Energy Storage Journal – Issue 13 Summer

Issue 13: Summer 2016

Charging the future – special supplement on global ees exhibition series

Coming soon to a utility near you ...

Virtual power plants to dominate business Risks and returns Project financiers weigh up the pros and cons of storage

Upside down on top Australia leads the way in making shift to renewable economy

Residential heaven Suppliers slug it out for next wave of products, market

to 2MW (up to 700V) • Single or dual circuit models available

w power to you! e A N • New over-current, EG ew

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CONTENTS COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS

50

LOADING WEIGHT TO TAKE WEIGHT OFF THE LOAD

Despite a proliferation of highly nuanced business models, utilities, solar-and-storage companies continue to fine-tune their approach to using energy storage as part of a virtual power plant.

NEW YORK PILOTS SOLAR-PLUS-STORAGE VPP

The REV initiative — the ‘reforming energy vision’ of New York State — has a virtual power plant pilot that may serve as the first steps to creating a template for the future.

Virtual power plants ... coming soon to a utility near you

EDITORIAL

50

2

Think big, think stupid — but leave a legacy…

PEOPLE 5 Amber Kinetics appoints Daniel Bakholdin as CTO • ILA appoints senior scientist for health • Lowry joins Nano One • UE Technologies appoints co-founder of ESA as president and former US Saft sales VP joins UniEnergy Technologies • Crown’s Blackwelder joins VSI as new CFO • Alevo appoints Dybwad as new chief executive officer • ViZn Energy appoints Williams and Bar-Lev to board positions • Leeward Renewable picks Wolf as new chief executive • American Lithium chooses Swan for advisory board • SunEdison appoints new finance heads, Dubel as Chapter 11 CEO • Leclanché chooses Feintuch Communications for North American PR • Manz joins Johnson Matthey • Axion Power appoints Corcoran as director and chair of audit committee

NEWS

11

TESTING ENERGY STORAGE FOR NEXT-GEN PRODUCT LINES

21

HYBRIDIZING ENERGY AND POWER FOR THE GRID

23

SOLAR-PLUS-STORAGE DOWN UNDER

26

Tesla acquisition of SolarCity provides yet another business model developing • Starwood Energy invests $100 million to Stem, brings project finance pool to $350 million • Greensmith Energy, Wärtsilä form partnership agreement • AGL prepares ‘world’s largest virtual power plant’ • Gaelectric to get further EU funds for CAES project • Imergy goes into ABC insolvency agreement — intellectual property and assets up for sale • EnSync sells first PPAs, opens up Hawaii • National Grid tenders for grid services problematic for developers RES snares battery project ahead of launch of UK’s frequency response market • Doosan acquires 1Energy, MESA co-founder Kaplan stays on as COO • GE Ventures takes stake in Sonnen

Craig Brunk, sales director at Bitrode talks about the current state of the testing market

Maxwell Technologies looks at how supercaps and storage work well together.

Australia has been widely hailed as the next place to be for PV uptake, now its uptake of solar plus storage is positive for the whole of Asia.

SPECIAL EES SUPPLEMENT

Bakholdin: fkywheel veteran moves to Amber Kinetics 5

Brunk: Challenges for next iteration of testing 21

31

Inside track of the stories behind the latest ees and Intersolar meetings in Munich and a look forward to the meetings in North America

RISK ASSESSMENT — THE KEY TO COMMERCIALLY VIABILITY

47

RESIDENTIAL SOLAR ON THE UP

61

CONFERENCE IN PRINT

66

EVENTS

71

Energy storage technology requires substantial financing and that means substantial risk The view from Standard & Poor’s

Market range expands as residential energy storage plunges ever onward

Advanced intermediate temperature sodium–nickel chloride batteries with ultra-high energy density.

Energy Storage Journal’s round-up of the most interesting conferences and exhibitions to attend in the coming six months www.energystoragejournal.com

Event success, location, location, location: Dubai 73

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 1

EDITORIAL Mike Halls, editor • mike@energystoragejournal.com

Think big, think stupid — but leave a legacy We were privileged to be among the elite few that witnessed the (then) signing of the largest loan in UK history. The year was 1987. And the largest ever syndicate of international banks — think Citi, JP Morgan, Chase Manhattan, Barclays, BNP, UBS — had gathered to agree an enormous project financing.

The project was to finance construction of a tunnel linking Britain to France. The facility was for £5 billion (then around $9 billion).

Such was the enthusiasm for the project that the lemming effect kicked in. In all, 170 international banks agreed to be part of the lending group. The French and the UK governments joined the party too.

And two years later the refinancings began. It was seemingly inevitable that it would end in tears and bankruptcy. It did.

What seemed odd about it — at least to those of us nifty with a calculator and with a healthy disregard for contractors’ promises of finishing on time — was that there seemed no way that these bankers would get their shareholders’ money back.

With interest rates in double digits the train line would have to make a profit — not turnover but profit — of $3 million a day just to stay even. Not forgetting the $9 billion of capital that would have to be repaid at some point.

Just think of the revenues needed to generate that!

I can’t remember our final guesstimate but we ended up reckoning that trains would have to run every hour around the clock and be completely full for the project to work. And, of course, any construction delays would be catastrophic. The slightest disruptions to the service would haemorrhage money.

In the end the tunnel came in some 80% over budget.

The bankers weren’t necessarily stupid. Their credit committees would have gone through the numbers in the same way that we did.

Their fault was that they suffered from that odd mix that characterizes humanity on the edge of gross stupidity — optimism, enthusiasm dashed with a mix of blind faith, resulting in delusion.

At the time of the decision about building the tunnel, 15.9 million passengers were predicted for Eurostar trains in the opening year. In 1995, the first full year, actual numbers were a little over 2.9 million, growing 2 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

to 7.1 million in 2000, then dropping to 6.3 million in 2003.

Academia has been fascinated by this. How could these experts get these projections so spectacularly wrong?

Danish economist Bent Flyvbjerg has spent most of the last two decades puzzling at humanity’s inability to understand this. His book, Megaprojects and Risk, an Anatomy of Ambition, looks at how strategic misrepresentation — deliberately mistaking the likely outcomes of planned actions — plays a part in huge project financings.

Flyvbjerg reckons that nine out of 10 mega-projects faces a cost overrun, with costs 50% higher than expected in real terms not unusual. And then, of course, there are the implications from all this and many of these are not so immediate to grasp.

So how does this fit into the energy storage industry now caught in a stupendous wave of enthusiasm for all things renewable?

The answer is a lot and a little. Energy storage at the residential level is now proving eminently bankable. The payback times are reasonable as is the initial outlay. But things get complicated when we start to talk project work on the large to very large scale. Building huge battery factories in the middle of the Nevada desert or trying to legislate 100% renewable energy powering the entire Hawaiian archipelago in a generation’s time, have a fanciful air to them.

Flyvbjerg talks about the “four sublimes”: the excitement of engineers and technologists building the newest or largest item of its kind; the rapture politicians receive from building monumental works that increase their public profile; the delight of businesses and trade unions generating money and jobs; and the aesthetic pleasure generated by iconically large design.

All this optimism contributes to overestimates of benefits and underestimates of cost.

Whether it’ll be fair to judge the Tesla giga-factory and now its spectacular take-over of SolarCity in the same way, is up in the air. The sums of money at stake are huge but so too are the returns possible. Serious investors have done their sums and the spread-sheets are positive. Oe to many they are.

One thing is for certain, the fate of Tesla and SolarCity are vitally dependent on the brand that can only be

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EDITORIAL Mike Halls, editor • mike@energystoragejournal.com called its founder Elon Musk. Public perception of him is directly reflected in the share price of the companies that he runs and his exuberant visionary approach to what he does is a genuine positive.

The economist Albert Hirschman decided that the underlying principle behind unsuccessful projects was “the hiding hand”— if people knew the actual costs of projects like these, they would never undertake any, so there must be a mechanism that hides this reality from people, engendering progress but also the occasional disaster.

Flyvbjerg argues instead that what is called for is greater and more detailed studies of why some huge projects succeed, while others don’t.

But as ever in the development of these things, the law of unintended consequences is at work. Wasted money is indeed wasted money but that’s not to say that everything is wasted.

The history of great ventures and the rise of great industries is littered with the legacies of what they leave behind.

The railway boom that littered the UK initially and later Europe and the US with unprofitable lines and massive shareholder losses also left an infrastructure that is recognisable today. It also made some of these pioneers, such as the so-called ‘robber barons’ in the US — think the ruthlessness of Vanderbilt — some of the richest in the world.

Some 20 years ago a similar territorial battle emerged — a race to put in place the huge fibre-optic highways across the western world that would serve the internet of the future. Huge investments were made, investor

support was massive but in the end the two major players for the space ran out of money.

The shareholders went bust but, like the millions that use the Channel Tunnel each year, their legacy was the hundreds of millions of miles of fibre-optic cable running through cities across the planet that we use today.

So as we see mankind’s energies invested (or frittered, if that’s your view) in the mega-giga-giga battery-making plants of the future, or the smartest of smart grids that will sweep across the planet, we’re not going to worry.

We don’t have to fear the consequences of these failures —as long as we’re not investors that is! — but rather we should just wonder about what legacy we and our children will inherit.

So to misquote the poet William Blake … “the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom”.

Let’s face the Next Big Battery Thing with optimism.

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Let cool heads prevail

Editor: Michaelstorage Halls,debate steps up a notch The lead-lithium mike@energystoragejournal.com +44 1 243 782 275 The new titan of lead Ecoult’s UltraBattery, ready to take lithium on, head-to-head

The CEO interview Anil Srivastava and Leclanché’s bid for market dominance

Next gen integrators Coming soon to a smart grid near you, the ideal middle man

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Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 3

POWERING THE SMART GRID www.energystoragejournal.com

Meet the team Issue 8: Spring 2015

Sara Verbruggen, Associate Editor Sara, one of the founding figures of Energy Storage Journal, has relocated back to England, and now works as our in-house adviser as well as a respected contributor to sister magazine, Batteries International.

Let cool heads prevail The lead-lithium storage debate steps up a notch The new titan of lead Ecoult’s UltraBattery, ready to take lithium on, head-to-head

The CEO interview Anil Srivastava and Leclanché’s bid for market dominance

Next gen integrators Coming soon to a smart grid near you, the ideal middle man

Mike Halls, Editor Mike, a former journalist with the UK newspaper the Financial Times, has been involved in journalism, publishing and print for three decades.

“I’m particularly fond of writing about the energy storage industry,” he says. “It’s an unusual mixture of being fast-paced but slow to change — and friendly too. There’s always something more to learn.”

Claire Ronnie, Office Manager and Subscriptions Claire’s our unflappable person — she’s the go-to girl for subscriptions or account enquiries.

Go ahead and challenge her!

Karen Hampton, Publisher In her recent years of working within the energy storage business Karen has become a well known figure at conferences — not least as our social butterfly. “My job,” she says, “is to get the maximum benefit for our advertisers to make sure their name and brand is out there, while maintaining the integrity, fairness and excellence our publications are renowned for.”

Antony Parselle, Page Designer Better known in the office as ‘Ant’ he’s been working in magazine design and layout since the early 1990s. Not so good on showing his best side however!

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June Moutrie, Business Development Manager She’s our accounting Wunderkind who deals with all things financial — a kind of mini Warren Buffett.

But more fun!

Jade Beevor, Advertising Manager Jade, who joined the team in early 2015, is already getting a feel for the industry.

“This is an incredible business we’re in,” she says. “These people are literally changing the future of our lives — and the planet too!”

Jan Darasz, Cartoonist Jan has won international fame as a cartoonist able to making anything — including an electrolyte! — funny. And as for LiCFePO4 ...

EDITORIAL Mike Halls +44 (0) 7977 016 918 editor@energystoragejournal.com

Wyn Jenkins, Supplements Editor Don’t let his boyish charm deceive, Wyn’s been a journalist and respected editor on major financial titles for some 20 years. When not heading his own publications firm, Seren Global Media, he looks after our supplements.

Kevin Desmond, Historian More than just a historian on energy storage and batteries as he’s written about many things. He’s the inspiration behind our Heroes of the Grid section.

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PEOPLE NEWS

Amber Kinetics appoints Daniel Bakholdin as CTO Daniel Bakholdin — a well known veteran in flywheel development and commercialization — was appointed chief technology officer for the US firm Amber Kinetics. He will be responsible for advancing the commercialization of the company’s four-hour discharge duration steel flywheel technology.

Ed Chiao, chief executive officer at Amber Kinetics said: “Bakholdin has been in the flywheel and turbo machinery industry for

more than 20 years and has shipped over 1,000 commercial flywheels. He brings major bona fides to our flywheel commercialization efforts.”

Bakholdin has 26 years of experience in engineering and management. He cofounded Pentadyne Power Corp, where he worked as vice president of mechanical engineering and later oversaw production engineering as vice president of sustaining engineering.

“Bakholdin has been in the flywheel and turbo machinery industry for more than 20 years and has shipped over 1,000 commercial flywheels. He brings major bona fides to our flywheel commercialization efforts.”

ILA appoints senior scientist for health Cris Williams has been appointed as the International Lead Association’s new senior scientist-health with responsibility for providing in depth expertise on toxicological science associated with lead exposures.

He will be based in ILA’s offices in North Carolina in the US. Williams previously worked for the consulting firm Ramboll Environ and has more than 21 years of experience in applied toxicology, quantitative risk assessment and public health.

He is a member of the Society of Toxicology and the author or co-author of more than 30 peerreviewed publications in toxicology and risk assessment. In addition, he has

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worked as a peer reviewer for several toxicology and risk assessment journals.

Williams will provide health science support for the lead industry and the lead battery industry and joins a team that includes Jasim Chowdhury who provides scientific support in the environmental area.

Steve Binks, ILA’s regulatory affairs director said “He joins ILA at a very opportune time with the health effects of lead taking centre stage in the regulatory landscape. His knowledge and experience will be critical for lead producers and downstream users to help ensure that any new regulations appropriately reflect the current science and are proportionate to the risks to human health.”

Pentadyne, now Powerthru, develops and manufactures flywheel energy storage systems for power quality and power recycling applications. Bakholdin invented or co-invented much of the technology utilized in Powerthru’s machines.

Bakholdin was previously a consultant to a range of power and energy tech startups. Concurrently, he was a director of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies magnetic propulsion and levitation development laboratory.

From 2012 to 2014, he was chief operating officer of Rotonix USA. Rotonix developed a 1MW energy storage flywheel system for power quality and recycling applications. Bakholdin orchestrated the company’s US-based R&D and Rotating Group production facility. He also oversaw the establishment and tooling of Rotonix China’s production facility in Beijing.

From 2008 to 2011, Bakholdin was chief operating officer at Advanced Turbine Designs, a company developing a 5kW microturbine gen-set for distributed power generation and residential combined heat and power applications.

He is also a co-founder and

Bakholdin: appointed chief technology officer for the US firm Amber Kinetics.

former president of Quadradyne (acquired by Pentadyne), the HEV project manager at Capstone Turbine Corp and manager of design engineering and testing at Rosen Motors, an innovative developer of flywheel power systems.

Amber Kinetics (formerly Berkeley Energy Sciences Corp), was co-founded by Ed Chiao and Seth Sanders, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California-Berkeley.

Amber Kinetics was incubated at the University of C a l i f o r n i a - B e r k e l e y ’s Skydeck before launching commercial operations in 2013.

Lowry joins Nano One For the record Joe Lowry joined Nano One as a strategic adviser to the company in April.

Lowry has worked for top lithium producers in the US, Japan and China, and, Nano One says the firm, “has extensive worldwide market experience, a large contact base and a good pulse on the lithium market”.

Lowry is widely respected and known as one of the world’s experts in the lithium sector.

After a two-decade tenure working in senior positions in leading international lithium companies, Lowry formed Global Lithium as an advisory firm in 2012.

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 5

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PEOPLE NEWS

UE Technologies appoints co-founder of ESA as president and former US Saft sales VP joins UniEnergy Technologies UniEnergy Technologies, the US Vanadium flow battery firm appointed Rick Winter, the chief operating officer in June as president with full P&L responsibility and accountability for daily operations of the company.

Winter continues as COO. Winter, a well known industry figure not least because of his role as a co-founder of the Electric Storage Association and his tenure as chairman of the body, has helped shape the industry’s embrace of energy storage.

He joined UET in 2013 and subsequently managed the launch of UET’s product lines, the Uni.System and the ReFlex, and guided the company from a standing start to 80MWh in deployments, orders, and awards.

“UET is now tripling its manufacturing and engineering floor space to meet growing demand and enable 100MW annual production at its current facility,” says the firm.

Winter has 28 years’ experience innovating and implementing grid storage technologies. He has been a driving force in the transition of the grid storage industry from its early stages, to the strategic imperative for grid flexibility and the stability it has today.

During this time, he helped build the US Electricity Storage Association from its inception in 1991, serving twice as chairman and as a board member for 18 years.

In 2011, he was awarded the Phil Symons award for his “instrumental role in the evolution of storage technologies in both the utility and battery manufacturing industries”.

With a focus on producti-

zation, Winter has hands-on experience evaluating grid impacts of distributed generation systems including batteries, flywheels, microturbines, photovoltaics and diesel generators.

Winter’s background ranges from managing the storage technologies programme at Pacific Gas & Electric, America’s largest investor-owned utility, to deploying remote area hybrid power systems in Australia’s Torres Strait.

He has led product development at five advanced battery companies, in the process creating the world’s first flow battery product by leveraging advanced zinc-bromide technology from Austria (the 100kW/100kWh PowerBlock), and leading development of iron-chromium batteries for cell towers in India.

Winter invented the single loop flow battery membrane in his garage (Patent number 8039161), going on to found Primus Power and raise $30 million in capital.

He holds 17 US patents and numerous abroad with a further 10 US patents pending.

Winter led the innovation team that created the world’s first commercial flow battery product (the 100kW PowerBlock) while he was vice president of engineering at PowerCell.

At the end of June UET appointed Blake Frye, former vice president for sales for Saft America, as its senior vice president of global sales. Frye will be in charge of deployment and sales of UET’s vanadium flow energy storage systems.

“Frye’s broad industry experience and technical expertise makes him uniquely

8 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

Winter: ESA co-founder

Frye: new senior sales VP

qualified to provide value to customers, end-users, and channel partners, as well as to advise on the advantages of flow batteries compared with other technologies,” says UET. Frye started as a sales manager with Saft in 2001 becoming a vice president for sales and marketing in North America in 2004, a director of Saft Group in 2007 and finally a VP of sales for energy storage in 2010 where he led the creation and growth of its energy storage business.

“He closed multiple largescale contracts with utilities, renewable developers, transit authorities, and the US Department of Defence, with projects located in California, Hawaii, the northeastern US, Alaska, Arizona, Canada, Bolivia, Mexico, and the Caribbean basin,” says the firm.

Earlier in his 15-year career at Saft, Frye managed marketing, business development, and communications for two Saft international business units selling lithium and nickel metal hydride batteries with over $400 million in annual revenues.

Frye has extensive technical expertise from his six years at Energizer from 1995, where he was responsible for product development including novel technologies for new

rechargeable battery products.

Frye holds three US patents, and his team at Saft was recognized by the Energy Storage Association in 2015 with the Brad Roberts Outstanding Industry Achievement Award.

“After many years of direct interactions with customers, it is clear the advanced vanadium flow batteries developed at UET and now deployed at megawatt-scale are an industry game-changer,” said Frye.

UET’s core technology is a so-called third generation vanadium flow battery, with a breakthrough electrolyte first developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with support from the US Department Of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

“Our vanadium flow energy storage systems partner well with solar energy because of the long-life of the batteries and their ability to facilitate the integration of increasing renewable resources into the grid,” says Frye. “By working together with a leading utility and national laboratories, we will develop metrics for evaluating renewable energy and storage integration and demonstrate the benefits of leading energy storage technology to the US’s grid modernization efforts.”

