Issue 6: Summer 2014
The next gold rush
US industry pioneers new PV storage model When the wind blows How energy storage When the money is balancing more runs out Germany wind on Northern explores modified Ireland’s grid regime consumption
A hard sell?
Low-down on lithium ion
Germany’s solar and storage Trends advances PVand gets Building the grid of Small incentivisation in lithiumThe battery beautiful new cell thescheme, futureone Lithium year on economic production logistics cell manufacture pushes out the limits
behind solar farming
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adVanced Li-ion baTTery ProducTion soLuTions For e-MobiLiTy and energy sTorage
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EDITOR’s message
A powerful combination EnergyStorageJournal Business and market strategies for energy storage and smart grid technologies EnergyStorageJournal is a quarterly publication www.energystoragejournal.com Views expressed in EnergyStorageJournal are the authors’ and not necessarily those of IPVEA Published by HHA Limited 10 Temple Bar Business Park Strettington, PO18 0TU United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 243 75 22 78 and International PV Equipment Association (IPVEA) P.O. Box 1610, D-63406, Hanau, Germany Registration Number: Court Hanau VR 31714 Tel: +1 407 856 9100 www.ipvea.org Publisher Karen Hampton Incoming Publisher, HHA Limited karen@energystoragejournal.com and Bryan Ekus Outgoing Publisher, Managing Director – International PV Equipment Association ekus@ipvea.com Editor Sara Ver-Bruggen sara@energystoragejournal.com Advertising advertising@energystoragejournal.com Design Doubletake Design Ltd. (UK) darren@doubletakedesign.co.uk
© 2014 International Photovoltaic Equipment Association (IPVEA) Every effort has been to ensure that all the information in this publication is correct, the publisher will accept no responsibility for any errors, or opinion expressed, or omissions, for any loss or damage, cosequential or otherwise, suffered as a result of any material published. Any warranty to the correctness and actuality can not be assumed. IPVEA reserves the right to make changes or additions to the information made available at any time without notice. © 2012 International Photovoltaic Equipment Association. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or part, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
W
ith the über solar expo Intersolar just around the corner next month, this issue shines a light on the mutually beneficial relationship between the solar photovoltaic and battery industries.
One example concerns the UK’s largest PV farm developer and operator, Lightsource. The company is soon to deploy lithium ion batteries to develop large-scale solar farms that overcome grid network constraints and turn a healthy profit for the company and its investors. This issue’s cover story explores how an energy storage services industry in the US is evolving to serve the commercial and industrial market. In principal, the concept allows companies and other users to lease energy storage to avoid paying demand rates and other fees that are applied by utilities to discourage the commercial and industrial sector from drawing off electricity at peak demand times. The leasing model is familiar to the solar PV industry, where in the US companies such as Solarcity have achieved widescale deployment of the technology in the residential and commercial segments using third-party leasing. In this issue, the first year of Germany’s programme to incentivise PV plus storage to increase self-consumption is explored. Also in this issue, suppliers of production equipment to the PV industry discuss how investment in automation is driving down costs in lithium ion battery manufacturing. This issue also includes a review and presentation highlights from the 7th Energy Storage World Forum, held in April in London, which brings together utilities and the energy storage sector.
Sara Ver-Bruggen Editor
ISSUE 6, SUMMER 2014 | ENERGYSTORAGEJOURNAL
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inside 4 NEWS
Latest deals, projects and announcements from the global energy storage industry
14 ANALYSIS
A 100MW energy storage plant being built in Northern Ireland by AES will help to balance more wind on the grid
20 COVER STORY
14
Across the US electricity is the lifeblood businesses, manufacturers and other enterprises need to provide their goods and services. But rising rates and outages are
switching the commercial and industrial sector on to energy storage.
26 A hard sell?
During 2013 in Germany more energy storage systems were sold without a subsidy than with one. ESJ examines the progress of the first solar and storage scheme one year on
32 The low-down on lithium ion
Advances in cell and system manufacturing can play a critical role in helping to reduce production costs in lithium ion battery production for the energy storage industry.
35 The automation game
Suppliers of production facilities and machinery are using their experience to bring the manufacture of lithium ion batteries for both electric vehicles and energy storage into the 21st century.
38 Event review:
20
35
he 7th Energy Storage T World Forum, organised by Dufresne, London in April.
44 Exhibition overview: EES/Intersolar 2014, Munich, Germany
ISSUE 6, SUMMER 2014 | ENERGYSTORAGEJOURNAL
energy storage news
Greensmith to provide frequency regulation for the PJM Maryland-headquartered Greensmith is to supply 20MW of energy storage for providing frequency regulation
ROUND-UP OF KEY DEALS, PROJECTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS IN THE GLOBAL ENERGY STORAGE MARKET
services. The system will use lithium ion batteries, based on manganese oxide subchemistry. Greensmith’s client for the project is for a major US-based renewables power developer and involves an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner to handle site preparation and interconnection work. The customer is seeking to supply ancillary grid services to the PJM, which operates one of the largest wholesale electricity markets in the world. The system should be up and running in late 2014. For Greensmith the project is important as it will give the company the opportunity to demonstrate its proprietary control system and optimisation algorithms for maximising performance scoring and remuneration, by responding to PJM’s signals. The PJM is the largest user of grid-
scale energy storage services in the US, possibly globally. Sourcing batteries, power conversion devices and other components from third party suppliers, Greensmith produces energy storage systems and develops grid services that these systems provide on behalf of customers. The company’s core focus is the development of software controls and algorithms for different types of applications for energy storage. In 2014 Greensmith will integrate an additional four new battery types, bringing the total that are compatible with its battery-agnostic technology platform to 12. In addition, Greensmith is deploying 6MWh of energy storage for a southern Californian utility in support of grid stability and deferral objectives, as penetration of solar continues to rise in California to meet renewable portfolio standards targets of 33% by 2020. This grid-scale project will also use advanced lithium ion batteries, but from a different supplier to that which is providing batteries for the PJM project, and will have a more varied workload that includes power quality.
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Flow batteries to be used in NYC energy storage project American Vanadium and Gildemeister are partnering with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to demonstrate the Cellcube vanadium redox flow energy storage system. The demonstration will be located at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) headquarters in downtown Manhattan. ConEdison and the Advanced Energy Research Technology Center (AERTC) at Stony Brook will also support the project, which comprises a 400kWh Cellcube battery array. German industrial firm Gildemeister holds a majority stake in Cellstrom, the Austria-based maker of the Cellcube system. Gildemeister, which has a strategic partnership with Japan’s DMG Mori Seiki and recently took that company’s name, has sold more than 60 Cellcube containers across Eu-
rope, Africa and Asia. Canadian mining company American Vanadium has been Gildemeister’s North American distribution partner since 2013. The NYC project marks the first commercial Cellcube installation in the US. At the Department of Energy (DoE) the technology is also being put through its paces as a multi-hour energy storage resource to help balance wind and solar power. The Cellcube system is modular and can serve loads from 10kW to multiMWs. As a flow battery, the system excels at providing multiple hours of energy for long-duration requirements. William Acker, executive director of the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology consortium (NYBEST), said, ‘New York State is actively pursuing commercially ready technologies that will help grow a clean energy economy and improve the reliability, efficiency and overall performance of our electric power delivery system. ‘This project will demonstrate the important role energy storage can play
in helping consumers save money, reduce peak load demands and provide the grid serving New York with stored energy during times of shortage or disruption.’
AES launches Advancion, a complete battery-based grid resource AES has launched its Advancion platform, a technology based on six years’ worth of energy storage deployments on the grid. The fourth generation grid battery platform delivers reliable and costcompetitive energy storage for utilities and renewable developers in select markets including the PJM Interconnection wholesale electricity market in the US, as well as California, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the UK and the Philippines. The system is designed to provide services expected from peaking plants;
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energy storage news
NEC buys A123 Systems grid energy storage from Wanxiang
power plants that generally run only when demand is high and are typically gas fired. The company has quoted pricing of $1,000/kW (€722/kW) and $250/kWh. An installed system will cost around $1 million/MW with a 4MWh discharge capability. Advancion acts as both a generation and load resource, enabling more than twice the flexible range of a peaker plant on the same size interconnection. The system is available without burning fuel and was designed with the ability to tap into existing unused capacity from efficient natural gas combined cycle power plants, solar and wind facilities. Unlike traditional power plants, Advancion arrays can scale over time with the ability to match required load growth. The batteries used by AES are based on lithium chemistries as the technology is reliable, efficient and is produced at scale. The battery arrays are made of several units and can be delivered in sizes ranging from tens to hundreds
of megawatts with durations of thirty minutes to four hours or more. AES has also established a technology centre, in Indianapolis, for evaluating advanced battery and power conversion technologies for use in the Advancion platform. The centre will ensure that battery technology and power conversion equipment works with the company’s control architecture. AES certified LG Chem’s battery sub-system and Parker Hannifin’s power conversion system into Advancion in 2013. These components are currently running as part of an Advancion battery array at an AES site in Indianapolis, in a utility environment. In addition to the battery testing centre, AES has also set up a storage applications centre, at PJM Interconnection in Audubon, in Pennsylvania, to test and validate the next generation of storage applications in a real world environment. AES operates 100MW of energy storage resources within PJM.
Japan’s NEC Corporation has acquired the A123 Energy Solutions business unit of A123 Systems from Wanxiang. The deal, worth in the region of €72 million, strengthens the energy storage capability of NEC’s smart energy business. A123 Energy Solutions will be integrated into the NEC Group of companies and operated globally as new subsidiary, called NEC Energy Solutions, from June 2014. A123’s existing cell manufacturing and sales, research and development, and automotive operations will remain the core focus of A123 Systems. The acquisition makes NEC the world’s leading supplier of lithium ion grid energy storage systems. A123 Energy Solutions has deployed over 110MW of its Grid Storage Solutions (GSS) worldwide, with most of this capacity already in revenue service. The company will continue to supply systems using A123 Systems’ nanophosphate lithium ion cells and support all existing installations. In addition to A123 Energy Solutions’ system integrations expertise, NEC Energy Solutions will also have access to NEC Corporation’s information communications technology (ICT). In addition, NEC’s high quality, cost-effective lithium ion technology adds to the portfolio of energy storage technologies available for future use in A123 Energy Solutions’ GSS platform. At the same time, NEC will leverage A123 Energy Solutions’ experience in commercial batteries in order to serve NEC’s telecoms carrier, enterprise and government customer base, to expand NEC’s smart energy business. NEC and Wanxiang also have plans to form a joint venture company in China, with NEC providing the battery and energy storage system technology and Wanxiang managing the distribution and sales locally.
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energy storage news GE and Highview Power collaborate on energy storage
(DECC) awarded Highview and Viridor, a UK recycling, renewable energy and waste management company, more than €9 million to build a new 5MW/15MWh LAES demonstration plant at a Viridor landfill gas-to-energy plant in the UK. The LAES facility will be powered by a GE Oil & Gas turbo-generator and will demonstrate the technology at commercial scale for the first time when it begins operating in the spring of 2015.
General Electric Oil & Gas (GE) has licensed UK-based Highview Power’s liquid air energy storage (LAES) technology. The agreement enables the companies to expand their respective footholds in the growing energy storage sector, by combining Highview’s LAES system with GE’s gas turbines and engines used in peaking power plants. These provide electricity at times of high demand. The LAES technology will help to increase the efficiency of ‘peakers’, as
Sony in JV to develop large-scale energy storage for power grids
well as improve grid reliability and the distribution of renewable energy. Highview’s LAES technology uses liquid air, or nitrogen, as the storage medium to provide long-duration energy storage without the geographical restrictions found with other equivalent energy storage methods. The technology also can convert low-grade waste heat into power, increasing the overall efficiency of a host power plant. Since 2011, Highview’s LAES technology has been operating at a gridconnected 350kW/2.5MWh pilot plant hosted by SSE (Scottish & Southern Energy), adjacent to SSE’s 80MW heat and power biomass plant in Slough, on the outskirts of London. In February 2014, the UK Department of Energy & Climate Change
Canadian utility Hydro-Québec and Japan’s Sony Corporation have agreed to establish a joint venture (JV) to research and develop a large-scale energy storage system for power grids. The new company, to be established in June 2014, will be headquartered in Varenne, Québec. Forecasts indicate that demand for large-scale energy storage systems will increase in the future, to meet high level demand for electric power during peak times, stabilise fluctuations in electricity generated by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power that are gaining traction, and secure a stable power supply in case of outages or disasters. Furthermore, the energy storage system for such power supplies must be highly safe and reliable due to the need for an efficient and stable source of high capacity power. The new company will combine Hydro-Québec’s operation and control technologies for electric power supplies, as well as its lithium ion battery material technology, with Sony’s control technologies for safe, reliable, olivine-type lithium ion iron phosphate batteries. These will be incorporated into scalable module systems. The JV will target large-scale applications, as well as battery material technology suitable for use within
electric power systems, and explore their use in a wide variety of applications, such as meeting excess demand during peak times at electric power substations, and integrating renewable energy sources into power grids. Élie Saheb, executive vice president of technology, at Hydro-Québec, said: ‘By combining Hydro-Québec’s experience in electricity systems and its R&D in energy storage with Sony’s expertise in lithium ion battery production, we are creating a world-class JV with the necessary expertise to manage the R&D of batteries for renewable energy storage and the smart grid.’
