch duration, and are increasingly paired with renewables.”

DIVE INSIGHT: According to BNEF, this growth in stationary energy storage will need investments of more than $262 billion. In the U.S., the expected growth of the storage sector is based on the clean power goals of utilities and state governments. While the Asia-Pacific region is projected to lead in terms of megawatts of storage build-out by 2030, the Americas are likely to build more on a megawatt-hour basis, the report noted, in part because U.S. storage facilities tend to have a longer duration. “This is the energy storage decade.

We’ve been anticipating significant scale-up for many years and the industry is now more than ready to deliver,” Yayoi Sekine, BNEF’s head of decentralized energy, said in a statement. According to BNEF’s analysis, storage co-located with renewables — particularly solar — is becoming more common across the globe, and more than half of the storage build-out by the end of the decade will be used to provide energy shifting services. Distributed batteries are also expected to grow, in part because of demand for back-up power, with Germany and Japan currently leading. By 2030, the analysis forecasts that a quarter of global storage deployments will be located at homes and businesses. On the other hand, energy storage used to defer grid investments could still remain marginal at the end of the decade, the analysis found, although that could change depending on regulatory actions and incentives. In terms of types of storage, the analysis found that the industry is looking at different lithium-ion battery chemistries — lithium-iron phosphate stationary storage is expected to surpass nickel-manganesecobalt chemistries for the first time this year, and become the leading lithium-ion battery choice until at least the end of the decade. Although non-battery storage under development — like compressed air and thermal storage — can offer longer durations, “BNEF expects batteries to dominate the market at least until the 2030s, in large part due to their price competitiveness, established supply chain and significant track record.” Last month, a report from Wood Mackenzie also forecast that global energy storage deployments are set to nearly triple annually, reaching nearly 1 TWh by 2030. That analysis found that over the next half decade, markets like Texas, New York and the PJM Interconnection region will drive more storage deployments. "The BNEF report’s forecasts line up with what the Energy Storage Association (ESA) thinks is achievable, especially if

Yiyi Zhou, REPORT LEAD AUTHOR AND CLEAN POWER SPECIALIST AT BNEF

policies that are currently pending in the U.S. and elsewhere come to fruition," said interim CEO Jason Burwen. “I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if even now, what we’re seeing here is still a little modest [compared] to where we end up in 2030,” he said.

When it comes to customer-sited storage, the U.S. is seeing policies that are trying to give end-users greater price signals or compensation for the services that distributed storage assets provide, Burwen said — for instance, California’s self-generation incentive program as well as “bring-your-own-device” style programs, such as in Massachusetts and Vermont, which allow someone with a storage asset to lend it out to the grid. “Those kinds of ways of making use of those assets will help drive their deployment because it… improves project economics,” Burwen said, adding that policies like these will be best complemented with reforms to interconnection processes.

Jason Burwen , INTERIM CEO Source: utilitydive

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

WPUR ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING CONTRACT IS FIRST OF MANY WaterPure International, Inc. (OTC Pink: WPUR) confirmed entering into an agreement to provide an electric vehicle (EV) charging solution for a special purpose electric vehicle operation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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oday, WPUR revealed this first contract is a prototype template agreement WPUR plans to use for trialing multiple EV charging technologies that can be refined in conjunction with the engagement and subsequently scaled into a larger commercial solution. WPUR recently revealed plans to add the electric utilities market with a focus on electric vehicle charging to its current water utilities operations. WPUR has recently updated its decade old clean water operations and has already begun to trial new water delivery efficiencies and technologies in developing economic markets to be subsequently scaled for all global markets. Water scarcity today impacts over 3 billion people and by 2050 is expected to impact 5 billion. The overall renewable water market was valued at an estimated value of over $263 billion in 2020 anticipated to grow to $500 billion by 2028. Electric utilities, particularly in developing economic regions, are also struggling with power shortages similar to the water scarcity issues. Too much of the global power supply comes from coal and the transition to electric powered vehicles (EVs) is anticipated to double demand for electricity.

In addition to its approach to water utilities, WPUR now plans to also begin trialing new electricity generation and delivery efficiencies and technologies in developing economic markets to also be subsequently scaled for all global markets. WPUR recently announced the company is on track to make a strategic water technology acquisition prior to the end of this year, 2021.

WPUR also recently confirmed the company is in negotiations to acquire an innovative, off grid, EV charging technology solution. The market for water technology products and services purchased by water utility companies is over $64 billion expected to reach $83 billion by 2023. The global electric utilities industry currently generates over $4 trillion in annual revenue without providing adequate electricity globally. The global electric vehicle charging market was valued at $10 billion in 2020 expected to grow to $27 billion by 2027. Look for more details coming soon on the pending water technology acquisition and the offgrid EV charging solution acquisition negotiations. Details of the EV charging agreement confirmed today are confidential pending an anticipated announcement by WPUR’s client with details about the special purpose electric vehicle operation.

The special purpose electric vehicle operation is expected to launch next year.

POWER MINISTER CALLS FOR CREATING ENERGY STORAGE CAPACITY With massive renewable power capacity in the pipeline, the government has fast-tracked plans to build enough storage capacity to ensure no energy is lost.

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ower minister RK Singh on Thursday held a meeting with state-run power companies, senior ministry officials, renewable energy developers and battery manufacturers for discussion on the ‘Report on comprehensive Policy Framework for promotion of Energy Storage in the Power Sector’. The minister stated during the meeting that some storage needs to be added with the generation in order to ensure round the clock renewable energy. He further directed to prepare separate guidelines on treatment of energy storage and resource adequacy.

To meet the target of 500 GW renewable energy by 2030, the minister directed officials to work out the requirement of storage capacity year wise in keeping with the upcoming addition of solar and wind projects.

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RK Singh

POWER MINISTER Source: uniindia

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INVESTOR CONFIDENCE IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY STORAGE SECTORS HITS ALL-TIME HIGH

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ACORE Releases $1T 2030 Campaign Progress Report and New Survey of Leading Financial Institutions and Developers new analysis released by the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) finds that confidence among both renewable energy investors and developers is at an all-time high. The report, Expectations for Renewable Energy Finance in 2021-2024, presents the results of a new survey of prominent financial institutions and renewable energy development companies on their confidence in the sector in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new report also tracks progress on the $1T 2030: American Renewable Investment Goal, an initiative ACORE launched in 2018 to help secure $1 trillion in private sector investment in renewable energy and enabling grid technologies by 2030.

One trillion dollars of investment over 2018-2030 would represent more than two times the historic investment in the U.S. renewable sector before the campaign and help put us on a trajectory toward meeting President Biden’s goal of a carbonfree grid by 2035. One-sixth of the total $1 trillion campaign goal ($167 billion) has now been met, despite a 12% decline in renewable energy investment in 2020. To achieve the $1T 2030 objective, an average of $92.6 billion a year will need to be invested through 2029– an annual increase of 59% over the 2020 investment level “The soaring confidence in the renewable energy and energy storage sectors is encouraging,”

said ACORE President and CEO Gregory Wetstone.

“If we are going to meet our $1T 2030 objective and achieve the President’s goal of decarbonizing the power sector by 2035, the status quo is no longer going to cut it. Renewable sector investors and developers seem to understand that this is the moment to accelerate investment in renewable energy and grid-enabling technologies to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

To gain a better understanding of the expected environment for renewable sector finance over the next three years, ACORE surveyed leading financial institutions and renewable energy development companies.

- Energy storage and utility-scale solar rank as the most popular preferences for investment among surveyed investors over the next three years.

- Nearly all surveyed investors (90%) and developers (93%) report maintained or increased risk appetites in 2021 compared to 2020.

- Investors consider the U.S. to be an attractive venue for investment compared to leading countries like China over the next three years.

KEY SURVEY FINDINGS INCLUDE

- The PJM, CAISO and NYISO electricity markets rank as the most attractive U.S. markets for renewable energy investment and development over the next three years.

- More than two-thirds of surveyed investors (68%) are planning to increase their renewable energy investments by more than 10% this year compared to 2020.

- Most investors expect the attractiveness of renewable energy as an asset class to increase compared to other asset classes in 2021-2024.

- Investors and developers have an “extremely confident” outlook on the growth of renewable energy and energy storage over the next three years, with nearly all surveyed companies planning to increase their investment or development activity.

- A clear majority of investors and developers identify longterm extensions of the wind and solar tax credits and new standalone tax credits for energy storage and regionally significant transmission as effective federal policies for growing the sector.

- Tax equity remains the financing source hardest hit by the pandemic, according to both investors and developers.

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Source: altenergymag

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

LONG-DURATION STORAGE STARTUPS 'MALTA' AND 'ENERGY VAULT' PARTNER WITH SIEMENS ENERGY, ENEL GREEN POWER Two startups seeking to disrupt the energy sector with novel long-duration energy storage technologies have formed partnerships with established industry players.

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giant carousel of energy storage tech. Malta Inc, a developer of a ‘pumped-heat energy storage’ (PHES) technology which the company claims can provide large-scale energy storage for up to 200 hours, has partnered with Siemens Energy to codevelop turbomachinery components for its systems. The Malta PHES solution uses a heat pump to convert electricity into heat, which is stored in molten salt and cold, which is stored in a chilled liquid. The temperature difference between the two then drives a heat engine which converts the thermal energy back into electricity, which can then be dispatched to the grid and used as needed. A US Department of Energy grant was made for a study currently underway with energy holding company Duke Energy to see if the PHES technology could be used to convert some of Duke Energy’s coal power plants into clean energy assets. Enabling between 10 and 200 hours of energy storage in systems made using abundant materials like salt, air and steel, built with manufacturing and construction processes already used in other industries, Malt claims its technology can be low-cost and quickly rolled out.

As well as enabling dispatchable power to be created from any generation source, the system can be used to provide grid and power plant services like synchronous inertia, reactive power and fast-ramping. Earlier this year, Malta Inc raised US$50 million in a Series B funding round, with investors including Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and industrial materials group Alfa Laval taking part. The partnership with Siemens Energy will focus on creating the heat pump and heat engine components to support a 100MW system configuration that can be made commercially available. The news follows the April announcement by Highview Power, a technology provider of proprietary liquid air energy storage (LAES) systems that it had recruited Volkswagen subsidiary MAN Energy Solutions to provide turbomachinery at the heart of a 50MW / 250MWh facility Highview is building in northern England. As with the Malta Inc-Siemens Energy tie-up, the Highview Power recruitment of a company best known for its diesel engine technology showed that low-emissions energy solutions can be developed that lean on the knowledge and expertise gained from the legacy of the fossil fuel industry and its ranks of engineers.

NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR DISMANTLED WIND FARMS Wind turbines which have reached the end of their life could be recycled as components for giant gravity and kinetic energybased long-duration storage systems built by Swiss startup Energy Vault.Energy Vault, has developed a mechanical energy storage technology based on lifting, swinging and lowering 35-tonne concrete weights using tower-like cranes to store and release energy, somewhat resembling giant carousels. It counts Softbank Vision Fund and Saudi Aramco among its investors.

Deployable in 10MWh blocks, the systems can be configured to either 2-6 hour or 6-12 hour durations, with their operation driven by proprietary software and controls. A 5MW commercial demonstration project has already been commissioned and the company claims its non-degrading storage technology can last

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Pasquale Salza, Head of Long Duration Storage & Hybrid Systems

Robert Piconi, CEO and co-founder of Energy Vault

30-35 years in the field, can be easily dismantled and decommissioned while coming at a much lower cost than pumped hydro storage, the existing technology on which its principles have been based. The company has formed a partnership with Enel Green Power (EGP) to demonstrate how dismantled wind turbine blades could be shredded and then integrated into the composite material used for the weights in Energy Vault’s storage systems. With wind turbines first installed at the start of the 21st Century starting to reach the end of their lifetime, EGP said it has been working to identify different strategies to recycle them and the turbine blades are made of a fibreglass-reinforced composite material that makes them tricky to recycle. EGP said in a press release that in addition to feasibility studies on creating a circular economy around wind turbines and energy storage, the partnership with Energy Vault extends to studying how the pair could create a 30-storey high system called EVx. EGP’s innovation lead for energy storage and hybrid systems Pasquale Salza said that a feasibility study is underway to create an EVx commercial plant “with an energy capacity in the order of a few dozen megawatt-hours”.

“If everything goes well, by the end of this year we may be able to conclude the feasibility study with a positive outcome for the construction of the EVx plant,” Salza said.

“Our technology-enabled solutions were created for this exact purpose – to allow clean energy companies to be 100% sustainable, and to overcome the final hurdle in the journey towards a fully circular economic approach,”

CEO and co-founder of Energy Vault, Robert Piconi, said.

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UK GOVERNMENT’S US$100M LONG-DURATION ENERGY STORAGE FUNDING COMPETITION UNDERWAY UK-headquartered Highview Power has developed a long-duration technology based on liquid air called the CRYOBattery, and has already begun building large-scale commercial projects.