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PEOPLE NEWS Crown’s Blackwelder joins VSI as new CFO Jesse Blackwelder took over as chief financial officer of VSI Global — a portfolio company of investment firms Lakewood Capital, and Spartacus — on July 11. He was most recently CFO of Crown Battery Manufacturing, where he headed the company’s finance function, including numerous data analysis initiatives that contributed to the company achieving the highest profits in its history.

Roger Knight, managing partner of Lakewood Capital and Spartacus Partners, said, “Since our acquisition of VSI Global in February 2015, we have been putting in place the infrastructure and building blocks to ensure state-of-the-art service.

Blackwelder is an integral part of that process.”

Alevo appoints Dybwad as new chief executive officer

Dybwad: heads executive team

Alevo appointed Per Dybwad in May as its chief executive while the founder and executive chairman Jostein Eikeland passes on his CEO responsibilities to Dybwad.

Dybwad was elected to the Alevo board of directors in March. He joins from Dentware Scandinavia where he was CEO and director of the publicly traded 3D printing company.

He has previously worked for a short time at Maxwell Technologies, the ultracapacitor firm as director of sales, marketing and business development for the firm’s high voltage business unit. “Dybwad will lead the executive team, initially focusing on achieving the company’s manufacturing and commercial development and global deployment,” says the firm.

“Dybwad brings over 30 years’

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international management experience to Alevo and his expertise includes energy distribution and storage, medtech and pharma, environmental technology, materials science, financial services and consumer goods.

ViZn Energy appoints Williams and Bar-Lev to board positions

decades’ experience in renewables, was most recently president of Duke Energy Renewables. At Duke he headed the integrated renewable energy business which Leeward says delivered high growth results and a strong operational track record.

Before that he was senior vice president of development for Duke Energy’s commercial unit, where he created Duke Energy’s solar and biomass business and managed a national development pipeline.

He has also been a vice president of General Electric’s Power Systems business as well as GE Capital Group.

American Lithium chooses Swan for advisory board

Williams: strategic advisory experience

ViZn Energy Systems, the zinc/iron flow battery firm. has appointed Kent Williams to the company’s board of directors. Joshua Bar-Lev has joined ViZn’s advisory board.

Williams is a strategic adviser to several alternative energy companies focused on plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV) drive trains and new battery technologies.

Bar-Lev was the vice president of regulatory affairs for BrightSource Energy, a builder of utility-scale solar power plants, from its start-up in 2004 until he retired in May 2011.

He was responsible for government relations, regulatory policy and permitting for BrightSource and was on their executive management committee. Previously, he was chief counsel at the Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

“Williams and Bar-Lev have over 80 years of successful leadership roles and strategic business experience in the energy industry and are heavyhitters in the business world and each possesses impressive energy industry experience,” said ViZn chief executive Ron Van Dell.

Leeward Renewable picks Wolf as new chief executive Leeward Renewable Energy, an affiliate of ArcLight Capital, appointed Gregory Wolf in July as its chief executive officer.

Wolf, who has more than two

American Lithium has appointed lithium battery expert, David Swan to the company’s advisory board.

Swan has more than 30 years’ professional experience in clean and efficient energy conversion and storage systems, specializing in the design and application of lithium battery technology for automotive and aerospace applications.

“Swan is internationally recognized for his research, development and commercialization of advanced energy storage systems and has consulted to all major global automotive and supplier companies including BMW, Toyota, Honda, Chrysler, Daimler, General Motors and Ballard Power Systems,” says American Lithium.

In 2006, the California Air Resources Board appointed Swan to its Zero Emission Vehicle Expert Review Panel where he liaised with all leading technology developers and every major automobile manufacturer.

Between 1995-2000, Swan was chief scientist at AeroVironment, a technology company working on electric transportation as well as unmanned aircraft systems for the US defence department.

He was responsible for energy storage activities including development and testing of battery systems for electric and hybrid vehicles including all aspects of General Motors’ hybrid vehicle battery programme, and development of fuel cell and hydrogen storage systems for AeroVironment’s solar-powered aircraft.

His pedigree is impressive. Swan was appointed to the Technical Committee of the US governmentindustry R&D initiative, Partnership for A New Generation of Vehicles,

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 9

PEOPLE NEWS a cooperative research programme between the government and USCAR (the US Council for Automotive Research).

He has also been appointed to the California South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) Locomotive Propulsion Task Force and is a past member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Swan has seven patents in his field with others pending. He is the author of over 40 published papers on fluid mechanics, applied electrochemistry and electric vehicle technology, and has contributed to numerous textbooks.

SunEdison appoints new finance heads, Dubel as Chapter 11 CEO

on matters related to restructuring.

Dubel will report directly to SunEdison’s board of directors.

In June SunEdison appointed new heads for its finance team, including Philip Gund, as chief financial officer and Salvatore LoBiondo as a senior vice president and corporate controller Gund and LoBiondo are senior managing directors with Ankura Consulting Group, a business advisory and expert services firm.

Gund is a senior managing director of Ankura Consulting Group, with more than 30 years of professional experience, including 26 working with debtor companies, creditors, investors, and court-appointed officials. He was most recently chief restructuring officer at Vivaro Corporation, one of the largest pre-paid phone card companies, and as an adviser to Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, an alternative energy construction company.

LoBiondo is a senior managing director of Ankura Consulting Group and has led restructurings across diverse industries, often working in advisory and interim management roles.

Leclanché chooses Feintuch Communications for North American PR Chatila: steps down

SunEdison appointed John Dubel as its chief executive officer, effective from June 22. He takes over from Ahmad Chatila, the former president and CEO who steps down that day.

Dubel will continue as SunEdison’s chief restructuring officer. The firm is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. He started at the firm at the end of April.

Chatila joined SunEdison in 2009 and led the company through a series of aggressive acquisitions where, some critics say, that made the company grow too quickly. In 2009, semiconductor company MEMC Electronic Materials spent $200 million buying solar startup SunEdison, which was founded by entrepreneur Jigar Shah. In 2013, the conglomerate changed its name to SunEdison, and in 2015 sold off its semiconductor business, choosing to focus solely on clean energy.

Dubel has over 30 years’ experience advising boards and companies

10 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

Leclanché, the Swiss battery energy storage system provider, has hired Feintuch Communications for what it calls, “its public relations agency of record for corporate and trade public relations in North America”.

Leclanché recently established a North American subsidiary in Dallas headed by Bryan Urban. “The North American market represents a tremendous growth opportunity for Leclanché as the demand for stationary and mobile battery energy storage systems has increased exponentially in the last few years,” said Urban.

Manz joins Johnson Matthey

Anna Manz will join Johnson Matthey’s board of directors in October, succeeding Den Jones as group finance director. Jones had announced in March his intention to step down as group finance director; he left the company at the end of July.

Manz joins from Diageo where she was group strategy director and a member of Diageo’s executive committee.

Alta Energy takes Bettis as sales VP Alta Energy, a solar analytics and procurement company has recruited Mark Bettis as vice president of sales.

Bettis was previously vice president of sales and marketing for REC Solar, a firm providing grid-tied solar electric design and installation for commercial customers nationwide.

His solar experience includes sales and marketing positions at SunLink, Tioga Energy, Delta Electronics and Schott Solar.

Axion Power appoints Corcoran as director and chair of audit committee

Corcoran: board director

Axion Power International appointed Michael Corcoran in May as a board director and chairman of the audit committee.

Corcoran is a partner with GVP Partners a company he founded in 2008 to provide governance, risk and compliance advisory services. He has helped several global companies implement and operate automated enterprise risk and compliance programs.

Before GVP Partners, he was a partner with Deloitte & Touche from 2005 to 2008 and headed the business risk advisory practice along the US east coast.

Separately the firm announced in April that it had appointed Richard Bogan as its new chief executive and chairman with Donald Farley, as its vice chairman.

Axion said: “The realignment is consistent with the company’s traditional combination of the CEO and chairman roles and is as a result of the transfer of leadership responsibilities to Bogan. Farley will continue to play a prominent role as vice chairman and will focus on strategic growth initiatives and partnering opportunities.”

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NEWS

Tesla acquisition of SolarCity provides yet another business model developing Tesla Motors agreed in August to buy SolarCity, the US’s largest rooftop solar installer for $2.6 billion. Although not finalized as Energy Storage Journal went to press, the acquisition offers a more comprehensive business model for energy storage in the future.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and also chairman of SolarCity, says he expects two-thirds of shareholders to approve the deal which should be finalized in the last quarter of the year.

“Essentially it’s yet another step in the evolution of Tesla. Initially it was a car company making high-end electric vehicles, it then morphed — probably predictably — into that of a lithium ion contract battery manufacturer capable of feeding the Teslas with the EV batteries at a competitive (if as yet unproven) rate,” says one commentator.

“As part of the volumes required to realise the economies of scale needed for the EV side to work, the company moved the excess volumes — these are potential volumes — into the residential side of the renewables business with its PowerWall.

“It may have been effective but it wasn’t a particularly subtle move on Tesla’s part, the market for residential storage of renewables, at least in the last year or so has been swept by competitors. Sonnen, for example, is disposing of something like 10,000 units this year.”

According to Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and chairman of SolarCity — he owns roughly a fifth in each company according to S&P’s Global Market Intelligence — the deal was a “no brainer” in what it provided.

“We would be the world’s only vertically integrated energy company offer-

ing end-to-end clean energy products to our customers. This would start with the car that you drive and the energy that you use to charge it, and would extend to how everything else in your home or business is powered,” he said.

More simply, it would be one-stop shopping for renewables — you’d buy the panels for the roof and their installation, store their energy in the PowerWall, which would then look after the house’s power needs — and then plug in your Tesla, or EV, to take you to work or shopping.

Which sounds brilliantly simple.

However, there are too many variants in the business model that cause complications from the price of energy.

Predictably analysts have a huge range of opinions over the acquisition. Some say Tesla should focus more on making its car products successful before assuming more debt. Others talk about it being a bail-out of SolarCity.

Initial reaction to the talk of the merger was negative and Tesla stock fell 10% in the week of the announcement.

Both companies “are burning cash at a furious rate,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “SolarCity went through $2.6 billion in 2015 while Tesla spent $2.2 billion.” But that was well known already. Another analyst called the acquisition a bail out of what was effectively a sister firm to Tesla.

In one sense the debt levels are a side issue — albeit an important one. SolarCity has over $6 billion in liabilities, according to Reuters, the news agency, but these are balanced by regular and predictable income streams. SolarCity is however the largest player in the US

residential market with roughly a third of all the business.

There are synergies too. A joint company might be able to achieve cost savings of over $150 million in the first full year after closing the transaction, Musk said. The merger could fix this, transforming Tesla’s roughly 200 showrooms around the world into one-stop shops for homeowners and motorists.

The biggest area of savings may come from lowering SolarCity’s cost to obtain customers by using Tesla’s strong brand recognition on top of its retail store locations.

Moreover, it’s the potential income that continue to stop Tesla’s buoyant share price from slipping too far.

Musk’s vision — and a noble one, despite the excessive hype — is dependent on a host of variables varying from the appetite of consumers wanting to move to an electric vehicle and also adopting a home residential system and the price of solar at the time.

As a brand name, and one of a small group of market leaders, the acquisition is more related to the reputation of Musk as the great innovator rather than the vulnerability his companies have in terms of sales, the arrival of new technologies, and at its simplest, its affordability.

From SolarCity’s viewpoint it can only succeed if it gets bigger. In a June interview Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity said the company wants to function at some point as a distributed power plant that, using its network of panels and batteries.

To do that, it needs a lot of SolarCity panels and Tesla batteries in a lot of homes.

Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity said the company wants to function at some point as a distributed power plant that, using its network of panels and batteries. To do that, it needs a lot of SolarCity panels and Tesla batteries in a lot of homes.

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Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 11

April 4 - 6, 2017

Sindelfingen, Stuttgart, Germany Europe’s exhibition and conference for advanced battery manufacturing and technology “The Battery Show has become the must-attend event for the industry and we recognize the EU is a gateway to the Asian markets” Jeff Norris, CEO, Paraclete Energy

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www.evtechexpo.eu steve.bryan@smartershows.com + 44 (0) 1273 916 316

NEWS

Starwood Energy invests $100 million to Stem, brings project finance pool to $350 million Stem, the US software-driven energy storage company, announced mid-August that its project financing pool now exceeds $350 million following the addition of up to $100 million in new money from investment affiliates of Starwood Energy Group Global, a private investment firm focused on energy infrastructure.

John Carrington, CEO of, Stem plans to use its pool of capital to support project finance deals for its projects.

Each of these is set up as a special purpose entity that is funded through non-recourse project financing. The project company then signs a lease for Stem’s so-called “storage-as-a-service”.

Stem created its energy storage project financing model in 2013 and says it is now the global leader in energy storage for commercial and industrial facilities with more than 75MWh of projects deployed or under

contract across more than 480 locations across the US. GTM Research estimates that the firm has more than a 50% share of the behind the meter market.

“Third-party financing enables companies such as Safeway, Wells Fargo, and Adobe to subscribe to our storage-as-a-service solution with no upfront costs for equipment or installation,” says the firm. “Customers benefit from intelligent storage that automatically reduces energy use during peak demand times, lowers monthly electricity bills by up to 20%, and provides a revenue stream from services that help balance the electric grid.”

Madison Grose, a senior managing director at Starwood Energy said: “Distributed energy resources such as those provided by Stem will be part of the foundation of the future electric grid. The Stem financing

is an attractive investment that facilitates lower energy storage costs and wider adoption of clean energy solutions — it’s a win/win for our investors, Stem’s customers and the environment.”

According to a GTM Research, the US market for behind-the-meter energy storage grew more than 400% in 2015. By 2021, this sector is expected to account for up to 49% of the total energy storage market.

“This financing vehicle gives our customers access to capital and allows them to achieve the benefits of intelligent energy storage without making a major investment,’ said Carrington.

“Support from Starwood Energy helps solidify Stem’s position as a well financed, industry leader in providing intelligent energy storage solutions.”

As Stem brings on more storage projects, Carrington

Greensmith Energy, Wärtsilä form partnership agreement Greensmith Energy, one of the largest US providers of energy storage software and integration services, entered into a cooperation agreement with Wärtsilä, the international technology firm, in July.

This enables Wärtsilä to deliver energy storage systems integrated with solar PV, and Wärtsilä Smart Power Generation power plants, jointly forming a hybrid energy solution.

Greensmith will provide its GEMS software platform to provide the control for the system. Wärtsilä, a company known for its multifuel power plants, says it will leverage its installed base and provide global EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) and

O&M (operation and maintenance) services to customers worldwide.

The two firms said: “As a combined market solution, Wärtsilä and Greensmith will provide sustainable, reliable, and affordable power — particularly in countries and regions with limited or small electrical grids.”

Separately, Greensmith Energy launched its behindthe-meter energy storage solution, Omni4 in June.

Greensmith’s Omni4 is a plug-and-play product suitable for a variety of customers including utilities, developers, building operators and energy partners. Omni4 comes in four configurable sizes — 100kW, 250kW, 500kW and 1MW. All Omni4 systems come

14 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

deployment ready and include fully-integrated outdoor-rated enclosures, batteries, AC/DC protection, power conversion, thermal management, fire suppression and advanced software controls.

Greensmith announced mid-August that AltaGas has selected the firm as the software provider and system integrator for a 20MW/80MWh system in Pomona, California. The project will be put on a fasttrack basis and the firms say they expect this to be completed by the end of the year.

The firm says it is now on track to install 200MW of cumulative operating capacity. It was recently voted as being one of the fastest growing energy storage companies.

hopes to reduce the firm’s cost of capital by adding economies of scale and demonstrating the validity of its business model to a wider audience of investors.

Carrington says Stem has already cut itss cost of capital in half over the past 18 months.

Stem was one of 10 winners of an auction to supply demand response to Consolidated Edison. Under the agreement with Con Ed, Stem will install up to 857kW of battery storage in New York City by 2018.

Last November, Southern California Edison awarded Stem a contract to provide 85MW of distributed behind-the-meter storage for buildings in the West Los Angeles Basin.

For customers, Stem’s battery systems are similar to a demand response service.

It can shave peak load and capture savings from avoided demand charges. Aggregating its grid management tools across multiple customers, Stem can then turn around and offer to help utilities manage their grid.

Stem’s primary project financing comes from Generate Capital, a specialty finance company. Generate’s work with Stem brings a version of the solar financing model to energy storage, supporting its mission to rebuild energy systems using high-impact, proven technology solutions. Other project financing is also provided by Clean Feet Investors.

In addition to Starwood Stem is funded by a consortium of investors including Angeleno Group, Iberdrola (Inversiones Financieras Perseo) GE Ventures, Constellation Technology Ventures, Total Energy Ventures, Mitsui, RWE Supply & Trading, and Mithril Capital Management

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NEWS

AGL prepares ‘world’s largest virtual power plant’ Australia energy retailer AGL, working with the federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), is commissioning Sunverge Energy, the Californian energy storage firm, to develop what it says will be the world’s largest virtual power plant.

“This project is the world’s largest, the first of its kind and an innovative solution to both help customers manage their energy bills and at the same time contribute to grid stability,” said AGL chief executive Andy Vesey.

“This project is core to our strategy of being a manager of distributed energy resources. It also leverages our investment in Sunverge and helps us to continue to improve the digital customer experience.”

Sunverge and AGL have partnered on storage installations in Australia since 2015, and earlier this year AGL became an investor in Sunverge.

The AGL virtual power plant will be capable of storing 7MWh of energy, with an output equivalent to a 5MW solar peaking plant — this is enough power for 1,000 homes. It will also provide greater grid stability, demonstrate alternative ways to manage peaks in demand and support the higher penetration of intermittent, renewable generation on the grid.

The project will be rolled out in three phases over a period of approximately 18 months. In the first phase, running until April 2017, the first 150 customers in metropolitan Adelaide will be eligible to buy a discounted Sun-

verge SIS 5kW/7.7kWh energy storage system for A$3,500 ($2,700) which includes hardware, software and installation.

“For customers with sufficient excess solar generation, this is expected to result in a seven-year payback period,” says AGL. “Consumers currently without solar will be able to purchase a solar system of the appropriate size for their needs with their battery.”

Later phases will see an offering to narrower zones within metropolitan Adelaide where peak demand management and other network support services can be demonstrated.

AGL says it hopes the project can show how relationships between electricity networks, retailers, consumers and the market operator can create new

sources of value and stability in a renewable energy future.

The overall project cost is approximately A$20 million, with ARENA providing conditional approval of A$5 million as part of its Advancing Renewables Program, which aims to support the penetration of renewables on the grid.

“The AGL and ARENA Virtual Power Plant is remarkable today, but in five years’ time large-scale VPPs will be everywhere,” said Ken Munson, cofounder and CEO of Sunverge Energy.

“By helping to build a stronger, more efficient and more reliable grid, VPPs deliver tremendous value to utilities, their customers and the environment.”

Sunverge has deployed hundreds of Solar Integration Systems in Australia and New Zealand, reducing peak load by 48% and providing more than 6,100 hours of backup power over the past 12 months.

Gaelectric to get further EU funds for CAES project Gaelectric, the Irish renewable energy and energy storage group, announced in August it is to receive some €8.28 million ($9.4 million) in funding from the European Union to develop a compressed-air energy storage (CAES) in Larne, Northern Ireland.