Japan introduces energy storage subsidy Like Germany, Japan has introduced a subsidy to trigger the market for energy storage, to alleviate grid challenges posed by increased renewable energy generation. On 17 March, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced that it will accept applications for a subsidy aimed at consumers who install lithium ion battery storage systems, along with solar panels, at their homes or businesses. The subsidy is expected to spark nearly 100MW of energy storage capacity to be installed in 2014, according to the market analyst firm IHS. METI will subsidise no more than two-thirds of the upfront costs of lithium ion energy storage systems of 1kWh in size upwards. The maximum subsidy is set at €7,000 for consumers and €700,000 for commercial organisations. In total, METI has set aside about €70 million for the programme, which is expected by industry observers to run for at least two years. Since Japan closed some of its nuclear plants in the wake of Fukushima and encouraged the adoption of renewable energy generation, with some of the most generous feed-in tariff (FIT) rates of any market in the world,
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the country has witnessed a rush of installations. PV uptake, specifically, has been so successful that it is beginning to affect grid stability. Demand-side energy storage can help alleviate problems caused by overloading of voltages on the grid that happen on the sunniest days. Consumers and businesses will be able to use more electricity generated on site with their installed batteries rather than send it to the grid. After Japan introduced its FIT scheme in July 2012 total combined capacity of all renewable energy generation installed by the end of 2013 reached 7GW, according to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE). Over 5GW of this amount has been attributed to solar PV, for residential, commercial and utility-scale. Findings in a new report, titled Energy Storage World Markets: 2014–2020, published by Azure International, a Beijing-based consultancy, and energy storage event producer Dufresne, estimate that Japan will install in the region of 2GW of residential energy storage by 2020. Energy self-sufficiency highly desired by Japanese consumers following the impacts of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 is driving the demand.
Hawaiian Electric seeks energy storage to support renewables for Oahu To meet its goal of adding more renewable energy generation to the Oahu grid, Hawaiian Electric Company has issued a tender for one or more largescale energy storage systems. The systems have to be able to store 60–200MW for up to 30 minutes. Requests for proposals from potential bidders have to include engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), testing, commissioning, start-up and performance verification. With the continuing dramatic growth on Oahu of utility-scale wind
and solar projects and rooftop solar now in use by more than 11% of Hawaiian Electric customers, energy storage is needed to help ride through sudden changes in availability of these variable resources. When power supplied by these resources drops suddenly, energy storage systems could help maintain reliable service and avoid customer outages as fast-starting firm generation units are brought online. ‘Energy storage is one of the key missing elements in integrating high levels of renewable energy from variable sources like solar and wind,’ according to Colton Ching, Hawaiian Electric vice president for energy delivery. Energy storage can provide both electricity and so-called ‘auxiliary services’ to operate the grid, such as sub-second frequency response (nearinstantaneous changes to keep power quality at 60-hertz) and minute-tominute load following, in other words power output adjustments as demand for electricity fluctuates throughout the day. Potential contractors will be evaluated on the overall cost of their proposals and non-price factors such as design concept and feasibility, implementation and operational viability and operating flexibility. Bidders are invited to propose the best available technologies, including batteries, flywheels, capacitors, compressed gas systems, pumped hydro storage or a combination of such technologies. Any project selected with a cost of $2.5 million (€1.8 million) or more must be reviewed and approved by the Hawai’i Public Utilities Commission with input from the Consumer Advocate. The target is to complete and file energy storage agreements with the commission by the end of 2014. Bidders must provide a schedule with the goal of having the energy storage system in service in Q1 2017. The deadline for proposals is 21 July 2014.
KEMET acquired by Manz Manz has acquired the mechanical engineering division of KEMET (formerly Arcotronics) in Bologna, in Italy, expanding its lithium ion battery business division. With the consent of the Italian trades union and the supervisory bodies of both companies, Manz and KEMET have agreed on the acquisition of the engineering division in KEMET’s batteries segment as part of an asset deal. This gives Manz access to patents and property rights as well as the expertise of Arcotronics, which was acquired by KEMET in 2007. Manz, which supplies production tools and engineering expertise to the photovoltaic (PV), flat panel display (FPD) and battery industries, anticipates new business from consumer electronics, e-mobility and stationary energy storage. Arcotronics has engineering expertise in battery manufacturing. The division has long-standing business relationships with the leading battery producers worldwide. As a result of the deal, 83 employees will be transferred to Manz, based in Reutlingen. The acquisition enables Manz to add proven expertise in winding technology to its portfolio in the battery business unit, which accounts for around 5% of Manz’ overall turnover. Besides the technology for stacking of electrodes, which is already established at Manz, winding is seen as an important technology in the manufacture of lithium ion batteries for e-mobility, stationary energy storage and in the consumer electronics sectors. Within the Manz group, the subsidiary is expected to contribute around €15 million to the company’s annual revenues with positive effect on net profit in the current 2014 fiscal year. The acquisition is being financed by funds from a capital increase, which was carried out in November 2013. Dieter Manz, CEO and founder of Manz, summarises: ‘We are currently observing globally increasing market growth in these areas, which will
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energy storage news continue to intensify over the next few years. The successful addition to our technology portfolio in the battery division now puts us in an excellent position to benefit from these opportunities and to further strengthen our market position as the leading hightech engineering company in the western world.’ In addition to the fields of e-mobility and stationary power storage, Manz also develops and produces, in its display division, equipment for manufacturing lithium ion batteries for consumer electronics, such as smartphones and tablet computers.
Eguana’s inverters make Sonnenbatterie a global proposition Inverter maker Eguana Technologies and its customer-partner Sonnenbatterie have agreed to changes to their supply and license agreements. The changes will help to ensure that Sonnenbatterie’s intelligent energy storage system can be used beyond Germany. Under the new supply agreement, Eguana will manufacture, for Sonnenbatterie, a fully integrated electronics enclosure that meets smart grid standards for residential energy storage markets around the world, including the US. In addition to its Bi-Direx power inverter, Eguana will integrate other functionality that is currently sourced by Sonnenbatterie from other suppliers to enable a less complex platform that can be more easily assembled close to local demand. The agreement will also amend the supply and license agreements to include US residential applications, in addition to European markets currently served by Sonnenbatterie. Eguana has already shipped more than 1000 Bi-Direx units to its customer since entering into the first supply agreement in May 2013. Sonnenbatterie (previously called Prosol) decided to partner with Canada’s Eguana (previously called Sustainable Energy Technologies) because
it saw the company as having the best smart grid-ready energy storage inverter in the market. Eguana’s patented technology connects all low voltage batteries to the power grid in a single, bidirectional conversion step with some of the power industry’s highest round trip (battery charging and discharging) efficiencies.
Sonnenbatterie scores distribution deal in US German producer of intelligent residential and commercial energy storage systems Sonnenbatterie, announced its first distribution deal in the US market in March. The deal, with solar installer and distributor SK Solar USA, will enable Sonnenbattterie to supply its systems in the southern Californian market though a new centre that it has opened in Los Angeles. The first Sonnenbatterie units to arrive in North America are currently being installed and tested at various locations throughout Southern California. Sales operations will begin later this year. ‘Sonnenbatterie has integrated smart meter technology into every unit, allowing our customers to switch to battery power automatically when they are reaching their demand charge limits,’ said Boris von Bormann, country manager of Sonnenbatterie North America. The company expects uptake of its smart energy storage systems among small and large commercial buildings that are looking to save on their energy costs. Since 2011, Sonnenbatterie has sold more than 2,500 energy storage units in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. Sonnenbatterie’s energy storage systems incorporate next-generation lithium-iron-phosphate cells with a userfriendly interface that allows users to manage their storage system through their smart phones. Sonnenbatteries also allow users to track their energy use and avoid peak demand charges.
Moixa rolls out smart DC-storage system across 300 sites in UK demonstration Moixa Technology, which last year won share of a £5 million (€6 million) grant from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), is installing its energy storage technology across 300 sites. The objective of the pilot is to establish many different user cases for Moixa’s distributed energy storage system. The pilot will involve homes and housing associations, with deployment in London, north-east England, covered by consortium partner Northern Power Grid, the south-west, Southend-on-Sea, in Essex, and in community pilots. On Moixa’s stand at this year’s Ecobuild exhibition in east London in March, Graeme Hodgson, senior systems engineer, said: ‘For the trials we are encompassing different homes with various different electricity tariffs so that we can enable consumers to save money. ‘One interesting example, with a particular tariff, uses the Maslow battery system to store electricity that is free on a Saturday and then uses the stored energy to power direct current (DC) electronics during the week.’ As well as homes with different energy tariffs, some will have PV roof installations, and some flats in the pilot will use small PV panels that can be hung from a window or balcony, in conjunction with the Maslow system. The concept behind Maslow is to put a small amount of affordable energy storage into people’s homes, where the batteries store cheaper night-time energy, or solar energy, and use this to power growing peak demand, from DC loads, such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, printers, light-emitting diode (LED) lighting and even some types of white goods appliances. The Maslow kit includes energy storage as well as DC-DC power sockets. Coupling storage with DC loads improves energy efficiency as there
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The project will also integrate various lighting and battery technologies, including various deep-cycle battery chemistries, re-used electric vehicle units, with G&P Batteries, new chemistries, with Aquion Energy Inc, and DC lighting from PhotonstarLED.
UK government urged to recognise energy storage needs new market mechanisms
Building show features more energy storage During this year’s Ecobuild exhibition, held in London, energy storage raised its profile. In addition to Moixa, companies promoting energy storage and related products at this year’s Ecobuild exhibition, in London, included Sharp. The Japanese electronics company exhibited a lead acid battery-based energy storage system aimed at the residential market. Swiss inverter supplier Solarmax showcased a prototype upgrade kit for its single-phase inverters. With an output of up to 5kW the upgrade kit for the P series future proofs home PV installations for integration with energy storage by managing the charge and discharge cycles of the battery. Chinese inverter supplier Omnik, which has been supplying the UK residential PV market for two years, has also developed an energy storage inverter product. ABB-owned inverter maker Power-One promoted its battery-based energy storage system, Renewable Energy Accumulator and Conversion Technology (REACT), which is already available in Germany and Italy. The system consists of a 4.6kW single-phase inverter coupled with a lithium ion battery. In addition,
are no losses between changing from alternative current (AC) to DC. Aggregating these distributed storage units will help to balance the grid. To roll out its pilot Moixa Technology is leading a consortium, including Kiwi Power, a UK-based smart grid and energy demand management
Israeli inverter supplier Solaredge revealed that it plans to launch an energy storage product sometime soon. While storage might not make economic sense in the UK right now, these companies are preparing for the next phase in the PV market, where consumers will look to invest in solar and storage to save money by reducing the amount of grid electricity they consume in favour of using more of their on-site generated electricity. As an alternative option to saving PV electricity in batteries, consumers also have the option of using their excess PV electricity to provide free hot water. At Ecobuild, one supplier of such a system was London-based Energeno. Chris Poulton, Energeno’s chairman, expects to ship 30,000 units of the company’s Optimmersion device in the UK in 2014.
www.energeno.com www.sharp.eu www.power-one.com www.omnik-solar.com www.solarmax.com www.solaredge.com
company, Good Energy, which sources electricity from UK-only renewable sources and supports innovation in the development of tariffs and services, and AVC Next Gen, which is one of the UK’s largest domestic installers of digital, media and energy efficiency systems.
The UK’s decarbonisation ambitions cannot be met without more energy storage, yet the government must recognise the technology requires different market mechanisms, according to a new report. These are some of the key findings in Energy Storage: The missing link in the UK’s energy commitments, a report published by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in April. The UK, on the one hand, is focusing heavily on intermittent renewables, such as offshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, to meet 15% of its overall energy demand from renewable sources by 2020. But, demand often does not match times when the wind blows or the sun shines. This issue of so-called ‘wrong time’ electricity generation leads to technical challenges in balancing supply and demand across the power transmission and distribution (T&D) system. When this happens the response is to switch renewable generators off. Under existing market arrangements, an energy company unable to supply its electricity output to the grid is entitled to ‘constraint payments’. Even at present levels of renewables deployment, these constraint payments are becoming a major concern to consumers, who are effectively funding the non-supply of electricity. National Grid constraint payments to wind farm operators were about £34 million (€41 million) between 2011 and 2012. The cost of constraint payments are likely to rise
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energy storage news
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Sunny Boy Smart Energy
and become of increasing concern as more wind as well as solar PV comes online. The report argues for a holistic take on the challenge facing the UK, whereby the government must appreciate that as well as having sufficient electricity to ’keep the lights on’, it is in the national interest to use freely available indigenous renewable resources for heat and transportation as well. To address the ‘wrong time’ electricity generation problem and ensure that renewables are fully exploited to meet the UK’s broader energy needs, energy storage is going to be needed in significant amounts, in all shapes and forms. It will have to come from longterm storage to meet high demand for heating and electricity in winter, as well as from various other technologies for short term demand patterns. However, the report states: ‘Yet there are no plans in the UK for significant levels of energy storage. To date very little public investment has been made in research, development and demonstrator activity and, as yet, there is no existing or proposed incentivisation scheme for energy storage deployment.’ The report advises that in order to stimulate the fledgling energy stor-
age industry and ensure that UK has the capability to deliver energy storage, as well as exploit emerging export opportunities, new public finance and business models are required to ensure that energy storage can be deployed in the UK’s future energy system.
SMA launches PV inverter with integrated storage Inverter manufacturer SMA has launched Sunny Boy Smart Energy in Germany, a wall-mountable, massproduced PV inverter with an integrated lithium ion battery. This new product, which was awarded the Product Innovation Prize at Intersolar 2013, is claimed by SMA to be a simple storage product available for residential PV applications in the German market. Furthermore, the product can also be used as part of SMA’s integrated storage system. The integrated battery has a capacity of approximately 2kWh, so generated PV electricity that is not needed in the home can be stored for later use. This increases self-consumption, which can enable German households to protect themselves against rising electricity prices. ‘When combined with the Sun-
ny Home Manager, self-sufficiency quotas of 50% are common on an annual average basis,’ according to product manager Thomas Thierschmidt. The VDE-certified lithium ion battery with 2kWh capacity enables ideal economical operation of the battery. Because the increase in self-consumption levels off with increasing storage capacity, the battery utilisation factor decreases. In addition, thanks to the battery, virtually all generated PV energy can be used, even with active power limitation. The Sunny Boy Smart Energy, which is available in power ranges of 3.6kW and 5kW, is one of the core components of the SMA Integrated Storage System alongside the Sunny Home Manager. The Sunny Boy Smart Energy fosters greater independence in the scope of the intelligent energy management of SMA Smart Home Manager.