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etails of the UK government’s upcoming £68 million (US$96.12 million) long-duration energy storage innovation competition have been revealed, with an event to provide application support this month. First announced by the government in an energy white paper published last December, the competition – which forms part of a £1 billion net zero innovation portfolio – is open to technologies that can be deployed at large scale, provide longer-duration storage – which is defined as over four hours – and can provide competitive flexibility services and system benefits. The application window for the competition is currently open, with a competition event to be held on 17 June. This will be hosted by the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). It is hoped this event will support the development of applications and encourage the formulation of consortia. This is because stream one of the competition – with c.£37 million available through grant funding for projects with technology readiness levels that are over six, which would include those at the large scale stage, inactive commissioning, active commissioning and operations – requires applicants to secure matched private investment.

BEIS is considering a phased delivery for stream one, with down-selection after the first phase, mobilisation. A target minimum of three projects would be progressed to phase two, which is build and commission. Stream two meanwhile has c.£30 million on offer through Small Business Research Initiative 26

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(SBRI) contracts, which require risk-sharing. Delivery would be phased, with down-selection after phase one – feasibility – and a target minimum of three projects to be progressed to phase two, being build and commission. The application window will close in July 2021, with project kick off scheduled for September. The build competition for stream one is scheduled for March 2025, while stream two is scheduled for March 2024. A report released by trade body Scottish Renewables earlier this year highlighted the need for long-duration energy storage, warning that the UK’s climate change targets will not be met without the removal of barriers to long-duration storage.

It suggested a price floor mechanism that would guarantee a minimal level of revenue. It would give confidence to investors with long-duration projects currently unable to attract investment from capital markets, the association suggested.

The same month, a report from the REA detailed how a new market mechanism for longer-duration storage should be created, exploring how the current merchant model presents a “significant barrier” to the development of large-scale longerduration energy storage projects. The US government’s Department of Energy (DOE) has also opened a scheme called the “Energy storage grand challenge” offering millions of dollars in funding for potential long-duration storage projects and technologies, which it inaugurated at the beginning of 2020 and followed up towards the end of the year by launching a roadmap outlining cost reduction goals and other metrics the DOE thinks need to be met. More recently, the DoE has announced its commitment to building a US$75 million longduration storage research centre in the next five years as well as a US$20 million funding competition aimed at research and development of flow batteries.

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WOOD MACKENZIE: US COULD BE A 12 GWH ENERGY STORAGE MARKET IN 2021 Nearly 12,000MWh of energy storage could be installed in the US during 2021 and the market will continue growing significantly over the next few years, according to research and analysis group Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.

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he forecast has been provided in Wood Mackenzie’s latest quarterly ‘US energy storage monitor’ report, which is published in partnership with the industry’s national Energy Storage Association (ESA). Along with that massive figure for this year — Wood Mackenzie in March said that 2020 deployments were about 1,500MW / 3,500MWh — the group is predicting that by 2026 the US will be a 33GWh annual market, worth around US$8.5 billion. AES’ Alamitos 100MW / 400MWh battery project in California officially went online on the first day of 2021. In Q1 2021, Wood Mackenzie reported that a handful of fourhour large-scale front-of-meter energy storage systems coming online contributed to deployments recorded of about 910MWh. Although the group declined to share numbers for the quarter in megawatt terms with press, it is thought to have been between 250MW and 300MW. With the support of President Joe Biden and other senior politicians already behind the idea, it appears a growing possibility that an investment tax credit (ITC) tax relief subsidy of the type that has helped grow the solar PV industry could be introduced in the US for standalone energy storage systems. At the moment, the ITC is only applied for storage if deployed together with solar, which has contributed to growing project developer interest in solar-plus-storage hybrid resources. With the ESA having long advocated for the introduction of the

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ITC and the inclusion of a ‘direct-pay’ option to simplify and expedite the impact of the incentive to invest, Wood Mackenzie’s report included modelling of how the market would look were that to happen. It found that a standalone energy storage ITC could increase the size of the energy storage market in megawatt terms by 20% to 25% over the next five years. Inclusion of the directpay option could even accelerate the economic viability of some projects forward by two to four years. The largest impact would be felt in the front-of-meter market, which would contribute an extra 6GW to the overall deployment picture by 2025, non-residential (commercial and community) storage by 700MW and residential by about 170MW. Wood Mackenzie energy storage analyst Chloe Holden said the ITC could “supercharge an already fastgrowing energy storage market" The cost of energy storage is falling rapidly, with lithium-ion battery cells having decreased almost 90% in price over the last decade according to work published last year by BloombergNEF. In an interview with Energy-Storage.news a couple of months ago, Yann Brandt, chief financial officer at energy storage system integrator FlexGen said that the energy storage tax credit would see costs plunge 40% “overnight”.

“The advent of tax equity into energy storage markets, a US$300 per kilowatt-hour battery, or US$275 per kilowatt-hour battery is all of a sudden going to cost US$200 a kilowatthour. And the pipeline is going to probably be 10x the market opportunity,” Brandt said.

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EUROPE

WÄRTSILÄ COMMISSIONS 60MW / 60MWH OF BATTERY STORAGE IN PHILIPPINES

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ower and energy systems technology group Wärtsilä has completed work on two large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the Philippines. Comprising a 20MW / 20MWh system at a renewable power hub in Toledo and a 40MW / 40MWh at what is thought to be a combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Bataan, commissioning on each was achieved during May, Wärtsilä said in a press release sent to Energy-Storage.news. Its customer is Universal Power Solutions, a subsidiary of vertically-integrated Filippino power company SMC Global Power. Wärtsilä had revealed last year that it received a 100MW / 100MWh order from a customer in Southeast Asia, but at that time did not disclose the customer’s name or the country where it is located, but said that this referred to Universal Power Solutions and further projects are expected to be commissioned through that deal soon.

The company delivers and integrates turnkey battery storage systems through its Wärtsilä Energy business division and is considered one of the leading systems integrators in maturing energy storage markets such as the US. Including its legacy thermal power plant business, Wärtsilä has also delivered 9,000MW of projects into the Southeast Asia region, with around 300MW of that portfolio being energy storage systems.

The Toledo and Bataan projects are Wärtsilä’s first ESS systems supplied to the Philippines, although in addition to the remaining 40MW / 40MWh of projects for Universal Power Solutions, the company is also known to have received an order for a 54MW / 32MWh “floating power barge” ESS project in the Philippines’ Davao de Oro region which it announced in March.

The two commissioned projects have been built using GridSolv Max, Wärtsilä’s standardised modular and flexible energy storage solution that it launched last year and the battery system is driven by the company’s GEMS Digital Energy Platform software and controls.

The Philippines remains largely dependent on coal and other fossil fuels, although it does have a good percentage of hydroelectric capacity (10.5%) as well as geothermal (13.4%) but the government is targeting a rapid rise in renewable energy capacity to >15GW by 2030. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also committed in 2018 to meeting 23% of primary energy needs from renewables by 2025, while the Philippines government has also begun a process of integrating energy storage into its electric power industry, issuing draft guidelines on the topic in April 2019. While there are known to be a few mini-grid projects built using lithium-ion batteries in the country,

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grid-connected energy storage has been rarer, although a pair of grid-scale projects including a 10MW system which got a frequency control ancillary services contract was built by Wärtsilä rival Fluence – then known under the brand of its parent company AES – in 20152016 Zambales province. Additionally, Philippines power utility Meralco and Japanese tech company Hitachi did inagurate a 2MW / 2MWh BESS through a pilot project on the island of Luzon, 50km north of the national capital Manila in late 2019, which was described as the country’s first grid-scale, distribution grid-connected BESS.

Kari Punnonen, Energy Business Director Australasia at Wärtsilä Energy

“Our partnership with SMC Global Power, a company with technical experience in battery energy storage systems, has enabled us to reach this stage and be ready for operation in record time. This also further demonstrates Wärtsilä’s EPC capabilities in the region, as well as our ability to operate under the challenging restrictions set by the pandemic,” Wärtsilä Energy director for the Australasian region Kari Punnonen said.

“These projects showcase our long-term commitment to be present in the Philippines and to continue delivering optimised solutions that support the energy transition in Southeast Asia.”

Source : energy-storage.news

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NIPPON KOEI AND AQUILA CAPITAL ANNOUNCE JOINT ACQUISITION OF BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM IN BELGIUM The Japanese listed company Nippon Koei Co. Limited, via its 100% owned subsidiary Nippon Koei Energy Europe B.V., and Aquila Capital, a sustainable investment management and asset development company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, are pleased to announce the financial close for a 25MW/100MWh grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) located in Ruien, Belgium.

NIPPON KOEI, AQUILA CAPITAL AND YUSO ANNOUNCE A NEW PHASE Nippon Koei Co. Limited, lead developer of the project, and Aquila Capital have reached an agreement to jointly finance the procurement, final development and operation of the BESS, which is one of the first projects of this type in Europe that meets all the relevant ESG standards and has a strong focus on sustainable construction and operation. YUSO BV, who had instigated the project in 2018 and worked alongside Nippon Koei as co-developer has been appointed optimiser for the BESS for the next 10 years.

THE INNOVATION OF THIS BESS PROJECT The completion of the project is foreseen in Q4 2022 and it will be the largest connected to the Belgian high-voltage grid as well as one of the first four-hour long duration BESS units in the EU. The project targets to deliver ancillary services to the Belgian HV grid as well as to operate on the short-term electricity markets.

The project will be realised on the site of a former 800MW coal fired power plant, constituting a good example on how to drive the energy transition forward by embedding flexible BESS assets in a market with an already elevated penetration of renewables in the production mix.

ROMAN ROSSLENBROICH ON THE BALANCE IN THE ELECTRICITY GRID

Roman Rosslenbroich, CEO and Co-Founder of Aquila Capital:

“We consider batteries as a crucial asset class for the energy transition by balancing the power grid and enabling the integration of renewables. Our first battery investment is dating back to 2015 and storage will be a very important pillar of our activities in the coming years. We are aiming to play a key role in the build-out of this asset class in Europe and APAC. The investment for our clients in this project and our cooperation with Nippon Koei and Yuso is an important milestone in this journey.”

Roman Rosslenbroich

CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF AQUILA CAPITAL

HIROYUKI AKIYOSHI ON THE INTEGRATION INTO THE ENERGY SYSTEM OF THE FUTURE Hiroyuki Akiyoshi, Representative Director and Vice President of Nippon Koei: “The Ruien project takes advantage of the fast

response and easy scalability of batteries and applies BESS technology as a key factor in the effective integration of VRE sources into power systems. For the Ruien project, we plan to connect this large unit to a nearby 70kV substation to provide the services necessary for system operation, based on our experience in the development and construction of BESS. The Joint Venture with Aquila Capital also highlights the value investment managers attach to the flexibility required to embed even more renewables to the power system of the future and the ESG compliance with the sustainability standards of such energy transition project.”

BART PYCKE ON INNOVATION EMBEDDED IN EXISTING ENERGY MARKETS Bart Pycke, MD of YUSO: “Having initiated the RES project in

2018 and having worked closely with Nippon Koei since the start of the project and with Aquilla in the past months, we are delighted to have reached the milestone of the financial close. The appointment of YUSO as ‘route-to-market’ provider for the project illustrates our expertise in the area of BESS optimisation and our know-how on how this innovative technology can embedded into the existing energy and ancillary markets. Ruien Energy Storage is the first project of this size for YUSO and we look forward to developing additional BESS projects together with our partners in the Ruien Project, Nippon Koei and Aquila Capital in the future.”

Hiroyuki Akiyoshi, REPRESENTATIVE DIRECTOR AND VICE PRESIDENT OF NIPPON KOEI

Bart Pycke, MD OF YUSO

Source: yuso

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GLOBAL ENERGY STORAGE INVESTS IN LOW CARBON STORAGE AT ROTTERDAM Independent energy storage company, Global Energy Storage (GES) is set to buy an interest in part of the assets of Gunvor Group (Gunvor)’s Stargate Terminal. In addition to the deal, GES will develop more than 20 hectares at the port.

The development will include a multi-purpose seagoing jetty, in addition to the creation of infrastructure to support: · Consolidation of biofuel storage · Storage for renewable fuels · Gas storage · Gas to chemicals production · Green and blue hydrogen · Hydrogen carriers such as ammonia Having only been in existence since May of this year, the deal marks the first of GES’ energy deals. The company was set up by the management team at energy and chemical assets developer Global Petro Storage (GPS) as a organisation

with an ‘exclusive focus’ on energy transition fuels. Stating that the project’s aim is to become ‘one of the largest’ lowcarbon developments at a world-class industrial hub, Peter Vucins, CEO, GES, added that the company is also looking to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of future business in the Port of Rotterdam – Europe’s largest port. “We are also looking to become part of the logistics chain needed to import blue and green hydrogen. I hope this gives a glimpse of the size of our ambitions.”The company will partner with Gunvor to further develop sustainable projects in Rotterdam.Hoping that the partnership is the first of many, Eric Arnold, Executive Chairman, GES, added, “This is the first of what we hope will be many deals. We are looking to develop an international network of storage and logistics infrastructure for low-carbon commodities. You can expect to see a rapid expansion across 2021-22.”