The 330MW project had already been designated as a European Project of Common Interest in 2013, and had been awarded EU grant support of €6.5 million for front-end engineering and design studies. This latest award is for the drilling of an appraisal well, and detailed studies into the design and commercial structure of the project.

This facility will generate up to 330MW of power for periods of up to six hours.

It will create demand of

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up to 200MW during its compression cycle. This is enough to meet the electricity needs of more than 200,000 homes, and create demand on the system of 250MW.

The project involves the creation of two storage caverns within salt deposits which are a feature of the east Antrim coastal areas of Northern Ireland. These caverns will be located at

depths of greater than 1400 metres below ground.

The project has been designed to allow its replication at other suitable sites in the UK and the European mainland.

Kokam to build 36MW ESS for Kepco South Korea’s largest utility, Korea Electric Power Corporation — better known as Kepco — has awarded Kokam a contract to develop a 36MW/13MWh energy Storage System (ESS) for frequency regulation at the Non-Gong substation in South Korea.

Work started in June and should be completed by the end of the year.

The project features a combination of two

Kokam lithium ion battery technologies: its ultra high power nickel manganese cobalt battery technology and its NANO battery technology.

This is not Kokam’s first project with Kepco.

In March, Kokam announced that it had deployed two ultra high power nickel manganese cobalt batteries (a 24MW/9MWh and a 16MW/6MWh system) along with a

16MW/5MWh lithium titanate oxide system.

This provides Kepco with 56MW of energy storage capacity for frequency regulation.

When the new 36MW ESS project is completed, Kokam will have deployed 92MW of energy storage capacity for frequency regulation for Kepco, and the total worldwide capacity of ESSs using its batteries will total 132MW.

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 15

NEWS

Certainty is needed on future frequency response capacity, for the UK storage market to thrive.

UK’s National Grid tenders for grid services problematic for developers UK aggregator Smartest Energy has called for the UK’s National Grid to provide more certainty on future frequency response capacity, for the emerging energy storage market to grow. International interest is high given that this is a stepping stone that all mature renewable energy markets must cross.

Smartest Energy published its findings in mid-August following a survey of 45 energy storage developers about the barriers to commercialization. The key findings are that there are too few National Grid contracts and those that are being awarded are too short.

The biggest revenue opportunity available to developers will be from

16 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

providing grid services, chiefly the new enhanced frequency response (EFR) market, with most developers pursuing this opportunity.

National Grid will announce the winners of the first 200MW EFR auction on August 26.

However, with the pipeline of battery projects estimated to be at least 1GW, a lot of storage capacity will remain untapped because of the limited availability of contracts.

A big issue for developers seeking to commercialize energy storage in the UK is the four years of guaranteed revenue from the EFR market.

Unless assets can achieve a return in that time — highly unlikely at current

battery prices — developers have to look at other sources of income. But these are not guaranteed and in some cases income is reduced by environmental levies.

While most of the developers surveyed by Smartest Energy believe a return on investment can be realised in five to 10 years, there is an inherent risk in developing and raising finance for batteries where these other revenue sources are not guaranteed.

During the first four years of the asset’s operational lifetime — the contractual period for ER services — its ability to earn other revenues is limited.

“It will depend upon whether Na-

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NEWS

tional Grid chooses to contract for long continuous periods of EFR service from storage owners or is willing to accept a mix of offers covering different periods of the day which could enable contracted storage owners to use their assets for other purposes when not committed to providing EFR services,” says Kevin Magner, director, financial advisory, government and infrastructure, at Deloitte in London.

The consultancy provides financial advisory and other services to firms in the renewables and energy storage sectors.

Storage assets’ operational lifetimes are at least 10 years, so they could access other revenues after the end of the

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four year EFR contract period. For example, their owners could bid into subsequent EFR or other grid service tenders also, one of which is firm frequency response. However, this is not guaranteed.

“Our assumption is EFR will eventually replace firm frequency response, since less of it will be required,” says Robert Owens, vice president of demand side management at Smartest Energy.

In designing the EFR market, National Grid has made sure that at least 1GW of enhanced frequency response — where storage devices, such as batteries, have to react within sub-second timeframes to inject power into the grid to correct imbalances — can be provided without causing problems to the power system, which also means that EFR can be, in future, a standard product much like firm frequency response is today.

By the time of the next EFR bidding round, which will be from 2018, and is expected to be in the region of 400MW, technological advances, or reductions in production costs, may make newer storage systems more competitive by then, which may mean assets built for the first round are unable to provide the service competitively.

“We would expect bidders that can mobilize capital that is willing to take a positive view on the ability of storage assets to earn sufficient revenues both in the EFR contract period and in other markets, later, over the economic life of the assets will be well placed in the EFR tender competition,” says Magner.

In general, the longer the period over which costs can be amortized then the lower the required year-by-year revenues. “This is likely to be linked to where the storage assets are deployed and their suitability for accessing other markets such as load shifting for large power consumers or enabling large renewable generators to offer fixed levels of output for more of each day,” Magner says.

He also points to other unique advantages of battery storage, which installed as a containerized product can be redeployed physically more easily than most forms of generation, and is also less intrusive.

While some of these other commercial opportunities help to mitigate the risk for storage owners, from Smartest Energy’s discussions with developers for the survey, Owens says most have come up with projects for direct grid

connection, as opposed to co-locating storage with existing renewable generators.

“This is due in part to intensive focus on the EFR market as National Grid may opt to select bids for projects that are dedicated 24/7 to providing this service. Also co-locating with wind or solar can interfere with renewables payments,” says Owens.

Because four years of guaranteed revenues is not enough to make project financing, a type of debt financing instrument for raising capital to build large energy and infrastructure projects, developers and investors have had to look at alternative financing options.

“In general the storage opportunity looks at this stage to require more entrepreneurial forms of equity and mezzanine-style debt, or corporate financing,” says Magner.

“That will almost certainly change as the market matures and the senior debt proposition becomes clearer, better understood, and larger in volume. The key is mobilizing capital that has confidence in the long term revenue potential of the storage assets, based on their physical operating life, and will accept repayment, refinancing or returns linked to that.”

Smartest Energy has been working with developers on a commercial framework for energy storage projects in the UK. From its discussions the company expects that National Grid may spread contracts out among developers so there might be as many as 20 awarded for servicing the 200MW EFR market.

“EFR is a testing exercise for National Grid, as much as one of procurement, so it may be in future that as revenue streams settle and other factors are considered, such as how far battery prices come down, that bigger projects will prevail in later EFR bidding rounds,” says Owens.

Smartest Energy, which purchases electricity from independent renewable generators, equivalent to 13% of the UK’s independent renewable capacity, is not an investor in any of the EFR projects. “We produced the survey from the stance of a service provider,” says Owens.

The company has been working with the energy storage industry for the past three years, when it partnered UK Power Networks to provide a supply and offtake agreement for the distribution network operator’s 6MW battery in Leighton Buzzard, England.

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 17

NEWS

Imergy goes into ABC insolvency agreement — intellectual property and assets up for sale Sherwood Partners, the US insolvency adviser, has been engaged by Imergy, the vanadium flow battery firm, to market and sell the company’s assets. On July 18 Imergy entered into an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC), a form of insolvency under Californian state law.

The collapse of Imergy had been widely anticipated. It follows the collapse of solar firm, SunEdison in the spring.

Imergy had been partnered with SunEdison on a huge Indian rural electrification programme where SunEdison had agreed to buy up to

1,000 of Imergy’s 30kw units over the next three years.

SunEdison was an equity investor in Imergy.

Last December the firms announced they were working together on a 5MW/20MWh flow battery for the Independent Electricity System Operator, an Ontario, Canada utility.

Sherwood says now that it is the so-called “assignee” of Imergy, “we take control and work through the problems of the company. These problems are transferred to the assignee. The management team, investors and the board can then move forward with their lives and

everyday business. Also, the personal liability of directors and officers for running an insolvent company ceases to be an issue once the assignment of assets occurs.”

Imergy has ceased operations and dismissed its staff.

However, some key former employees to help with the sale of the intellectual property and related assets.

Some of the claims such as the ability to cut the cost of manufacturing the batteries from $500kWh to under $300kWh were contentious.

The IP could well provoke interest given Imergy, which was part of Deeya Energy until 2013, had distinct dif-

ferences from other flow battery firms. It originally worked on an iron-chromium chemistry but shifted to vanadium three years ago. It moved from using sulphuric acid as an electrolyte to another electrolyte developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

One advantage was its ability to use so-called “dirty vanadium”. It claimed to be the first flow battery company able to use secondary resources of vanadium from mining slag, fly ash and other environmental waste. The battery could stay stable up to 55°C without the need for cooling.

EnSync sells first PPAs, opens up Hawaii EnSync Energy Systems, the US energy management system company, announced in August the sale of multiple projects in Hawaii to AEP OnSite Partners, a subsidiary of American Electric Power.

The sale of these projects is EnSync Energy’s first transaction of a portfolio of project power purchase agreements (PPAs) and includes a major portion of EnSync Energy’s PPA backlog reported at the end of our third quarter.

The first solar-plus-storage PPA is a watershed moment for Hawaii, which has one of the most aggressive renewable portfolio standards in the US. In June last year it signed into a law a target of using 100% renewable energy for its electricity by 2045.

All of the systems are sited behind-the-meter at condominiums or university campus buildings on Oahu and the Island of Hawaii, and represent the first ever solar plus storage PPAs in Hawaii.

EnSync will provide project services through a contract

with AEP OnSite Partners.

“We’re very pleased to complete this transaction with AEP OnSite Partners, a recognized leader in renewable energy investments and this sale, which could be the first of its kind in the renewable energy market, and provides validation of our PPA business model,” says Brad Hansen, chief executive of EnSync Energy.

“When we entered the Hawaiian market with our PPA business model featuring

leading energy management and energy storage systems, it was novel and unique in the islands. Since that time our pipeline and backlog of PPAs has continued to build and we look forward to continuing this growth over the coming quarters and years.”

EnSync Energy has built a position in the Hawaiian market, and through its subsidiary company, Holu Energy, has developed a project pipeline in the islands.

These projects are the first

AMS tied up with Opus One Advanced Microgrid Solutions, a developer of energy storage systems for electric utility grid support, and Opus One Solutions, a smart grid software engineering company, agreed a tie-up in July to provide utilities with a platform for real-time management and optimization of the

18 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

electric grid.

AMS and Opus One say they will pair advanced energy storage systems with real-time grid level energy management software to bring utilities grid visibility, control, and optimization. This will support widespread deployment and operation of distributed energy

integrated solar and storage projects in Hawaii.

In 2015, EnSync incorporated power purchase agreements into its portfolio of offerings, enabling electricity savings for customers and providing a stable financial yield for investors. EnSync is a global corporation, with a joint venture in AnHui, China at Meineng Energy, as well as a strategic partnership with Solar Power.

EnSync was formerly known as ZBB Energy. resources, including renewable energy.

“In addition to the benefits to utilities, the solutions provided by AMS and Opus One will help customers optimize their energy strategies while contributing to a stronger, more resilient grid,” they say.

“This partnership gives AMS and Opus One a competitive edge in

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NEWS

Doosan acquires 1Energy, MESA co-founder Kaplan stays on as COO Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, a Koreabased power generation technology firm, acquired US-firm 1Energy Systems in mid-July. 1Energy was founded in 2011 to develop the software needed to automatically integrate distributed energy resources into electric power systems.

1Energy will be renamed Doosan GridTech and will remain in Seattle, operating as a new business division of DHIC. “By accelerating the growth of 1Energy, the acquisition furthers Doosan’s expansion into technology solutions to manage and operate an increasingly digital, distributed electric grid,” say the two firms.

Daejin Choi, vice president of DHIC for nearly

seven years, will relocate to Seattle to become CEO of Doosan GridTech. New Doosan GridTech employees will be hired in Seattle, joining 1Energy employees and Doosan personnel relocating from Korea.

“Wind and solar power, energy storage and the advent of electric vehicles are changing how the grid operates,” said David Kaplan, 1Energy CEO who will become COO of Doosan GridTech.

“As Doosan GridTech, we’ll scale rapidly to deliver more field-based intelligence and continue our leadership in cross-industry efforts, such as Modular Energy Storage Architecture (MESA) open standards, to deliver more costeffective and functional

solutions on behalf of customers.”

Kaplan, who was a central figure in creating MESA, says standards are necessary to scale any technology. The personal computer industry grew to millions of units per year, while driving down prices, after software and hardware components were standardized. MESA standards will allow connections between energy storage system components, freeing utilities and vendors to grow storage through market processes.

“While battery storage technologies are improving all the time, they are only as good as the software that operates them,” Kaplan said. “Doosan GridTech provides the advanced software — the intelligence

that controls complex operations — to truly break open the opportunities of battery storage, enabling utilities to meet the challenge of managing distributed resources and capture new value streams across the grid.”

Ji Taik Chung, DHIC vice chairman said: “Doosan’s global customers are confronting two critical, longterm trends: Increased electrification of the world’s energy systems driven by public policies to reduce carbon emissions, and the declining costs of technology, especially renewable energy and battery storage.”

1Energy has roughly 30MW of energy storage projects using its platform, with about half of that in the US.

GE Ventures takes stake in Sonnen GE Ventures announced in June that it had bought a stake in Germany’s Sonnen for an undisclosed sum to boost its presence in the fast-growing market for battery systems built to store solar power.

“This is an extraordinary endorsement of Sonnen,” said one industry commentator. “It’s not just about an investor covering its bases so much as not to miss out on an opportunity that may happen, but one taking a stake in what it reckons will be a major player in the sector.”

GE’s unit is paying a “mid double-digit million-euro” sum for a minority stake in the company, according to a statement by the Bavariabased Sonnen and reported in the press.

The company said other investors are considering taking stakes in Sonnen, whose ownership includes

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founder Christoph Ostermann and four private equity funds. Ostermann recently announced the firm was seeking an investment round of up to €50 million.

Sonnen claims to be Europe’s biggest maker of lithium-battery systems for solar storage. It competes with Tesla Motors Powerwall home battery and Bosch

Power Tec. This year it claimed that it had shipped more sonnenBatterie than Tesla’s Powerwall.

Ostermann later was quoted in the press as saying: “With GE Ventures, we have not only partnered with one of the world’s largest power and water technology companies but gained a supporter for our

vision of a sustainable and affordable energy future for all.”

“Sonnen is helping to reshape the energy industry,” said Jonathan Pulitzer, managing director at GE Ventures. “We believe in Sonnen’s vision. that’s why we are excited to be a partner to provide clean and affordable energy to all.”

The world’s ‘largest’ battery for north China For the record, Rongke Power a partner and affiliate of UniEnergy Technologies said in May it plans to deploy the world’s largest battery — a vanadium flow battery — rated at 800MWh. UET and Rongke Power have worked closely together since 2012 to develop large-scale vanadium flow batteries.

The battery arrays approved by the China National Energy Administration will be made up of 10 20MW/80MWh VFB systems deployed on the Dalian peninsula, which during extreme weather events has experienced stress on the electricity grid.

After commissioning, the VFB battery will

be able to peak-shave approximately 8% of Dalian’s expected load in 2020.

The VFB battery will be built at Rongke Power’s new factory to be opened this autumn, with a phase 1 capacity of 300MW of VFB electrode stacks, a phase 2 capacity of 1GW, and a phase 3 capacity of 3GW.

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 19

NEWS

RES snares battery project ahead of launch of UK’s frequency response market Renewable Energy Systems, the UK based international energy storage developer, is building a 20MW battery storage plant to provide services in sub-second frequency response to the National Grid in the UK. In May the two signed a four-year contract for RES to provide frequency response from a 20MW battery storage plant the company is building, which will be operational in the final quarter of 2017.

The deal was announced before the transmission system operator can publicise successful bids for its new enhanced frequency response market, which happens in late August.

RES said: “This is a new service which will aid National Grid in performing its system balancing role, which increasingly requires innovation and the use of new technologies. The services delivered by RES’ battery storage system will provide cost effective frequency response to the grid within one second of the detection of a frequency deviation.”

The 20MW plant is outside of the 200MW enhanced frequency response (EFR) market the National Grid is in the process of establishing.

National Grid senior account manager Adam Sims said: “RES’ system is being used to test parameters of frequency regulation. It is a precursor to the enhanced frequency response, but is not part of the market.”

Fast frequency regulation has grown in demand as a means of balancing the grid, especially in North America, as more intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar continue to be added.

Energy storage plants typically balance the grid within second or subsecond ranges to correct supply and

demand imbalances. Helped by falling battery prices it is becoming more economic to use lithium battery storage systems to despatch these types of power-intensive ancillary grid services.

Transmission system operator PJM Interconnection has overseen the most advanced and largest market for battery storage for the provision of fast frequency regulation services. The market’s rules have been established to more accurately compensate storage providers for high performance qualities of energy storage systems.

Other markets in North America and globally — here the UK approach is included — have looked to PJM as an example of how to design a market for battery storage.

RES’ core business is developing operating renewable energy plants, including utility-scale wind and solar photovoltaic plants, which the company has been building since the early 1990s. The company’s global portfolio of assets built or in development numbers several gigawatts and also includes transmission projects.

In the past few years RES has developed over 70MW of energy storage mainly in North America.

National Grid has continued to refine the design of its enhanced frequency response market since it was announced in the second half of 2015.

Sims says: “Designing the enhanced frequency response market has featured collaborative input by the companies seeking to take part, many of which are planning to use battery storage to provide this service.”

For instance, the invitation to tender documents, which provide guidelines for the remaining prequalified participants for their bid submissions, has split the enhanced frequency response

“Renewable Energy Systems’ system is being used to test parameters of frequency regulation. It is a precursor to the enhanced frequency response, but is not part of the market.”

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into two service envelopes.

This has been done to simplify the original approach which would have allowed for many variations, to provide flexibility. However, in reality this could have been complicated to administer.

RES has also provided input into the National Grid’s research into enhanced frequency response. The company says it initially proposed this service to National Grid in 2014, based on the company’s experience of delivering multiple similar projects in North America, for the PJM Interconnection, Ontario’s independent electricity system operator and others.

The company said: “We undertook a significant amount of detailed technical analysis on the benefit of such a service to the electricity system in Great Britain, and worked closely with National Grid in testing and proving National Grid’s own analysis of the impact of very fast frequency response services on the grid.

“The result is this contract, which separately contributed to National Grid’s decision to seek 10 times more (200MW) of sub-second frequency response through the enhanced frequency response invitation to tender.”

The 20MW asset being built by RES will provide a different service and a different ramp rate within the one second frequency range. “It is very much a test bed for the National Grid to use a battery to see how it performs providing fast response services and gather data. For instance, what are the parameters and what will they do to the grid in the UK?” says Sims.

Under the terms of the contract RES will develop, build, own and operate the 20MW battery energy storage plant to deliver the sub-second frequency response services to National Grid.

“The service contract will be paid for by National Grid through its role as system operator and is similar to many other ancillary services contracts it procures for balancing purposes,” according to RES.

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POINTS OF VIEW: BITRODE CORPORATION

Energy Storage Journal interviewed Craig Brunk, sales director at Bitrode for his take on the current state of the testing market and the direction it’ll go in the next few years.

Testing times as new generation of energy storage products appears What do you think are going to be the most interesting markets for testing in the coming years?

We are seeing a broad spectrum of activity within what we we’d call growth markets.

The transportation sector is looking at lead acid developments to 48 volts for consumer transportation as well as 1000+ volts for advanced chemistry batteries for off-road and mass transportation applications.

We receive more requests for micro-grid applications — standalone islands, remote/rural locations, and the like — at this time, but we don’t see a lot of test equipment activity for applications relating to grid peak storage or frequency regulation.

Another area that we see growth in is in the re-purposing of used EV/ EHV batteries. There is still a lot of life in EV/EHV batteries after they are no longer ideal for transportation use.