Powercell wins award from Swedish Venture Capital Association Nordic fuel cell technology developer Powercell has been given the Swedish Venture Capital Association (SVCA) award for the most socially beneficial investment 2014. Powercell’s product offering consists of the company’s fuel cell stack, designed to work on reformate gas, based on diesel, LPG or other, as well as pure hydrogen. The stack, which uses metal bipolar plates, can be supplied as standalone components from 1–6kW while Powercell is also working on larger stacks in the form of the S2 platform, which will have a power range up to 25kW, with the same tolerance towards carbon dioxide and reformate gas. The S2 uses proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology and is the choice for automotive applications. The company has also developed an auxiliary power unit, Powerpac, which is a complete electric powergenerating unit using low sulphur road diesel.
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When the wind blows A 100MW energy storage plant being built in Northern Ireland by AES will help to balance more wind on the grid
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According to the Northern Ireland Renewables Group (NIRG) in December 2013, power generated by turbines regularly contributed upwards of 40% of the local electricity demand. Northern Ireland wants alternative energy – especially onshore and offshore wind, which are in abundance – to generate 40% of electricity by 2020. But increasing renewables creates new sets of problems for the grid. So AES is planning to install energy storage at Kilroot, on Northern Ireland’s coastline. The project will deploy the company’s utility-scale energy storage platform, which is based on six years of piloting and scaling battery-based energy storage and management systems for the grid. The Advancion platform, modular in its architecture, has been designed to replace peaking power plants, which provide power at times of high demand, as well as provide grid services. AES plans to deploy four 25MW units for the 100MW energy storage facility at Kilroot, one of two power stations that the company owns in Northern Ireland. AES bought Kilroot power station in 1992 when Northern Ireland Electricity was privatised. Based on the shore of Belfast Lough, the plant is a dual coal and oil-fired facility, consisting of two generators, each capable of producing 260MW when firing oil. In addition, the plant has black start capability using two 29MW open cycle gas turbine units, which also provide peaking support for the system.
Shock absorber The 100MW Kilroot energy storage project will enable more wind power to be fed into the grid. Zero emissions energy generators based on wind, and also solar, produce power intermittently, posing the challenge of how to correlate power generated with demand, in real-time. Energy storage can enable renew-
able energy resources to act more like fossil fuel-based dispatchable reserves. System operators can turn these up or down, depending on demand. As more renewables are fed into the grid, some dispatchable reserves still have to remain operational – albeit at lower levels – to meet demand at times when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing. ‘Like a shock absorber, energy storage systems are able to absorb excess electricity generated by renewable energy plants when demand is lower, taking on the jobs that are most taxing and creating overall system efficiency,’ says John Zahurancik, vice president at AES Energy Storage. The energy storage plant will be used to improve the local grid’s flexibility and lower costs, by balancing demand for electricity with increasing amounts of wind power, helping Northern Ireland to meet its ambitious renewable energy targets. The facility should operational in 2015. AES has submitted a connection application to System Operator Northern Ireland (SONI), which operates the electricity grid in Northern Ireland. ‘SONI pays plants for supplying services that support system security and for their assistance during constrained operations. The AES storage facility will supply these same capabilities but without a minimum generating level or associated emissions,’ says Zahurancik.
System support needed As more non-dispatchable energy – in the form of wind and solar – comes online, the value and total need for system support services will increase. By enabling the grid to operate more efficiently, costs associated with running the grid are lowered, by reducing the number of dispatchable reserves that have to remain in operation. The Kilroot energy storage facility will also help to eliminate costs associated with wind curtailment, where
wind plant generators are paid for the electricity they produce even if it cannot be sent to the grid because demand does not match supply. In Northern Ireland on average at least 2% of wind is curtailed. Following initial pilots, AES has developed several utility-scale energy storage units over the past five years. AES has 200MW of energy storage capacity operational or in construction, in countries that include Chile and the US and 1GW in the pipeline. Much of the company’s installed capacity operates at very high levels of availability to provide critical operating reserves, which are similar to the jobs that will be performed in Northern Ireland. ‘Working with large power system operators, such as PJM Interconnection in the US, AES has tuned the performance and capability of its Advancion storage arrays to meet the demanding reliability jobs needed,’ Zahurancik says.
Lithium preferred but decision not final To date AES has used batteries made from lithium chemistries in its energy storage installations, worldwide. For Kilroot the energy storage technology has yet to be finalised, though the characteristics will be similar to those used in other AES systems. ‘We interact with about 150 different technology providers. Battery technologies deployed are certified to work within our Advancion energy storage platform. ‘Even though there are a number of advanced battery technologies that could be potentially deployed for Kilroot, we look for batteries that can be deployed in scale. ‘That is one advantage of lithium batteries today. At the utility level of deployment dependability is critical. Lithium batteries are also very efficient.’ In addition to Kilroot, AES’ pipeline of 1GW of energy storage includes a further 100MW for the PJM
ISSUE 6, SUMMER 2014 | ENERGYSTORAGEJOURNAL
ANALYSIS Interconnection, which operates the world’s largest competitive wholesale electricity market. AES already has 100MW of batteries connected to the grid in West Virginia and Ohio for the PJM Interconnection. The batteries act as efficient ‘peakers’ competing against all other producers’ generators to provide ancillary services in the wholesale power market, for providing frequency control. Zahurancik says: ‘For frequency regulation batteries compete with peaking units today but as battery prices come down it opens up other jobs that storage can do. Price decline is an accelerator and will help to expand the use of storage. For transmission system and grid operators energy storage is becoming a real alternative to building another peaking plant and can provide flexibility instead of keeping minimum base loads of fossil fuel generation switched on, especially as more renewable generation capacity is added.’ In addition to the MWs for PJM Interconnection and for Kilroot, the rest of the pipeline includes projects with utilities and system operators in a number of countries on large-scale storage projects. ‘AES completed its pilot projects in 2007 and 2008 and new projects are generally increasing in size to be comparable to what is typically procured for a peaking generator,’ says Zahurancik. In deploying advanced storage at increasing scale, AES has worked to ensure high reliability and dependability at utility scale. For example, the company’s control systems have can claim several years of operational experience within large arrays.
Useful Links www.aesenergystorage.com www.gaelectric.ie Images of AES battery bank in West Virginia and of Kilroot power station, courtesy of AES
Storing the wind in Northern Ireland In addition to AES’ 100MW energy storage system, based on advanced batteries, County Antrim in Northern Ireland is also the location for another energy storage project that will use a very different technology. Wind and energy storage developer Gaelectric, with US-headquartered DresserRand, is developing compressed air energy storage (CAES) projects in Europe. The first of these is being developed by Gaelectric near Larne, north of Belfast. When completed, the Larne CAES project will comprise a 268MW twin power train storage and electricity generation facility, costing in the region of 366 million euros with a target commissioning date of 2017. The facility is expected to come online in 2017. Design of the plant starts this year. Larne is the only place in Northern Ireland, and one of the few places in the UK, which has salt deposits potentially suitable for storing compressed air. In times of low demand energy is stored by compressing air within caves, made by salt mining, hundreds of metres underground using compressor technology at ground level. The stored energy can be used, sometimes weeks or months later, in periods of higher energy demand. The energy is released and is applied in generating power. In a different approach to AES’ system Gaelectric’s CAES facility will also help to optimise the use of the region’s abundant wind resources, while reducing reliance on fossil fuels and imports. The Kilroot battery bank is able to react rapidly within minutes, allowing fossil fuel generators to operate steadily rather than crank up and down to chase intermittent wind generation. Gaelectric’s CAES facility will act as a flexible bulk energy storage plant, holding onto excess wind energy as compressed air. When electricity demand increases, the air is released from underground and used to run a turbine which produces electricity. To improve the power output of the turbine, natural gas is used in the combustion cycle. In this way electricity can be generated using only one third of the natural gas required to generate the same amount of electricity as a modern gas turbine generates.
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ISSUE 6, SUMMER 2014 | ENERGYSTORAGEJOURNAL
www.ees-europe.com
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Maximising ROI SOLAR FARMING GOES SMALL Lightsource wants to install energy storage with its solar farms to put more power on existing connections in the UK grid Since it was set up four years ago Lightsource has rapidly grown into the UK’s largest solar photovoltaic energy generator. Despite cuts to incentives by the UK government, a move that threatened to derail the UK PV industry a few years ago, Lightsource has emerged as one of the industry’s success stories. It pays landowners and farmers rental income in exchange for building large solar farms that leverage economies of scale to realise the best returns. Today Lightsource operates 600MW of solar farms and rooftop plants across 120 sites. Lightsource is backed by retail fund management company Octopus Investments. Octopus’ renewable energy funds have attracted many small-scale investors who see government-backed renewables incentives as a relatively low-risk prospect. However, the grid itself is presenting Lightsource with challenges. Most PV plants in the UK average in size at a range that is between 7MW and 10MW. The grid connections for these plants, are typically 33kV (and
66kV), and able to take up to 25MW, are becoming scarcer. The alternative is to use 132kV connections, which can include more capacity, upwards of 50MW. But there are even fewer of these. In addition, 132kV connections entail more infrastructure work, such as building a new substation and would take on average 15 months as opposed to six months. The cost is increased by a factor of 10 for a 132kV connection, says Chris Buckland, technical director at Lightsource. To offset this cost it is better to build more solar farms that can connect to the 132kV connection, which involves drawing a radius around the connection on a map and seeing how many fields might be suitable and available to rent. This is not always feasible. Solar generation plant oversizing presents issues as overall performance, in terms of energy generated (kWh) versus power output (kW), starts to drop off, also leading to losses in revenue. A 3MW plant on a 3MW connection
achieves around 988kWh/kW, while building a 4MW solar plant on a 3MW connection achieves 983kWh/ KW. Building a 6MW plant on a 3MW connection achieves 890kWh/kW. The performance ratio of a 6MW PV plant on a 3MW connection is in the region of 75.20%, a marked reduction on 83.60% for a 3MW plant on a 3MW connection. This is due to clipping. During certain periods of the year, when solar irradiance is high, solar panels generate electrical power that exceeds the inverter’s power rating. Inverters, which change DC voltage generated by the panels to AC voltage, for the grid, regulate power to its maximum limits, ‘clipping’ or reducing the maximum potential of the PV system. In addition to modelling different solar plants on a 3MW connection to establish how oversizing impacts kWh/kW performance, Lightsource has conducted various different modelling to see what size battery would be able to absorb the power that would otherwise be lost to clipping. Building a 6MW solar farm on a 3MW connection with a 1MWh battery would achieve an efficiency of in the region of 78%, while with a 2MWh battery this would be further increased to just over 79%. With a
3MWh battery this increases to 80.5%. ‘The clipping of peak power during summer day-time generation is stored in the battery bank for short periods and overall yield loss (kWh generation) otherwise due to clipping is reduced to a commercially acceptable level,’ according to Buckland. The potential energy storage capacity for the oversized 3MW solar farm that Lightsource is developing will be based on the current prices of batteries, but realistically the size could be in the region of 1MWh-1.5MWh. The company has looked at several options and has made financial calculations.
Investment returns The budget for the storage system is in the region of £1.2 million (€1.45 million). According to Buckland the company is encouraged by the reduction in the cost of lithium batteries. ‘Sooner, rather than later, pricing on energy storage will reach return on investment (ROI) requirements,’ he says. Batteries are generic, according to Buckland, who has been in talks with a number of manufacturers of lithium batteries. The company is working with a Spanish supplier of power conversion electronics, which manufactures a controller that can take power from the solar array to the batteries and from the batteries to the grid.
UK PV installation boom creates need for storage In March 2014 the UK PV industry ended a record quarter, installing just under 1.1GW of new capacity. Large-scale ground-mounted solar farms accounted for most of this share. Even with a new strategy unveiled by the UK government that favours large-scale commercial rooftop installations at the expense of acres of solar farms, the latest installation figures suggest an industry that is going full-steam ahead, which arguably makes the need for energy storage more pressing. Lightsource’s proposed deployment of energy storage will enable the company to utilise existing grid connection capacity by oversizing PV plants while keeping KWh losses, from inverter clipping, to a minimum. But, if the UK is to achieve its ambitious solar PV targets of 20GW this means that the deployment potential of solar PV is greater than UK’s grid storage capacity. Without large-scale energy storage solutions, the UK government’s ambition to reach this figure will continue to present a challenge for National Grid, which has already warned that building more than 10GW will make it difficult to manage the network in its current form. The UK Electricity Storage Network (ESN) has outlined a strategy for 2GW of storage on the grid by 2020, ranging from a few MWs per installation, in the form of batteries, up to bulk scale levels in the hundreds of MWs, such as compressed air energy storage (CAES). This amount would enable the UK to effectively continue to decarbonise its electricity supply while ensuring that the grid infrastructure can operate effectively with increased amounts of renewables such as wind and solar.
The system is modular, supplied in blocks of 100kW, and is, therefore, suitable for Lightsource as opposed to equivalent systems, which are designed for large utility-scale applications and tend to be more costly. The Spanish company has designed the controller initially for the South American PV market as the grid is less stable, and so electricity generated by fast-ramping solar plants must
be buffered so that it ramps over a period of minutes as opposed to seconds. The company is also an existing supplier of power conversion devices for Lightsource’s solar farms. Buckland is confident about the role of storage for Lightsource’s solar PV generation business. ‘We can put more power on new connections or we can go back to existing connections and install batteries.’ He thinks it plausible at least 20% of the company’s installed PV capacity might benefit from the retroactive addition of energy storage.