Source: gasworld

THE LARGEST ENERGY STORAGE PROJECT OF ANY TYPE TO DATE Photon Energy NV, an Amsterdam-based renewable energy company delivering solar energy and clean water solutions, has secured 1,200 hectares of land in South Australia to develop the world’s largest solar energy storage project to date.

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he Company is currently developing multiple sites in Australia suitable for RayGen’s solar technology in combination with its energy storage solution. Based on preliminary designs, Photon Energy will develop a solar generation capacity of 300 MW with a grid connection capacity of 150 MW. The target storage energy storage capacity is 3.6 GWh, equivalent to 24 hours of full load, to the grid, from storage. This will exceed the 3 GWh capacity of the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco, which currently has the world’s largest energy storage capacity of any type, excluding pumped hydro. For further information see the IDTechEx report on Batteries for Stationary Energy Storage 2021-2031. “We are very excited to be developing this innovative and globally significant solar energy storage project in South Australia. The enviable solar resource and need for energy storage due to high penetration of renewables in this region is a perfect match for RayGen’s technology,” commented Michael Gartner, CTO

of Photon Energy Group and Managing Director of Photon Energy Australia. Photon Energy has commenced the

permitting and grid-connection processes and expects to reach the ready-to-build stage by the end of 2023. RayGen recently closed its Series C capital raise for AUD 55 million where Photon Energy participated alongside AGL Energy, Schlumberger New Energy, Chevron Technology Ventures and Equinor Ventures. RayGen is currently building a 4 MW / 50 MWh solar energy-plus-storage plant in Carwarp, Victoria, Australia due for completion in mid-2022.

Michael Gartner, CTO OF PHOTON ENERGY GROUP & MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PHOTON ENERGY AUSTRALIA

Source: Photon Energy Group

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NOSTROMO RAISES $13.6M FOR ITS ICE-POWERED CLEAN ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM AND WILL BEGIN TRADING ON THE TEL AVIV STOCK EXCHANGE Nostromo a pioneering cold-energy storage company, is commercializing the world’s most advanced energy storage technology based on modular ice cells for commercial and industrial buildings.

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he technology harnesses the power of renewables to meet the growing demand for cooling driven by Global Warming, while reducing stress on the grid. On June 21st, the company completed a merger with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) listed company Somoto, raising $13.6 million in the process. Over the last few years, we’ve witnessed the rapid growth and deployment of lithium-ion-based energy storage systems. This has sparked growing concern about the serious environmental consequences and safety issues these batteries pose. Now more than ever, there’s a need to embrace and invest in safe, environmentally friendly, and efficient storage solutions that support the integration of renewable energy.

Air conditioning and cooling accounts for up to 40 percent of the total peak demand, according to a study conducted by the World Energy Agency (EIA). By 2050, the global demand for electricity designated for cooling is expected to triple.

THE SOLUTION Nostromo developed the most advanced cold energy storage system in the world. The system is based on encapsulated ice cells (IceBrick™) that allow modular installation in commercial buildings and factories. The modular structure of the cells is economical in space and volume, which allows for swift installation on roofs, in basements, or along walls. The system “charges” cold energy during hours when electricity demand is low or there is a surplus of renewable energy, and “discharges” the energy during peak consumption hours, relieving the grid from the high air conditioning electricity demands. Nostromo is an ideal solution for data centers, office buildings, hotels, shopping centers, hospitals, factories, and other facilities that carry large electricity demands for air conditioning and cooling.

Other benefits from shifting electricity demand during peak hours for air conditioning include the buildings’ ability to meet other energy demands, such as charging electric vehicles, without further investment in infrastructure. In addition, several Nostromo systems can scale up to multi-MWh capacity, forming a virtual power plant. Nostromo’s proprietary technology has gained significant traction over the last two years. In April, Nostromo announced a 20-year agreement with the prestigious Hilton Beverly Hills hotel to install a 1.5 MWh system (serving both the Hilton and the adjacent Waldorf Astoria). Nostromo also signed an agreement with Sandstone Properties for the construction of an 900 kWh system in a Los Angeles office building and a memorandum of understanding with Westfield, one of the biggest owners and operators of large retail centers in the U.S, to install systems at its sites. Nostromo also has R&D projects with strategic players, such as energy giant Royal Dutch Shell, the Israeli Electric Company and partnerships with leading U.S. engineering companies. In February, Mr. Mayo A. Shattuck III, the Chairman of American energy giant Exelon, announced a $500,000 personal investment in Nostromo.

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Yoram Ashery, CEO of Nostromo

Ilana Shoshan, General Manager of the company’s U.S. West Coast operations

In July, Nostromo will be cutting the ribbon on it’s latest project, a 600 kWh system installed on the roof of advanced medical device manufacturer, Medinol. In addition to electricity cost savings, the system provides critical backup to Medinol’s clean rooms cooling system.

“To accelerate the transition to renewable energy, energy storage solutions are needed at an immense scale. Nostromo’s energy storage technology offers an innovative, highly-efficient, clean, sustainable, scalable and safe alternative to lithium-based storage,” says Yoram Ashery, CEO of Nostromo, “Our technology provides a solution to the energy requirements of air conditioning systems, which are the largest consumer on the grid.”

“To accelerate the transition to renewable energy, energy storage solutions are needed at an immense scale.

Nostromo’s energy storage technology offers an innovative, highly-efficient, clean, sustainable, scalable and safe alternative to lithium-based storage,” says Yoram Ashery, CEO of Nostromo, “Our technology provides a solution to the energy requirements of air conditioning systems, which are the largest consumer on the grid.”

“Nostromo provides a solution to one of the most inconceivable problems of the 21st century,” says Ilana

Shoshan, General Manager of the company’s U.S. West Coast operations.

“In California, for example, utilities are sometimes forced to initiate rolling black outs, impacting hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses during peak summer hours. Wide deployment of Nostromo systems in commercial and industrial buildings can help prevent the phenomenon.”

Source: altenergymag

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EUROPE

ENEL RECYCLES BLADES FOR ENERGY STORAGE

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Link up with Swiss company Energy Vault to use old materials for a gravitational energy storage system.

nel Green Power is partnering with Swiss company Energy Vault to integrate the recycling of decommissioned wind turbine blades into the weights used by the latter’s gravitational energy storage system. The partnership aims to integrate the gravity energy storage technology with the recycling of materials no longer needed at wind farms, applying a circular economy perspective across the entire wind power value chain.

Energy Vault has already interconnected a 5MW commercial demonstration unit in Ticino, and recently announced the new EVx product platform – a 30 story building architecture, 40% shorter and fully flexible in terms of charging and discharging duration. It uses blocks of solid material, as a storage medium. These large blocks, weighing around 35 tonnes each, are lifted to store electricity when an excess of energy is produced and then when electricity is required, the blocks are lowered, exploiting the force of gravity to generate electricity as they descend. The entire operations are orchestrated by proprietary software and computer vision that control the velocity and movement of the blocks. The agreement signed with Enel Green Power has a series of successive steps planned that would use composite material from blades used in the blocks. Enel Green Power head of energy storage and hybrid systems Pasquale Salza said: “The first phase included a detailed analysis of the technology at the first commercial system in Switzerland (grid connected in July 2020), and is followed now by a feasibility study for the creation of an initial commercial plant with an energy capacity in the order of a few dozen megawatt-hours.

Marco Terruzzin ,Energy Vault chief product officer

“If everything goes well, by the end of this year we may be able to conclude the feasibility study with a positive outcome for the construction of the EVx plant.”

Energy Vault chief product officer Marco Terruzzin said: “Our mission is to bridge the remaining gap in the clean energy pipeline by providing cost-effective and sustainable energy storage solutions, accelerating the usage of recycled materials for our units.

“As the world-leading clean energy provider, Enel is already delivering impact at a massive scale, and we are excited to work together in helping to ensure their energy solutions continue to make a positive impact in terms of cost competitiveness, sustainability and job opportunities related to the entire supply chain.”

Enel Green Power innovation factory head for the O&M and HSEQ functions Irene Fastelli said: “The use of (composite)

material gives the blocks greater stability and robustness, increasing their durability and further lowering costs.

“The partnership with Energy Vault involves feasibility studies for integrating the composite material from Enel Green Power’s decommissioned turbine blades into the blocks used by the energy storage system.

“All of this occurs as part of a circular process, which includes the decommissioning of the wind plant, the treatment of the composite material at a shredding plant, its processing and reintegration into the energy storage system.”

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Enel Green Power innovation factory head for the O&M and HSEQ functions Irene Fastelli

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AUTUMN TENDER FOR RES POWER STORAGE BATTERIES Greece plans to invite investors to build batteries for renewable energy power, with a total storage capacity of 700 megawatts, later this year, Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said.

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peaking at a digital conference, Skrekas said that Greece will launch a tender for storage batteries in autumn, budgeted at 200 million euros. Greece aims to reach a 35% share of renewables in final energy consumption by 2030, up from about 20% last year, as it plans to shut down all but one of its coal-fired plants by 2023 to help reduce carbon emissions and cut dependence on fossil fuel. The country will also look to produce hydrogen, Skrekas said, adding that a “roadmap” on the technology will be announced in July. Athens plans to spend about €5 billion from a European Union post-pandemic recovery plan over the next five years to upgrade its electricity grid, restore mining sites to their former condition, set up chargers for electric cars and improve the energy efficiency of private and public buildings.

Source: ekathimerini

ROLLS-ROYCE TO INVEST £80M IN ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT ENERGY STORAGE DEVELOPMENT Rolls-Royce is planning an £80 million investment over the next decade into the development of energy storage systems (ESS) that will enable electric aircraft to fly over 100 miles (160 kilometers) on a single charge.

“We are developing a portfolio of energy storage solutions to complement our electrical propulsion systems,” commented Rob Watson, Director of Electrical

at Rolls-Royce.

“This will ensure that we can offer our customers a complete electric propulsion system for their platform, whether that is an eVTOL or a commuter aircraft. It will enable us to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for all-electric or hybridelectric propulsion systems, which is incredibly exciting as these new markets develop and expand.”

Rolls-Royce said its “aerospace-certified” ESS products should power electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems for eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing) in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market and fixed-wing aircraft, with up to 19 seats, in the commuter market. Rolls-Royce forecasts it will integrate over five million battery cells per year into modular systems by 2035.

Source: aerotime

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MOZAMBIQUE SOLAR PROJECT WITH UTILITY-SCALE BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM BEGINS CONSTRUCTION Mozambique’s energy and mineral resources minister attended a ceremony to mark the start of construction on the first solar project in the country to be paired with utility-scale battery energy storage.

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inister Ernesto Max Tonela made the ceremonial first solar panel installation at Cuamba Solar PV plant, which will combine 19MWp (15MWac) of solar PV with 2MW / 7MWh of battery energy storage.

African independent power producer (IPP) Globeleq will sell electricity from the facility to utility Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA). Spanish company TSK will carry out engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) duties. Ernesto Max Tonela, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy of the Republic of Mozambique at the ceremony to mark the start of construction on 10 June. Image: Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM). The project is in the Tetereane District of Cuamba, a city in Mozambique’s Niassa province. Scope of the US$32 million project’s works includes upgrades to

Cuamba’s electrical substation and Globeleq chief development officer Jonathan Hoffman called it a “trailblazer for future utility-scale energy storage in Mozambique and the region”. EDM said that two medium voltage (33kV) lines will also be built to connect the plant to the local substation.

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Globeleq partnered with EDM as well as with Source Energia, the subsidiary of an investment group headquartered in Mozambique’s capital Maputo, on the project and is partnering with Source Energia on a wind power project in the country. The IPP has also been prequalified to participate in a tender for a 40MWp solar project in Sofala province and has already been selected to work on two solar PV projects in neighbouring Eswatini (Swaziland), each of 15MWp. Mozambique has a target of providing energy access to all its citizens by 2030 and the project is in response to growing demand for electricity in Niassa province. The Cuamba project is being supported with US$19 million in debt funding from multidonor organisation Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) through its Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, as well as US$7m million grant funding from a viability gap funding facility of PIDG’s and a US$1 million grant from CDC Plus, an infrastructure investment fund for developing countries. In May, Energy-Storage. news reported that the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has allocated funding for feasibility studies to a wind-plusstorage project in Mozambique, which would help to validate the viability of battery storage for balancing the local grid. This follows a similar announcement in 2018, when USTDA said it was funding a feasibility study for a solar-plus-storage project at Mozambique’s Nacala International Airport. Our sister site PV Tech reported that Mozambique energy company Ncondezi Energy, which primarily operates coal power plants, is forming a joint venture (JV) with South African energy firm NESA to target South Africa’s C&I solar-plusstorage opportunities. The pair have a project pipeline of 94.5MWp solar PV projects and 13.5MW of battery storage.