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And in terms of geographical location, where do you think will be the new hot spots for testing?

In the past 12 months we have seen a great amount of activity from China and in India. While the North American market still remains as a stronghold in R&D of both lead acid and advanced chemistry batteries, the Indian and Asian markets are leaning heavily on equipment for the testing of advanced chemistries.

Will Brazil be the next Shenzhen?

We do see activity in Brazil and we are always hoping for growth in the South American market, but the volatility of the Brazilian market seems to change even within the time taken from when we quote a project and the expected PO [purchase order] date.

In terms of the technological advances in testing, what areas do you think are going to be the most exciting — greater precision, greater predictability for lower cycling, totally new products and the like? Or all?

Customers continue to ask for faster and more accurate test equipment.

There is a spec war going on globally.

R&D lab equipment being used for material research requires high level of resolution and accuracy.

There is always the economic tradeoff between cost and requirement.

I believe that all test equipment suppliers are working to understand this now.

Where do you see Bitrode as part of this?

We take pride in our reliability and the ability to prove what we put on our spec sheets. Our R&D depart-

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 21

POINTS OF VIEW: BITRODE CORPORATION One thing we know for sure, the need for energy storage will grow and grow in the future. The wildcards are always weight, safety, cycles, power density, cost and cost. ment is constantly being challenged to meet the escalating requirements of our customers and not take short cuts.

We are in development of three to four new product platforms that we believe will give customer’s the value they expect from Bitrode testers and meet their high demands for precision and reliability.

What are your thoughts on new forms of potential secondary batteries such as lithium air, magnesium ion …

Bitrode’s product line is chemistry neutral; we build testers for cell testing, module testing and pack testing.

Our R&D lab and university customers don’t typically disclose their proprietary development programs and proprietary test algorithms.

Our Windows-based VisuaLCN software is fully capable and easily programmable by users to develop test profiles for each variation of battery chemistry.

How do you think the testing industry will evolve in the years to come?

At the end of the day, customers want to work with suppliers that have experience in the industry, a track record of proven results and responsiveness to requests for equipment flexibility, technology, service and performance.

Natural selection will eliminate those that can’t meet these requirements.

Will the industry consolidate?

That’s a maybe! Digatron and Firing Circuits merged in 1988. Sovema purchased Bitrode in 2008. It’s been quite a while since a merger or acquisition has taken place. Perhaps 2018 will be the next year for change? (laughs!)

Become more specialized?

Power electronics are the heart of battery testing equipment. If anything, I would see expansion of our company and our competitors ex-

22 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

panding into adjacent space markets that use power electronics.

Or will the industry become more collaborative as per some of your collaborations with GM? Collaboration and integration are becoming more and more common.

Bitrode has partnered with Gamry for integration of EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) capabilities and we have integrated with many environmental chamber suppliers for turnkey installations.

We have also been approached about providing complete turnkey test room facilities. Many customers will be looking at one-stop shopping in the future.

Has development in lead battery testing more or less reached an end game if lead batteries can’t be used meaningfully in HRPSoC applications?

Lead acid batteries have always been the workhorse of the energy storage market. We believe that our lead acid customers continue to provide innovative products for future needs — 48V automotive batteries for the micro-hybrid vehicles are a prime example of continued R&D and investment in lead acid technology.

How do you see the automotive and energy storage markets of the future developing? And what kind of pace will that be?

One thing we know for sure, the need for energy storage will grow and grow in the future. The wildcards are always weight, safety, cycles, power density, cost (... and cost!).

In terms of pace, it’s happening now! The automotive industry has created a media frenzy with automotive developments from Tesla, Google and Apple. Their development is highly visible to the consumer in the street.

The automotive sector has become a leader in electrification and the need for energy storage.

What consumers don’t read about in USA Today is about the developers of non-traditional energy generators and the storage of this generated energy.

Growth and development is happening simultaneously in the automotive and grid storage industries, it’s only that the automotive industry is getting the byline.

When — or if — do you see lithium ion becoming the major battery chemistry in grid or automotive markets?

As soon as price and power density meet the needs of the consumer.

Perhaps it won’t be lithium ion technology that will be the final chemistry that gets us to the needed cost/benefit ratio, but it appears to be a great technology that we are all learning from and could take us to that next battery chemistry.

Will it be price as the major consideration?

Yes. For the most we all have a fixed budget to live on. Until electrification and battery storage costs reach a level that the consumer is willing to pay for and see a net benefit of, we will continue to use power from natural resources power such as oil, gas, coal and the like as well as nuclear power in supplying our power needs.

What worries you most about the evolution of today’s large scale storage markets?

The evolution is not fast enough for us in the battery industry. We all would like to see additional R&D dollars granted over the next five to 10 years to help us break dependence on non-green energy generation and the storage of distributed energy.

I would see expansion of our company and our competitors expanding into adjacent space markets that use power electronics. www.energystoragejournal.com

GRID TECHNOLOGIES, ULTRACAPACITORS Kimberly McGrath, director of business development at Maxwell Technologies discusses how the combination of supercaps and storage offers an economic way forward for grid development.

Hybridizing energy and power for the grid Gaston County, North Carolina. It’s not the most famous spot in the US. Or not yet. But in terms of grid energy storage, it’s one of the hottest sites in what could be the cutting edge of how renewable energy will be integrated into the grid.

Guodian China and Duke Energy, the US utility, recently commissioned hybrid battery-ultracapacitor energy storage systems to stack multiple grid services into a single solution. The hybrid system capitalizes on the strong points of each technology: batteries for long-term energy storage and ultracapacitors for high power.

Ultracapacitors support battery performance by removing high peak power demand, which in turn, over time, mitigates battery capacity degradation.

This mitigates the need to oversize batteries to meet system lifetime requirements.

When cloud cover or other weather events cause solar power fluctuations on the grid, this hybrid system leverages ultracapacitors’ high power and fast response capabilities. Ultracapacitors support battery performance by removing high peak power demand, which in turn, over time, mitigates battery capacity degradation.

This way, the batteries have an optimized performance for energy shifting of solar on the distribution circuit.

This hybrid approach maximizes utility system value by simultaneously delivering these grid services at an overall lower system cost.

What does this in-field example of a hybrid battery-ultracapacitor energy storage system mean for the future grid?

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More renewable energy is being added to the grid each year, and utility and grid owners are under pressure to implement solutions that help to deliver clean, reliable power to end users — and at the same time, they must find a way to minimize operating costs and increase returns.

The answer to this challenge is to integrate fast-responding energy storage, such as ultracapacitors, which can enhance renewable energy production by reducing — and in many cases, eliminating — the problems of intermittency.

Take the examples of frequency response and wind power smoothing.

In the case of frequency response, balance must be maintained on a second-to-second basis between electricity demand and generation to maintain grid stability. The tight frequency envelope has to be managed in second to sub-second time-frames to prevent system collapse.

Wind generators in particular should consider this factor — energy storage assets can be leveraged with ultracapacitors to provide frequency response.

Ultracapacitors are also an advantage for wind power smoothing. More intermittent renewable generation is penetrating the grid, and variations in wind power output can create faults on local transmission lines and result in poor quality power to the end customer.

Ultracapacitors can respond to these variations within milliseconds and prevent problems associated with power output fluctuations. Implementing ultracapacitors to rapidly deliver quality power ameliorates revenue loss associated with curtailment and can also help avoid expenditures for transmission line upgrades.

In addition, the growing demand for power quality has led suppliers to seek out new options for turbine wind pitch technologies.

Ultracapacitors have emerged as a

practical solution for wind pitch control, due to ultracapacitors’ ability to produce high-quality, reliable power, provide faster charge and discharge cycles, a longer lifetime, and reliable performance in colder temperatures.

Ultracapacitors offer these benefits and more — without dramatic increases in operating costs.

Energy storage systems that implement ultracapacitors significantly improve generation quality and reliability while at the same time offer operators a new frontier of financial savings.

The Duke Energy battery-ultracapacitor hybrid system acts as an illustration to utility and grid audiences worldwide on what the future of energy storage could look like. The energy density of batteries paired with the high power, fast response ability of ultracapacitors continues to demonstrate success in the field and may very well be setting the new standard for grid energy storage.

Kimberly McGrath is director of business development for Maxwell Technologies and has spent her career in the field of energy storage applications and technology development. She writes about the latest in ultracapacitor technology at http://www.maxwell.com/blog/ category/ultracapacitors

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 23

Connecting the energy industry like no other event in the UK, Energy 2016 is back for its second year at the Birmingham NEC on 18-20 October, as part of the award winning UK Construction Week.

The event has been backed by leading industry bodies such as the Renewable Energy Association (REA), the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM), the Energy Managers Association (EMA), the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) and many more.

Uniting all the key business players in the industry, such as architects, project and energy managers, engineers and developers, Energy 2016 will provide a perfect platform to bring together the sector and the wider interconnected industries.

Over 8,500 industry professionals attended last year’s event and with a programme of highprofile speakers, seminars, CPD workshops and a Hosted Buyers Programme, this year’s event is not to be missed.

Visitors to Energy 2016 will also benefit from the event’s co-location alongside eight other trade events being held at UK Construction Week.

24 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

Challenging content and high-profile networking, the order of the day at the UK’s premiere energy event Central to the space will be the Energy Hub, a dynamic platform for the show’s comprehensive seminar content. Incorporating a mix of panel discussions, live debates and CPD seminars the Energy Hub content will address the core issues in the industry today as well as give insight into the latest regulations, policies and technologies.

The content has largely been shaped by the outcomes of the high-level debate hosted by Energy 2016 earlier in the year.

The event brought together leading energy specialists, including Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party and Steve Fitzsimons, Senior Manager Infrastructure Services at EDF En-

ergy, to discuss the key issues such as energy storage and its role as a crucial facilitator for the future of renewable energy in both domestic and commercial environments.

Nick Blyth, Policy & Practice Lead, IEMA will be opening this year’s event followed by a three-day seminar programme at the Energy Hub featuring leading industry experts on hot topics and trends.

On day one Bekir Andrews, Group sustainability Manager at Balfour Beatty will address the need for “Adapting to an ever changing energy landscape.” followed by an open Q&A session.

The lunchtime panel discussion: “Opportunities in residential to com-

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mercial energy storage” will explore the relationship and opportunities that exist between residential and commercial energy storage units, speakers include David Pickup, Policy Manager at the Solar Trade Association, Mark Donovan, Principal Engineer at UK Power Network Services and Marc Stanton, Commercial Director at Clean Power Solutions.

On day two, the lunchtime panel discussion: “Working towards a greener and more sustainable future” looks at how the supply chain is working towards more sustainable and energy efficient commercial buildings with a specific focus of meeting the zero carbon target by 2020. Speakers include: Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party, Andrew Mellor, Partner at PRP, Mark Harris, Divisional Building Technology Director at Kingspan Insulated Panels and Sara Kassam, Head of Sustainability Development at the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.

The closing session on day two will give an overview of the business opportunities that hydrogen and fuel cell technology can offer.

This technology will also be key for the implementation of new de-centralised energy systems offering support for grid infrastructure and balancing of supply.

Day three will start with a focus on renewable energy and the biomass industry within the UK. Government incentives are being reformed and new innovative solutions have recently become available that will help reduce waste costs and generate energy.

Two great panel discussions will also be on the programme for the final day. The first one will ask: “Are

NETWORKING IN STYLE Energy 2016 will also host a VIP lounge bringing a string of high profile buyers and visitors to the show.

The Energy 2016 VIP section will be located within the show’s footprint offering exhibitors the unique opportunity to interact with some of the biggest players in the industry.

EVs the solution to resolving the energy crisis?” 2016 has seen a massive growth in the EV market with developments from the likes of Tesla, Nissan and even BMW. Speakers for this seminar include: Christopher Jackson, Director at Flexisolar Ltd, Michael Wayne Bexton, Head of Energy Projects at Nottingham City Council and Erik Fairbairn from Pod Point.

The second discussion, “The great innovation pitch” will look at the lat-

est innovations and forecasts for innovations in Energy. Confirmed speakers are: David Pybus, Business Development Executive at Pavegen and Matthew Lumsden, Managing Director at Connected Energy.

In addition to the Energy Hub, the Renewable Energy Association will also host a range of half-day conferences throughout the show, covering topics such as energy storage and renewables in the built environment.

GET YOUR FREE TICKET Registering to attend Energy 2016 is quick, easy and free, by going online to www.energyliveshow.co.uk. What’s more, by completing the form, trade visitors can access all nine shows taking place at UK Construction Week.

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Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 25

AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTIAL STORAGE UPTAKE Australia has been widely hailed as the next place to be for PV uptake, now its uptake of solar plus storage is positive for the whole of Asia.

Solar-plus-storage down under Over a million and a half solar systems are installed in Australia, equivalent to 17% of its households, according to Sydney-based consultancy Sunwiz. Thanks to a generous feed-in tariff scheme and high levels of solar radiation, Australia’s total solar PV installed capacity stands at 5GW. That is about 9% of the country’s total electricity generation capacity.

Regions with the highest share of homes with rooftop solar PV are Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

As happened in Europe — particularly in Germany and the UK — the FiT incentive to support the installation of rooftop solar PV in Australia has contributed towards the growth in demand. It has helped create a competitive market for the technology.

However, the FiTs, which vary between states in Australia, are being slashed — by up to 90% in some cases. This provides little incentive for homeowners to export unused energy generated back to the grid.

With electricity costs also rising, homeowners are seeing great potential

26 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

for battery storage since it allows them to use their free, solar energy at night at a fraction of their off-peak rates.

Australia’s solar-plus-storage potential made headlines last year, when a host of home energy storage players — Tesla included — announced it as their next export market. Some have formed partnerships with utilities to help unlock demand for their technology.

They include Japanese consumer electronics brand Panasonic, which had already announced in mid-2015 pilots of its home storage system with ActewAGL, Red Energy and Ergon Energy, in homes of those utilities’ customers with solar installed. The batteries are being used for peak shaving and will provide data on how solar-plus-storage systems should be deployed in the residential market.

Several other energy storage system providers are also targeting Australia, including Germany’s Sonnen, as well as US companies Sunverge, which supplies energy storage systems and virtual power plant software, and microinverter maker Enphase.

“Australia is seen as a core market alongside Germany and the US because of Australia’s relative wealth, its high energy costs and its high penetration of solar,” says Chris Parratt, who oversees Sonnen’s Australian subsidiary, which was set up in April.

The initial stock of Sonnen’s latest home storage system Eco 8, which is a modular product, has just arrived in Australia. Parratt expects that Australian households will require capacities between 4kWh and 8kWh based on existing solar generation.

Sonnen has signed up several national partners in Australasia that can supply and install its systems across the region, including True Value Solar, Energy Matters, Zen Energy and Madison Australia.

“Payback depends on specific energy rates, which differ across Australia, and household consumption. As long as the system is sized correctly, payback can occur in eight to 10 years,” says Parratt.

Features of Sonnen’s system that will appeal to customers and the grid in Australia, include tariff arbitrage,

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AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTIAL STORAGE UPTAKE “Australia is seen as a core market alongside Germany and the US because of Australia’s relative wealth, its high energy costs and its high penetration of solar” — Chris Parratt, Sonnen Australia demand response, by responding to high price events from the wholesale market, as well as other grid services.

Peak shaving trials

Enphase has arranged beta trials for its all-in-one AC Battery with SA Power Networks in South Australia and Genesis Energy in New Zealand.

These trials are part of the company’s efforts to reach new customers and enable utilities to use its technology to support the grid as more solar is added, in addition to supplying its microinverters, energy storage systems and related home energy products to solar installers in the region.

Enphase is unable to disclose data from the trials, as they form part of its review into how batteries interact with the grid, especially during peak demand times for electricity.

Separately, Enphase also has other programmes and pilots with utilities to see how the company’s micro-inverters can support the feed-in of solar PV electricity.

In Australia, the company announced a partnership with Energy Australia in March 2015, where it has exclusive rights to provide its microinverters and access to its MyEnlighten platform to Energy Australia’s residential customers.

This is Enphase’s first utility-level partnership in Asia-Pacific and Enphase micro-inverters are installed with the systems of 98.5% of Energy Australia’s solar residential customers.

The company’s micro-inverters are also qualified in Queensland with an export control feature that meets the state’s energy regulatory requirements.

Enphase is in discussions with Ergon Energy and Energex as they can influence regulatory decisions based on solar PV export controls in Queensland.

Following beta trials Enphase’s AC

battery will be available in Australia and New Zealand by the end of the year.

Already the company has registered interest for 60,000 units for installation over the next 12 months from its distribution and installation partners, which include AC Solar Warehouse, One Stop Warehouse, RFI and Solar + Solutions in Australia and Solar Partners NZ and YHI in New Zealand.

Nathan Dunn, managing director of Enphase Asia-Pacific, says: “This has far exceeded our expectations where we had initially forecasted for orders of 12,000 units before the end of 2016. We are continuing discussions with our partners as there is a strong interest for battery storage from households, particularly in Australia.

It’s been our strongest performing market to date.”

Enphase’s network includes over a thousand installers in Australasia and based on internal estimates the company leads the Australian microinverter market with an approximate market share of 10% in the overall inverter segment and 40% in New Zealand.

“There is potential for home energy storage to grow in Australia due to the relatively low cost of entry which will appeal to the PV retrofit market of homes with 1kW-5kW sized solar systems as well as the demand for new residential installations,” says Dunn.

At a policy level, there has been keen interest in battery storage and how it can potentially alleviate electricity demand during peak periods. In states such as South Australia and Victoria trials of residential solar-plus-storage systems have been set up to investigate how the technology can support energy use from the grid.

Just over 75% of New Zealand’s electricity comes from renewable re-

sources (primarily hydropower and geothermal power). While the government has not prioritized the uptake of household PV, a study by the University of Otago has found that 58% of households would like to generate their own electricity.

About 9,000 of the 1.6 million households in New Zealand have rooftop solar PV systems. “In terms of storage, we believe the market potential for New Zealand remains smaller at this stage and this can be attributed to the policy neutral environment towards energy — unlike Australia, New Zealand homeowners do not receive any feed-in- tariffs or subsidies for rooftop solar,” Dunn says.

Using Enphase’s AC Battery, homeowners can achieve sustainable selfconsumption or store solar energy generated for use at times when gridsupplied energy rates are at their peak.

Software is key

The company has developed a cloudbased energy management platform that can integrate the storage system and other home energy products from Enphase with smart devices for intel-

“As battery prices continue to decline storage will continue to seem a more attractive proposition. This dynamic, coupled with such a competitive retail market will result in storage moving past the early adoption stage in the next two to five years”— Jason Clark, AGL www.energystoragejournal.com

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 27

AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTIAL STORAGE UPTAKE SOLAR-PLUS-STORAGE ROLLOUTS IN AUSTRALASIA Investment bank Morgan Stanley predicts the solar-plus-storage market in Australia to go from around 2,000 Australian homes now to reach one million households by 2020.

In its high case scenario this could even reach two million by that time.

Australia already has the highest solar per capita in any country in the world.

Morgan Stanley, however, admits that its estimate is the most bullish of rival investment banks.

In June 2015 Australia Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced several solar-plus-storage projects as part of an A$2.5 billion fund to invest in commercially viable projects that are intended to reduce the cost and increase the use of renewable energy in Australia.

Following the announcement, in the second half of 2015 ActewAGL trialled Panasonic’s battery energy storage systems in Canberra homes, as part of the ACT government’s next generation energy storage pilot.

ActewAGL had worked with Panasonic for two years to prepare for the trial. In the pilot the 8kWh battery systems were coupled to homeowners’ solar PV systems to store the excess solar generation accumulated during the day to power the homes at night.