Lightsource www.lightsource-re.co.uk Octopus Investments www.octopusinvestments.com
Lightsource is the UK’s largest generator of solar PV energy, with 600MW of installed capacity, mainly in the form of large-scale solar farms, such as these pictured. By March 2015 the company expects to have doubled this capacity and to have energy storage installed at a couple of its solar farms.
Some Spain-based suppliers of power conversion electronics Atersa www.atersa.com Eshia www.eshia.es Ingeteam www.ingeteam.com
ISSUE 6, SUMMER 2014 | ENERGYSTORAGEJOURNAL
COVER STORY: BUSINESS EMBRACES RENEWABLES
US INDUSTRIES TAP ENERGY STORAGE In the US, rising electricity rates and persistent power outages are switching the commercial and industrial sector on to energy storage. Fixing the grid is less of an answer than incorporating solar PV into a mainstream energy reseource
Images, including cover image, courtesy of Solarcity
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According to IHS Research, between 2012 and 2017 the US will account for 43%, in terms of installed MWs, of global gridconnected energy storage systems. The two drivers shaping demand are avoiding peak demand charges in commercial electricity tariffs and use of fast-response energy stor-
Commercial segment drives PV and storage demand in next few years Global installations of PV storage systems for commercial use are set to rise to 2.3GW in 2017, up from 3MW in 2012, according to IHS Research. This will increase the commercial segment’s share of PV installations to 40% in 2017, up from 5% in 2012, as shown. Concerns about energy rates and grid reliability are prevalent in the North American commercial market, according to the findings. Consequently, North America is expected to lead the world in commercial PV storage, accounting for more than 40% of installations in 2017.
age systems to provide frequency regulation services.
Avoiding fees Utilities in the US are increasingly imposing both peak demand charges and timeof-use fees on their commercial customers as a way to relieve pressure on limited electricity grids during times of high energy demand. These costs can be minimised by using energy storage, often in combination with photovoltaic panels. The battery shifts PV energy from when it is generated for onsite use during periods when these charges apply, reducing the amount of energy imported from the electricity grid during high demand to avoid high charges. Helping businesses to take control of their electricity costs in this way is Solarcity, based in California. The San Mateoheadquartered company installs and also provides leasing and financing options for solar and electric vehicle services. In December 2013 the company launched Demandlogic, an intelligent energy storage system designed to reduce businesses’ peak demand and provide power during outages. The system is able to automate the discharge of stored energy to increase savings on utility charges for customers. Customers lease the system, based on monthly payments, and Solarcity guarantees them a minimum demand reduction. The system does not require companies to alter their energy usage, known as load shifting, which has typically been the approach that the C&I sector has had to take to try to avoid fees and charges. According to Eric Carlson, Solarcity’s senior director of grid system integration, the company is in talks to rollout the system with commercial customers in southern California as well as parts of the north-east US, including Massachusetts. ‘We chose these markets due to the high costs of demand charges in those areas, where Demandlogic could help customers save the most money, and hope to expand to new markets where the product can provide the greatest benefits to commercial customers and businesses.’ As part of a PV installation Demandlogic can charge up the battery to store any ex-
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cess solar-generated electricity that is not being used. As solar production decreases later in the day, the battery is intelligently discharged to reduce peak demand charges. The system also lets the user draw power from the utility company at night, at lower offpeak demand rates.
‘Solarcity is in talks to rollout the system with commercial customers in southern California as well as parts of the north-east US, including Massachusetts.’ Similarly, Green Charge Networks, in California’s Silicon Valley, also recently unveiled a storage-as-service model aimed at the C&I segment to reduce demand charges. Businesses benefit because they do not having to finance the cost of the storage system upfront, but pay for storage as a service via long-term contracts, hedging their exposure to electricity charges and factoring backup, in case of outages, into the bargain. Green Charge Networks has lined up a $10 million (€7.2 million) fund from TIP Capital to finance projects for its retail, municipal and industrial customers.
Pace picks up Developments are beginning to move at an unprecedented rate for energy storage in the C&I sector. A pioneer in the emerging storage-as-service field is Stem, which combines energy storage, predictive analytics, such as data mining, forecasting and algorithms, to reduce electricity costs for businesses. Last year the company launched a $5 million fund, backed by Clean Feet Investors, to remove barriers to adoption of energy storage. Stem and Clean Feet observed the dramatic growth trajectory of solar enabled by third party ownership models, or ‘solar leasing’, particularly within the residential rooftop segment, pioneered by compa-
nies such as Solarcity and Sunedison, the latter founded by Clean Feet principal Jigar Shah. Stem, Solarcity and others in the US are not the only ones targeting southern California’s C&I segment with their service-based business models and smart energy storage systems. German supplier Sonnenbatterie, which has been working closely with Canadian inverter producer Eguana Technologies to make its energy storage system applicable in global export markets, recently opened a subsidiary in Los Angeles. Sonnenbatterie has a distribution partnership with SK Solar, which is helping with test installations and related matters. ‘We have about 30 more partners in the pipeline, among them some big players,’ says Sonnenbatterie’s chief executive officer, Christoph Ostermann. Following test installations, the company’s commercial activities, stateside, will start towards the end of 2014. Ostermann discusses the drivers for the C&I segment to adopt storage in more detail. ‘In California, for example, the issue is peak shaving which leads to a very interesting payback time of about two to three years. Like Germany’s solar and storage self-consumption incentive programme intelligent systems are required.’ Varta Microbattery, another German supplier of smart energy storage systems is also looking for leads into the US market, exhibiting its Engion system at this year’s Intersolar North America. Within the C&I segment there is growing emphasis on how to identify and generate multiple revenue streams from energy storage systems. One company working on this is Greensmith Energy. The Marylandheadquartered firm, from the outset, has remained battery-agnostic, sourcing lithium ion batteries from reputable suppliers that include companies such as Samsung. The company is also expanding the types of chemistries for use with its energy storage systems. One opportunity Greensmith is ex-
ploring concerns the Los Angeles basin, where building operators, or management companies, are looking at providing capacity payments through locating energy storage in offices and other facilities. Collectively the installations will amount to total storage in the MWscale and may end up using a number of different battery technologies.
California The Los Angeles basin is a coastal region that includes the city’s centre and its southern suburbs. Utility Southern California Edison (SCE) is tendering for at least 50MW of new storage capacity over the next eight years, to replace the phase out of nuclear generation and is also obliged, along with the state’s other large utilities, to procure 1.3GW under a mandate issued by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last year. The energy storage systems can also offset demand charges for the building’s owners and occupants. ‘The opportunity in the Los Angeles basin area is already expected to be in the hundreds of MWh and introduces the opportunity to aggregate and share with stakeholders and building owners/operators value streams such as capacity payments, demand charges and other forms of monetising energy storage as a service,’ says Greensmith CEO John Jung. The company is also working on an electric vehicle charging project on a corporate campus in San Diego, about 100kWh in size. ‘Greensmith’s control system technology platform, known as GEMS, is able to identify the cheapest source of electrons, whether from solar panels, from the grid or from the energy storage system, to charge the EVs. ‘We think that the return on investment is more than just about how you efficiently take power from direct current to alternating current and from AC to DC,’ says Jung. This project draws from Greensmith’s involvement in an urban microgrid that locat-
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COVER STORY: BUSINESS EMBRACES RENEWABLES Below: A 20 foot energy storage container installed by Greensmith
ed energy storage for EV charging and PV smoothing adjacent to a retailing site in Brooklyn, New York. The company’s behind-the-meter projects in 2014 leverage a fourth generation technology platform for multi-application deployments and will also use two alternative batteries, in the form of zinc bromine redox flow and aqueous-ion chemistries. These projects benefit from prior microgrid deployments that Greensmith has worked on. One of these was a 75kW/150kWh energy storage system located with a concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) installation on the campus of CalPoly in Pomona, California, which has been running since 2012. The system matches the energy generation from the CPV modules with the needs of the university campus and reduced the power quality effects of by tracking the intermittency signals of the concentrating PV technology.
Dumb to smart Today the PJM Interconnection, the largest wholesale power market in the US, has also become a major market for grid-scale energy storage services, since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) introduced a pay-for-performance requirement that rewards fast-response resources for provision of frequency regulation. One business model emerging is how commercial users of energy storage, in the form of batteries for uninterruptible power supply (UPS), can also use these systems to generate revenues by providing grid ancillary services.
Axion Power International, a developer of advanced lead acid (lead carbon) batteries and a containerised energy storage system, Powercube, supplies frequency regulation services to the PJM. More recently the company worked with New Jersey solar installer BySolar whose customer is a food industry business. Axion has adapted its Powercube protocols to enable the customer to reduce demand charges by consuming more of its solar-generated electricity, provide backup in event of a power failure and be paid for providing frequency regulation services to the PJM. Axion Power is working with other renewable energy companies to establish projects in the commercial markets. ‘Businesses, such as datacentres and factories install solar panels and energy storage systems to store electricity for backup and also establish an additional income stream. Both the solar and storage equipment are subject to tax breaks, so the return on investment can occur fairly quickly,’ says Axion CEO Tom Granville. The advantage of ‘dual purposing’
energy storage to generate revenues in addition to providing critical UPS and backup is that the batteries are never compromised in terms of either function. When there is an outage there is no grid to provide services to, says John Wood, CEO of Ecoult, a subsidiary of lead acid battery company East Penn Manufacturing, also commercialising advanced lead acid batteries. Reportedly, US startup 10Six is in talks with UPS manufacturers about modifying their technology, which would involve switching from a valve-regulated lead acid battery to an advanced lead acid or lithium ion battery. On the system side, modification of controls would be required to enable the batteries to respond to signals from the frequency regulation market. Energy storage systems designed for dual purpose roles, or modified UPS systems proposed by 10Six, will cost more.
Joys of lead too For example Ultrabattery, developed by Ecoult, is a lead acid with essentially the same size, voltage, safety and recyclability as a UPS battery, but its partial state of charge capability makes the UPS bank of batteries an active, rather than a passive store. ‘That is, Ultrabattery technology can do work on grid ancillary services 24/7 but still be available for the sudden UPS event. This may require a slightly larger bank of batteries but this is well compensated for, economically, due to the ability for the entire bank to earn revenue, at least in grids with a robust ancillary services market,’ says Robert
‘Businesses, such as datacentres and factories install solar panels and energy storage systems to store electricity for backup and also establish an additional income stream. Both the solar and storage equipment are subject to tax breaks, so the return on investment can occur fairly quickly,’ (Tom GRanville, Axion Power)
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Stevenson, Ecoult’s engineering communications manager.
System jolt While the combination of solar and energy storage has the potential to enable users, such as homes and businesses to effectively defect from the grid, Solarcity, more recently, has sought to play down any ideas that the company’s expansion into energy storage poses a threat to utilities. The company had previously accused California’s three largest energy incumbents for overcharging on connecting its systems to the grid. In April Solarcity announced it had set up a department, ‘tasked with solving the challenges preventing the shift from the grid that we currently have, to the grid that we need,’ according to a statement from the company. ‘Storage provides backup power to homes and businesses, or can cut peak demand charges, like our Demandlogic product. Energy storage can also be used in addition to renewable generators like solar to provide firm peak capacity to the grid. If a grid operator is looking at an area where it might need to replace or increase the capacity of equipment, it could put a battery or batteries in place to meet the demand instead of the traditional infrastructure. Energy storage can also provide frequency regulation and other services that provide value to the grid,’ says Carlson. In a recent blog, Solarcity’s co-founder and CTO Peter Rive clarified that utilities and grid operators are best-positioned to direct where battery storage, be it bulk units or lots of aggregated assets in the residential and C&I segment, can be deployed to discharge clean energy to meet peak demand, or use storage to provide grid services. But even as more utilities across North American issue request for proposals (RFPs) for on-grid energy storage, they are still largely going through the process of figuring out the technology. Meanwhile, in the commercial market, end customers are seeking to benefit from reduced energy bills, electricity backup, and even the possibility of new revenue streams. Offering these benefits as services makes energy storage accessible, paving the way for rapid uptake in the next few years.
MTA IN NEW YORK reduces peak demand charges THROUGH 400kWH CELLCUBE, A vanadium flow battery A flow battery storage system being located at Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) headquarters in New York, will support existing facility energy management measures at the MTA’s 1.6 million sq ft office building in downtown Manhattan. The 400kWh Cellcube battery array will be used in conjunction with an automated demand response system developed for the building by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory and previously funded by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). NYSERDA, along with Gildemeister, which owns Cellstrom the Austrian developer of the Cellcube system and American Vanadium, which licenses Cellcube in the US, are developing the pilot. The battery will charge up with cheap energy taken from grid during the middle of the night for use during peak times, when utilities impose high charges. The 4–8 hour duration that is possible with vanadium flow batteries make the technology suitable for demand charge reduction by commercial and light industrial users and for time shift solar generation. The Cellcube will also provide resiliency in times of need. The MTA headquarters went without power for two weeks after Hurricane Sandy. ConEdison and the Advanced Energy Research Technology Center (AERTC) at Stony Brook are also supporting the project. In Germany and the Netherlands, Cellcube installations provide an affordable source of electricity for farms and industrial users and are also used for EV charging. Vanadium flow batteries have long lifetimes of 20 years or more. The properties of the metal mean that it can be used for both the battery’s anode and cathode and does not degrade during each cycle. The duration is increased with the addition of more vanadium to the battery. American Vanadium is developing the only vanadium mine in the US, in Nevada, providing a critical source of the electrolyte for Cellcube energy storage systems. Vanadium costs up to 40% of the Cellcube battery. www.americanvanadium.com
Solarcity www.solarcity.com
Greensmith www.greensmithenergy.com Sonnenbatterie www.sonnenbatterie.de Varta Microbattery www.varta-microbattery.com Axion Power www.axion-power.com Ecoult www.ecoult.com
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GERMAN PV SUBSIDY
A hard sell? During 2013 in Germany more energy storage systems were sold without a subsidy than with one. ESJ examines the progress of the first solar and storage scheme one year in
Source: BSW-Solar www.solarwirtschaft.de
GERMAN PV SUBSIDY
The latest chapter in Germany’s energy transformation – ‘energiewende’ – from a dirty fossil fuel-powered economy to one that runs smoothly on indigenous sources of clean wind and solar has pushed energy storage centre stage. Almost one year ago the German government introduced ‘Renewable Energies Programme supporting the use of stationary battery storage systems in conjunction with a PV system’, an incentive scheme aimed at households and small business enterprises. With some adaptation of energy consumption habits, solar panels and batteries can allow households and other small-scale investors, with photovoltaic systems up to 30kW in size, to consume a greater portion of electricity generated on site, hedging against rising costs of energy. In Germany, which has some of the highest electricity rates in Europe, investing in such systems is beginning to make economic sense, now that the PV feed-in tariff (FIT) has been reducing at a rate that has outpaced reductions in system prices and has fallen below electricity prices.