Source: energy-storage

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ENGIE ABANDONS HAWAII SOLAR-PLUS-STORAGE PROJECT OVER SOLAR INDUSTRY TURBULENCE, GRID CONNECTION COSTS

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NGIE will no longer proceed with a gridscale solar-plus-storage project it was awarded in Hawaii, cancelling its order for 240MWh of battery storage from technology provider New HOrizons Ahead (NHOA). NHOA said yesterday that it was informed by ENGIE that the French multinational energy company’s North American arm notified utility Hawaiian Electric (HECO) on 25 October that it has abandoned the Puako solar and storage project. ENGIE North America’s project bid was one of the winners of a tender HECO held that led to off-take contracts being signed for large-scale solar-plus-storage and standalone battery storage projects in May 2020. ENGIE’s would have been a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the combined 60MWac solar PV and 240MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) facility. NHOA had been subcontracted by ENGIE to supply the BESS and act as full storage system provider and system integrator. HECO procured 460MW of solar and nearly 3GWh of BESS across 16 awarded projects in that round of ongoing procurements as the US island state accelerates its transition to renewable energy, helped along by the high cost of importing and burning fossil fuels for electricity, against which solar and solar-plus-storage are competitive. The reasons given for the abandonment, according to a release by NHOA, were elevated interconnection costs that have come just as ENGIE has been hit by global supply chain and production issues, as well as the ongoing tariffs and trade disputes which are impacting the US solar PV industry, as detailed extensively by our sister site PV Tech. NHOA ‘disappointed’ by former majority-owner’s decision NHOA pointed out that the production issues do not relate to its own technology or scope of supply. The smart energy company said it was “obviously disappointed” by the decision. At the time the

contract was awarded, NHOA was still majority-owned by ENGIE and known under its former name, ENGIE EPS. A 60.5% stake in the company was sold to Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) for just over US$150 million with the deal completed in July of this year. Post-acquisition the company was rebranded and announced its strategic ‘Masterplan’ to grow the business tenfold by 2025, including its main business lines in energy storage and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. NHOA announced two big project deals in October, one for a 100MW / 200MWh BESS in Australia and another for 160MW / 420MWh of BESS in Taiwan. It also inaugurated the first of thousands of smart EV chargers paired with battery storage it is rolling out in Europe in a joint venture with automotive OEM Stellantis, called Free2Move.

The company said ENGIE’s abandonment of the Puako project does not impact its 2021 financial guidance and confirmed its 2022 guidance of revenues between €100 million (US$116.04 million) to €150 million. The project was included in the ‘Contracts Secured’ section of its reported quarterly financial results and was not counted in most recent respective ‘Pipeline,’ ‘Backlog’ or ‘Order Intake’ figures of €833 million as of the end of September, €205 million as of 27 October and €208 million, also as of 27 October. However, NHOA said that certain assurances regarding the project were given by ENGIE to TCC and NHOA’s own board of directors at the time of the acquisition and that in light of those, legal implications will be considered. Hawaiian Electric filed a draft of its newest Request for Proposals (RfPs) for renewable energy on Hawaii Island with regulators in mid-October. The utility intends to launch the RfP by the end of February 2022 but give bidders a deadline of 2030 to bring their projects online, which HECO said was to enable “a wider variety of projects and technologies” to be included in proposals. Solar projects participating in the all-source renewable energy procurement must be paired with energy storage, according to HECO’s draft RfP. Source: energy-storage.news

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POWER CENTER+ INTRODUCES DURACELL HOME ENERGY STORAGE PRODUCTS FOR THE NORTH AMERICA RESIDENTIAL MARKET San Jose, CA-based company Power Center+ has partnered with Duracell to introduce the Duracell Power Center product line of Home Energy Storage solutions in North America and the Caribbean.

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he Duracell Power Center product line will consist of 5 kW and 10 kW inverter outputs with batteries expandable from 14 kWh to 84 kWh. The Power Center’s unique bi-directional inverter technology allows new and existing residential solar owners to store excess solar power for use in the evening, maximizing their solar investment, while increasing energy security and independence, all without additional hardware. In addition, Power Center offers the flexibility of remote software upgrades to meet ever changing power regulatory standards.In the event of grid failure, the systems form a microgrid allowing the solar PV system to continue power generation while managing home loads utilizing advanced lithium batteries. These systems are cost-effective solutions for homeowners looking to reduce their energy bill and increase their energy security from natural disasters and grid failures all while helping the environment. “Duracell sees tremendous opportunity to create effective green power management solutions for the home. Ultimately allowing the consumer to manage, store, and control all aspects of power within their home.

The Duracell brand brings along a history of quality and reliability which consumers have trusted over many decades,” stated Roberto Mendez, President of Duracell North America. “We are proud to work with our licensee partner to bring this important offering to the market.” “Our Home Energy Storage solutions provide the entrée for expansion into a full product ecosystem as we march toward complete residential power management. We are very excited to be at the forefront of technology development and deployment”, stated Aakar Patel, President of Power Center+ The Power

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ROBERTO MENDEZ PRESIDENT, DURACELL (NORTH AMERICA) Center’s support grid-connected solar self-consumption, time of use (TOU) rate shifting and provide home backup power. These systems are now available in North America and the Caribbean markets, with certification standards matching UL1741, UL9540, California’s Rule 21, and Hawaii’s Rule 14H.

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NATIONAL GRID INVITES LOCAL COMMUNITY TO CELEBRATE CONSTRUCTION OF TEXAS SOLAR-PLUS-STORAGE PROJECT

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community engagement event was hosted last week for a solar-plusstorage project under construction in Denton County, Texas, pairing 275MW of solar PV with 125MW of battery energy storage. Hosted by National Grid Renewables, which is developing the project, the economic and environmental benefits of the project for the local area were celebrated at the event, including the appointment of nearly 500 workers — many of them locals — during construction, and the contribution of around US$30 million of combined economic benefit through the area’s tax base and on-site operations and maintenance (O&M) employment over the first 20 years of its operational lifetime.The project is John Zahurancik , FLUENCE’S AMERICAS PRESIDENT under construction and expected to The Hershey Company. Home Depot and NRG each go online next year. The Noble Solar and Storage Project is have a 100MW PPA in place and Hershey a 50MW PPA. In being supplied with thin-film solar PV modules from First Solar attendance along with National Grid Renewables, NRG and and battery energy storage system (BESS) technology from Hershey executives were representatives from First Solar, Fluence. First Solar’s Series 6 modules, launched in October Fluence and construction partner Signal Energy, along with last year and manufactured in the US, will be used. In a minor clean energy advocacy group Powering Texas, meeting coincidence Fluence’s Gridstack battery storage equipment community members, customers and landowners. “We are being used is also from the energy storage company’s proud to support National Grid Renewables’ Noble project sixth generation range of products, also launched last year. with industry-leading energy storage technology that will help In a previous press release about the project, the BESS’ make the electric system cleaner and more resilient. A uniquely capacity was cited as 125MWh, making it a one-hour duration flexible asset, energy storage delivers value to both the electric battery system of the type recently seen deployed to capture grid and consumers by enabling greater use of renewable opportunities in the Texas ERCOT electricity market. Three energy and also providing additional critical grid services,” corporate off-takers have signed power purchase agreements Fluence’s Americas president John Zahurancik said. National Grid (PPAs) for the solar PV: home improvement retailer The Home Renewables held the event to honour the first annual American Depot, power company NRG and chocolate and candy maker Clean Power Week which ran from 25 to 29 October.

Source: energy-storage.news 38

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HIGHVIEW POWER UNVEILS PLAN FOR FIRST 500 MWH LIQUID AIR STORAGE PROJECT IN LATIN AMERICA

A joint venture (JV) partnership to develop and construct long-duration liquid air energy storage (LAES) projects at scale in Latin America has revealed plans for its first project.

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ighview Enlasa, formed as a 50:50 owned JV between UK-headquartered LAES technology provider Highview Power and Chilean backup power generation company Energia Latina SA Enlasa in October 2020, is planning a 50MW / 500MWh project in Chile’s Atacama region. Rendering of a large-scale CRYOBattery LAES system. Offering up to 10 hours of storage using Highview Power’s CRYOBattery technology, the system would represent investment of about US$150 million and would be placed in the city of Diego de Almagro. The CRYOBattery works by cooling ambient air until it liquifies at -196 °C (-320 ˚F). The air is then stored at low pressure until electricity is needed, at which point it is heated again to drive turbines as it expands. Highview claims the systems can be built using relatively low-cost components that come off the shelf from other industries and could even enable people from the oil and gas industries an avenue of employment in clean energy, leaning on some of the mechanical expertise they already have. In fact the company recently selected MAN Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Volkswagen better known for its diesel engines, to provide core turbomachinery to a 250MWh project under construction in the UK. The Atacama region is one of the sunniest parts of the world and Highview Enlasa said that pairing the LAES system with solar power can enable 24/7 use of renewable energy.

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Chilean engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) group SK Ingenieria y Construccion has been picked out as EPC partner. The project is currently undergoing pre-feasibility engineering work ahead of environmental assessments later this summer, with construction expected to begin in the second half of 2023. Chile is targeting 100% renewables in its electricity sector by 2050 and at least 60% by 2035 as well as committing to phasing out coal generation. Through auctions the government has supported a big build-out of large-scale solar and in 2020 already surpassed its 20% by 2025 target. The country’s first 3MW grid-scale solar project was constructed in 2012 but according to figures from Chilean renewable energy association ACER, by mid-2020 it had about 3GW of solar PV in operation and a further 3GW under construction.

Also currently under construction in Chile is Latin America’s largest lithium-ion battery energy storage project so far at 112MW / 560MWh by AES Corporation. Highview Power meanwhile is targeting the global need for long-duration bulk energy storage that it believes is coming down the line and is already here in some places. After a few years of validation of its technology including building a megawattscale demonstrator in England, the company is proceeding with its 50MW / 250MWh project in the UK, developing several large projects in the US and recently unveiled proposals for 2GWh split across seven projects in Spain.

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MAINE BECOMES 9TH US STATE TO ADOPT ENERGY STORAGE DEPLOYMENT TARGET

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Janet Mills, Governor of Maine, has signed legislation that makes hers the ninth US state to have adopted a deployment target for energy storage. n 22 June, the governor’s office announced that Mills had signed ‘LD 528: An act to advance energy storage in Maine’. It sets out a state goal for energy storage development of 300MW of installed capacity within Maine by the end of 2025 and 400MW of installed capacity by 31 December 2030. Beyond that date, the Governor’s Energy Office will set the state goal once again and repeat the process every two years after that.The goal is on the lower end of the existing targets and mandates adopted by US states so far. Most recently, Connecticut passed a 1,000MW by 2030 deployment target, which state Governor Ned Lamont signed last week At the upper end of the scale are Virginia’s 3.1GW by 2035 and New York’s 3GW by 2030 targets. California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are all somewhere in between, while Oregon — the second to introduce a target in 2015 after California — is doing things slightly differently and mandated that two major utilities procured 5MWh minimum by 2020 and then no more than equivalent to 1% of their peak load each year after that. A 5MW / 10MWh battery storage facility in Rumford, Maine. However, the Maine target is far above an original 100MW by 2025 that was called for when the legislation was introduced a few months ago.

The state is now set to enact programmes to encourage energy storage deployment, including a 15MW pilot programme to put storage into critical care facilities..

‘NEW ENGLAND’S SUMMER OF STORAGE’ The state’s regulatory Public Utilities Commission will also by the end of 2022 take steps to configure electricity rate design to accommodate and encourage energy storage growth, such as time-of-use rates and incentives to lower peak demand for power. Again, pilot programmes are expected in this area, as are reviews of transmission and distribution costs. The commission is also ordered to consider a renewable power-to-fuel pilot programme. The Energy Office of the governor will conduct an energy storage market assessment study that will review opportunities and challenges to reaching the goal, with a report expected to be submitted to the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology by the beginning of March next year. Maine’s independent administrator for energy efficiency and emissions reduction, the Efficiency Maine Trust, will also look at options to support energy storage measures and how they can reduce or shift demand or balance the electric system’s load in other ways as well as by reducing peak demand.

The US national Energy Storage Association (ESA) welcomed the news and ESA Interim CEO Jason Burwen described summer 2021 as the “Summer of Storage in New England”.

“Maine is now the latest state in the region to enact policies that accelerate energy storage development—as well as becoming the ninth state in the U.S. to adopt an energy storage target.We applaud Governor Mills and Senator Vitelli for their leadership in accelerating storage deployment to meet the state’s clean energy and resilience priorities,“ Burwen

said in an ESA statement.

In an interview with Energy-Storage.news last year, Burwen explained why energy storage mandates, targets and goals matter. “Just because you see a future where we’re going to have a tonne of renewables, and the business case for storage will be self-evident in the future, well, the investment decisions that are largely going to determine supply mixes in the future are being made today,” he said. Storage targets catalyse action and instruct public and private organisations to learn more about energy storage and how it can help enable lower emissions, higher renewables and lower-cost, reliable electricity networks, as well as giving some investment certainty to the desired trajectory of deployment. That said, as Burwen explained, the approach taken varies greatly from the mandated approach of California and New York, which has driven or continues to drive energy storage adoption forwards, to aspirational goals and targets such as New Jersey’s, which thus far has not led to a great deal of activity.