As part of an ACT government programme Canberra residents can purchase subsidized energy storage systems.

Queensland-based energy firm Ergon Energy also trialled Panasonic’s home storage systems among residential customers in its service territory.

Since trialling Panasonic’s battery system in 2015, Red Energy (Snowy Hydro’s retail energy business) now offers three solar-plus-storage packages. The 3kW package generates on average 11.7kWh of electricity a day in, Sydney — more in summer, less in winter time.

The 4kWh package generates on average 15.6 kWh of electricity a day in Sydney and the 5kW system, 19.5kWh. Flow batteries too Redflow, based in Brisbane, is bringing to market a hybrid flow battery using zinc and bromine called ZCell which is suitable for the home

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Redflow chairman, Simon Hackett, pictured with the company’s battery, is also one of its biggest investors. He believes there is an opportunity for Australian state governments to offer home battery storage incentives to consumers and to fund this incentive by repurposing existing, committed government expenditure. This would involve inviting consumers to voluntarily trade in the residual life of their solar PV FIT in exchange for funding to buy a home battery energy storage system, both eliminating a long-term forward liability for state governments while initiating home energy storage demand in Australia.

as well as commercial operations such as offices.

Its smallest home energy storage system, the 10kWh ZCell, started shipping in June for commercialization in the second half of this year.

The household battery is about the size of an air-conditioning unit.

The amount of energy per square centimetre is similar to Tesla’s Powerwall. Price-wise the system is competitive with the other energy storage systems available on the market, which are based on lithium ion chemistry.

The company has worked with end users, such as utilities, well as research organisations, for demonstration and trial purposes.

Utility partners include Powerco, which is New Zealand’s secondlargest electricity distribution company with around 315,000 customers on North Island. Powerco has exclusive rights to distribute Redflow’s battery system through its subsidiary Basepower, which supplies reliable power for remote homes and farms.

One of Redflow’s earliest partners was Ausgrid, a New South Wales

utility. In conjunction with the Australian government’s Smart Grid, Smart City trial, RedFlow installed 60 residential energy storage units in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.

More recently Redflow supplied 30 of its home storage units for installation and integration within Ergon Energy’s electricity supply network in Queensland, as part of the Australian Government’s Advanced Electricity Storage Technologies (AEST) programme.

The systems were used for managing peak electricity demand within three locations in Ergon Energy’s rural network and were remotely monitored by both RedFlow and Ergon Energy.

In June 2016, Redflow teamed up with Australian inverter maker Redback Technologies to help bring its ZCell home battery to market. The tie-up followed months of testing the battery’s compatibility with Redback’s solar PV hybrid inverter.

ZCell is also compatible with inverters from Netherlands-based Victron Energy, and Redflow is exploring opportunities in Europe for its battery storage technology.

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AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTIAL STORAGE UPTAKE ligent home energy use. The home’s solar generation, energy storage and consumption can be monitored from any web-enabled device.

Enphase’s hardware is softwaredefined, networked and monitored by a robust global platform with bidirectional communication capability.

This has benefits at system level, for homeowners, fleet level, for installers, grid level, for utilities, and at a global level for the company.

Dunn says: “For example, solar PV despite all its potential has brought with it many challenges for the grid.

Being an uncontrollable generation source, its output is intermittent and not 100% predictable. Storage holds the key to being able to level out solar’s sometimes sudden impact on grid voltages by acting as a reserve for excess power.

“To help utilities manage grid voltages, it is essential that the storage assets on their grid are smart and offer bi-directional communication — what Enphase offers. This allows for a much more dynamic, adaptive management of grid conditions.”

Each Enphase AC Battery module provides 1.2kWh and because of its modular design, homeowners can choose to choose the right size their solar battery storage should they wish to add more Enphase battery storage in the future.

The system is AC-coupled, which makes it compatible with any solar PV system, and means there is no high voltage DC in the storage system making it much safer than DC-coupled batteries.

AC-coupled systems offer equivalent efficiency to DC-coupled systems with advantages in flexibility, reliability, and safety. They are also more incrementally scalable with much better scope to right-size the storage system and avoid over investing in extra capacity that is not needed.

Around a 10-year payback in Australia and New Zealand is possible with Enphase’s home storage system based on the average increasing market rate for power. The return on investment varies depending on various factors, including grid power prices, the amount of excess solar energy available to store, the level of nighttime grid power usage in the home and so forth.

In New Zealand Sunverge has installed 300 systems through its partner Auckland-based utility Vector Ltd. Systems are 11.65kWh to 12kWh in size.

Vector did not have a solar pro-

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“Our customers were keen to be part of a potential solution. Consumers are looking for greater control of their energy consumption and management. Storage can help them achieve this” — Jason Clark, AGL gramme in place, which other utilities have had. “However, utility wanted to address the issues that adding more renewables causes the grid, such as capacity constraint. So it decided to enter the solar market with a solar-plusstorage programme,” says Sunverge chief executive Ken Munson.

Customers have been able to buy the system at a discounted price from Vector. Customers benefit from lower bills and reliability. Deploying the assets as a virtual power plant, using Sunverge’s software platform, enables the utility to manage the grid without making

big investments otherwise needed.

AGL is one of Australia’s largest utilities and the largest owner, operator and developer of renewable energy generation plants in the country. With every residential solar PV installation, the energy firm provides a monitoring device that analyses customers’ solar power system production performance and home energy consumption so they can see how much electricity they are saving.

Earlier this year AGL completed a demand response trial with 68 residential customers in Victoria, with

Enphase’s AC battery system: modifiable by smart phone

Nathan Dunn, Enphase Asia-Pacific: “Australia’s been our strongest market to date.”

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 29

AUSTRALIAN RESIDENTIAL STORAGE UPTAKE network provider United Energy. Only a few of the homes had batteries installed integrated with their existing solar PV systems.

The 11.65kWh systems, made by US company Sunverge, were deployed to six individual customers, and controlled to deliver energy in aggregate using Sunverge’s virtual power plant software.

AGL’s general manager for distributed energy services Jason Clark says: “It was important to have storage in the trial as we see demand response being delivered by a fleet of devices, including controllable loads and energy storage. Therefore this trial was devised to replicate what we believe a future state of the industry may look like.”

AGL is planning further trials, building on the knowledge gained from this one and including other elements. The energy retailer wants to increase the size of these trials to be able to demonstrate deliverable outcomes and services to the market and network, with participating customers sharing the benefits.

Two key features of the Sunverge platform that attracted AGL is the software’s ability to integrate multiple hardware technologies within a single platform and a complex rules engine developed specifically for energy storage systems. “This enables us to control a fleet of batteries for multiple stakeholders,” says Clark.

In the trial AGL’s customers were happy with the storage devices and implementation as well as the delivery.

“Our customers were keen to be part of a potential solution. Consumers are looking for greater control of their energy consumption and management.

Storage can help them achieve this,” says Clark.

Earlier in 2016, AGL announced an AS$20 million ($15 million) stake in Sunverge.

As well as Sunverge’s battery storage systems, AGL also offers its retail electricity customers a smaller system from AUO, as part of a range that can meet the self-consumption needs of different households, large and small.

The energy retailer offers upfront sale and financing options up to five years.

However, energy storage is still an early adopters’ market and will be for a while yet even though there is big interest in the technology. Clark says the company’s online AGL Power Advantage Club, where people can join and be updated on new information about storage and other distributed energy

30 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

2,000 1,800 1,600 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0 2015e

2017e

2018e

2019e

2020e

n High n Base n Low

Take-up estimate scenarios (‘000s) Sources: Morgan Stanley Research. Base Case Shown in Blue

According to Morgan Stanley, retrofits including batteries will be another factor in greater solar+storage penetration

solutions and trends, has a growing base of over 5,000 subscribers.

AGL has also developed a mobile app that customers can use to monitor and manage all their energy consumption, including gas and electricity usage, as well as solar PV system and battery storage performance, from their smart phone.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has forecast the uptake of integrated PV and electricity storage systems would “start slowly”, picking up especially after 2020 and reaching about 3.8GW of installed capacity

within 20 years.

Clark says: “Storage will play a key role in the future of the Australian energy market. Because we have such a high level of solar penetration, many customers are looking to storage to enable them to use more of their solar output. As battery prices continue to decline storage will continue to seem a more attractive proposition. This dynamic, coupled with such a competitive retail market will result in storage moving past the early adoption stage in the next two to five years.”

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CHARGING THE FUTURE WELCOME TO THE NEW ENERGY WORLD

STORAGE AT THE HEART OF NEXT GENERATION SOLAR AWARD 2016: HONORING THE GREAT AND THE GOOD SOLAR+STORAGE TO TAKE NORTH AMERICA BY STORM RIDE THE BOOM: JOB OPPORTUNITIES AWAIT www.ees-events.com

ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | EUROPE

ees Europe — Europe‘s largest exhibition for one of the fastest-growing markets Charging the future Innovative storage solutions form the basis of a sustainable power supply from renewable sources. They decouple power generation from consumption and make an intelligent and sustainable energy system possible – from the stabilization of power grids through to e-mobility. From May 31–June 2, 2017, ees Europe, the continent’s largest and most visited exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems, will create a professional platform for manufacturers, suppliers,

distributors, research institutes and users of stationary and mobile storage solutions for electrical energy – along the entire value chain of battery and energy storage technologies. ees Europe grows by 40% Even after the great success of 2015, ees Europe recorded substantial growth again in 2016. The exhibition space expanded by more than 40% to over 12,000 sqm, and

EXHIBITION SPACE AT EES EUROPE (GROSS, IN SQM)

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An exhibition space of 17.500 sqm and around 270 exhibitors are expected at ees Europe 2017

ENERGY STORAGE EXHIBITORS AT EES EUROPE

Quick facts: 2017 exhibition data Dates

May 31-June 2, 2017

Hours

9:00am-6:00pm | Wednesday, May 31, 2017 9:00am-6:00pm | Thursday, June 1, 2017 9:00am-5:00pm | Friday, June 2, 2017

Venue

Messe München 81823 Munich, Germany Hall B1-B2

Exhibitors 430 (expected, including energy storage exhibitors of Intersolar Europe) Visitors

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212 battery and energy storage manufacturers showcased their products and services at ees Europe – an increase of 35% from the previous year. Together with Intersolar Europe, which takes place at the same time, an impressive 369 of the total 1,077 exhibitors presented innovative energy storage services, products and solutions. And the success story continues: An exhibition space of 17.500 sqm and around 270 exhibitors are expected at ees Europe 2017.

40,000+ (expected total number of ees and Intersolar Europe visitors)

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | EUROPE

Packed halls, excitement and a dynamic atmosphere: ees and Intersolar Europe 2016 A fantastic atmosphere and perfect solar-weather: Together with the parallel event Intersolar Europe, ees Europe sent the market a positive signal. Even in the run up, both exhibitions were already seeing considerable success, with exhibition space booked out two months in advance.

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The two exhibitions greeted over 44,000 visitors from 160 nations over 66,000 sqm.

Again it proved to be a must-attend event for those driving forward the energy storage industry, smart renewable energy supply and sustainable mobility solutions.

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it proved to be a mustattend event for those driving forward the energy storage industry

ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL | Summer 2016

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | EUROPE

Welcome to the new energy world The worldwide energy market is undergoing a transformation, enabling increasing numbers of new players to move into the spotlight. Rather than large-scale, centralized nuclear and fossil fuel power stations that supply consumers with energy, in the future, the energy supply will be secured by decentralized renewable energy plants, storage systems and consumers as so-called prosumers.

Intelligent networks are the next step In this decentralized landscape, concepts and technologies need to be developed to sensibly integrate clean energy into the grid. It is essential that energy supply and demand are flexibly coordinated, as renewable energy sources such as sun and

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wind are not always available. In the future, intelligent power grids, known as smart grids, will control and monitor the generation, storage, distribution and consumption of electricity. To facilitate flexibility in balancing energy supply and demand, the

energy, heating and transportation sectors are becoming increasingly interconnected.

Energy storage systems play an essential role in this respect, as they can provide positive or negative balancing power to assist in maintaining frequency stability.

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | EUROPE

Products and solutions for the new energy world at ees and Intersolar Europe The restructuring of the energy system continues to progress around the world, and many countries are enjoying success on this front. In fact, on May 8, 2016, Germany was able to cover 87% of its energy needs with energy generated by renewable sources (see diagram). While this is a milestone for the energy transition, it represents a challenge

for grid operators. As old power plants are difficult to regulate, the availability of large amounts of renewable energy for a short time causes a surplus of energy in the grid. To overcome this challenge, power generation, storage and energy management must be more closely connected in the future. Smart technology plays a central role in this, as it

enables generation and consumption to be analyzed, optimized and controlled.

High share of renewables: Power generation and consumption in Germany

The energy storage and renewables industry surges forward Numerous new digital services, products and solutions are currently being developed. They control the decentralized energy market of the future efficiently, flexibly and safely, and in doing so, optimally coordinate generation and consumption. With the renewable energy industry experiencing a wave of innovations, many companies are presenting the results of their intensive research and development.

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Connecting players and achieving the highest possible degree of automatic analysis and optimization of energy systems and electricity storage is key. ees Europe together with Intersolar Europe forms the central platform which supports these changes and lays the groundwork for the global energy transition. Both exhibitions pay homage to the new energy world by dedicating a special

thematic focus to smart renewable energy.

In addition to highlighting technologies, challenges and international markets, the accompanying program and the exhibition segments of these two events showcase various aspects of this topic and feature presentations and discussions of current approaches and solutions with exhibitors, experts and partners.

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | AWARD

Honouring the great and the The winners of the ees AWARD 2016 were announced at ees Europe, Messe München on June 22. This year, Ferroamp Elektronik AB, LG Chem Ltd, and SMA Solar Technology AG received the highly coveted prize for the best technological innovations, the highest benefits for the industry, environment and society as well as the greatest economic viability of the solutions.

Once again, the formal ceremony highlighted the first day of Europe’s largest exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems. This is the third year of the award ceremony.

At the end of the exhibition day,

ees AWARD and Intersolar AWARD Winners 2016.

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representatives of the 10 ees AWARD finalists were eagerly awaiting the announcement of the winners at the Innovation and Application Forum. A further 10 companies were nominated for the Intersolar AWARD 2016 and another 13 in the category of “Outstanding Solar Projects”.

New record attendance for 2016 This year, 149 exhibiting companies from all Intersolar and ees exhibitions worldwide applied for the Intersolar and ees AWARD — a new record.

One of the conditions for the competing companies was to submit products, projects

Source: Solar Promotion

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | AWARD

good of energy storage and services which were either undergoing testing, already entered the market or showed important developments for existing technologies.

Trends in innovation The independent jury particularly praised the high number of systems, which feature high economic viability, enable multiple possibilities for applications and focus on durability, efficiency and security. Other trends in the submissions came to the fore, for example the use of JH3 lithium ion cells for domestic storage systems and the growing significance of wireless interfaces in the energy storage industry, such as smart meters and control options using apps. Also of note was a move to combine renewable energy technologies to guarantee supply safety in different weather conditions.

The EnergyHub system Swedish manufacturer Ferroamp Elektronik AB received the ees AWARD 2016 for its EnergyHub system. Combining high flexibility with low-loss photovoltaic storage, the system manages to bring a local DC nanogrid, an up-to-date circuitry and a smart meter function together. In this connection, a bidirectional 3-phase inverter with internal phase compensation and distributed DC-DC converters for diverse PV strings, batteries and DC consumers builds the basic set-up.

The jury members emphasized the high efficiency level made possible by the DC coupling and scalability from kW to MW range.”We are excited about the ees award.

The exposure during the Intersolar and ees exhibition gave us new contacts with potential partners. They especially seem to appreciate that the EnergyHub system allow them to offer new services with a more scalable and flexible PV solar and storage solution,” said Mats Kalström, VP Sales & Marketing at Ferroamp Elektronik.

The Residential Energy Storage Unit (RESU) Korean manufacturer LG Chem Ltd was able to convince the jury with its innovative Residential Energy Storage Unit (RESU),

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This year, 149 exhibiting companies from all Intersolar and ees exhibitions worldwide applied for the Intersolar and ees AWARD — a new record.

using lithium-ion batteries with advanced JH3 cell technology. The capacity, energy density, durability and security of RESU were especially mentioned by the jury.

The advantages of the system are the extremely high energy density in the low voltage range, the compatibility with many inverters and the easy applicability for example in regards to installations and software.

“It is a great honor for LG Chem to receive the ees AWARD 2016 and would like to thank both the jury and organizers,“ said Santiago Senn, Director Energy Storage System at LG Chem Europe afterwards.

“Right after Intersolar, we launched the sales of our new RESU product line.

The feedback about its compactness, technical performance and pricing level is overwhelmingly positive. We are very happy to change the energy and the lives of our customers.”

The Sunny Boy Storage 2.5 SMA Solar Technology AG was happy to win two prizes at the AWARD ceremony: In addition to the Intersolar AWARD in the category “Outstanding Solar Projects”, honoring a photovoltaic diesel hybrid system of SMA Sunbelt Energy GmbH on the Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius, SMA also received the ees AWARD for the Sunny Boy

Storage 2.5 battery inverter.

It was produced for the demand of private households, as this product can be easily and cost-effectively integrated into new and existing PV systems. Therefore SMA offers — as the only provider on the market — an ACcoupled system for high-voltage batteries to connect with the inverter.

“We are very happy to receive this award.

The Sunny Boy Storage inverter combines cost-effectiveness as it uses standard PV technology with the maximum flexibility of an AC-coupled battery inverter for highvoltage batteries. It makes it easy to install storage systems into existing or new PV plants,“ said Thomas Thierschmidt, Product Manager, Business Unit Residential at SMA Solar Technology AG after the ceremony.

“The Sunny Boy Storage inverters is thus a logical addition to a wide variety of selfconsumption tariffs as well as a genuine alternative to feed-in tariffs that are about to expire or zero export requirements.“n EES AWARD WINNERS 2016

Time to make your submission! AWARD registration 2017 For ees AWARD 2017 the submission period for entries starts in January and lasts until the end of March 2017. Intersolar and ees exhibitors can register for the events throughout year. AWARD finalists are going to be announced in April 2017. The formal announcement of AWARD Winners will be on May 31, 2017 at ees and Intersolar Europe in Munich. www.ees-events.com/en/ees-award.html

ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL | Summer 2016

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | POWERFUL PIONEERS

The worldwide PV boom: solar to drive energy storage By the end of 2015, a total of 229GW of solar capacity had been installed worldwide — a 45-fold increase over the past 10 years with some 50GW coming in 2015 alone.

This was just one of the findings of SolarPower Europe’s market analysis report Global Market Outlook for Solar Power 2016-2020, whose publication was launched at Intersolar Europe 2016.

Japan, the USA and China were again among the leading solar markets in 2015; China and Japan were responsible for 50% of the newly installed capacity around the world.

The European solar market also grew in 2015: 8.2GW were new installations, up 15% from the previous year. Europe has also become the first region in the world to cross the 100GW mark for total installed photovoltaic capacity.

Newly installed capacity this year is forecast to reach around 62GW. The largest markets in 2016 will again be China, the US and Japan but the US is set to overtake Japan as the secGlobal Solar PV Cumulative Market Scenario until 2020

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ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL | Summer 2016

ond largest solar market behind China.

Solar energy is well on its way to becoming the most inexpensive form of energy generation — in many parts of the world, electricity production costs for solar energy from PV are already as low as 5 to 7 euro cents per kilowatt hour.

Because of this PV as well as wind power will play a central role in the energy supply of the future. Storage systems are the backbone of this new energy world, as they guarantee supply safety, and are therefore an important catalyst for the global energy transition.