Peak shaving tool The incentive, which is applied to the PV system capacity, measured in kWp, as opposed to the system’s energy production, which is measured in kWh, is designed to manage the integration of additional amounts of PV capacity on the grid. To qualify for the incentive, the amount of peak power generated by the PV system that is injected into the grid cannot exceed 60%. For every new PV and storage installation that meets this objective, overall grid capacity for PV systems is increased by two-thirds in the local grid, compared with the same number of sole PV installations, all exporting most of their electricity back up the cable and into the grid. In Germany, sustained cuts to the FITs combined with anti-dumping charges on cheap Chinese solar panel imports saw PV demand in 2013 drop to levels last seen in 2009, around half
Costs of installing storage Sonnenbatterie sells a product range with eight different sizes/models, from 4.5kWh up to 60kWh of storage capacity. On average, the price for a residential installation is 15,000 euros for one of Sonnenbatterie’s systems, which with a maximum subsidy of 4,000 euros, brings the investment down to 11,000 euros per system. According to E3DC a 5kW PV system with energy storage costs 18,500 euros roughly, which minus a 3000 euros incentive reduces the cost to around 15,000 euros. E3DC and Sonnenbatterie are not reliant on business coming from the incentive, with Sonnenbatterie having sold more than double the number of systems in 2013 without the incentive. E3DC states that 60% of its business is without the incentive.
Export markets Both companies are also enlarging their export markets. Sonnenbatterie sells 10% of its output in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Luxembourg and recently entered the US market. E3DC also sells some systems in Austria, Switzerland and Spain, but has its eye on China for supplying mobile base stations.
the amount installed in 2012. Self-consumption, enabled by storage co-located with solar panels, is, arguably, critical to the continued long-term growth of Germany’s PV industry. The idea of self-consumption is wellunderstood among the public in German, a nation that pioneered the mainstream adoption of solar, well ahead of other markets like the US, China and Japan, which today dominate global PV demand. According to the industry group BSW Solar, out of 1000 homeowners surveyed, 63% already know about energy storage and the benefits of self-consumption of onsite electricity generation. The organisation also found that, on average, every second investor in a new PV system and every third owner of an existing PV system claimed an interest in storage. Yet, the extent of awareness contrasts with actual uptake of the incentive programme. As part of the scheme’s launch, the German government made available a funding pot of €25 million to help finance PV and storage installations for self-consumption in 2013. The subsidies are paid by state bank Kreditanstalt fur Wideraufbau (KfW), which also provides financing support for the country’s renewable energy programme.
Christoph Ostermann, Sonnenbatterie
Around a third of this amount – €9 million – has been accounted for, subsidising the installation of some 6,000 energy storage systems. However, the actual market for installed energy storage systems in 2013 is roughly double this figure. This trend is supported by suppliers of energy storage systems, some of which claim having sold more of their products without the incentive, than with it, during last year. Christoph Ostermann, CEO of Sonnenbatterie, which is a leading supplier of intelligent energy storage systems that use lithium ion battery technology, describes the incentive programme as a ‘flop’. ‘This gives us, and the entire industry, the
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GERMAN PV SUBSIDY
opportunity to develop the market without short-term and artificial programmes which may be subject to rapid changes. This is a harder, but a more sustainable way to build the market,’ he says. Jörg Mayer, managing director of BSW Solar, attributes the so-so uptake of the scheme to ‘teething problems’, but concedes: ‘People hear about a 60% cut-off or cap and they then assume that they are losing 40% of energy. There is a big difference between the kW and kWh. This has certainly confused some in the industry.’ Set up 30 years ago, BSW Solar represents Germany’s solar equipment suppliers, as well as distributors and installers. The association has worked with the government to introduce the PV and storage self-consumption incentive programme, despite earlier setbacks and delays. Overall the scheme is guiding the industry down the right path for the future, says Mayer. ‘Those batteries that intelligently comply with peak shaving, interfacing with the grid, will do well in Germany.’
Even if investors have money saved to afford the upfront costs of the system, in order to qualify for the subsidy they must take out soft loans. Andreas Piepenbrink, CEO of E3DC, another leading supplier of intelligent lithium ion battery storage systems, says local banks are unhappy with dealing with the extra paperwork that the scheme entails. The company’s market, which includes Bavaria in the south-east, covers largely rural areas. According to Mayer, it has not been uncommon for banks to turn down loan applications, especially if they are not satis-
Timing Typically, a PV panel starts generating electricity from the morning as the sun rises, which means that by midday, when the panel’s output reaches its maximum peak output, the batteries are full, so excess electricity is sent to the grid. Smart energy storage systems, which qualify for the incentive, such as those supplied by Sonnenbatterie, charge during periods of high electricity production according to weather forecasts. Within the larger grid, these systems are able to contribute to voltage control in local low-voltage electricity grid networks and frequency control in the European interconnected network. The administration of the scheme has also deterred many investors. While KfW oversees the programme and controls the funds, local banks deal with applications and grants.
ESDC – intelligent lithium ion battery storage unit
fied that guarantees for high quality storage systems and installation have been met. Since the programme’s launch, BSW Solar has been working on ways smooth out some of these initial issues and in January 2014 launched the ‘PVstorage passport’. This voluntary instrument, based on a PV passport concept, benefits the installer and the customer, by ensuring the system is eligible for the grant, replacing the required ‘installers declaration’, which is not as in-depth as the passport, says Mayer. The PV-Storage passport helps satisfy loan requirements on quality. Between October and December 2013 BSW Solar also ran an intensive public relations campaign, with the
support of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, to promote the PV and storage self-consumption programme. Costing €250,000, the campaign included a film broadcast on German television, radio coverage, distribution of flyers and brochures for retail consumers, through installers, as well as organising special events and workshops for installers. The effort is paying off, according to Mayer, who expects demand in 2014 to increase by 50% with at least 12,000 units installed during 2014. The funding pot for this year is €50 million. Mayer would like to see the scheme made more accessible by simplifying the incentive and loan application process and increasing the support rate to 40%, from 30% of total installation costs. The association has also suggested that the programme be extended to increase the potential retrofit market, so that PV systems installed from 1 April 2012 can apply, and that the programme be continued beyond next year. ‘By the end of 2015, energy storage might not become cheap enough, so that support is not necessary any longer. It may need 2–3 more years. The grant could be decreased untill then, like the FITs, so that a storage system would not receive the amount of support in 2016 as in 2014,’ says Mayer.
Demand without subsidy Meanwhile, energy storage system suppliers are supplying healthy demand without any subsidy support. Since 2011, Sonnenbatterie has sold more than 2,500 energy storage systems, mainly in Germany. In 2013 the domestic market accounted for about 1,100 units out of this amount. Ostermann estimates that out of these units the company supplied last year only 250 were sold with the incentive grant. ‘Unfortunately, the subsidy programme is not very successful, with only about 20% of the dedicated funds
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GERMAN PV SUBSIDY
of €25 million used and paid out in 2013,’ he says. The total market for energy storage in 2013 was about 5,000–6,000 units. Cleantech consultancy EUPDResearch estimates that lead acid battery-based systems accounted for about 60% of the market share, while lithium ion battery systems shifted about 2,000 units overall. Ostermann says: ‘We proved that we can grow and develop the market without an incentive programme. Due to volumes that we have sold and produced so far, a decrease in the cost per
PV-Storage passport With the launch of the solar and storage incentive many electrical installers in Germany were confronted with battery technology for the first time so lacked practical installation experience. However the technical support prerequisites of KfW with regards to safety are quite general and have little relation to existing technological rules and standards, in particular regarding lithium ion batteries. The PV-Storage passport was developed by BSW Solar to secure high standards of installations to avoid damage/liability claims, to protect the parties involved and the support programme, with the aim of building trust among customers in products and installers.
The passport • Applies country-wide, independent of support programme • Replaces the specialised company declaration for KfW funding • Provides grid operators with all necessary information • Counteracts unclear, or lacking, information on norms and standards (Source: BSW Solar Association)
system has now begun. Even if higher volumes, due to incentives, can speed this process up, I believe that this is the healthier way. Politicians change their minds quite often. Two years ago, it was announced that customers would get an incentive for self-consumption, whereas they will now be charged for self-consumption from August 2014.’ For every kWh of self-consumed solar power the system owner has to pay a certain amount. Under proposals to reform the country’s Renewable Energy Act (EEG) operators of new PV systems would have to pay 50% of the renewable energy surcharge beginning 1 August, translating to a levy of €0.04.4 per kWh of self-consumed solar energy. Renewable energy users were previously exempt from the surcharge, which is used to finance Germany’s green subsidies and clean energy transition. The charge penalises small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), mainly in agriculture and in industry, a segment which accounts for most of the PV and storage demand in Germany. BSW Solar and leading PV industry companies, including inverter supplier SMA, have argued against the decision
Some people do not like to meet the grid requirements of the 60% rule, and have a system that has an open interface to the grid, even if it means foregoing the €3000.00, which is the incentive for an 5kW installation.’ (Jörg Mayer, BSW Solar) ‘This goes against self-sufficiency and storage as it is spoiling the economics, which are not that powerful, or compelling, yet,’ says Ostermann. Though Piepenbrink thinks problems do not lie with the incentive pro-
gramme itself, he warns that self-consumption charges threaten to destroy the return on investment (ROI) for the end customer.
Sales E3DC has sold 850 intelligent energy storage systems in Germany, and estimates that 40% of all end customers made use of the incentive. The company’s distribution network includes housebuilders and installers. According to Piepenbrink, 85 of the company’s installer partners are actively selling the system and 350 in total have been trained to install E3DC’s system. The company, through its distribution network, has seen greater uptake in northern Germany, such as Lower Saxony, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein, as well as in Bavaria, while Sonnenbatterie reports demand, mainly in southern Germany. ‘We have about 30 so-called Sonnenbatterie-Centers, which are specialised mid-size or large-size installers, providing sales, installation, technical services and so forth, exclusively for our product range. Furthermore we are selling through the three biggest German utilities RWE, E.ON and EnBW, Kyocera Solar, Vaillant and Solarwatt,’ says Ostermann. An anonymous source at another supplier of smart energy storage systems, confirms uptake has been slow, attributing this to the complexity of the self-consumption business model that the scheme promotes versus the fact that the potential savings for many consumers does not make it worthwhile at this stage. ‘Some people do not like to meet the grid requirements of the 60% rule, and have a system that has an open interface to the grid, even if it means foregoing the €3000, which is the incentive for an 5kW installation,’ says Mayer. Under the scheme each kW of the PV system is entitled to between €600 and €660, so a 5kW system would qualify for a maximum subsidy of
GERMAN PV SUBSIDY
Issues concerning the German government’s PV and storage incentive programme • Highly complex application procedures, for both installers (trade and craft) and end customers (consumers) • Requirements of the support programme cap the amount of electricity injected into the grid to 60%, which in conjunction with support rate acts as a deterrent for investors • Local banks often turn down loans • Households and investors are obligated to take out a loan despite existing equity capital • No steering effect regarding gridassistive operation • High quality of storage systems and installation not guaranteed • Rapid market saturation reached, since the pool of ‘ideal’ investors is relatively limited
Proposal to improve the programme to increase uptake • Simplified application procedures for investment grants • Increase of support rate to 40%, from 30% of system costs • Allow retroactive energy storage installations for any existing PV systems installed from 1 April 2012 • Continue the incentive programme beyond 2015 (Source: BSW Solar Association)
€3300, equivalent to a 30% grant on the investment costs. In Germany, 5kW systems are most popular under the incentive programme. Incentivising owners of PV systems to use their electricity builds flexibil-
ity into Germany’s grid. Generally, in large grids renewables penetration can reach 20% before the grid starts to struggle to balance supply and demand with large amounts of intermittent generation. In Germany at noontime on a particular day in May during 2012 the installed capacity of 23GW of solar PV accounted for over 40% of demand for electricity. Two years on this figure is regularly rebeaten and this year reached almost 74%. Distribution system operators (DSOs), which manage cables and wires that transmit electricity to homes and other customers are heavily regulated in Germany, as they are elsewhere in Europe, so rules do not permit them to own, operate or use storage to fulfil their future grid stabilisation tasks. Locating energy storage close to generation – even as lots of small-scale distributed installations – could resolve some costly grid upgrades down the line. If consumers participate in these tasks through their PV and storage systems as so-called ‘prosumers’ self-consumption benefits the wider network, in addition to household budgets. For different drivers and reasons Japan is also taking a similar approach to Germany. In March, Japan’s powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced funding that will subsidise some 60MW of behind the meter energy storage installations among households and businesses. Distributed storage will help integrate more renewables, such as solar PV.