Source: energy-storage

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APPROVAL FOR 100MW / 400MWH BATTERY STORAGE PROJECT AT SITE OF NEW YORK FOSSIL FUEL PLANT Regulatory approval has been given for a 100MW / 400MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) facility which will be sited on land formerly occupied by a natural gas and oil-fired power plant which had been described as one of New York’s biggest sources of pollution.

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he Poletti Power Plant site had made a significant contribution to air pollution issues before it was closed just over a decade ago and replaced with cleaner thermal generation and now battery storage.

The New York Public Service Commission (PSC), granted the project, under development by Hanwha Group subsidiary 174 Power Global, with a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. The BESS is going to be built in Astoria, Queens, at the site of what was the Charles Poletti Power Plant. 174 Power Global signed an agreement to take on the project with utility company Con Edison after winning a competitive solicitation process. The utility has been handed a state mandate to deploy 300MW / 1,200MWh of energy storage on its networks by 2030 – its contribution to New York’s 3,000MW by 2030 policy target – and the Astoria system, dubbed the East River Energy Storage System, will make a significant contribution towards it. When Energy-Storage.news reported on the project’s contract award back in December 2020, 174 Power Global and Con Edison said that for the duration of a seven-year contract, energy stored in the battery system will be bid into wholesale power markets with the utility keeping the revenues from that participation. The project is expected to reach commercial operation by the beginning of 2023. Enabling the storage of electricity to be used when it is most needed will help increase the amount of variable renewable energy that can be put onto New York’s grid. It will also, as with some recent high profile projects in California, help reduce the state’s reliance on peaker plants; which are only called into action several times a year when electricity demand is at its highest.

New York’s peaker plant fleet has been especially problematic because demand centres in the state are largely focused in its more populated urban areas, where it may not be so easy to build out renewable energy facilities.

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Two large-scale, 100MW, 4-hour (400MWh) battery projects have come online this year in California which expressly took over the role of peakers on the grid, Saticoy and Alamitos. One of the state entities working to turn around the legacy of peaker plants is the state utility New York Power Authority (NYPA), which recently committed to working with a coalition of experts and environmental justice groups to find cleaner alternatives. A study by consultancy group Strategen published earlier this year showed a pathway to costeffectively retiring New York’s entire 6GW fleet of peaker plants by 2030 using combinations of renewable, energy storage and energy efficiency technologies. NYPA also owns the Charles Poletti power plant site, which closed down at the end of 2010 and the buildings demolished a couple of years later. Described at the time as one of the state’s biggest polluters largely due to high levels of sulphates in the oil it burned, the 885MW facility’s role on New York’s grid was replaced with cleaner combined cycle gas turbine power plants nearby. NYPA is leasing the land to Con Edison and 174 Power Global and in an interview earlier this year, NYPA chief commercial officer Sarah Orban Salati pointed out the deal as a strong example of a public-private partnership to help integrate renewable and clean energy into the state’s energy system. The project could also contribute to NYPA’s own self-set target of enabling 300MW of grid-scale storage on its networks by 2030. “The PSC’s approval of this adaptive reuse project on NYPA’s site in Astoria is a big win for New York State and specifically the Queens community and demonstrates an important step towards achieving our ambitious clean energy goals,” NYPA CEO Gil Quiniones said in a statement. “Battery storage is essential to our quest to create a clean energy future and prevail against climate change.

Bulk storage will let us bring large amounts of renewable energy to our customers without compromising our industryleading reliability, even as fossil fuel generators in New York City are shuttered into retirement,” Con Edison senior VP for customer energy solutions Leonard Singh said.

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LARGO SAYS VANADIUM FOR ENERGY STORAGE WORTH TWICE AS MUCH AS THAT FOR STEEL PRODUCTION AT ‘BATTERY DAY’ Using vanadium for battery electrolytes could be twice as profitable as supplying it for steel production, which is currently the major industrial use for the abundant metal, vanadium producer Largo Resources has said.

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argo Resources has decided that the market for long-duration energy storage will be a high value opportunity and held a ‘Battery Day’ this week to highlight its strategies for entering the global vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) energy storage business. At the end of last year, the company launched a subsidiary, Largo Clean Energy, which will enable it to take vanadium from the parent company’s mining operations in Brazil and use it for VCHARGE±, the VRFB product which it has developed since acquiring technology, IP and personnel from defunct US VRFB company VIONX. Vanadium flakes at a Largo Resources facility. With the ongoing trend of variable renewable energy’s share of the energy mix increasing and fossil fuels in decline, the company believes it could capture around 3% of the global market for long-duration energy storage. VRFBs can store energy for 4 – 12 hours, much longer than the typical 1 – 4 hour applications lithium-ion batteries are economically viable at doing today, Largo’s in-house analysis forecasted the total addressable market to be around 49,000MWh by 2025. It expects to make 40MWh of deployments in 2022 and then scale up production to 180MW / 1,400MWh annual capacity by 2025 to meet that market share target. At online presentation event, VP of operations Salvatore Minopoli said that Largo Clean Energy is based out of Massachusetts, US, with manufacturing in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and with sales offices in Washington DC. According to Minopoli and other company executives, Largo’s advantages include having a proven, commercially available technology, access to vanadium and in-house manufacturing capabilities. Ian Robertson, a director at the company, said that so much demand is expected from the battery market that the major factors that could limit Largo from achieving its targets would be manufacturing capacity and how much vanadium it can produce.

FIGURES OF THE WEEK: AFRICA’S RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL Currently, as a producer of vanadium, it has sold the commodity vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) as an additive for steel manufacturing at an average price of US$7.75 per pound. It believes that in the energy storage business that same V2O5 would be worth US$12.39. Rival vanadium battery company Invinity Energy Systems has launched a business model where the vanadium electrolyte in a flow battery system is rented to the end user, lowering the upfront capital cost. Unlike the electrolyte in a lithiumion battery, the vanadium does not degrade even after decades of use and retains its value. Largo said on Battery Day that it too will offer a leasing model, again to lower capital cost of storage for the customer but also to increase the long-term revenue stream available — unlike in steel production where the vanadium is simply sold for one time revenues and earnings. In the meantime it will build up an asset portfolio of vanadium electrolyte, while it will also sell VRFB systems directly to customers. The company revealed that from mining and selling vanadium which costs it about US$3.50 per lb, it makes a US$4.25 margin for that US$7.75 sale. Under its energy storage business model however, he company expects to be able to command US$5.05 upfront revenue, plus US$4.97 per lb net present value from leasing, while the pound of vanadium retains a net present value of US$2.36 to Largo.

Added together, that gives the S$12.39 figure, which minus the same US$3.50 cost of vanadium is a US$8.89 margin.

Source: energy-storage

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USA

HIGHVIEW ENLASA DEVELOPING 50MW/500MWH LIQUID AIR ENERGY STORAGE FACILITY IN THE ATACAMA REGION OF CHILE

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Latin America’s first cryogenic energy storage project to enable 24/7 baseload renewable energy

ighview Enlasa, the 50/50 joint venture between Highview Power, a global leader in long-duration energy storage solutions, and Energía Latina S.A.-Enlasa, the largest backup power generation provider in Chile, is pleased to announce that it is developing the first liquid air long-duration energy storage project in Chile. This 50MW/500MWh (10 hours) CRYOBattery™, which represents an estimated investment of USD $150 million, will be located in Diego de Almagro in the Atacama Region. With one of the highest solar irradiations in the world, the Atacama Region has the potential to generate all the country’s electricity. By pairing solar with cryogenic energy storage, Chile can benefit from 24/7, 100% renewable energy.

Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) on the project will be carried out by SK Ingeniería y Construcción, a leading Chilean EPC and a subsidiary of the Sigdo Koppers group.

The project is currently in the pre-feasibility engineering phase and is scheduled to enter environmental processing in August of this year. Construction is estimated to start in the second half of 2023.

“This is a big step forward to enabling decarbonization goals for the country of Chile,” said Javier Cavada, CEO and President of Highview Power. “ Our liquid air energy-storage technology is the optimal solution for the large scale, longduration energy storage that is needed to balance the grid, without the geographic constraints associated with other

JAVIER CAVADA, CEO AND PRESIDENT OF HIGHVIEW POWER

energy storage technologies. “This is a big step forward to enabling decarbonization goals for the country of Chile,”

said Javier Cavada, CEO and President of Highview Power.

“Our liquid air energy-storage technology is the optimal solution for the large scale, long-duration energy storage that is needed to balance the grid, without the geographic constraints associated with other energy storage technologies.

“The Highview Enlasa joint venture is opening Latin American energy markets to baseload renewable energy potential. When paired with renewable energy sources such as solar, Highview Power’s long-duration energy storage system is equivalent in performance to thermal and nuclear power.

Fernando del Sol, president of Highview Enlasa.

Highview Power’s proprietary cryogenic energy storage techCRYOBatteries™ are developed using proven components nology utilizes air liquefaction, in which ambient air is cooled and from mature industries and can deliver pumped-hydro capabili- turned to liquid at -196 °C (-320 ˚F). The liquid air is stored at low pressure and later heated and expanded to drive a turbine and ties without geographical constraints. generate power. It is the only long-duration energy storage solu“The objective of our company is to make this innovative tion available today that is locatable and can offer multiple gigatechnology available to the market and to all actors in the watt-hours (weeks) of storage. The CRYOBattery™ has a small footprint and is scalable with no size limitations or geographic electrical and mining sectors. These plants can replace constraints, allowing for the deployment of massive amounts of traditional coal plants, which will help us contribute to renewables. Highview Power’s cryogenic energy storage plants accelerating the decarbonization process in Chile and to offer valuable capabilities including voltage control, grid balanccombat climate change,” said Fernando del Sol, president of ing and synchronous inertia that give grid operators the flexibility to manage power and energy services independently.

Highview Enlasa.

Source: altenergymag

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NEW YORK STATE PLEDGES US$12.5M TO LONG-DURATION STORAGE AND INVESTIGATES GREEN HYDROGEN’S POTENTIAL New York has committed to aggressive decarbonisation, renewable energy and energy storage goals.

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ew York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said the state is “exploring every resource available as a potential tool to address climate change,” as funding was announced for long-duration energy storage technologies along with investigation on the role of green hydrogen in decarbonisation.The governor’s office said it will explore what role green hydrogen can play in the energy transition, as New York targets the 85% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 as part of its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act policy. The Act includes a 3GW energy storage target by 2030.

US$12.5 million is being made available through the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) which has launched a Renewable Optimisation and Energy Storage Innovation Programme. NYSERDA is calling for project submissions to advance, develop or field-test energy storage technologies that can address challenges associated with the cost, performance or technical integration of renewable energy in New York State. NYSERDA is seeking to encourage both product development and demonstration projects. Only pre-commercial stage long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies are applicable and can include hydrogen, along with electric, chemical, mechanical or thermal storage technologies that are six-hours plus in duration. Different funding and award types will be made for early studies, product development, multi-stage projects, demonstration projects and federal cost-share, with proposals being accepted up to the end of June 2022 in three rounds. Also announced were a collaboration between NYSERDA and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to form a consortium together with hydrogen specialist organisations that can have some input on decision-making around green hydrogen.

State utility viability in decarbonising electricity production.”

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NYPA is also forming a collaborative effort with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), General Electric and Airgas, a hydrogen supplier, to carry out a green hydrogen demonstration project at scale at a NYPA natural gas plant on New York’s Long Island.

“As we transition to a clean energy economy, we are exploring every resource available as a NYPA CEO and president, Gil Quiniones potential tool to address climate change and documenting what we find to share as part of broader national and global conversations so we can build a brighter, greener future for all,” Andrew

Cuomo said.

“NYPA will be the nation’s first state utility to perform a demonstration project aimed at assessing the technical feasibility of operating an existing power generation facility with a hydrogen and natural gas blend,” NYPA CEO and president Gil Quiniones said of the Long Island project, which is intended to be short-term and create data and learnings that can inform future decisions in New York and elsewhere.

“Hydrogen may have the potential to be one of the tools we use to help New York State achieve its aggressive climate leadership goals for a carbon-free electric system.