Consequently, Intersolar and ees exhibitions are rising in popularity across the world.

Celebrating 25 years In 2016, the organizers of ees and Intersolar celebrated the anniversary of an idea — for the past quarter of a century they have been powerful advocates for solar energy. And en route have built Intersolar up to be the world’s leading exhibition series for the solar industry.

Since its inception in 1991, Intersolar has been bringing people, markets and technologies together and the exhibition has grown continually on an international level as have the international photovoltaics and storage system markets.

In 2014, the “electrical energy storage” (ees) exhibition and conference was introduced in parallel to Intersolar Europe in Munich, Germany.

With ees, a professional platform for the energy storage industry was created to showcase companies’ achievements and innovations, to help companies and drivers of the global growth markets to develop and distribute technologies and business models, and to establish connections with new, emerging markets.

The ees exhibitions and accompanying conferences focus on storage solutions for renewable energy, from domestic and commercial applications to large-scale storage systems for stabilizing the grids.

The spotlight is also shined on topics such as energy management, electric transportation and uninterruptible power supply, better known as UPS. With ees Europe in Munich, ees North America in San Francisco and ees India in Mumbai, ees events are now found on three continents. ees Europe is the continent’s largest and most attended exhibition for the battery and energy storage industry.

By running concurrently, ees and Intersolar events create a powerful synergy. Topics affecting the future of the industry, such as energy generation, storage and the systems integration of renewable energy, are discussed under one roof at Intersolar and ees.

Here, the traditional energy industry is united with the renewable energy sector and the development of solutions that will enable the power, heat and transport sectors to successfully switch to green energy is actively supported.

Solar Promotion GmbH and Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe GmbH & Co. KG (FWTM) are more than traditional exhibition organizers. Their employees bring expertise from their industries and are driving the decentralized, renewable energy transition forward. Charging the future! n

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | NORTH AMERICA

Next generation solar — energy storage has to be part of the mix As solar penetration increases in the US, the value new projects can extract from the grid will fall. This put further pressure on the cost of solar to remain competitive.

Solar plus storage is the answer says Ravi Manghani, director of energy storage at GTM Research.

The US market for solar PV has grown exponentially in recent years — going from a few MWs of installations in 2000 to over 7GWs in 2015. In February this year the millionth solar installation came online in the US. For the first time, solar PV accounted for more generation capacity to come online than natural gas in 2015.

While this is a great landmark, solar has only recently been given a spot at the grownups table.

The key reason for this delayed recognition for solar is apparent if we step back and look at solar generation as a percentage of total electricity generation in the US, that number is still under one percent in 2015.

Ravi Manghani at ees North America.

Source: Solar Promotion

Getting solar to the next order of magnitude — a lofty but attainable goal — involves all the factors that have brought solar this far, but more importantly it needs newer business models, integration of peripheral, complementary technologies, and market structures that uncap the real value of solar.

As it stands today, the solar industry in the US is primarily focused on the near-term, and for good reason. Every quarter brings a new spate of business models, regulatory skirmishes, financing innovations (or woes), and overall change.

The solar market moves fast, and there is little time to invest resources beyond the next few years.

The near-term focus of the industry is driven by a few market and policy drivers, namely, the extension of renewable tax credits, continuous improvement in technology and business models across the system value chain with plenty of headroom for cost reductions, and the potential role of the Paris Agreement in decarbonizing the US economy (with or without the Clean Power Plan).

This anticipated and unprecedented growth in solar PV adoption will have its share of downsides. And in addressing these downsides lies yet another opportunity for the solar industry to frame solar not as a price-taking and non-dispatchable renewable energy resource, but rather as a smart,

U.S. Solar-Paired-Storage Deployments to Cross 1GW by 2021, a 70X Growth from 2015. Source: GTM Research U.S. Annual Solar-Paired-Storage Deployments, 2011-2021E (MW)

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The more solar is placed on the grid, the less the grid needs power when solar production is highest — causing solar’s value to decline as its penetration increases.

value-adding and dispatchable resource that leads to decarbonization and modernization of the US electricity grid.

Solar Promotion and CALSEIA, in partnership with GTM Research, have published a white paper on the future of solar called “Smart Solar: Integration of Storage and Energy Management.”

Theories of value Growing solar and wind penetration has been argued to present challenges to existing utility business models and maintenance of a reliably balanced grid. Solar, in particular due to its distributed nature, continues to face several net energy metering (NEM) battles from state regulators and electric utilities.

Over the past few years, NEM has been at the center of regulatory disputes across more than 20 states. Utilities often argue that NEM customers do not pay their fair share of grid costs, resulting in a cost shift to nonsolar ratepayers.

Solar advocates counter that distributed solar has value to the grid for which utilities

are not fully accounting, such as capacity value, transmission and distribution (T&D) deferral, and T&D line loss savings. This has a significant impact on the economics of residential solar, in particular.

A parallel, but more widely agreeable theory can be applied to value of solar to the grid.

As solar grows as a share of the total generation mix, its value to the electricity system (and thus the revenue it can generate) begins to decrease.

Solar is a zero marginal-cost resource, which means it will bid into wholesale power markets at zero dollars and take any price it can receive. Add an increasing amount of solar to that market and prices decline overall, leading to lower revenue for each solar project.

Since solar is non-dispatchable, project operators cannot strategically sell into the market at higher priced times — solar is purely a price taker (unless paired with energy storage, as discussed later). In fact, the more solar is placed on the grid, the less the grid needs power when solar production is highest — causing solar’s value to decline as its penetration increases.

Researchers first identified the value deflation effect in the 1990s, and it has continued to inform planning studies for increased renewable penetration (for example by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory). But over the past two years, a number of high profile studies using wholesale price predictions as proxies for the future value of solar have quantified a similar effect with increasing precision in disparate geographical contexts.

The road upwards Ultimately, the ascent of solar in the US to the next order of magnitude depends on the industry’s ability to successfully transform solar into a reliable and dispatchable grid resource.

The US crossed one million solar PV installations in the first quarter of this year, but the path to get to 10 million installations, undoubtedly involves integrating solar with energy storage, energy management, and other software solutions that are deployed to create a cleaner, resilient and responsive grid.

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The fundamental insight that the value of solar declines as solar’s penetration on the grid increases holds true for distributed solar as well as large scale solar.

This effect can be masked by the rate structure — for example, net energy metering that compensates distributed solar at a constant retail electricity rate will not reflect solar’s value deflation.

But one study of residential systems in California found that under a rate structure that compensates customers who own distributed solar for power exports to the grid at time-varying wholesale prices, customers lose 35% of their bill savings from solar at 15% solar penetration on the grid, compared with zero solar penetration and net energy metering.

Put another way, grid parity for solar is a moving target.

As solar penetration increases, the value new projects can extract from the grid may fall, which will put further downward pressure on the cost of solar in order to remain competitive.

We do expect solar costs to continue falling through 2030, but at a far more tempered rate than we have seen over the past decade (for example, our forecast calls for just 11% reduction in utility-scale system costs from 2020-2030). Will it be enough, or will economic competitiveness escape solar’s grasp as the market grows?

Enter smart solar One consistent theme in the value of solar and prospects of solar becoming mainstream discussions is linked to dispatchability of solar (or lack thereof). This non-dispatchable nature of solar has, and is, projected to give rise to many curvy problems, including but not limited to the duck curve in California, and Loch Ness “Nessie” curve in Hawaii. And yet, these are also the states that have put forward aggressive renewable goals — 50% by 2030 for California, and 100% by 2045 for Hawaii.

As a result, the solar industry will have to cope with changing net energy metering regimes and solar value deflation, in addition to other ongoing industry challenges. Various viable and not-so-viable solutions have been proposed and tested that broadly fall under three categories: • Market design (expand the grid, implement rate design solutions);

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | NORTH AMERICA

• Demand management (manage load to align with solar output); and, • Energy storage (shift and firm output).

From a behind-the-meter end-customer’s point of view, dispatchability of solar can be achieved primarily through two technologies — load management and energy storage.

Both these technologies have been enabled by distinct advancements in hardware (advanced metering, batteries) and software (customer analytics).

A confluence of these technology advancements along with appropriate market structures that value services offered by solar-plus-storage, or solar-plus-energy-management are the stepping stones for taking solar to the next level and enhancing solar as a smart renewable energy resource.

Storage enables flexibility Energy storage has enormous promise on its own, but it can also serve the needs of a growing solar market.

First, energy storage can help distributed solar owners navigate changing rate structures by maximizing self-consumption (and decreasing potentially lower-valued grid exports), optimizing consumption versus time-of-use rates and mitigating demand charges.

Second, at the system level, energy storage may be the factor that eases solar’s value deflation effect before it truly takes hold.

Pairing energy storage with renewables can enhance the value of the underlying renewable asset. As renewable penetration on the grid increases, storage can be used to facilitate renewables smoothing through ramp rate control and firming instantaneous output.

In remote islands such as Hawaii and Puerto Rico, these are important technical requirements to enable reliable grid operations while onboarding more renewables on the grid. Even in markets that are not grid constrained, storage addition can allow consistent use of firmer renewable capacity to meet capacity and electricity needs. SolarCity’s recent foray into utility-scale solar plus storage-based Capacity Services offering aims to tap into these value streams created by firm solar output.

If we shift to the viewpoint of the residential and non-residential end-customers, storage already has and will likely continue to play a growing role, as several utilities and public utility commissions continue to evolve rate

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Renewables plus storage benefits across the grid. Source: GTM Research

design structures for solar customers.

In states like Hawaii and Nevada, with less than retail rate net energy metering (NEM) values, there are electricity bill saving opportunities by increased self-consumption.

Though California has not significantly reduced the solar export value for future solar customers in its recent NEM 2.0 decision, the mandatory requirement to transition to TOU tariff creates an incentive to time shift excess solar to evening peak hours. On top of these benefits to different sides of the meter, storage improves the overall system resiliency in instance of power outages, and improves grid reliability.

Energy storage is not the only resource that can help mitigate value deflation and manage evolving rates. While energy storage serves its purpose on the supply side of the equation, load control can provide additional support on the demand side.

As more devices in the building become controllable, smart and networked, customers and services providers will gain the ability to shift load away from traditional peak periods and further toward periods of higher solar production. Rocky Mountain Institute calls this “demand flexibility” or “flexiwatts” and has estimated that residential flexibility

alone can reduce grid costs by $13 billion per year.

In recent months, several solar companies have introduced home energy management programs and systems, while many others have established partnerships with energy management companies. Companies such as Enphase Energy and SolarCity have in-house energy management systems targeting residential and non-residential customers.

SunPower on the other hand, has inked a deal with EnerNOC and invested in Tendril to enhance its energy management software offerings and capabilities.

Solar can play a vital role in new grid edge market structures Today, behind-the-meter solar projects essentially receive a single value stream — the reduction of a customer’s bill via a combination of self-consumption of solar power

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When paired with energy storage, load control and other distributed energy resources (DERs), solar can be a crucial component of tomorrow’s grid-responsive building.

ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL | Summer 2016

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The solar industry in the US is primarily focused on the nearterm, and for good reason. Every quarter brings a new spate of business models, regulatory skirmishes, financing innovations (or woes), and overall change. and net energy metering for power fed back into the grid. But solar ultimately has greater value — specifically, value to the grid.

Especially when paired with energy storage, load control and other distributed energy resources (DERs), solar can be a crucial component of tomorrow’s grid-responsive building.

This may sound futuristic and theoretical, but it is beginning to happen today.

The technology for DER aggregation is quickly arriving, as are the associated business models. And most importantly, the ground rules are being set by regulators and grid operators.

In California, the ISO has approved a proposal for distributed resources (under the name Distributed Energy Resource Providers, or DERPs) to bid into ISO markets under certain conditions. In New York, the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative seeks to open a host of grid service value streams to distributed resources under the guidance of the state ISO and the newly formed Distribution System Platform (DSP) providers.

Regulatory overhauls such as that being proposed in New York under the REV initiative had grander ambitions. In the ideal REV future, customer premises become grid-re-

sponsive assets, participating in a variety of new markets that reflect the true and full value of the customer’s costs and her services to the system.

This customer of the future has all the trappings of the smart home — various controllable devices connected to high energy usage appliances, all operating in concert through a simple interface. But in order to maximize value, the customer needs some form of generation, and solar is often the best bet.

For the solar industry today, initiatives such as REV in New York or utility Distribution Resource Plans (DRPs) in California, present small windows into the future of customersited solar. That future is hard to predict, but it almost certainly presents an array of new opportunities to extract value for customers and the grid from on-site solar. n

The digitization of the home: the customer experience is everything. Source: GTM Research

Utility Programs • Demand Response • Customer Engagement • Energy Efficiency • Smart Thermostat

Portable Devices • Portal • Online Application

Smart Thermostat, Gateway and Display

Router and Broadband Services

Solar PV and Micro-Inverter Electric Vehicle Backup Generator

Entertainment System

Energy Storage EV Charger

Smart Meter and Reader

Lighting Control Security Devices

42

ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL | Summer 2016

HVAC with Direct Load Controller

Smart Appliances, Devices and Plugs

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | NORTH AMERICA

Solar + Storage = More jobs Extracts from a Solar Foundation discussion paper The boom in the US energy storage market is going to be reflected in a host of work opportunities, according to a discussion paper by the Solar Foundation.

The reasoning is simple, the expected boom in energy storage and particularly in behind-the-meter storage.

The numbers bear this out. Last year, the US energy storage market deployed 221MW — up from 65MW in 2014. Of the 221MW — 187MW were in front of the meter (utility-scale), while the balance was behind the meter.

By 2021 the market is forecast to be around nine times larger than the 2015 market. The greatest growth is expected to occur in the behind the meter (residential & non-residential) segment, growing from 15% to 49% with residential demand experiencing the fastest growth.

Key drivers of market growth include many of the same factors that have driven PV growth: declining costs, comparably high electricity rates, policies, and incentives. Battery prices have declined 80% over the past six years and total costs are projected to decline more than 40% over the next five years.

As storage costs decline, the value of the solar + storage package increases. The package cost is higher than just solar but of greater value – so storage will likely increase PV installation and related employment.

Furthermore, storage makes larger systems more economical. Many residential customers installed smaller, 2kW-3kW systems so as to not exceed the total annual load for their net metering credit. With storage, it becomes economical to enlarge their system which would result in more jobs.

The fastest growing storage market segment – residential – will likely be driven by solar deployment if states restrict net metering, increase residential time-of-use rates (or demand charges), or encourage virtual power plants as is being done in New York.

Conversely, it is likely that more states will be subject to time-of-use rates; California has already enacted them for residential customers. Virtual power plants have policy and economic appeal and, thus, should experience significant growth. Distributed generation can

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Storage deployment trends 2015-2021 (MW) 2015 2021

Front of the meter

187

1,061

Behind the meter

35

1,020

Total

221 2,081

Source: GTM Research/ESA, US Energy Storage Monitor, Q2 Review 2016

be aggregated to optimize both customer and utility needs, providing a return on investment for all parties. With solar coupled with storage, utilities are starting to view distributed generation as a business opportunity. n

The job picture The Solar Foundation looked at two major sources of jobs: 1) storage deployment or installation jobs and 2) storage induced PV installation jobs. The latter would result from the additional solar to be installed because of the added value of storage. In both cases, the jobs include associated installation support jobs, but exclude related manufacturing, sales, and distribution jobs.

Assuming expected strong growth in time-of-use rates and virtual power plants, solar + storage might represent nearly 40% of energy storage MW deployed in 2021. And like solar PV, employment will be more efficient for utility-scale developers than for smaller residential ones, resulting in a much greater amount of residential employment. The table below shows possible jobs created.

Solar + storage related deployment jobs, 2021 (projected) Sector

Storage installation jobs

Storage induced PV jobs

Total jobs

Utility scale

122

245

367

Non-residential

600 1,200 1,800

Residential

8,305 16,609 24,914

Total

9,027 18,054 27,081

Source: The Solar Foundation, 2016

ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL | Summer 2016

43

ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | NORTH AMERICA

Solar+Storage poised to take North American market by storm There was no doubt about it. But there was a buzz in the air when the doors of San Francisco’s Moscone West exhibition hall opened this July 12.

The reason was simple.

Solar plus storage was now one of the hottest topics in the North American market.

And evidence of this was the first stand-alone ees North America event, co-located with Intersolar North America.

Dedicated to achieving a global sustainable energy supply, ees North America connects suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and users of stationary and mobile electricity storage systems with solar companies from the US and beyond.

On the exhibition floor and in the nearby conference sessions, professionals learnt about what business models were proving successful, new technologies and how to make connections with new, emerging markets.

Positive reports about the US solarplus-storage market and the US solar market fueled visitor optimism over the industry’s future. According to GTM Research, the solar-plus-storage market in the US will be worth a $6 billion annual industry by 2021, and the country will install 14.5 gigawatts of

44

ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL | Summer 2016

new PV capacity this year alone. (Currently, there are 29GW of solar installed.)

Together, the two events attracted more than 18,000 attendees from over 80 countries, who saw the latest products from more than 550 companies. The storage sector enjoyed particularly strong growth, with an increase of more than 40% compared with 2015. 105 battery and energy storage exhibitors showcased their products at ees and Intersolar North America.

Robust foot traffic on the show floor and a packed exhibition space demonstrated the market interest in pairing energy storage with PV technologies. The two events are the most well attended solar and storage industry shows in North America, and are the places where attendees can see innovations from solar and energy storage first. “ees and Intersolar are meaningful annual events for both the solar and storage industries,” said Boris von Bormann, chief executive officer of sonnen, Inc and an exhibitor at ees North America.

“For sonnen, exhibiting and speaking at the show provides an ideal platform to showcase how our smart energy management products help residential and commercial customers take greater control of

their energy future. Additionally we see the true value in bringing together key thought leaders, potential partners and customers in one place for face-to-face conversations and opportunities to develop mutually beneficial partnerships.”

A report from GTM Research and a discussion paper from The Solar Foundation — both presented at ees North America — discussed the positive trends for the solar-plus-storage industry. The combined solar-plus-storage market could create 27,000 new jobs by 2021.

Additionally, as grid penetration of solar increases, energy storage technologies will become more important. Ravi Manghani, GTM’s director of energy storage, said there will be 1.2GW of solar paired with storage installed by 2021. In California alone, solar-plus-storage deployments will reach almost 600MW— 150 times the 2015 installation rate.

All market frameworks, including business architecture and the technology landscape, are looking for opportunities to collaborate with smart renewable energy technology, Manghani said, and the storage market is no different.

Visitors to the ees stage exhibition were able to see the companies commercializing

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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | NORTH AMERICA

these technologies, both established industry players and up-and-coming early and mid-stage companies. The Powerhouse Pavilion featured software, financing and energy companies, and attracted enthusiastic crowds throughout the three-day exhibition.

This marked the first collaboration between ees North America organizers and Californiabased Powerhouse, the world’s first and only incubator and accelerator dedicated to solar.

Additionally, throughout the exhibition, visitors listened to presentations from exhibiting companies during free sessions at the ees North America stage. These discussions

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echoed conversations from the ees North America conference. Hundreds of attendees heard from energy storage executives on the technologies, policy and market trends shaping the industry in nine panel sessions.

Overall, visitors said they’d been well pleased with this the inaugural event, and excited about what’s in store for the future. n

The next ees North America will take place between July 11-13, 2017 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Exhibitor applications for 2017 are available online: www.ees-northamerica.com

“ „ In California alone, solar-plus-storage deployments will reach almost 600MW—150 times the 2015 installation rate

ENERGY STORAGE JOURNAL | Summer 2016

45

INDIA’S LARGEST SOLAR EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS ENERGY STORAGE INNOVATIONS

OCT 19–21, 2016 MUMBAI INDIA

CHARGING THE FUTURE EUROPE’S LARGEST EXHIBITION FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS NORTH AMERICA'S ULTIMATE HOT SPOT FOR ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTIONS

MAY 31– JUNE 2, 2017 MUNICH GERMANY JULY 11–13, 2017 SAN FRANCISCO USA

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION SERIES FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

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ENERGY STORAGE FINANCE: GAUGING RISK Energy storage technology — seen by many as the final piece in the global energy transition puzzle — requires significant financing.