Lebe die revolution! From the perspective of consumers, self-consumption is often described as an emotional decision, motivated by a desire to have a degree of autonomy from rising energy costs, compared with FIT-supported PV adoption, where decisions to invest in solar were more to do with generating an income
from selling electricity to the grid. As electricity rates go up the market for PV and storage is expected to grow. Economics will improve year-on-year as the FIT programme continues to wind down and costs of energy storage systems reduce. Suppliers of systems are responding with new product developments.
‘Locating energy storage close to generation – even as lots of small-scale distributed installations – could resolve some costly grid upgrades down the line.’ E3DC wants to give investors total autonomy from the grid. The company’s S10 ‘power station’ allows up to 100% self-consumption, by functioning as an integrated direct current (DC) energy storage system with three phases, voltage for off-grid operation and current for on-grid operation. The S10 enables the connection of electricity, heat and e-mobility. In Germany last year roughly every tenth small-scale rooftop PV installation was equipped with a battery. Despite the government’s EEG reform proposals that would effectively charge early adopters for using selfgenerated clean electricity there is a growing sentiment among Germans to be more self-sufficient from ‘big energy’. To turn this desire into a market, the respective solar PV and energy storage industries will need to continue to work together.
BSW Solar Association http://www.solarwirtschaft.de Sonnenbatterie www.sonnenbatterie.com E3DC www.e3dc.com
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THE NEW BUILDING BLOCKS OF ENERGY STORAGE
The low-down on lithium ion Advances in cell manufacturing can play a critical role in helping to reduce costs in lithium ion battery production for the energy storage industry. Robert Galyen, CTO of Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL), discusses some of the developments in this area lithium ion battery cell technology and manufacturing. Today’s energy storage battery systems
are complex operational devices which must provide power and energy upon command based on the application’s demands. We must understand how the requirements are driven from the application to the fundamental building blocks of the system, all the way to the cell chemistry. We’ll start at the system level and drill down to the cell level.
Containers
Cabinets
Modules
Cells
In most battery systems the cells typically carry about 60-80% of the overall costs. The cells are simply an ‘electron fuel tank’ package to fit within the larger system to meet application requirements. While the cells form the core of any battery pack and system, from modules to cabinets to containers, the manufacturing required to assemble battery packs is becoming more so-
phisticated by going more towards automated assembly systems. These systems typically include robotics, parts delivery systems, welding, automated torque drivers and highly advanced tracking systems. Key drivers include traceability, quality improvements and cost reductions. Traceability is important due to the potential of a quality issue and the large number of parts involved. Tracking of these parts allows for isolated identification, minimising large recall potential and enabling field replacement. Tracking is not only limited to the parts but also the processes used. As an example, for the sophisticated battery packs for the automotive industry the torque values and contact resistance measurements are recorded into a master file for every battery pack built. There are many examples of this type of recorded data. In terms of quality and maintaining consistency in production, machines are far more reliable than human assembly. Typically hand assembly is in the tenths/hundredths of percentage failure rates improving to parts-permillion/billion failure rates for automated assembly. Automation also affords cost reduction in labour costs due to the large number of parts of assembly. Throughput rates can be significantly more than double those of human assembly processes. However, there are some parts of the assembly which require human
input for these complicated systems. When examining the requirement drivers for these battery systems for the stationary energy storage industry this is substantial cross-over with drivers for other markets that use battery technology, such as consumer electronics, transportation and various industrial sectors. A typical requirements hierarchy can be described in the following pictogram:
The most widely accepted guidance in the transportation market segments comes from the organisation SAE International. These same guidance principles can be applied to energy storage which are stated in order of priority:
Safety Regardless of market, the preservation of human life is of paramount importance. Therefore, safety must be number one on the list of requirements. An enormous amount of worldwide resources have been poured into the
LITHIUM ION
automotive industry to make battery systems safe. Examples of these are SAE International J2929 and J2964 safety standards for battery systems. Many of the automotive standards can be applied to energy storage systems. The major difference is the large amount of energy in some of the larger energy storage systems, which can be in the range of multiple MWh.
Performance Performance in the form of energy density and power density are important to the particular application and must be defined by the engineers creating the requirements of the use case. The performance metrics must consider the environment topics of temperature, altitude, moisture, infestation, seismic activity, flooding, and so forth. The application engineer may use a chart like the one below to get the correct power to energy ratio of a use case.
Lifetime If it does not last long enough the value proposition of the system is inadequate to provide the return on investment (ROI) necessary for the system. The cycle life expectancy of most stationary storage systems exceeds 10 years of service. The real difficulty is running the tests to prove such long life. A surrogate method known as Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT), is employed by battery manufacturers to estimate the life expectancy of their
products. Accelerated life testing is used in many industries where it is not feasible to monitor a product’s performance in real-time. One good example is the PV industry, where it is routine to expect panels to last for 25 years.
Cost Clearly cost is important, as it is the basis for financial investment and recovery. But, if the product is not safe and fails to meet performance/life metrics, then cost is meaningless.
Cell level Due to concerns over sharing proprietary information in a highly competitive market, some common information from automotive sector cells will be used as examples. These cells are typically the same as, if not interchangeable, with energy storage applications. Within all leading battery manufacturers, there is ongoing R&D to improve anodes and cathodes. The chart below shows a relative juxtaposition of the cathodes and anodes which provide both voltage and energy capacity of these components of the cell. It is the various combinations of these anodes and cathodes which produce the energy/power ratios for the applications they service. As an example, the combination of the nickel, manganese and cobalt (NMC) cathode to the carbon/graphite anodes are used for high energy density automotive applica-
tions (due to volume constraints) even though the cost is higher than lithium iron phosphate. Iron phosphate chemistries are favoured for most stationary storage applications because volume constraints are not as important.
An enormous amount of resources have been poured into the automotive industry to make battery systems safe. Examples of these are SAE International J2929 and J2964. Many of these can be applied to energy storage systems. There are several formats of cells on the market. Pouch is a form of a cell container. Typically an aluminium sheet coated with a polymer serves as the electrochemical contents casing which is flexible, sealed by hermetic seals of the polymer around all edges. These containers usually in a rectangular format but can be cylindrical, trapezoidal, or obtuse in shape. Can is a form of a cell container where an aluminium or steel container houses the electrochemical contents and is welded to complete the enclosure. These containers can be cylindrical or rectangular in shape and varies in size based on capacity and chemistry used. Wound is a method of assembling the internal cell components by winding the cathode, anode and separator around a mandrill, then assembled into the cell container. Prismatic is a method of assembling the internal cell components, typically made by stacking the anode-separatorcathode-separator in a repeating manner to create the cell element, which is then inserted into the cell container.
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THE NEW BUILDING BLOCKS OF ENERGY STORAGE Cell production steps All electrochemical cells based on lithium chemistries share several aspects of design in common. • All anodes and cathodes use a metal substrate (known as a grid or current collector) to support the active materials where electrons are consumed or produced depending if anode or cathode and which direction current is flowing during charge or discharge. • Active materials are created by a mixing process of raw materials to produce a slurry, which is then applied to the metal substrate, in a process known as coating. After coating and drying the slurry the material is compressed to the correct thickness and the electrode Prismatic pouch cell
tabs are cut for extracting current from the cell stack. • After the electrodes are cut to the correct shape and size, the cell ‘element’ is formed by the alternating of anode-separator-cathode. In the ‘wound’ version continuous ‘plates’ of material of anode-separator-cathode form the element (as shown in the second example). In the ‘prismatic’ version the ‘plates’ are cut to shape then stacked to achieve the cell element (as shown in the first example). • Once the ‘element’ is created it is then placed into the container, the electrolyte is added before applying the first charge to create a living cell which is called an active
source. From this point forward the device is capable of supplying current and voltage, as a real cell. • Once the formation is complete the container is sealed, checked and is ready to ship. Value creation for the energy storage industry, using lithium ion batteries, lies within the chemistry and the ability to manufacture cells in a cost-effective, high-quality manner. These are one of the most efficient ways of storing energy directly with least amount of loss compared to other storage methods. ABOUT CATL Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) is headquartered in Hong Kong, with three sites in China. Founded in 1999 the company is now in the top five global lithium ion battery suppliers and is the world’s largest supplier of pouch/polymer batteries, supplying to global top tier brands across the transportation, energy storage and industrial markets At its factory in Ningde, Fujian province, CATL has one of the largest rooftop solar PV installations in China, with nearly 9000 panels generated electricity that is used to power the company’s battery manufacturing operations.
Wound can cell
CATL’s energy storage projects and installations include the provision of two sets of 100KW/120KWh systems for a smart grid for China’s State Grid as well as larger battery systems for the State Grid, for integrating renewables, such as wind and solar farms. The company is also working with leading automotive brands that are looking into the concept of developing secondary life batteries, where batteries that come out of warranty for EVs can be used in the stationary storage market. www.catl.com www.atl.com
TECHNOLOGY
The automation game The energy storage industry wants lithium ion batteries but it wants them cheaper, that much is clear. Suppliers of production facilities and machinery are using their experience to bring the manufacture of lithium ion batteries for both electric vehicles and energy storage into the 21st century. While interest in lithium batteries for energy storage and electric vehicles has been growing, both markets are still in a dynamic, early development phase, but with substantial growth potential believes Rudolf Simon, technology manager automotive and batteries, at M+W Group. ‘However cost reduction is the key to open a huge market for energy storage accordingly. Economy is the driver in this application,’ he says. Based in Germany, M+W Group designs and builds factories for customers in a range of industries, including chemicals, automotive, IT & telecoms, solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery cells. For lithium ion batteries M+W initially focused on electromobility because of the significantly higher requirements of manufacturing quality, working with customers in Europe and also China. Manufacturing principles have a critical role to play in reducing the cost of producing lithium ion batteries. Through designing and
cording to Lutz Redmann, co-founder of Berlin-based equipment supplier Jonas & Redmann.
Quality control
building industrial factories M+W is able to improve resource efficiency across five areas: energy, materials, environmental, labour and investment. ‘It is mandatory to practice integrated or holistic design and construction within the factory’s entire complex,’ says Simon.
EVs and energy storage However, there are some different requirements for manufacturing batteries for energy storage applications, compared with other applications. The main differences lie mainly in the product specifications and design. ‘The key priorities in electromobility are energy density and safety whereas in energy storage longevity and cost are important. However the factory requirements each industry shares include quality and resource efficiency, says Simon. ‘Requirements for suppliers to the automotive industry are subject to greater scrutiny and data tracking,’ ac-
To improve lithium ion battery production, by providing greater scrutiny of production processes M+W, with Siemens, has developed an integrated monitoring, control and management system. All manufacturing related data is collected, processed and fed back to the machines and up to the factory management system to achieve optimum quality and cost ratios. The system can control in the region of 500 sensors within the process to provide maximum oversight. The technology can be retrofitted into existing lithium ion battery factories, as long as the process equipment provides access to measuring points. The platform will implemented jointly by both partners in an existing line. There have been plenty of projections for cost reductions in lithium ion batteries over the next five years. If these are to be achieved then there needs to be more investment in material and process development, according to Simon. Compared with other industries that M+W supplies, the batteries business accounts for a minor share but the
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Technology company expects to see significant demand for its services as advanced factories and lines are commissioned. Manz, a supplier of production lines and tools for the flat panel display (FPD) and solar PV industries, is investing in the growth of its lithium ion battery business too. The company, headquartered in Reutlingen, in Germany, has supplied lines for manu-
facturing these batteries for consumer electronics, EVs and also for stationary storage, where customers include European battery company Saft.
Increased demand Demand has increased a lot within the last three years, according to Manz spokesman Axel Bartmann, a development that the company expects to continue. ‘Progress in cost-cutting on the production side,’ he says, ‘means that stationary storage with lithium ion batteries is becoming more and more interesting and important, where endusers, in both residential and commercial markets, want more autonomy and control over their energy supply. This is also reflected in the growing interest by battery producers serving the EV industry in the energy storage market.’ Redmann agrees that energy storage will become much more interesting, as demand for PV continues to grow and the focus on self-consumption of onsite electricity generation increases. ‘Specialised batteries for storage systems are not common today. Often
batteries for EV applications are used,’ he says. Like M+W the battery business within Manz is the company’s youngest and smallest unit, contributing to around 5% of turnover. However, with the recent acquisition of the mechanical engineering division of KEMET (formerly Arcotronics), in Italy, Manz expects to double this turnover and is now the largest equipment manufacturer for lithium ion batteries outside of Japan. A more substantial market for both M+W and Manz is the solar PV industry, where M+W’s recent deals include building a PV fab in South America. While the PV industry is more mature than the energy storage industry, Simon acknowledges some similarities. ‘For example in the development of design, materials and processes for batteries, the scope for improvements can occur in the region of 10% annually.
Dramatic changes But the PV industry had to face dramatic changes in political and funding conditions, which threatened this part of the business. We hope lessons learned can prevent a similar destiny for the battery industry.’ According to Bartmann the learning curve from the PV industry is comparable to an extent, since cost reduction and efficiency increase will lead to significant growth. ‘However, the level of standardisation is way behind the level of standardisation in the PV industry. ‘To some extent this is logical since the battery cell/pack is always adapted to the surroundings, such as the housing of the product and available space, and not the other way round,’ he says. According to Bartmann equipment suppliers can have the highest impact on cost reduction and can also influence production costs, quality and lifetime of batteries. The PV industry has benefitted from equivalent advances as machines and automation have replaced processes done by manual assembly. ‘The process of production for PV
and lithium ion batteries share similarities. This is the reason why you will find a lot of PV companies in this business,’ says Redmann. ‘But, the market for PV was small and grew thanks to a big market-pull trigger in the form of the EEG (German Renewable Energy Act). The battery market is well established and is driven by expectations which are slightly behind the forecasts. The market for lithium ion batteries in 2020 will be shared by only a few big players.’ Investment in advanced production equipment is necessary to further cut production costs. In a second step economies of scale will contribute significantly to further cost reduction, believes Bartmann. Redmann agrees that economies of scale has a big role to play and increasing output will lead to significant cost reductions. In terms of regional demand for lithium ion batteries for energy storage as well as electromobility, battery system production will be close to the production site, whereas cell production will probably move to regions with low energy costs. ‘Proximity to the end-user has several advantages such as transport cost and time, access to suppliers, collaboration in product development as well as political factors. Quality, sourcing reliability and cost are the input of the equation,’ says Simon. According to Bartmann, demand is coming from one place only, China.