This project will help us evaluate green hydrogen’s

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ASIA PACIFIC

‘CHINA’S HUGE ENERGY STORAGE AMBITIONS COULD BE THE KEY TO UNLOCK NET ZERO’

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A 30GW goal for 2025 is ambitious, but don’t bet against the nation meeting or beating it, writes Le Xu China is proposing a policy to accelerate energy storage deployments, with its core a target to take the country’s storage capacity excluding pumped hydro to 30GW by 2025 – triple the level of Wood Mackenzie’s current forecast.Although the five-year timeframe could prove challenging from an economic standpoint, China has good reason to push ahead and succeed. Government support for the strategic battery market is strengthening against the backdrop of heightened US-China tensions and China’s pledge to peak emissions by 2030.The acceleration of its energy storage deployments is another example of China’s ambition to scale domestic strategic technology markets instead of diverting to exports, and to promote low-carbon technology and manufacturing.A key point of the proposed energy storage policy is the pairing of renewables – wind and solar – investments with storage systems equivalent to 5-20% of renewable capacity in China’s still highly regulated power market.The pairing policy is causing a major shift in storage investment, moving from grid companies to state-owned renewables developers. China’s large state-owned power generation utilities, such as China Energy, Huaneng, Huadian and SPIC, will play a much more significant role and take on more financial risk moving forward.These companies can access low interest rates for project financing, and take the risks and uncertainties of project development and grid connection, with less concern for profit margins. Although there is no expectation for storage to be economically viable in the early development stage, the current business model will not be sustainable in the long term. The lack of wholesale markets and difficulty in stacking revenue streams remain critical for the energy storage industry. China’s front-of-the-meter (FTM) projects barely make money as revenues rely on a fixed on-grid tariff. In 2020, China’s on-grid tariff for solar and wind hit a new low, staying in the range of 0.35-0.49 yuan/kWh (equivalent to $54-76/MWh). Under such low tariffs, adding storage assets to renewables could double the project capex while creating zero economic gains for developers as time-of-usage power tariffs are not available for the FTM market. Currently, the incentive of adding storage is prioritised grid connection for solar and wind plants under local grid regulations. In 2020, this grid interconnection requirement contributed 468MW/812MWh of the renewables-plus-storage project pipeline. Commercial and industrial solar-plus-storage provide better economic returns than FTM projects due to higher power prices on China’s east coast. But storage projects still face revenue uncertainties as power prices in China rely on policy and regulations instead of market fundamentals.

Since the US-China trade war and Covid-19 crisis, industrial power prices have been pushed down three times, reducing by 30% in total. Storage developers could lose money under such market conditions.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL However, there is light at the end of the tunnel as the proposed policy discusses reforms to improve storage project revenue channels. As China’s wholesale market reform gradually looks to move beyond regional pilots, the potential exists for energy storage to enter the trading market. The overall goal is to ramp up the total capacity of new gridconnected renewables and storage, including lithium-ion batteries, compressed air, flow batteries, flywheels, sodium-sulphur batteries and hydrogen. China had 1.2GW/1.7GWh of new non-hydro energy storage additions in 2020, reaching 2.7GW/4GWh of total deployments by the end of last year. We expect China to add 430GW of new solar and wind capacity in the next five years, which could eventually spur 74GW of new storage capacity if up to 20% of the renewablesstorage pairing ratio is applied. Under this grid regulation policy, China’s storage market demand could rise to 16GW a year in the next five years, seven times higher than our H1 2021 forecast. The new policy could mean that China overtakes the US as the energy storage leader in gigawatt terms by 2030, while requiring $18bn investment to meet its 2025 target. Some uncertainties remain, including project economics, detailed policies and supply chain constraints, but we expect to see more policies backed with strong action to meet the goal. In summary, energy storage is positioned as a strategic technology that will help China achieve its carbon neutrality target by 2060. We believe the new policy is a clear signal of political resolve, and the 30GW target could be reached by 2025. Under political pressure, state-owned enterprises will drive storage demand by building renewables-plusstorage projects in China.

Source: rechargenews

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ABB SUPPLIES SOUTHEAST ASIA’S LARGEST BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM WITH the global energy storage system market expected to reach $17.9 billion by 2027, battery energy storage systems (BESS) are emerging as the strongest solution to increase grid flexibility and reliability.

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o help improve grid performance in the country, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMC), one of the major suppliers of power to the national grid in the Philippines, has partnered with ABB to install BESS facilities as part of its nationwide BESS Project, the region’s largest BESS project. As part of a multimillion-dollar contract won in 2019, ABB will support two 20MW sites, which will be installed by June 2021 with a further 40MW site in July 2021. The remaining sites will be completed in 2022. This project will support the Philippines’ ambitious plans to build a more sustainable future for its communities by decarbonizing energy generation and ensuring that 54 percent of its energy mix comes from renewables by 2040 (a sizable increase from 29 percent of renewables in 2019). To meet these targets, the country faces several challenges to ensure grid stability, including the length of power lines required to connect the diverse archipelago as well as intermittent energy supply from wind and solar, which needs storage to act as a frequency regulator. ABB has provided a packaged BESS solution to strengthen the reliability and stability of the local grid on Luzon, the largest, most populous island in the archipelago, and the Visayas.

Source: manilatimes

NAVISUN BECOMES A SPONSOR OF SEIA & SEPA SOLAR AND ENERGY STORAGE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE

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Navisun is a Kilowatt Sponsor of the Solar and Energy Storage Northeast Conference being held in Boston, June 9-10th. avisun LLC, a solar independent power producer that co-develops, acquires, owns, and operates distributed and small utility-scale solar projects, announced that it is a sponsor of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Smart Electric Power Alliance’s (SEPA) Solar and Energy Storage Northeast Conference taking place virtually on June 2nd and 3rd and in Boston, Massachusetts on June 9th and 10th. Navisun is committed to the transition to a carbon-free future and is continuing to build key industry partnerships that align with its strategic plan for growth in fulfillment of this commitment.

“We’re excited to be a Kilowatt Sponsor of the Solar & Storage Northeast Conference,” said John Malloy, manag-

ing partner and co-founder of Navisun. “Navisun continues to expand its portfolio of solar projects across the Northeast and throughout the country. We are looking forward to meeting with our trusted business partners and the opportunity to network with attendees at this important industry event.”

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John Malloy, Managing Partner & Co-Founder at Navisun LLC Source: altenergymag

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ASIA PACIFIC

HUAWEI ACHIEVES THE WORLD’S MOST RIGOROUS ENERGY STORAGE STANDARDS CERTIFIED BY TUV RHEINLAND At SNEC 2021, Huawei’s smart string energy storage system (ESS) for residential use, the LUNA2000, received 2PfG 2511 and VDE-AR-E 2510-50 certificates from TUV Rheinland, a Germany-based testing and certification service provider.

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i Weichun, Global Head of Power Electronics Business Segment and General Manager of Greater China Solar & Commercial Products at TUV Rheinland and Zhou Tao, Vice President of Huawei Smart PV, were present at the award ceremony. Germany is an important energy storage market in Europe, and leads the world in energy storage application, quality control, and R&D. The 2PfG 2511 energy storage standard devised and issued by TUV Rheinland, and the VDE-AR-E 2510-50 energy storage system standard issued by VDE, are the first such standards to conduct comprehensive assessments of energy storage systems. Those standards cover most of the safety risks involved with energy storage systems, and set rigorous technical requirements and test conditions in terms of electrical safety, battery safety, electromagnetic compatibility, functional safety, energy management, transportation safety, and environmental impact. Consequently, these standards ensure that only safe and high-quality energy storage systems are permitted to enter the market. The LUNA2000 series (LUNA2000-15-S0, LUNA2000-10-S0, LUNA2000-5-S0), designed to be a modular system, focuses on the functional safety of its electrical, battery, performance, BMS, EMS, and thermal management components. As such, the series are adaptable to a wide range of users and markets. Huawei’s LUNA2000 product series not only satisfies the requirements of German and other EU markets, but are eligible to enter other markets in the world.

Weichun Li, Global Head of Power Electronics, General Manager of Sola & Commercial Products Greater China at TÜV Rheinland Group

”Huawei is a leading company in the smart PV and energy storage industry. Its products have achieved both 2Pfg 2511 and VDE-AR-E 2510-50 energy storage system certification, and passed the most rigorous certification standards in the world.

What this means is that Huawei has now officially overcome the most demanding energy storage market entry threshold in the world,” said Li Weichun, Global Head of Power Electronics Business Segment and General Manager of Greater China Solar & Commercial Products at TUV Rheinland at the ceremony during SNEC. ”Germany has very high standard in terms of the energy storage application and commercialization, and its standards are far more stringent than those of other regions.

As Huawei has obtained this certification, granting access to the German market, our global market expansion can now move forward at an even faster pace. It represents another milestone in our partnership as well,”

Zhou Tao, Vice President of Huawei Smart PV, noted in his speech.

In the future, Huawei will continue to partner with TUV Rheinland to combine advanced international experience with the market in China, and further enhance their in-depth cooperation for key energy storage markets such as Europe, China, and Japan.

Zhou Tao, Vice President of Huawei Smart PV

Source: headlinesoftoday

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JAPAN

HITACHI ABB POWER GRIDS TO DEPLOY 90 MW BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM AT FINNISH NUCLEAR PLANT A grid-scale battery storage system will be built at the site of a nuclear power plant in Finland, providing backup in the event of disruption to grid supply.

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innish power company Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) operates and owns two nuclear power stations on the island of Olkiluoto which supply about onesixth of Finland’s energy consumption and represent about 22% of all power generated in the country. This year, TVO is about to open its third plant on the island, Olkiluoto 3 (OL3), which will have a nameplate capacity of 1,600MWe and will be capable of meeting about 14% of the country’s electricity demand. It was announced that TVO has contracted technology company Hitachi ABB Power Grids to deliver a 90MW battery energy storage system (BESS) at Olkiluoto 3. Based on Hitachi ABB’s e-mesh PowerStore energy storage solution and run on the company’s e-mesh SCADA digital energy management system, the batteries will come into action if there’s a problem either with the nuclear plant or with its delivery of power to the grid. While TVO noted in a recent report that capacity utilisation factor of its nuclear assets was above 93% in 2020, a disturbance at its Olkiluoto 2 plant saw the facility suddenly disconnect from the grid. The issue posed no threat to people or the local environment but did result in electricity production from the power plant unit being interrupted for nine days.

“The battery energy storage is used as backup power in the event of a disturbance in production at the nuclear power plant, until a replacing production method is generating electricity,” TVO technical director Sami Jakonen said.

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“In this way, we ensure the reliable operation of the grid even in a situation in which a large amount of electricity would otherwise fall out of the grid capacity.”

Battery storage could mitigate the risks to TVO and the local grid of something like that. Finland is targeting reaching carbon neutrality by 2035 and the three units of Olikiluoto island will put it a third of its way to that goal alone once OL3 is up and running. Fuel loading began at the plant unit in March and it is expected to be connected to the grid in October, with regular electricity production to start in February 2022. Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ battery system is also expected to be commissioned during 2022. It will overtake a 30MW / 30MWh battery project announced by French renewables developer Neoen last June at a 250MW wind farm in Finland for the title of largest battery storage system in the Nordic countries of Europe to date. Nidec ASI is supplying the BESS to that project as well as acting as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner. Hitachi ABB Power Grids, formed by combining the capabilities of the Japanese and Swiss technology and engineering groups Hitachi and ABB, has deployed more than 600MW of battery storage worldwide.

Energy-Storage.news has reported on energy storage projects and activities by the company around the world with varied scope of technologies and business models, including Singapore’s first virtual power plant, Thailand’s biggest industrial microgrid and a the Arabian Gulf’s first pumped hydro storage plant.

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TECHNOLOGY

TESLA’S PROTOTYPE BATTERY WITH FIVE TIMES MORE ENERGY STORAGE COMES TO LIFE AT PANASONIC The Japanese company revealed the prototype in an effort to fulfill Tesla’s future battery dreams. Tesla long promised big changes for its future batteries, and Panasonic hopes its latest prototype battery will deliver for the electric carmaker.

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utomotive News reported on the Japanese company’s new prototype battery created specifically for Tesla. It promises fives times more energy storage, which may increase ranges significantly. In addition to more energy, the battery will cost 50% less to produce and help boost battery production at Panasonic “100-fold,” by 2030, according to the report. These three elements could produce a game-changing battery pack for Tesla with a lower cost and more range at the core of EV adoption hurdles. Panasonic did not immediately return a request for comment and more information on the prototype battery. Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment.

Source: cnet

AN ARRAY OF CHOICES FOR BATTERY AND ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGY Li-ion batteries are ubiquitous among consumer electronics, have so far been the bedrock of transport electrification, and are the go-to technology for the non-pumped hydro stationary energy storage market.

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owever, the limitations of Li-ion are becoming increasingly clear. More energy-dense, safer and cheaper batteries are needed for widespread transport electrification and similar improvements are necessary if energy storage is to help accommodate the ever-growing penetration of renewable energy. A variety of advanced and next-generation energy storage technologies are under development to help improve these characteristics, amongst others.

It will also highlight some of the more immediate choices and developments being made in Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Firstly, IDTechEx will introduce energy storage research portfolios, and then discuss solid-state batteries in the webinar. We will talk the pros and cons of solid-state batteries compared with conventional lithium-ion batteries, the current market status, and future trends, as well as the pack design consideration, especially for electric vehicle applications. The special form factor enabled by solid-state batteries will also be discussed. The second section of this webinar will cover the status of, and recent activity in, various other

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next-generation technologies, from silicon anodes and lithium-sulphur to Na-ion and redox flow batteries and discuss the applications these next-generation technologies will be best suited to.