Attracting investment, depends largely on understanding and quantifying the associated risks, says Michael Wilkins from credit risk ratings firm Standard & Poor’s.

Risk assessment — the key to making energy storage commercially viable Power generation from renewable resources has increased its presence across the world’s energy grids in the past decade. Moreover the cost of this electricity is reaching — or has reached grid parity — in many countries.

However, full dependence on renewable energy sources is limited due to the unpredictable supply of natural resources. Large wind projects, for example, typically generate more energy at night when demand is low.

Energy storage is crucial to unlocking the full potential of renewable energy as it helps to balance the natural intermittency in supply.

In the case of wind power, energy storage can play a key role in load levelling by storing low-cost electricity until demand, and, therefore prices increase during the day.

Without such storage, renewables are unlikely to account for a majority share of a country’s power generation mix. This is particularly pertinent given leading estimates which predict that the world will need 150GW of battery storage if it is to double the share of renewable power generation by 2030.

Prompted by the declining price of battery storage technology, the need for greater energy security and relief for aging electricity networks, a growing number of governments are starting to show enthusiasm in energy storage.

Recent figures from the UK National Infrastructure Commission, for example, estimate that the country could save £8 billion ($11 billion) per year through the incorporation of smart power with a mix of intercon-

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nection, energy storage, and demand flexibility.

A number of key government policy initiatives designed to encourage the uptake of storage are coming into play all over the world. For instance, in California legislation stipulates that investor-owned utilities must procure

1.3GW of energy storage by 2020 — coinciding with the state’s target for achieving 33% of power from renewables.

Elsewhere, Puerto Rico was one of the first jurisdictions to require that renewable energy projects include storage as a means of short-term load

In most project finance cases, when looking at a project’s technology track record, we would expect to assess it as commercially proven because we would expect most projects to use off-the-shelf technology. However, that type of technology is not yet the norm for energy storage projects.

ANNOUNCED UTILITY-SCALE GLOBAL ENERGY STORAGE PROJECTS* (Megawatts) 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

*Excluding pumped hydro. Source: United Nations Energy Programme Copyright © 2016 by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC. All rights reserved.

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 47

ENERGY STORAGE FINANCE: GAUGING RISK most important considerations investors should take into account when assessing energy storage projects:

Battery storage projects, if used for generation purposes and supplied by a single variable renewable energy source, will face resource risk, which, in our opinion, is one of the biggest risks in renewable energy systems. balancing. Policies that require the implementation of energy storage alongside renewable energy are likely to become the norm as they ensure that renewable energy projects do not add to the current strain on networks through intermittency.

Recent mergers and acquisitions point to this structural shift in global energy systems.

Earlier this year, energy giant, Total SA approved a $1.1 billion takeover of Saft Groupe, a producer of energy storage systems. The move represented the biggest acquisition of an energy storage provider to date.

At the same time, many new and innovative technologies are emerging causing the energy storage market to expand.

These developments are widely seen as following a similar trajectory to solar and wind power projects in their need for both government and private sector financing.

Much like renewable energy projects, energy storage presents high upfront costs and a fairly long payback period.

However, unlike renewable technologies, which primarily rely on pre-

Planning risk

dictable and fixed structures financed through debt, equity or PPA (power purchase agreements), energy storage has the potential for multiple-use applications, enabling various revenue streams, and potentially shortening payback periods.

Energy storage offers a world of opportunities for investors; it also presents significant challenges.

Although the costs associated with energy storage technology are declining rapidly, they are still relatively high.

Moreover, energy storage projects have implicit risks. The associated financial and technical implications need to be identified and assessed.

For energy storage projects to become commercially viable, investors must be satisfied that the systems they are investing in are able to store and deliver the quantity of energy required at any given time — and at the right price to ensure a satisfactory level of return.

At S&P Global Ratings, six main factors contribute to our view of a project’s credit risk profile: planning, construction, operations, resources, counterparties, and the market.

Highlighted below are some of the

Etorage projects have implicit risks. The associated financial and technical implications need to be identified and assessed. For projects to become commercially viable, investors must be satisfied the systems they are investing in can store and deliver the quantity of energy required at any given time — and at the right price to ensure a satisfactory level of return.

Project planning risk is relatively low down on our agenda for energy storage compared with that in renewable energy assets. This is because storage modules are typically smaller than wind turbines or solar panels, often able to fit into standard shipping containers, and are therefore unlikely to face similar opposition to their aesthetics and implementation.

Construction risk

In general, storage projects, such as battery modular units, are classified as simple building tasks that require minimal construction on site. Construction risk is therefore relatively low. However, risk does emerge when interfacing such assets with other projects, such as solar or wind, because there is limited practical experience of this in the market.

This is why one key credit factor that contributes to construction risk is technology.

Operations risk

When we assess a project’s operations phase stand-alone credit profile (SACP), we first determine its business risk profile, which we call the operations-phase business assessment. The OPBA can be thought of as a measure of how risky a project’s operations are. It ranges from a scale of 1 (lowest risk) to 12 (highest). To arrive at the OBPA value, we assess market and performance risks, both key factors.

Asset class operations stability

Our assessment of asset class operations stability indicates the risk that a project’s cashflow will differ from expectations as a result of it being unable to meet the services or products.

Energy storage on a large-scale re-

Grid connected energy storage projects (as of May 31, 2016) Technology type

Projects

Projects (% of total)

Power from rated entities (MW)

Power from rated entities (% of total)

Electro-chemical

923

59.4

2,679

1.4

Pumped hydro

350

22.5

179,427

95.3

Thermal energy

203

13.1

3,615

1.9

69

4.4

2,611

1.4

9

0.6

60

0

1,554

188,338

Electro-mechanical Hydrogen Total

MW--Megawatts. Source: U.S. DOE Global Energy Storage Database.

48 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

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ENERGY STORAGE FINANCE: GAUGING RISK

Market risk

Our view of market risk reflects the extent to which a project is exposed to market changes. For example, in the case of energy storage projects our analysis of regulatory support and predictability, barriers to entry, delivery cost relative to peers’ and transmission access would help us determine whether a project is able to compete in the market with its competitors given general economic trends.

Counterparty risk

Reliance on third parties to make payments or perform under a wide range of agreements — such as revenues, construction and equipment supply — is a common feature in project finance. For energy storage projects, equipment counterparties, that deal with interconnection issues, in particular will be a key focus of our assessment.

The relatively few players in the battery storage industry, and equipment providers in particular, are not easily interchangeable.

Some larger players have entered the market recently, but many of the advancements seem to be coming from smaller players, which may expose projects to their credit risk.

Technology performance

Assessment in this area predominantly focuses on the extent to which a

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Additional Cost of Storage

350 300 250 200 150 100 50

Japan

U.S.

PV

OW

Coal

Germany

CCGT

PV

OW

CCGT

PV

Coal

OW

Coal

U.K.

CCGT

PV

OW

CCGT

PV

Coal

0 OW

Battery storage projects, if used for generation purposes and supplied by a single variable renewable energy source, will face resource risk, which, in our opinion, is one of the biggest risks in renewable energy systems. This is mainly due to renewable power purchasing agreements which stipulate that suppliers are only paid for the volumes delivered.

Assessment of resource risk is aimed at determining whether the raw material will be available in the quantity and quality needed to meet production and performance expectations.

LCOE ($ per MWH)

Coal

Resource risk

LCOE COMPARISON INCLUDING ADDITIONAL STORAGE COST FOR H2 2015*

CCGT

quires highly sophisticated technology that encompasses complex electrical components and interlinkages between these components and sometimes other infrastructure outside the project. Initially, it is likely we will assign asset class operations stability a high score (indicating higher risk) until a track record of operational stability is established.

China

* Based on storage assets providing 50% of capacity and two hours of storage, with a $800/ Kilowatt hour total installed cost and 1% operation and maintenance costs. LCOE: Levelized cost of electricity. MWH: Megawatt hour. CCGT: Combined cycle gas turbine. OW: Onshore wind. PV: Photovoltaic (solar): United Nations Environment Programme data.

Copyright © 2016 by Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC. All rights reserved

Assessment of resource risk is aimed at determining whether the raw material will be available in the quantity and quality needed to meet production and performance expectations. project may face operating challenges, based on the technology deployed.

More specifically, the previous performance of the system, equipment, and material, as well as how its design addresses site-specific challenges are scrutinized.

In most project finance cases, when looking at a project’s technology track record, we would expect to assess it as commercially proven because we would expect most projects to use offthe-shelf technology.

However, that type of technology is not yet the norm for energy storage projects, given that the sector is relatively new and evolving rapidly.

Unless the storage technology has a proven track record, with large amounts of industry data demonstrating a good operating performance at a similar scale and under similar operating conditions, technological performance is likely to be assessed as negative until more data is available.

It is without a doubt that energy storage is likely to become one of the most essential contributors to efforts to decarbonize the power sector. It is a rapidly evolving area showing encour-

aging rates of price decline, which is bringing it toward large-scale commercial viability.

Right now, the risks are abundant as the industry goes through the early stages of transition.

But these risks will reduce over the next few years as the technology becomes a mainstream participant in the power sector.

Michael Wilkins is managing director for infrastructure finance at S&P Global Ratings

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 49

COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS

Loading weight to take weight off the load Despite a proliferation of highly nuanced business models, utilities, solar-and-storage companies continue to fine-tune their approach to using energy storage as part of a virtual power plant, reports Sara Verbruggen.

50 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

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COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS

I

n the US a variety of drivers, which vary by region or state, are responsible for the growing demand for solar-plus-storage.

In Hawaii, where its island grids are straining under the pressure that peak generation from renewables — mainly rooftop solar — exerts, consumers face some of the highest energy costs, meaning an investment in a solar-plusstorage system can pay for itself within 6-1/2 years.

However, back-up is emerging as a key selling point across many parts of the US. In states such as Utah and South Dakota, back-up goes hand in hand with customers wanting more energy independence.

In New York, a recently announced pilot led by Con Edison intends to find out what residential electricity customers are prepared to pay for resiliency.

Unlike Germany, the largest residential solar-plus-storage market by installed capacity and demand, where the technology might achieve payback in 10 years — that’s with an incentive — in the US the conversation has always been about monetizing solarplus-storage.

That requires joined-up thinking among utilities, technology providers, regulators and the buy-in, of course, from energy customers.

To monetize solar-plus-storage a battery must cater to multiple parties, each of which derive a saving or a rev-

enue stream from the asset.

First the battery’s primary application must be for the customer’s benefit, such as back-up and energy bill savings, by increasing solar consumption. The remaining capacity of the individual storage unit can also be harnessed, along with other units, to provide grid balancing.

Eventually, the grid as a whole is expected to benefit from distributed storage on the tips of the network because growth in renewable energy, like rooftop solar, is decoupled from the need to make investments in expanding the grid.

But an odd benefit all the same.

This requires utilities working with technology providers to see how distributed solar-plus-storage can be deployed as virtual power plants on their networks, in doing so, extending the potential for rooftop solar PV uptake.

The Molokai solution

On the Hawaiian island of Molokai, the end of net metering has paved the way for solar-plus-storage. But the grid is unable to connect any of the tail-end of net-metering customers.

So the utility Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO) is working with energy storage and software developer E-Gear. E-Gear was set up by Chris DeBone and Steve Godmere, the founders of solar installer Hawaii Energy Connection.

An E-Gear energy storage system installed in Hawaii, where the company is working with HECO on a small virtual power plant pilot on the island of Molokai, using storage to enable further integration of the remaining rooftop solar PV systems under the net metering programme which has now come to an end.

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Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 51

COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS “It’s very apt to take CAISO’s duck curve and apply it to Hawaii, where Kaua’i’s grid is already experiencing these extreme effects where traditional generation plants have to be ramped up to meet the peak evening energy demand that solar cannot” — Bob Rudd, SolarCity E-Gear’s offering consists of a hardware and software platform that enables self-consumption for the residential electricity customer but which connects individual systems in a network and makes them act as a single virtual power plant that the utility can control and manage.

“How does energy storage compare with solar PV? In 2016, you have to be fast, nimble and quick to market.

This is a long way from dumb rooftop solar PV systems,” says DeBone.

On Hawaii some solar installers have branched out into installing batteries and solar, systems that can enable consumers to virtually go off-grid by taking solar and pumping it into batteries — DC-coupling.

“What’s left is scraps for the utilities, when consumers start taking loads off the grid. This grid defection is not the way to go. What consumers want is lower bills and security of supply.

They shouldn’t have to go virtually off-grid to achieve this,” DeBone says.

E-Gear has developed a proprietary energy management controller — a

circuit board with software embedded in it that interfaces with cloudware.

Every system installed is interconnected in the cloud. The company has sourced an AC battery from Eguana Technologies in Canada, which comprises Eguana’s bidirectional inverter connected to a lithium ion battery module from LG Chem.

However, the energy management control and software developed by EGear is hardware agnostic.

Software tools

The software tools, including those for aggregation, which E-Gear has developed, enable the consumer to have functions such as self-consumption and back-up.

But the tools also allow a party such as an installer, an aggregator or a utility to manage fleets, which collectively can be deployed as virtual power plants. The software is open platform/ protocol — Sunspec — so that it can be overlaid over different inverter hardware makes.

In the pilot on Molokai, HECO is

buying 10 of E-Gear’s energy storage systems, which will interface directly with the utility’s own grid software.

“The problem faced on Molokai is that renewables penetration has reached such high levels no new rooftop solar can be added as it will create system level problems.

“This is because large amounts of intermittent solar generation are now causing frequency and contingency issues on the island. The existing fossil fuel generators are not able to idle down far enough on some peak solar days,” says DeBone.

When California Independent System Operator (CAISO) presented its now-notorious duck curve chart, it was based on a prediction into how the grid would look with increasing amounts of solar capacity connected, becoming more acute towards the end of this decade.

More solar means greater reliance on base load power generation. On some of Hawaii’s grids the duck curve has already come home to roost and utilities are turning to solar integrated

CAISO DUCK CURVE CAISO’s duck curve chart shows the amount of dispatchable resources that have to come online as more and more solar is connected to the grid, until 2020.

As the evening begins in California, generation output from solar panels recedes, occurring when consumers returning home from work turn on appliances and switch lights on, which drives up electricity consumption.

To fill the gap more megawatts of dispatchable reserves, gas plants mainly, have to be powered up. The problem is exacerbated in the winter months when days are shorter.

CAISO’s duck curve is equally applicable to Hawaii’s island grids now, which are feeling the impacts of rooftop solar penetration.

52 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

Growing need for flexibility starting 2015

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COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS with battery storage to alleviate the problem.

On a neighbouring island, Kauai, the local utility, Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) signed a power purchase agreement with SolarCity in September 2015 for electricity from what will be the largest integrated solar PV and battery storage facility project commissioned to date.

The facility when fully operational at the end of 2016 will supply power from stored solar energy to the grid in the evening — when demand is highest.

The 52MWh battery system will feed up to 13MW of electricity into the grid to shave the amount of conventional power generation needed to meet the evening peak, which lasts from 5pm to 10pm.

Bob Rudd, vice president of energy storage and microgrids at SolarCity, says: “It’s very apt to take CAISO’s duck curve and apply it to Hawaii, where Kaua’i’s grid is already experiencing these extreme effects where traditional generation plants have to be ramped up to meet the peak evening energy demand that solar cannot.”

“As Hawaii nears 100% renewable energy levels, there will likely be a need for storage at the transmission, distribution and meter levels but the recent interest is in what storage at the meter or circuit level can do, because it can do a lot, with the right software” — Chris DeBone, E-Gear Though the solar and storage facility will meet 5% of the island’s energy demand over the year, which does not sound like much, it will meet between 20%-25% of evening peak demand, as the 13MW can offset the 55MW of base-load generation.

The integrated battery gives KIUC the opportunity to use solar PV as a dispatchable resource, operating it like a thermal generation plant, by scheduling how much power they need it to provide at various times.

On Molokai, there are about 100 remaining net-metering customers that are in the queue. It doesn’t necessarily mean that HECO will need to install a storage system with the remaining 90. It may mean that the peak shift-

ALOHA SOLAR … AND STORAGE Net metering may be over but storage extends the prospects of solar on the Hawaiian islands.

In 2015 the energy regulator, Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, decided to end net metering.

For Hawaii to reach its 100% renewable energy target, growing the installed capacity of intermittent rooftop solar requires dealing with energy storage.

Think the California Independent System Operator’s infamous duck curve, only on Hawaii it is already happening, traditional generators have to be ramped to balance out the growing gap between peak solar generation, which does not correspond with demand patterns, and the period at which solar generation drops off in the evening, while electricity demand increases.

In the place of the net metering programme are two programmes for new solar customers to choose from, a grid supply tariff or a selfsupply tariff, both of which facilitate combination of solar-plus-storage.

PV customers that opt for the grid supply tariff can export electricity to

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the grid, but are compensated at half the retail rate, which is about $0.15/kWh, and reflects the average cost of wholesale electricity across the islands.

Any solar used at home offsets the retail rate but the export rate is fixed.

However it is the customer selfsupply tariff that will become the option for many customers, since the customer grid supply tariff is capped by the Hawaiian Public Utilities Commission at 25MW of distributed solar on Oahu, 5MW on Maui, Lanai and Molokai, and 5MW on Hawaii itself. Those levels are likely to be reached by the end of 2016.

The customer self-supply tariff is intended only for solar PV installations that are configured to not export any electricity to the grid. Customers do not receive any compensation for any electricity inadvertently exported.

The self-supply tariff will ensure that batteries become a necessity if distributed solar is to continue to ensure that Hawaii hits its 100% renewables by 2045.

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 53

COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS “Our products are available for less than it might cost to build traditional generation from fossil fuel plants or T&D infrastructure investments.

Grid needs that can be addressed include peak demand shaving, voltage and reactive power support, frequency regulation, and grid situational intelligence” — Ryan Hanley, Solar City

ing that the one battery enables and the grid services that the batteries in aggregate can provide, could allow a further two or three more customers to be grid-connected just with rooftop solar.

DeBone describes Hawaii as a petri dish of problems that larger, more resilient, usually mainland grids will come to face in future. On the islands, which are really a group of separate microgrids, these problems have occurred in a compressed amount of time.

“As Hawaii nears 100% renewable energy levels, there will likely be a need for storage at the transmission, distribution and meter levels but the recent interest is in what storage at the meter or circuit level can do, because it can do a lot, with the right software,” says DeBone.

The first storage projects to mitigate intermittent wind and solar built on the islands of Hawaii were bulk storage plants designed for energy shifting but little more.

Now intelligent distributed energy resources in the form of solar-plusstorage systems promise a more sophisticated solution. Not only do these systems control loads in the home, when to charge up and release power, and where to send it, they also let the utility access some of the capacity that is not being used to perform critical grid services such as frequency response and reactive power.

In the pilot on Molokai, E-Gear’s storage systems will allow HECO to deploy a suite of tools including frequency control, voltage control, fast frequency responses, power factor and control as well as time shifting to ease the duck curve effect.

Autonomous programming

E-Gear’s storage units are autonomously programmed to start charging, taking into consideration their location in relation to the sun’s trajectory.

54 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

On the eastern side of the island, the sun is up earlier than on the west. Vice versa, the sun sets later in the western side of the island than on the east, so depending on where each storage system is located on the island they are programmed accordingly.