M+W Group www.mwgroup.net Manz www.manz.com Jonas & Redmann www.jonas-redmann.com
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ISSUE 6, SUMMER 2014 | ENERGYSTORAGEJOURNAL
EVENT SPOTLIGHT:
7 Energy Storage World Forum review th
The 7th Energy Storage World Forum, organised by Dufresne, took place in London in April 2014. Each year more than 15 of the world’s leading utilities, transmission system operators (TSOs) and distribution system operators (DSOs) attend the conference, which takes place over four days. At this year’s forum there were presentations from utilities on various energy storage projects underway. In Europe the number of these types of projects are growing, and are varied in size and scope, with several using energy storage to provide frequency regulation and voltage control. The projects discussed demonstrate that in technological terms, batterybased energy storage is proven and able to handle these types of applications. The focus has shifted to how industry can work closely with utilities/ DSOs/TSOs to deliver the benefits of energy storage to the grid in various ways. To bring down storage costs, especially that of batteries, standardising
technologies would help enable the growing energy storage industry to achieve economies of scale, and ensure energy storage companies can supply, competitively, in different potential markets. Among European TSOs/DSOs Italy’s TERNA probably accounts for the largest single end-customer for energy storage in Europe at present. In Italy, the unprecedented growth in renewables, mainly situated in the south, has resulted in an increase in costs related to dispatching activities and to the management of the electrical transmission system as a whole. TERNA’s presentation included plans to procure multiple MWs of energy-intensive storage to reduce local congestions on the high voltage grid increase primary and tertiary reserve, and also provide voltage support, as well as power intensive energy storage for frequency control and other services and applications. Across Europe increasing levels of grid penetration of intermittent generation, in the form of wind and solar energy, are beginning to create challenges for utilities in the years’ ahead.
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EDP, Red Eléctrica, Enel Green Power and EKZ were among some of the other players from Europe’s energy sector on hand to discuss their experiences of deploying energy storage to varying extents. German utility RWE discussed how the adoption of residential energy storage can provide the grid with more flexibility and outlined requirements for intelligent energy storage systems that interface with the grid to enable self-consumption and also allow the grid to manage the increased penetration of intermittent solar PV. In a presentation from GDF Suez, residential/distributed energy storage with PV systems is likely prove itself economically sooner, rather than later, compared with utility-scale and midscale energy storage. GE and Fiamm provided insights into utility-scale battery storage systems and deployments. Fiamm discussed how commercial energy storage systems, and services they are designed to provide, reflect a collaboration between the developer, the customer and the end-user, with each party influencing final system design, resulting in specific and quite customised systems. This presents both challenges and opportunities for companies with an eye on global markets for storage. Defining multiple services can help to recoup the cost of the system. Other considerations include how to share responsibility of the system, over its lifetime, among technology partners through warranty and O&M agreements. AES demonstrated how the company has developed a commercially viable business model for its energy storage systems, as an alternative to peaking power plants, with over 200MW of energy storage in operation, or in construction, mainly in the US and South America. The company recently embarked on a 100MW storage project in Europe, in Northern Ireland. In excess of 30 presentations were given over the course of the week,
including those by analysts and consultants, such as IHS Research, Brattle Group, Natureo Finance and Azure International to highlight global trends, in addition to panel discussions, polling and collaboration among attendees to discuss grid issues and formulate how energy storage can resolve and alleviate these. Here are some overviews and summaries of some of the presentations given at this year’s event
Two years’ results from Swiss grid storage project Presentation by: Michael Koller, energy storage specialist, EKZ. www.ekz.ch Swiss utility EKZ and ABB installed a 1MW energy storage system in the city of Dietikon. The system has been operational since March 2012. The 1MW battery, using over 10,000 LG Chem lithium ion cells, can store up to 500kWh. The system is connected to EKZ’s low and medium voltage grid and its control includes a photovoltaic plant, an office building and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, allowing the testing of various different smart grid applications. The system uses ABB’s power control system, PCS100, enabling AC/DC conversion in both directions at full nominal power.
The warrantied lifetime of the system is measured as 3500 cycles, or 2 cycles per day (250kWh). At 2011 prices the system cost in the region of €2 million. The various applications investigated include: • Frequency regulation • Peak shaving – the benefits for EKZ include grid expansion deferral and safety margin reduction in grid planning. Customers benefit from minimising of demand charges. • Voltage regulation – the benefits for EKZ are integration of decentralised generation. Customers benefit in terms of improvement of power quality for critical loads. • Islanding capability – the benefit for EKZ is the ability to operate an island grid while customers benefit from uninterruptible power supply for critical loads. During the two years of operation the energy storage system yielded excellent efficiency results according to EKZ. The lithium ion batteries performed a round-trip efficiency in the region of 90%–95% (efficiencies are higher at low power rates). The inverter achieved an efficiency (one way) of 97% (which is lower at low power rates). At the system level, cycling with 50% depth of discharge (DoD) at 50% rated
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event Spotlight ABB
power (± 500 kW, 30 minutes each). Round trip, without auxiliary is 90% and round trip, including auxiliary is 85%. Real life efficiency is strongly dependant on power profile, in other words, the use case. Minimal capacities are required to bid in primary frequency control markets with smart working point adjustments. Advantages include fast reaction inverters and decoupling of energy and power. Benefits of using energy storage for providing frequency regulation means no excess energy production in conventional power plants to provide this service, no unnecessary shedding of variable renewables and full utilisation of conventional power plant capacity.
Substation-level storage pilot in Spain Presentation by: Christina Gomez Simon, R&D project manager RED Eléctrica www.ree.es The Spanish energy mix features a high amount of variable renewables generation. As of the end of December in 2013 wind and solar accounted for 28% of Spain’s installed generating capacity of 102,308MW (4% solar PV, 2% solar thermal, 22% wind). Challenges for system operation
include managing a daily load shape which presents high ratio peaks versus off-peak demand and high share of intermittent renewables. As a result, sometimes wind production is curtailed. The Almacena energy storage project, in south-west Spain, comprises a 1MW/3MWh lithium ion battery (1MVA inverter) connected to the transmission grid. A123 Systems supplied the batteries. The project is cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Almacena project’s main aim is to analyse and test challenges and capabilities related to grid storage. The battery array’s control system is able to perform three simultaneous control modes: • Load shifting • Power frequency regulation • Voltage control The storage system, installed at the Carmon 400/220kV substation, which is owned by Red Eléctrica, was commissioned in December 2013, with evaluation of the system’s performance starting in Q1 of 2014. For it to be constantly monitored and controlled, the system is connected to Red Eléctrica’s communication systems. The storage system is in installed in a 16m-long container that houses 30 racks of lithium ion prismatic cells. The project consists of a first phase
where two functionalities will be tested, for the integration of intermittent renewable energy generation and the improvement of operation services, including load curve modulation and power frequency regulation. In later phases, the installation will serve as a test platform in order to evaluate the possible contribution of this technology to other operation services, including how storage can increase grid flexibility and improve the stability of the system. Throughout the project, key parameters of the system will be collected and analysed in order to evaluate, from a technical and economic standpoint, the capacities of the selected technology.
Opportunities for energy storage in rural microgrids in Africa Presentation by: Caroline Nijland, business development director, FRES www.fres.nl Foundation Rural Energy Services (FRES) provides electricity to rural, off-grid areas in sub-Saharan Africa, using solar energy. The company sets up small-scale utilities based on a commercial, replicable and sustainable approach, focusing on households and small enterprises. FRES is part of the Association for Rural Electrification (ARE), which is a business association representing the decentralised energy sector. ARE is working towards the integration of renewables into rural electrification markets in developing and emerging countries The association enables business and market development by targeted advocacy and by facilitating access to international funding ARE also acts as a global platform for sharing knowledge and best practices to enhance energy access (hydro, wind, solar) and services (training) FRES operates a fee-for-service business model that is replicable and
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adaptable to the local setting, comprising: • Commercial local FRES companies (small-scale utilities) • Capital investments financed by FRES and its partners • Fee-for-service: clients that are connected pat €6–€25 a month for access to solar electricity • FRES companies/utilities are responsible for installation and maintenance • Affordable and sustainable tariff structure to cover operational expenses and replacements (batteries and so on) FRES’ core product is a solar home system, which is 80W–320W in size, for households and small business in remote areas. As of December 2013, FRES had installed 28,000 of these systems in five African countries. Next in the range are minigrids, in the range of 50–150kW solar and 100–300 kVA diesel. These systems are for higher energy requirements in densely populated villages. At present nine hybrid and one diesel minigrid are operational in Mali, while overall there were 4000 individual minigrid customers at the end of 2013. FRES’ battery selection criteria for off-grid power systems: • Low maintenance • High lifecycle at deep discharge • Able to withstand environmental extremes (temperature, dust, humidity) Almacena
•L arge amounts of storage capacity
Battery storage:
l/kWh, and seven year depreciation rate for batteries and 10 years for inverters. Evaluating consumption, FRES found that realistically daily consumption is more like 430kWh and on average the growth in demand for electricity is 10%–15% annually, with increasing consumption in the evening. Challenges and lessons learnt include managing growth in demand, high network losses and reactive power, optimising use of batteries, remote monitoring and data communication, tariff negotiations with local authorities and integration of energy efficient appliances such as fridges and TVs.
• High cycling at deep discharge • One day reserve capacity • Ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions (temperature, dust, humidity)
Zero carbon UK home stores solar energy through the winter
Design considerations for hybrid mini-grids: • AC coupled system : limited cable losses, flexible and modular • I nitial energy requirement based on real consumption profiles •M ini-grid design: PV/diesel contribution 70% / 30% to support load •P re-paid metering •R emote monitoring (data logger: send data to internet portal)
Capital costs of hybrid mini-grid with grid network are in the region of €480,000. The capital cost per installed capacity is roughly €9,600/kW for solar PV and €425/kWh for the storage (prices as of 2012). For mini-grids batteries represent the largest share of costs, followed by the distribution network, inverters, PV modules and then the rest of costs. The levellised cost of electricity (LCOE) of the mini-grid is €0.48/ kWh, based on a standardised 50kW/1128kWh hybrid mini-grid, with an average daily demand of 315kWh/day, a discount rate of 8%, diesel cost of €0.96/litre (Mali, 2012), diesel generator fuel efficiency of 0.34
Presentation by: Michael Goddard, director, Caplin Homes www.caplinhomes.co.uk UK sustainable construction company Caplin Homes has developed an economical housing concept that generates solar energy and stores the heat in the ground for use during winter. The company has spent the recent winter monitoring the performance of its first pilot, a five bedroom flat roof ‘exemplar’ home in Leicestershire. Despite delayed construction in 2013, due to the cold winter, the house proved out the company’s concept. The zero-carbon solar home developed by Caplin, incorporates a hybrid solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) panel on the roof, solar walls, heat pumps and underfloor heating. The electricity generated by the PV portion of the hybrid panel runs the system. In the summertime, the excess electricity generated is used to run the hot water, rather than exported to the grid, which saves on running the heat pump. Heat is stored in the ground beneath the house. Earth is a poor conductor of heat yet has a high thermal capacity making it ideal as a heat store. The
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event Spotlight storage component – the Earth Energy Bank (EBB) – is constructed by drilling a series of boreholes with a JCB using a standard fence post auger with an extension bar and using polyethylene piping and bentonite for creating good thermal contact. Newform Energy developed and supplied the hybrid solar panels.