Finally, IDTechEx will introduce the burgeoning Li-ion recycling market. Recycling presents an attractive solution to both the demand growth of Li-ion materials, and the significant volumes of end-of-life batteries that IDTechEx have forecasted to become available from 2030. There has been recent activity from OEMs and start-ups alike, as well as interesting technological and regulatory developments. This is likely to challenge the obstacles facing Li-ion recycling commercialisation.

The webinar will provide an insight on the market intelligence IDTechEx has gathered on this growing industry from first-hand research with industry stakeholders.

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TECHNOLOGY

VANADIUM FLOW BATTERIES FOR A ZERO-EMISSIONS ENERGY SYSTEM Growth in renewables and corresponding market pricing is the key driver for the commercialisation and global adoption for vanadium flow batteries (VFBs) and an important reason why we will see further growth for this technology over the years to come, says Ed Porter of Invinity Energy Systems.

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his article first appeared in Volume 26 of the quarterly journal, PV Tech Power. Every edition of the journal includes ‘Storage & Smart Power,’ written and commissioned by the team at Energy-Storage.news from guest authors and our editorial staff. In addition to the predictable seasonal and daily variation in demand, renewables are increaingly adding their characteristic “rhythm” or “shape” to the supply side. This causes both over- and under-supply events to be greater in size, frequency and duration, prompting the market to increasingly value flexibility. Vanadium flow batteries’ (VFBs’) primary advantage lies in the ability to deliver vast amounts of energy at low cost over a working life measured in decades, not years. As a form of non-degrading energy storage, it has an extremely low marginal cost of use and is well suited to doing the sort of cycle intensive, deep-discharge flexibility that future energy systems will need. The past 10 years have shown that initial system-wide carbon reductions are both possible and affordable and have been well supported by short duration storage to date.

The challenge now is towards a zero-carbon system, which represents a huge opportunity for VFBs. Consider solar PV, which has a low levelised cost of energy (LCOE) and is easy to develop at a range of scales. As the proportion of on-site demand or grid connection met by PV increases, it reaches an economic level of curtailment where deploying one more panel does not bring the revenues required to pay for itself. This supports on-site decarbonisation of around 40-50% for behind-the-meter solar.

ENTER VANADIUM FLOW BATTERIES Energy shifting over a 4-6 hour period is the business case for long-duration, heavy cycling storage technologies like VFBs. Electric system operator requirements are also expanding from shorter duration, power-focussed services, such as frequency response, to longer duration, heavy cycling, energy-focussed services, driven by the need to effectively dispatch renewables

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at a network level.You can see this demonstrated in the graphic below which uses the UK market as an example, but can be conceptually applied to US, Australian and European markets too.This deepening of the “energy” (as opposed to power) flexibility market has been a key driver in the rapid commercialisation of long duration energy storage technologies in the last 12 months.As volatility in wholesale markets increases, utilisation (energy storage capacity factor) and consequently, marginal cost per cycle has become more critical in determining activation prices for energy storage assets.We see a flexibility ‘merit order’ developing where lithium-ion batteries continue to address high-frequency stability and fast reserve response services (rewarding ‘power’) with rapid adoption of VFBs to capture growing revenue opportunities for years to come. Fundamentally, VFBs and other longer duration technologies bridge the gap between shorter duration applications, which are suitable for lithium-ion and the ultra-long duration (e.g. 24+ hour) applications where we are likely to see hydrogen and other “power-to-x” technologies make headway.

In front of the meter, VFBs are an excellent fit for largescale solar projects and network balancing. We will deliver an 8MWh flow battery system to a 6MWp solar array in South Australia.Performing multiple, long duration charge/ discharge cycles each day, otherwise curtailed solar output can be made ‘dispatchable’, allowing it to be deployed to the local grid at the most economically optimal time.Behind the meter, flow batteries are also being used at a smaller scale, peak shaving and enabling a greater proportion of onsite renewable generation to be consumed, reducing site energy costs.VFBs are uniquely capable of unlocking further penetration of renewables and capturing the opportunity in the ever-deepening market for energy-based flexibility.Their value lies in their proven ability to de-risk expansive renewable generation projects, effectively matching the changing shape of renewable generation to the changing shape of demand.

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TECHNOLOGY Saudi Arabia

THE FUTURE OF BATTERY-FREE STATIONARY ENERGY STORAGE

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SOLID-STATE STORAGE AND SUPERCAPACITORS

enewables such as solar and wind will have a greater role in electricity generation, but their intermittent nature means they cannot be relied upon 24/7; effective storage techniques must be found to ensure we reap the full benefits. Batteries currently dominate the commercial market, especially lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries developed in the 1970s. These pack a lot of energy in a small space and are easy to install on a large scale; their widespread use in cars and consumer devices is a testament to that. The surge in their production over the last decade has dramatically reduced their cost, making energy storage commercially viable. The worldwide energy storage market is expected to grow to $426 billion in the next 10 years, accompanied by a reduction in energy storage costs of between 66-80%. Battery storage will continue to dominate as research into the chemical make-up of batteries and battery management systems increases. Despite their potential, Li-ion batteries may be unsuitable for long-term storage – disadvantages include the risk of fire and limited availability of materials such as cobalt and nickel.

There are also concerns about the environmental impact of metal extraction and the recycling of such batteries. But it is not all about batteries – as good as lithium-ion batteries are, they will not meet our future need alone; alternative, batteryfree energy storage options will help in the transition to a low-carbon world.

HYDRO AND HYDROGEN Pumped hydro storage is already in widespread use, currently accounting for up to 99% of grid storage. Excess electricity is used to pump water up to a reservoir behind a dam.

At peak demand, the water is released to drive turbines and generate electricity. However, geological and environmental limitations mean it is not suitable for use everywhere. Hydrogen energy storage is also very promising. Excess energy is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and using renewables means the process is as green as possible. The resulting hydrogen can be used directly in a fuel cell to make electricity, added to the natural gas network to help decarbonize heating, or used to decarbonize industry such as steel.

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SOLID-STATE STORAGE AND SUPERCAPACITORS Solid-state energy storage devices work similarly to battery technology, except they use solid electrodes such as glass, ceramics or sulfides, and a solid electrolyte instead of the liquids used in Li-ion batteries. This gives a simple and safer design, and higher energy density. Supercapacitors store energy as static electrical charge; when used in energy storage applications, special electrodes and electrolytes are required, but these have very high capacitance. Supercapacitors can undergo almost indefinite charge and discharge cycles at high currents and for short durations. However, they are only really suitable for bridging power gaps ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes. It is likely they could be combined with other technologies to provide longterm power.

MECHANICAL STORAGE These storage technologies harness kinetic or gravitational energy to store electricity; flywheels are a perfect example. These are readily accessible and use less energy and fewer Gravitational Energy Storage (GES) involves storing huge amounts of energy for a long period of time until it is needed. It is based on the hydraulic lifting of a large rock mass; electrical pumps move water beneath a rock piston, lifting the rock mass.

When power is required, the water – under high pressure from the rock mass – is sent via a turbine to generate electricity. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) stores excess energy for use at off-peak times. It works a bit like pumped-hydro power plants but stores ambient air – or another gas – under pressure in underground containers. The air is heated and expanded in an expansion turbine which drives a generator for power production when needed.

THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE Thermal storage technologies harness heat and cold to create energy on demand. Modern solar thermal plants, for example, produce all their energy during the day and store the excess in the form of molten salt or other materials which can be used to generate steam or drive turbines at off-peak times.

Source: azom

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TECHNOLOGY

5 ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS FOR THE ELECTRICAL GRID

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ost of our articles about green technologies often end with the same complaint: Where are the greenbacks? Profitability in the low-carbon, environment-first economy remains largely elusive. For example, everyone is suddenly interested in carbon capture after Elon Musk backed a $100 million XPRIZE for the best solution for mitigating emissions. But, as we’ve pointed out before, the technology is still far from being economically feasible without heavy subsidies and incentives (like a $100 million XPRIZE). While wind and solar renewable energy remain the backbone of the green economy, even these technologies continue to require environmentally friendly policies and regulations to prop up installations. A paper published last year argued that for solar and wind to become economically sustainable, we will need to deploy new grid technologies such as energy storage systems.

The Value of Energy Storage Systems Why are energy storage systems for the grid important? Simply put, storage allows energy produced by renewables (as well as good old-fashioned fossil fuels) to be saved at times when prices are low and sold when prices are higher. Another advantage specific to renewables is that the power generated by solar and wind is highly variable, so it’s important to capture and store energy when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing.

Storing energy also extends the life of energy infrastructure. In addition, many energy storage systems are maturing and economizing far more rapidly than technologies like carbon capture.

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Types of Energy Storage Systems Last year, we profiled three energy storage companies that went public through reverse mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). The article noted that almost all energy storage systems today use pumped hydroelectric storage (PHS), which involves shifting water between higher and lower reservoirs. Another energy storage system that we wrote about in the past is compressed air energy storage (CAES), which as the name implies, uses compressed air to store energy. While both PHS and CAES are large-scale technologies with discharge times of tens of hours of power for up to one gigawatt (GW), they are geographically limited. Battery-based energy storage systems can be deployed anywhere. The main drawbacks are that discharge times are short-lived and capacity is less. The most common are leadacid, nickel-based, sodium-based, and lithiumion. The last is one of the fastest-growing energy storage technologies due to lithium’s high energy density, high power, near 100% efficiency, and low self-discharge, according to a report out of the University of Michigan. There are a number of other energy storage system technologies in various stages of maturation:

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TECHNOLOGY Deployed

Pumped Hydro Flywheels Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) Batteries (NaS, Li-ion Pb - Acid) Flow batteries Molten Salt Energy Storage

Early Stage Technologies

Demonstration

Crygenic Energy Storage

Adiabatic CAES

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES)

Synthetic Natural Gas

Supercapacitors Hydrogen

Storage technologies in the early stages of research, and that will likely not be commercially available in 3-5 years, have been omitted.

Credit: University of Michigan

Leading with Lithium-ion Way, way back in 2014, we covered 24M, a Boston area startup that was trying to commercialize black goo flow batteries.

The 11-year-old company has now raised nearly $95 million in disclosed funding, including a $56.8 million Series E just a few days ago. The round was dominated by Japan-based companies and venture funds, such as Fujifilm (4901.T), Kyocera (6971.T), and Itochu Corporation (8001.T). Kyocera is a leading company in ceramics technology, and we’re not talking about the stuff at your local First Friday art walk. Itochu is a Fortune 100 company with annual revenues of $100 billion and a history that dates back to the 1850s.

Spun out of MIT and founded by one of the leading researchers in energy storage material science, 24M has created

a semi-solid lithium-ion battery cell with an energy density reportedly exceeding 350 watt-hours per kilogram. Compare that to current lithium-ion battery technology of up to 256 Wh per kilo. The company’s SemiSolid manufacturing platform mixes electrolyte (where the chemical reaction occurs) with active materials to form a clay-like slurry with unique attributes. 24M claims the process eliminates a significant amount of inactive materials and capital-intensive processes like drying and electrolyte filling. That makes the battery cells cheaper to manufacture by more than 50%. In addition to stationary storage, like grid electricity, and mobile applications such as electric vehicles, 24M is also targeting the aviation market where electric airplanes will need much lighter, energy-dense batteries to get off the ground.

Credit: 24M

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TECHNOLOGY V is for Vanadium While lithium is the preferred metal of choice for most batterybased energy storage systems, it’s not limitless. There’s an estimated 17 million tons of the soft, silvery-white metal in global reserves, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That might sound like a lot until you think about all of the other types of applications, especially electric vehicles, which require more than 20 pounds of lithium each. Standard Energy out of South Korea thinks it has developed a process for making batteries us

ing vanadium, a hard, silvery-grey metal. Founded in 2013, the battery startup has raised $14.8 million, with nearly $9 million coming from a Series C from SoftBank (9434.T) in April. While not as energy dense as lithium – meaning you probably wouldn’t use it in electric vehicles – vanadium is safer and easier to source.

Instead, the company believes its vanadium-ion battery is ideal for energy storage systems that serve the grid or other largescale applications such as EV charging stations.

Vanadium ion battery. Credit: Standard Energy The Zing in Zinc Another alternative to lithium that companies are investigating is zinc. For instance, EOS Energy (EOSE), one of the companies highlighted in the aforementioned article on energy storage SPACs, has developed a zinc hybrid battery with up to 12 hours of discharge time that can last for up to 15 years. It’s also recyclable and doesn’t require rare earth metals. A Canadian startup, e-Zinc, is developing its own battery using the cheap and abundant metal. Founded in 2012, the company has raised $10.2 million, mainly through grants, but just raised about $1.9 million in a venture round back in January. The battery’s simple design locates the storage space within the same electrochemical cell as the charging and discharging electrodes, meaning less material and expense in manufacturing, among other advantages. e-Zinc is promising much longer discharge times compared to lithium-ion batteries – up to 48 hours. That capability, Greentech Media reported, is especially appealing to remote regions or island nations where renewables are cheaper than A zinc-based battery. Credit: e-Zinc imported diesel.

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TECHNOLOGY Energy Storage Heating Up Let’s completely forget batteries for a moment and talk about thermodynamics, which is at the heart of an energy storage system developed by another Boston area company called Malta.

Incubated at X, the moonshot factory for Alphabet (GOOGL), the company was launched in 2018 with a $26 million Series A led

by Breakthrough Ventures, the billionaire feel-good venture fund that probably now wishes Bill Gates wasn’t the poster boy for the green economy. Malta added a $50 million Series B in February to bring total funding to $76 million. Its pumped heat energy storage system is based on existing technologies but employs a novel design developed by a Nobel Prize-winning Stanford University physics professor named Robert Laughlin.

The system stores electricity either directly from a power plant or from the grid by converting electricity into thermal energy.

Heat is stored in molten salt (also a component in advanced nuclear technology applications), while the cold is stored in an antifreeze-like solution that employs infrastructure commonly used in the liquefied natural gas industry. The system operates like a conventional power plant: When electricity is needed, the thermal energy powers a heat engine to produce energy.

Malta announced just this month it would team up with Duke Energy (DUK) on a pilot project to convert retiring coal factories into long-duration energy storage systems by integrating Malta’s technology platform.

Credit: Malta

Software Solutions Hardware is hard, as the saying goes, and software comes with much better profit margins.

One area drawing investor attention is battery management systems. Founded in 1989 as a contract manufacturer, Powin Energy Corporation out of Oregon now designs and installs complete energy storage systems for the grid, with an emphasis on the software. Powin raised $100 million in February from a couple of private equity firms and turned over controlling interest of the company in the process. Total funding to date is about $127.5 million. The company outsources the lithium-ferrous-phosphate battery cells used in its energy storage systems. The secret sauce is in the StackOS software. The startup has installed about 600 Mwh to date, but reportedly has 2 Gwh of storage capacity on the books for 2021. That’s about 10% of U.S. total energy storage capacity.

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Credit: Powin Energy

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TECHNOLOGY Looking to the Future The market for energy storage systems is charging up. While we limited our list to startups that took funding so far this year, there are plenty of other companies developing really interesting technology. For instance, there’s Energy Vault, a Swiss startup that has raised $110 million for a gravity-based energy storage system that uses the principles of physics from pumped hydro but replaces the water with custom-made composite blocks in a Tetris-like tower. And investors just eat this stuff up. We’ve seen a lot of interest from our readers over the years in energy storage technologies such as flow batteries or compressed air energy storage, but where’s the traction? Funding keeps

pouring into grid energy storage, yet wide-scale commercialization is always just around the corner. Dams have worked pretty well for storing energy so far, and it remains to be seen if technology can change that. For right now, it’s lithium-ion batteries taking the lead. In 2020, the U.S. went beyond 1 GW of advanced energy storage installations for the first time ever (in other words, energy storage that’s not pumped hydro). Nearly all of that capacity was lithium batteries, another investment theme we’ve looked at extensively. As we talked about in our article on A Good Battery Stock With Exposure to Multiple Tech Trends, the choice of battery technologies is all about product-market fit.

And right now in grid energy storage, that happens to be lithium.

An energy storage system that could double as low-income urban housing. Credit: Energy Vault

Source : nanalyze

HOW TESLA IS QUIETLY EXPANDING ITS ENERGY STORAGE BUSINESS

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esla CEO Elon Musk announced in 2015 that the electricvehicle company would be getting into the energy business.

Now, it’s starting to take off. On its Q4 2020 earnings call, the company said its battery deployments increased 83% in 2020, particularly thanks to the popularity of the Megapack, which stores energy for utilities. Renewable energy such as solar and wind need battery storage for when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. As nations around the world set goals to transition to How Tesla is quietly expanding its energy storage business renewables, demand for these large-scale storage systems is on the rise. Grid-scale battery storage is expected to become a $15 billion market by 2027, according to Grand View Research. CNBC visited PG&E’s Tesla Megapack site in Moss Landing, California, and learned why energy storage systems like Tesla’s could be everywhere in a future of renewable power.

Watch the video for a look inside Tesla’s energy business.

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Source : cnbc

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TECHNOLOGY

‘STATIONARY STORAGE IS CRUCIAL TO LITHIUM-ION BATTERY RECYCLING VALUE CHAIN’ VOLUMES OF BATTERIES WILL START COMING IN MID-DECADE

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i-Cycle is a commercial recycler of lithiumion batteries, headquartered in Canada with facilities in its home country and in the US. The company announced that it is working on cost-effectively and sustainably processing batteries from stationary energy storage systems in partnership with battery life cycle management company Renewance.

Li-Cycle CCO Kunal Phalpher: “Overall, we see energy stor-

age as becoming a large market for end-of-life batteries and recycling will help ensure the sustainability of the industry from both an economical and environmental perspective.”

Claiming its processes, based on two-steps of mechanically shredding used battery packs and then recovering materials using hydrometallurgy, can recycle 95% of the contents of batteries, Li-Cycle already has a number of key customer agreements in place, largely in the EV space. In addition to facilities in Ontario and New York, the company recently also said it is looking to build another in Arizona, placing it on the east and west coasts of the US to be in close proximity of both battery supply and demand centres. This includes a partnership announced in May with Ultium Cells, a joint venture (JV) of General Motors and LG Energy Solutions, as well as with mining giant Glencore and others, with Li-Cycle beginning its revenue generation in 2020 and now targeting public listing of its shares through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger.

“The electric vehicle revolution is certainly a major driver for lithium-ion battery recycling, but it’s far from being the exclusive of point of focus for the industry,” Li-Cycle chief

commercial officer Kunal Phalpher told Energy-Storage.news.

“Stationary energy storage is playing a crucial role in the big picture of battery recycling, especially in the United States which is experiencing rapid growth and is in need of finding efficient methods to recycle all of the batteries stemming from facilities being decommissioned and/or upgraded.”

VOLUMES OF BATTERIES WILL START COMING IN MID-DECADE Li-Cycle and Renewance began working together in early 2020 and announcement formalises that partnership, with the pair now working on developing it solution for end-of-life stationary storage systems. While stationary energy storage for the grid began to gain traction in around 2010 and gradually picked up the pace through the last decade, there are not yet large volumes of battery packs and cells coming to the end of their expected lifetimes. However, in early adopter markets of the US like California and the service area of PJM Interconnection — the multi-state electricity network and market operator

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Kunal Phalpher, Chief Commercial Officer at Li-Cycle

which pioneered a pay-for-performance market for frequency regulation services in which batteries excelled — projects are already coming offline or being upgraded and their cells replaced, Phalpher said. Renewance is a provider of software and services for battery life cycle management to energy storage companies and has already done some decommissioning, repurposing and recycling for large-scale stationary storage systems as well as running a battery take back programme. Li-Cycle’s Kunal Phalpher said that Renewance has complimentary skillsets from its experiences in stationary storage that can help his company develop comprehensive solutions for decommissioning and recycling a broader range of components than would be found in batteries for EVs or other applications like consumer electronics.

“Overall, we see energy storage as becoming a large market for end-of-life batteries and recycling will help ensure the sustainability of the industry from both an economical and environmental perspective,” Phalpher said. Volumes of batteries from such systems will start coming onto the market from the middle of this decade, while developers, designers and other stakeholders in the industry are showing increased interest in planning for end-of-life management at the early stages of their projects, which signalled a “strong focus on a closed-loop solution,” he said.

Li-Cycle also said that its business combination with SPAC Peridot Acquisition Corp, which will see the combined company list on the New York Stock Exchange, is now expected to happen in Q3 of this year, not the second quarter, as was originally planned.

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TECHNOLOGY

THE FUTURE OF ENERGY STORAGE & MICROGRIDS As electric utility companies look to drastically reduce their CO2 emissions over the next several decades, significant steps are already being taken to begin modernizing the grid. Microgrids represent a key component of that modernization.

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s electric utility companies look to drastically reduce their CO2 emissions over the next several decades, significant steps are already being taken to begin modernizing the grid. Microgrids represent a key component of that modernization. A microgrid is a localized energy grid. It can be disconnected from the primary grid and continue operating on its own when needed, such as when an outage occurs on the primary grid.

This is referred to as “island mode.” A microgrid is also in a good position to leverage renewable energy sources, storing that energy in batteries until it is needed. Many electric utility contractors have been working with microgrids for many years, particularly with respect to the leveraging of solar energy. Over the next several decades, however, the complexion of a microgrid is likely to change somewhat.

“Over the next several years, utility contractors should develop an understanding of how to work with batteries,” says

Dr. Zachary Kuznar, managing director of energy storage, microgrid and CHP development for Duke Energy, one of the largest

electric power holding companies in the U.S. Duke Energy provides electricity to 7.7 million retail customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. “Utility contractors should also develop an understanding of how to work with strictly inverter-based microgrids with no diesel genset as a backup,” Kuznar adds. “These microgrids are solar and battery only.”

Dr. Zachary Kuznar, managing director of energy storage,microgrid and CHP development for Duke Energy

DRIVING DOWN EMISSIONS DRIVES INTEREST IN MICROGRIDS Duke Energy aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and become net-zero by 2050.“If you look at the diversity of energy generation for our regulated companies right now, it is about 37% natural gas, 21% coal, 35% nuclear and 7% ‘other’ which includes wind, solar, hydro and energy storage,” Kuznar points out.

“To get to 2030 with current technologies, you’re talking about reducing coal to around 9%. Natural gas will increase to about 38%. Our nuclear projects will continue running and make up about 30%. Then you see a significant increase in wind, solar, hydro and storage, eventually making up about 23%.”

“From a bird’s eye view, renewable energy generation is becoming very cost-effective, and economics really drive everything,” says Teague Egan,founder and CEO of EnergyX, a sustainable energy company focused on lithium extraction, separation, recovery and refinery technology, as well as solidstate battery storage. To bring energy storage systems to market, Egan says the focus must be on reducing the price per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of storage. A logical place to start is the key element of the most common battery storage system: lithium.

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Teague Egan,founder and CEO of EnergyX

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TECHNOLOGY

WHERE DOES THE U.S. GET LITHIUM?

“Through EnergyX’s unique extraction process, we are able With more emphasis on electric vehicles (EVs) and equip- to recover 90% of the available lithium in a fraction of the ment from manufacturers, demand for lithium is unprec- time,” Egan points out. It is very simple: Producing more in less time results in a lower cost of production. “We’ve edented. basically created the equivalent of fracking for the lithium Egan looks back roughly one century ago when oil was disindustry — without the environmental impact.” covered in the Middle East. “It was almost like you could dig a hole with a shovel and oil would come pouring out,”

Egan says.

“Today, it’s a similar situation with lithium in South America. There is a location known as the Lithium Triangle spanning from northern Chile to northern Argentina and southern Bolivia. It’s due to the Andes mountain range.”

Egan is quick to point out that there are also plenty of lithium resources in the U.S. In fact, the U.S. contributes around 2% of global supply even though it holds roughly 17% of global reserves.

Wherever those lithium resources may be residing, the key is developing new extraction technologies to make lithium more economical to harvest.

THE PRICE OF LITHIUM BATTERIES Some wonder what might happen to the price of lithium-ion batteries as demand for lithium skyrockets. According to Egan, the lack of lithium exploration has been one problem.

Another obstacle is the inefficient method of production which pushes lithium prices higher.

“Historically, there have been two lithium production methods,” Egan explains. “One is traditional hard rock mining.

The second is extraction from a salt brine.

BEYOND LITHIUM ION

While there is a pretty clear line of sight to 2030, Duke Energy’s Kuznar says 2050 is a different story. “That space between 2030 and 2050 is where we are really looking for emerging technologies to develop,” Kuznar says. That could be everything from burning hydrogen in turbines to longer-duration storage systems.

“Currently, these alternative technologies are not at the scale of lithium where you have these gigafactories (Tesla) and other big companies with big balance sheets that are manufacturing them,” Kuznar points out.

Nonetheless, there is opportunity to further develop these alternative technologies over the next 30 years. One alSource: altenergymag ternative Duke Energy has already been piloting is a zincbased battery system from a company called Eos Energy Enterprises.

Another emerging technology that has caught Duke Energy’s eye is flow batteries. Kuznar says there are already some large, well-known companies including Honeywell that are already doing work in this space. “This technology will help solve the long-duration battery storage problem, so we’re very excited to eventually begin testing flow batteries,” Kuznar says.

THE ENERGY TRANSITION

Lithium is a salt found in extremely salty water alongside other salts. Producers recover those salts through natural We’re only in the very early stages of the renewable energy evaporation. The problem is that they are only recovering transition. EnergyX’s Egan says battery technology will about 30% of the available lithium.” continue to improve. As more resources are invested in Better lithium production methods will lead to more econo- battery storage systems, batteries will continue to become mies of scale, and that will lead to more cost efficiencies. smaller but last longer. “I think you’ll eventually see batAs more R&D and resources are poured into lithium pro- teries that could power houses and entire communities for duction, costs will be driven down. weeks and months on end,” Egan speculates.

Source: altenergymag

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