Analysing global energy storage trends and projects Presentation by: Oliver Vallee, senior analyst, Natureo Finance www.natureofinance.com Out of a total global energy storage market worth some $60 billion, including transportation (start-stop, hybrid, electric vehicle), consumer and portable electronics (laptops, to smart phones, to non-rechargeable general disposable) stationary storage is worth about $10 billion, mostly for backup and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) today. Natureo breaks down stationary storage into two categories: front-ofmeter and behind-the-meter. Front-ofmeter includes frequency and voltage regulation, load managing, peak shifting and renewables integration, while behind-the-meter includes tariff arbitrage, demand response, industrial/ datacentre backup and residential energy storage. Typical application for front-of-meter projects includes grid support, with utilities as investor. These projects occur in a heavily regulated environment, tend to be large and situated in high voltage parts of the grid network. A wide variety of applications and new business models can occur with behind-the-meter roll-outs, which are occurring in a few markets, including Germany, California and Japan. A good example is the self-consumption solar and storage trend in the small-scale commercial and residential sector in Germany. Since 2007 Natureo has maintained a database of announced stationary
storage projects, which are large-scale, typically 500kWh or more and is tracking 120 projects at present. For each project data includes client, integrator and technology supplier, power, energy, project cost and cost per kWh, location as well as application. Technologies/chemistries tracked include lithium phosphate, lithium titanate, lithium nickel/cobalt/ manganese, flywheel, nickel cadmium, sodium sulphur, flow batteries and lead acid. Key findings analysed by power include: • strong subsidized growth in 2011 • pause in 2012, weakness in 2013 • sodium sulphur batteries, flywheels out; to re-emerge? • big emergence for lithium ion • flow batteries emerge too Key findings by energy: • sodium sulphur, largest energy capacity by far, disappears suddenly • big opportunity for alternattives • lithium and flow batteries to benefit Key findings by application: • trend goes from power (frequency regulation) in 2011 to energy (solar/wind power storage) • residential/community market is very small, but showing potential to grow fast in Japan, Germany and California due to subsidies Key findings by region: • European storage market small; robust, heavily invested grid structure, renewable energy is focus • US larger due to antiquated grid, less interconnect, frequency regulation is focus • recently, trend is beginning to shift to frequency regulation in Europe and renewable integration in US Germany • renewable goes from 17% in 2010 to 35% in 2025. But in the north • 3600km of high-voltage lines budgeted for 2020; expansion of 1128% of medium and low voltage
network; €10 billion-€27 billion in network upgrades • t ransmission not on demand •p eaks must be handled by storage or by other distribution system such as power-to-gas •C hallenge is where to store 60GWh a day of excess energy generated from renewable energy sources Italy •P uglia region has an overcapacity problem; 3.5GW of renewable generation capacity, but low local electricity demand. A new €30 million Campagna-Puglia high voltage line is to be built, but offtake of only 500MW. • I NGRID power-to-gas project: • $ 29 million project for 39MWh of hydrogen storage ($744/KWh) • 1 .2MW electrolyser (65% efficiency) = 10.5GWh/year • a ssuming 3-year lifetime and no opex, financing cost: $0.003/cycle • no distribution cost • a dd $0.13/KWh for fuel cell (LCOE, capex included) •S AFT, Samsung SDI have also sold big batteries California • 1 0GW of wind coming online by 2020, much by 2015 •n orth-south divide; most of hydro power comes from north • i n South, Son Onofre nuclear plant (2GW supplying 20% of southern California requirements) is prematurely offline •T hree organizations are active: CPUC (California Public Utility Commission), CEC (California Energy Commission) and CAISO. • resulting in Assembly Bill 2514 • requires CPUC to set targets for energy storage, now a ‘preferred asset class’. In March 2012, CPUC acted on AB 2514, instructing Southern California Edison to procure by 2022 14001800MW in generation assets of which 650MW in preferred asset classes and 50MW using storage.
event spotlight The International Photovoltaic Equipment Association (IPVEA) is an independent organization of manufacturers and suppliers of photovoltaic (PV) fabrication equipment and related raw materials used in PV ingot, wafer, cell (crystalline and thin-film), and panel manufacturing. IPVEA stands for quality and value to our members. Take advantage of this exciting opportunity to be directly involved in the direction of the renewable energy industry.
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Electrical Energy Storage
Exhibitor overview: Intersolar 2014 Intersolar, the largest exhibition serving the global solar exhibition, has acquired a new event platform, Electrical Energy Storage (EES), which will run alongside the show, held annually in Munich, giving Intersolar’s organiser a strategic foothold in the emerging energy storage exhibition and conferences sector.
The EES exhibition, from June 2–4 will shed light on markets, technologies applications for electrical energy storage systems. Some Intersolar/EES exhibitors will be introducing new products during the event. Ads-tec is a board and founding member of the Kompetenznetzwerk Lithum-Ionen Batterien KliB e.V. (Competence Network Lithium-ion Batteries), a board member of Storegio and member of the extended board of the Solar Cluster Baden-Wuerttemberg e.V. Through engagement in numerous research projects, which are funded by the federal and state governments, Ads-tec collaborates with other companies and research institutes within the lithium ion value chain in Germany and Europe.
AEG Power Solutions, a global supplier of power electronics systems for industrial power supplies and renewable energy plants, has launched a wireless battery cell control system, MoniStore, for energy storage applications in the MW-scale. Monistore is designed for use with lead acid and also nickel cadmium batteries. The battery sensor is connected to the batteries negative pole to continuously monitor the functionality of the individual battery cells by measuring cell voltage and temperature. The wireless sensors transmit all relevant parameters via the Zigbee protocol to a receiver module which transfers the data to an evaluation unit. Wireless communication allows for safe electrical isolation, and monitoring of large battery systems with more than 300 single cells, connected in series. The system does not require complex cabling as it only needs the measuring clamps and no additional cables. Installation is simple, so even a sensor exchange can be done during full operation. Each cell provides the power supply for its sensor, demanding extremely low power input. Current/power consumption can systematically be influenced or increased by the evaluation unit, enabling passive cell balancing.
Electrical Energy Storage
Akasol will be exhibiting its Neeoqube, a modular lithium ion energy storage unit for coupling with PV, wind and hydro-powered systems. The system is easy to install, and can be individually extended in the Neeorack and Neeosystem versions. The result is the economically optimized operation of your supply system. In addition, excess energy can be fed into the grid at the specifically correct time, precisely when it is needed and receives a correspondingly high compensation. The system is warrantied for 10 years. The company’s Neeomega product is a scaleable intelligent storage solution for large-scale solar and wind parks, targeting operators of these farms. All components of Neeomega are designed to ensure a reliable long-term operation in the megawatt range. Hoppecke Batterien, better known as a manufacturer of battery systems for industrial applications, has also developed products aimed at the solar and storage self-consumption market in Germany. These include the lead acid battery-based Sun Power Pack, which has been installed in German households since 2012, and the more recent version of the system for use with lithium ion technology. For its industrial client base Hoppecke has also developed the turnkey energy storage system consisting of fuel cells, batteries and electronics for uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The modular hybrid system stores energy from renewable sources. Since 2005 UK-based Oxis has been developing next generation battery technology, based on lithium sulphur chemistry, with a patented technology that is lighter, safer and maintenance free. Inherent in the technology are two key mechanisms which protect the cells: a ceramic lithium sulphide passivation layer and a high-flashpoint electrolyte. This means the cell can survive a barrage of electrical and physical abuse, including puncture, without any adverse reaction.
Oxis cells have an indefinite shelflife, with no charging required when left for extended periods. In comparison, lithium ion batteries require regular recharge to prevent failure and this is often the cause of warranty issues. Earlier in 2014 the company announced it was working in partnership with Proinso, to develop energy storage systems for solar PV systems for off-grid and other markets. New energy storage start-up Qinous, in Germany, is targeting hybrid microgrids with a focus on remote regions including islands, as well as isolated villages, mining companies and hotel resorts. The company is working with companies such as microgrid developers in regions such as Africa as well as parts of South America. Qinuous, founded in September 2013, has built a hybrid microgrid demonstrator next to its office in Berlin, which will have a 100kW/100kWh energy storage system, a 100kW diesel generator and solar PV/wind /load simulators. Vanadis, based in Nuremberg, Germany, was founded in 2012 to commercialise vanadium flow batteries for integration of renewable energy and other applications in the European market. The company has supplied a total of 10MW, in excess of 22MWh, of energy storage, mainly comprising projects in China and Tibet, for output smoothing of wind farms, power quality for EV charging, integration of PV, as well as off-grid applications. Netherlands company Victron Energy’s latest product is Easysolar, which
the company claims is an all-in-one solar power solution. The system can be used with PV panels and batteries for self-generation. The product combines an ultra-fast charge controller (MPPT), an inverter/charger and AC distribution in one enclosure. With an extensive reduction in wiring Easysolar provides ease of use combined with a maximum return on investment. When using the 24V model, it is possible to use up to 1400W of solar power and with 1600VA continuous inverter power, even peaks of 3000W can be handled without any problems The MPPT charge controller controls the voltage for the consumer and the batteries so efficient energy distribution is guaranteed. The batteries can be charged with solar power and/or with AC power from the utility grid or a diesel generator. Easysolar 12V will become available in June 2014. California-based Trojan Battery will be exhibiting its new range of lead acid batteries enhanced with carbon for partial state of charge (PSOC) applications, to boost overall battery life in off-grid and unstable grid applications where the batteries are under charged on a regular basis. Along with increased life in PSOC modes, Trojan’s Smart Carbon proprietary formula also provides improved charge acceptance and faster recharge in PSOC applications. For more information on Intersolar 2014 and EES, including a full list of energy storage exhibitors, visit www.intersolar.de and www.ees-europe.com.
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EVENTS LISTINGS
energy storage events MAY 14-15 Energy Storage 2014 Luxembourg City, Luxembourg ACI’s 4th Annual Energy Storage event is heading back to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg this May. The two-day conference as always will bring together key industry stakeholders from the utilities industry, TSOs, DNOs, EES application developers and owners, as well as manufacturers to discuss the roadmap to monetizing energy storage: creating new business models and platforms for new entrants in the race to accelerate the technology push of various EES systems. The conference will have a heavy focus on case study examples of EES projects across the globe, discussing how they overcame challenges such as costs, lifecycle, safety and many other obstacles to development and deployment. www.wplgroup.com/aci/conferences/euees4.asp
JUNE 2-6 Intersolar EU 2014 Munich, Germany This year the Electrical Energy Storage (EES) exhibition, an area dedicated to companies offering products and services in electrical storage and solar power, will take place alongside the Munich Intersolar show. The EES section is also expected to include a full conference programme. In addition a new category for
Electrical Energy Storage (EES) systems has been added to the Intersolar Awards, with the prize given at Intersolar Europe in Munich on 4 June. According to Intersolar, the EES exhibition is the ideal platform for the rapidly growing energy storage systems market, covering the entire supply chain of innovative battery and energy storage system technologies, from components to production to concrete examples of application. Intersolar Europe takes place annually at Messe München. It is the world’s largest exhibition for the solar industry and its partners. In 2013, 1,292 international exhibitors and round 50,000 trade visitors attended Intersolar Europe. The exhibition focuses on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies. Since its founding, it has become the most important industry platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners of the solar industry. In 2013, more than 400 speakers and around 2,000 attendees discussed current industry topics and shed light on the background of technological, market and political developments that are increasingly relevant. www.intersolar.de/en/intersolar-europe. html
JUNE 3-5 Energy Storage China Beijing, China China’s electricity network is the larg-
est in the world — not only in terms of the capacity of energy generation installations, but also of the actual amount of energy produced. China also has the world’s largest wind farms and the biggest capacities for producing photovoltaic modules, with the target to achieve 100GW wind integration in 2015 and reach 50GW PV integration in 2020. Energy storage has a huge potential to achieve high scale renewable integration. Energy Storage China 2014 will be the unique energy storage conference and expo in China. This is not just to motivate and influence policy makers, experts, decision makers and manufacturers in the renewable energy and energy storage industry in China. But it will also serve as a deal-making and business development platform, which will inherit the successful conference experience in 2012 and 2013 that China National Energy Storage Alliance has built up, integrated with the concept of global energy storage network based on a series of top events staged by Messe Düsseldorf and its premium partners in Germany, North America and India. www.escexpo.cn
SEPTEMBER 16-18 The Battery Show, Expo for Advanced Batteries Novi, Michigan, USA Taking place September 16-18 2014, in Novi, Detroit, Michigan, The Battery
EVENTS LISTINGS
Show 2014 is the premier showcase of the latest advanced battery technology. The exhibition hall offers a platform to launch new products, make new contacts and maintain existing relationships. With more qualified buyers and decision makers than any other event in North America, The Battery Show 2014 is the key to unlocking your future business opportunities. The Battery Show is attended by technical leaders, scientists, engineers, project leaders, buyers and senior executives concerned with advanced energy storage and will host the very latest advanced battery solutions for electric and hybrid vehicles, utility and renewable energy support, portable electronics, medical technology, military and telecommunications. www.thebatteryshow.com
SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 2 Energy Storage North America San Jose Convention Center, California (pictured) With the implementation of innovative policy throughout North America, there has never been a more exciting time to be in the energy storage industry. During this conference and expo, we will hear from leaders at the forefront
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of energy storage deployment and planning. Our 2014 program focuses on the convergence of transportation, distributed, and utility-scale applications. Our concurrent tracks will offer attendees a deep dive into the market structures, the policies powering them, and the opportunities to integrate projects of all sizes on the grid. Join us to build the ecosystem for grid-connected energy storage in San Jose, California. www.esnaexpo.com
example the electric mobility, energy supply and electrical engineering industries www.messe-stuttgart.de/en/wes/
NOVEMBER 6 Energy Storage Summit Japan Tokyo, Japan http://enstor.messe-dus.co.jp/
DECEMBER 3-5 2nd International Conference & Exhibition on Energy Storage and Microgrids in India
OCTOBER 16-18 Battery + Storage/World of Energy Solutions Messe Stuttgart, Germany
Kempinski Ambiance Hotel, New Delhi, India
The World of Energy Solutions is international trade fair and conference — and thus an important platform for speeding up the change to alternative energy sources. It addresses all players involved in the manufacturing of battery and energy storage systems for mobile and stationary implementation. All areas are dealt with, from raw materials to turnkey battery systems. The target groups include trade visitors from the storage system manufacturing industry, service providers, researchers and representatives of the most important user industries, for
Over three intensive days, the debut edition of Energy Storage India Conference and Exhibition came to a close on December 06, 2013 at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai attracting 306 delegates from 12 countries throughout the world. Jointly organized by Messe DĂźsseldorf India, Customized Energy Solutions and powered by India Energy Storage Alliance, ESI 2013 is the first energy storage conference and exhibition in India to focus exclusively on applications, customers and deal making.
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With the help of Oerlikon technologies, our customers are using less energy to produce textiles. The next generation of agricultural equipment will require less fuel thanks to Oerlikon’s improved synchronizers for transmission systems. Adapted from Oerlikon technology, electric cars equipped with a lighter gear shift will be able to travel farther, will provide a smoother ride and will no longer produce CO2 emissions. These are just a few examples of how we – through our innovative solutions for global growth markets, such as food, energy, clothing, electronics, transportation and infrastructure – are helping protect the environment and conserve resources.