E-Gear also has a pilot in California in Fontana, with Southern California Edison and the Electric Power Research Institute, where nine new homes all on one distribution connection will have solar and storage installed to demonstrate that they can have zero impact on the grid.

With battery prices falling and solarplus-storage becoming more affordable each year, it could be a blueprint for all new homes construction in future, says DeBone.

E-Gear has five dealers in southern California and just took possession of a warehouse in the state. It will shortly begin exporting its battery systems there.

In Hawaii, E-Gear continues to establish further dealerships. Business is brisk and picking up, it says, with the company having ordered a container of battery systems, about 500kWh worth. This is already sold, with the company placing repeat orders.

PG&E, SolarCity pilot

SolarCity, one of the largest rooftop solar installation businesses in the US, announced a project in July with investor owner utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).

In the pilot, which starts in September and runs until December 2017, 150 residential customers in San Jose, in California, will have smart inverters, with their rooftop solar systems installed.

Some of the participants will also have residential battery storage systems installed. PG&E will coordinate the smart inverters and behind the meter battery storage to improve electric distribution planning and operations.

For the pilot SolarCity is enrolling

new customers in addition to installing the systems within some of its existing customer base in the San Jose. As they are installed, the smart inverters and storage systems will be integrated into SolarCity’s software control platform Gridlogic.

PG&E is running several pilot programmes to demonstrate different technologies and use cases, some of which include smart inverters on their own and some thatinclude smart inverters paired with batteries. SolarCity is to take part in both versions of the project, by providing smart inverters paired with solar PV, as well as smart inverters paired with batteries.

Grid benefits

Smart inverters — either paired only with solar, or paired with solar and batteries — offer a host of grid benefits, including improving power quality, supporting voltage regulation needs, providing reactive power support, reducing line losses, and enabling dynamic control of PV generation output.

“By deploying smart inverters along with solar PV, this project will offer services that would otherwise have been performed by traditional grid investments,” says SolarCity’s Ryan Hanley, vice president of grid engineering solutions at SolarCity.

Energy storage systems paired with smart inverters offer all the benefits of smart inverters, but with additional capabilities enabled by the battery.

Battery storage systems can provide services such as peak shaving, dynamic capacity, spinning reserves, frequency regulation, and frequency response.

They can be dispatched almost instantaneously to provide additional power when it’s needed most, whereas traditional generators often take between 20 and 60 minutes to respond to grid operator control signals.

“By installing smart inverters and home batteries together, pilot participants will be able to provide a wider

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COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS range of services to the grid,” says Hanley.

A virtual power plant is not anasset that a utility owns and operates in the traditional sense, so there have to be some adaptations to how such platforms are connected to the grid, to respond to the utility’s commands without actually being controlled by the utility.

SolarCity — soon to become part of Tesla after a sale price of $2.6 billion has apparently been agreed — is providing PG&E with two ways to control its virtual power plant of aggregated smart inverters through its Grid Logic software control platform.

Software necessities

Hanley says: “The first control method is directly through the Grid Logic user interface, which SolarCity offers to utilities and grid operators to control the portfolio of distributed energy resources.

“Through the Grid Logic interface, utilities can control both the individual smart inverter or battery assets in the pilot, as well as aggregate and control the entire portfolio as a fleet.

Connected non-wind net metered Ggeneration (as of February 2016)

The second control method is through integration with a utility Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) platform.”

In this project, SolarCity’s software will be integrated with General Electric’s DERMS platform. “PG&E will issue controls that are then passed through SolarCity’s Grid Logic software controls, to control the smart inverters and battery management systems,” says Hanley.

Once control through Grid Logic and DERMS is established, PG&E and SolarCity will demonstrate the ability of the asset portfolio to carry out several technical use cases. These include

EnErgy StoragE

nEw SolutionS nEEdEd

dynamic capacity, peak shaving, and voltage and reactive power support.

Grid Logic enables both the control of these assets, as well as monitors them to ensure they perform as expected.

SolarCity provides both utility-scale and distributed grid services for utilities and grid operators.

Hanley says: “Our products are available for less than it might cost to build traditional generation from fossil fuel plants or T&D infrastructure investments. Grid needs that can be addressed include peak demand shaving, voltage and reactive power support, frequency regulation, and grid situational intelligence.

Energy storage and grid voltage control are key elements for successfully integrating renewable energy. AEG PS provides key elements and systems to address this important mission. Battery energy storage systems, power to gas, low voltage and medium voltage control – AEG PS provides new solutions based on proven technology.

For more information visit our new website: www.battery-energy-storage.com

COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS “Hawaii — a petri dish of problems that larger, more resilient, usually mainland grids will come to face in future.”

“On the islands, which are really a group of separate microgrids, these problems have occurred in a short amount of time.”

including demand response, and voltage response/optimization applications.

In its partnership with Sonnen, Enbala is able to overlay its distributed energy control and aggregation software over Sonnen’s energy storage technology. The partnership will allow utilities and energy companies, including third party energy service providers, to control and manage solar-plus-storage resources as virtual power plants to provide grid ancillary services.

Sonnen is not the first provider of meter-level energy storage systems using Enbala’s software. It is also used by two other energy storage system providers, which are active in the commercial and industrial segment but which prefer not to publicize that they use the company’s software technology.

Customer base “These frequently use distributed energy resources, such as smart solar connected inverters, or batteries, that are already deployed, and so are available to utilities at a discount to traditional investments needed to meet these needs.”

Given the company’s integrated product offering, large customer base, operational scale, and full-service support, SolarCity is in a strong position as an energy services provider for utilities and grid operators.

“The company’s Grid Logic platform comes pre-integrated with the systems it installs. As the number one residential solar provider in America, we already have an extensive customer base and can rapidly deploy new distributed energy resource portfolios across the country,” says Hanley.

Germany-headquartered Sonnen is working with several utilities, spanning cooperatives, municipal utilities as well as investor-owned utilities that will be piloting its systems to see how they perform aggregated as virtual power plants. These will be an-

nounced later this year.

Recently Sonnen partnered with Enbala Networks, a vendor of aggregation software, which is looking to integrate distributed energy storage systems into its platform and take this offering to utilities.

Third party software

“From a utility’s perspective they don’t want a Sonnen software platform as well as various other platforms to manage,” says Boris von Bormann, chief executive of US subsidiary Sonnen Inc. “They want to manage these units in the same way, which means that third party software providers, independent of storage system manufacturers, will be important.”

Enbala was set up seven years ago, initially to design software for manipulating energy loads for purposes of frequency regulation for PJM Interconnection and continues to manage 10MW of aggregated loads for PJM. When Enbala’s chief executive Bud Vos joined, the company began extending the software into other areas,

As well as trialling various different types of distributed energy resources, such as solarplus-storage systems connected to advanced software control platforms, the virtual power plant pilots taking place will help inform new policy and regulation.

56 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

Enbala’s customers include utilities, grid operators and energy service providers, mainly in North America.

Vos says: “We teamed up after Sonnen could see that unlike the grid system in Germany, which is unified, the system in the US is very different across the various states.”

In the US Sonnen wants to focus on improving its storage system technology, including the behind the meter energy management system controls side, which addresses how its systems interact with the rooftop solar PV system as well as the different loads in the house or the building.

The partnership allows Sonnen to focus on expanding its distribution network with installers while Enbala can target utilities and grid operators.

Regional markets that the partnership will focus on include Hawaii, California and Texas.

As well as trialling various different types of distributed energy resources, such as solar-plus-storage systems connected to advanced software control platforms, the virtual power plant pilots taking place will help inform new policy and regulation.

This is critical if utilities are to be able to adapt what their role is going to be in future — how they continue, fundamentally, to manage the grid and maintain a good quality of service, affordably, but not doing it the traditional way of building as many power stations as possible or expanding the grid network via conventional means of installing new cables, wires and transformers.

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COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS

The REV initiative — the ‘reforming energy vision’ of New York State — has a pilot that may serve as the first steps in creating a template for the future.

New York pilots solar-plus-storage VPP Sunverge is another end-to-end energy storage provider that has invested in a platform for networking and aggregating its energy storage systems together. The company has partnered with several utilities on pilots, in the US as well as in New Zealand and Australia.

As part of New York’s Reforming Energy Vision (REV), this June New

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York utility Con Edison, US solar module maker and installer Sunpower and Sunverge announced a $15 million pilot, the largest to deploy residential solar-plus-storage systems.

In this, 300 homes in Brooklyn and Queens will have solar panels leased from Sunpower and energy storage systems from Sunverge installed and connected. These will be aggregated

together to operate as a virtual power plant to test various applications, including peak shaving, capacity markets and transmission and distribution deferral.

Con Edison will own the energy storage systems.

One of REV’s goals is for New York to reach a target of 50% renewable energy by 2030. To do so, Con Edison

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 57

COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS

THE INS AND OUTS OF A VIRTUAL POWER PLANT “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” may be a cliché — but it is apt for describing the principle of virtual power plants.

As more and more rooftop solar PV is built and connected to the grid, utilities are coming under immense pressure to maintain grid infrastructure and quality of supply, provide good levels of service and continue to expand the network’s generation and supply infrastructure as electricity demand rises, especially peak demand.

Virtual power plant technology turns rooftop solar and other types of distributed assets from the problem into the solution.

While networking and aggregating smart inverters connecting rooftop solar PV systems to the grid can provide grid support, such as voltage regulation and reactive power support, connecting solarplus-storage systems can benefit the individual customer and provide unique grid benefits, such as peak shaving, frequency response and spinning reserves.

As these fleets expand, utilities can defer costly expansion works, be it new distribution equipment or even peaking plants. Everyone

benefits, from the energy customer at the ends of the grid to utilities and operators, as investment in expanding the grid can be administered more cost-effectively.

Like conventional generation plants, a virtual power plant is always on and always available but is much more efficient and cleaner, as well as being less expensive.

The hardware in virtual power plants, such as solar PV, smart inverters, batteries, even loads — appliances and devices that use electricity such as heating and air conditioning units in demand response initiatives — are brought to life using advanced software, automatically dispatching and optimizing these hardware units that are linked to the wholesale power markets.

Elements needed for a virtual power plant include connectivity between the platform running the virtual power plant and the customer sites as well as computing power close to the devices being controlled, according to virtual

power plant software vendor Enbala Networks.

With Enbala’s Symphony platform, the field devices are distributed computing nodes that interface with distributed energy resources, like solar-plus-storage systems, to optimize routines and relay information to the platform’s server. The server consists of three software components that serve different functions. One handles forecasting and optimization, another manages the distributed energy resources, and a third handles resource control and dispatch for energy market interface and interaction.

This market interaction is how virtual power plants derive their value.

By providing a comprehensive interface to grid operations and market systems, a virtual power plant opens up the means to incentivize customers to take part in the programme and generate revenues from market participation.

Virtual power plant technology should include, according to Enbala: • A dynamic bidding and market interface that can provide market bids, forecasts and operational network information • Evaluation of all available market opportunities and grid service requirements for the network • Real-time measurement, verification and evaluation capabilities • Support for web service interfaces Cutting edge virtual power plant software can deal with a mix of demand response loads and distributed energy resources of different sizes and descriptions.

The technology needs to be robust and rapid enough to accommodate customer constraints.

The system understands the flexibility and ramping characteristics of each distributed energy resource or demand response load and dispatches them within customerdefined constraints as needed.

Navigant Research forecasts a fivefold increase in virtual power plant capacity by 2023 With major utilities such as Con Edison in New York and Pacific Gas & Electric in California working with emerging energy service providers, like solar installers, software vendors and energy storage technology suppliers to deploy the various technological components that make up virtual power plants, the prediction seems realistic and will help transform grids in the coming years.

58 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

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COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS has been trying to understand how it can incentivize adoption of rooftop solar by customers and how the utility itself can deploy the technology for distribution grid expansion deferral.

In New York State Con Edison is second after National Grid in terms of installed solar PV capacity. Nearly 10,000 of Con Edison’s customers have had rooftop solar installed, totalling 115MW, and the utility receives about 4,000 applications a year.

It’s not much compared with a typical Californian investor owned utility, which might have more than 100,000 solar customers, amounting to several hundred megawatts of installed capacity, and which could be dealing with thousands of applications every month.

“Solar-plus-storage in load pockets that can be reliably dispatched could eliminate or offset the need for additional T&D equipment, which results in bill savings for all customers,” says Griffin Reilly, an engineer leading the project at Con Edison. “Eventually, if many solar-plus-storage systems are dispatched when needed, they could offset the need to run a more carbon costly peaking unit that’s on the bulk transmission system.”

All participants in the pilot will be new solar customers and single family households.

Three phase plan

The implementation plan for the pilot is happening in three phases. The deadline is to have all 300 systems installed and operational by the end of 2017. As soon as the first solar-plusstorage system is installed and connected, Con Edison will begin testing the system’s capability as a dispatch tool, using Sunverge’s platform.

The first phase began on July 18 with Sunpower, which has the role of an energy services provider in the pilot, promoting offers to customers for integrated solar-plus-storage systems through the value proposition of resiliency services.

Though outage rates have been declining as a result of Con Edison’s storm hardening investments, there are still customers that want the extra peace of mind that they will have power in the event the grid does go down. Usually these customers buy a back-up generator.

Reilly says: “Solar-plus-storage will be cheaper than most backup generators, in this programme, and will provide power automatically with no interruption and without the need to

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“The goal is for this programme to become the new normal, by allowing the battery systems to be used and partially paid for by the grid, which lowers the cost for resiliency for individual homeowners.” refill a gas tank. This is an attractive offering for customers.

“The goal is for this programme to become the new normal, by allowing the battery systems to be used and partially paid for by the grid, which lowers the cost for resiliency for the individual homeowners.”

Sunpower is doing the marketing, customer acquisition, permitting, installation, and O&M for all systems in the virtual power plant pilot, which is to run through to the end of 2018.

Phase one will test customers’ willingness to pay for resiliency and the knowledge created during the phase will inform Sunpower on how to finance, or offset, the cost of energy storage deployment.

In addition to understanding what revenues can be made from resiliency payments the pilot will also enable Sunpower to understand what it can earn from dispatch payments using a virtual power plant based on solarplus-storage units.

Sunpower will retain all resiliency payments during the pilot and in exchange for that right the company is lowering the total cost of the project that Con Edison is paying from the start. This way it shares the risk of what the total payments might be and a range of prices are being tested.

The second phase will demonstrate system control.

Sunverge’s virtual power plant software will not run in Con Edison’s control centres. The utility is creating a communication bridge that will allow its own control software to speak with Sunverge which operates the energy storage systems, either independently or in aggregate, and will evaluate their performance under a variety of different scenarios.

Work is underway to create a connection between Con Edison’s control environment and Sunverge’s. The operator screens are being built in-house

by Con Edison’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) engineers.

“Ultimately the goal is to be able to send commands and receive data from our one control platform to multiple third party platforms. This is the first of such connections,” says Reilly.

Connecting to Sunverge’s hub means creating a standard in terms of how Con Edison talks to that hub.

“We send out the instructions, such as we want 150 units deployed in the day ahead market and the hub takes the instruction and acts accordingly, communicating it to the units in the virtual power plant. Our SCADA is not controlling individual units but Sunverge’s system will execute the commands,” says Reilly.

Platform control

Standardizing that communication and way of connecting with third parties will be important since Con Edison wants it to be a flexible platform connecting with demand response loads potentially as well.

“We have systems that give automatic notices to our demand response participants but the project with Sunpower and Sunverge will be a first for creating this bridge communication.

However, we are several years away from a single platform that controls all distributed and demand response loads and energy resources,” Reilly says.

“Solar-plus-storage in load pockets that can be reliably dispatched could eliminate or offset the need for additional T&D equipment, which results in bill savings for all customers” — Griffin Reilly Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 59

COVER STORY: VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS “With the Sunverge control platform, utilities can use the battery energy storage system to its full extent and it can be counted on as an integral part of the distribution system.” — Ken Munson, Sunverge The third phase of the pilot is test market participation and rate design.

Con Edison will investigate and test methods for optimizing dispatch since no process exists to do so. This requires dispatching the solar-plusstorage systems on the grid, without actually participating in the market.

As more of the 300 units come online, the utility will have a greater understanding how they work as a virtual power plant asset. If the systems are deployed in the capacity market and have to provide 4MW of capacity over four hours, it will allow Con Edison to see how to value firm capacity of 100 units as an example and see how many units will be needed to meet the minimum output threshold.

Testing for size

Con Edison will also evaluate the various existing market opportunities to monetize the wholesale market benefits of the virtual power plant for services other than capacity, such as for frequency regulation and reserves in a similar manner, by seeing how many units will be required.

Under REV, extensive regulatory reforms are reshaping the state’s electric industry and the business practices of utilities. This is to enable entities such as Con Edison to engage the ser-

“Regardless of ownership, we believe all stakeholders derive the greatest value when the units are controlled by the utility.”

60 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

vices of third party service providers.

The third and final phase of the pilot with Sunpower and Sunverge will identify future opportunities to capture value that evolves over time through REV’s Track Two process.

REV is split into three tracks. “The first is about defining a distributed system platform provider, the role that Con Edison is taking on. Track Two is about how these entities will be regulated and incentivized and the third track is about large-scale renewables and meeting the ‘50 by 30’ clean energy standard goals, so the regulatory framework of Track Two may yield distribution markets that do not exist today,” says Reilly.

In addition, alternative residential rate design use cases, as well as dispatch options will be explored in the final phase of the pilot to examine optimal use of the solar-plus-storage systems for each use case.

“Two use cases considered in our filing are residential demand charges and time of use rates. If we dispatch the units for time of use, they will operate to use as little energy from the grid during the highest cost hours. We can show how the units performed, and what the energy cost savings would be through shadow billing. This could be enough to incentivize solar-plusstorage directly through customer bill savings, rather than through market participation,” he says.

And time of use would offset peak demand, leading to transmission and distribution (T&D) savings for all. “We’re looking at all the ways a residential battery could potentially recover the stacked value within to bring them to this technology faster,” says Reilly.

Ultimately Con Edison does not want to be involved in owning solarplus-storage units, even though it owns the storage assets for the purposes of the pilot.

Ken Munson, chief executive of Sunverge, says: “Regardless of ownership, we believe all stakeholders derive the greatest value when the units are controlled by the utility.”

Traditional tariff-based systems only address one value stream, like peak load reduction as an example, and are often discounted by the utility in integrated resource planning because the utilities have limited visibility into system availability and performance.

“With the Sunverge control platform, utilities can use the battery energy storage system to its full extent and it can be counted on as an integral part of the distribution system. That is what Con Edison is focused on achieving,” says Munson.

Testing best cases

The pilot will allow Con Edison to develop and test a wide range of use cases that informs it on how best to work with third party owners while maintaining direct control over the systems.

“This is similar to the methods the New York Independent Service Operator (NYISO) uses to control large generating plants,” Munson says.

“In future, we would pay for the third party to control distributed energy resources in a way we designate, and that designation would come through an automatic control system we would have to set up, similar to what we are doing with the SCADA bridge to Sunverge. That’s why we are doing that, to test and learn for future connections,” says Reilly.

Looking ahead, Munson says: “We see the market taking shape through our services being offered directly to utilities and through third-party market participants such as large solar distributors.

“Sunpower provides valuable expertise in customer acquisition, solar finance, post-sales support and O&M for utility clients.

“In the future, we’ll likely partner with enterprise software providers such as energy trading and risk management, advanced distribution management systems, energy management systems, and distributed energy resource management systems vendors, as well as, downstream hardware integrators that bring battery and inverter systems to market.”

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RESIDENTIAL PV: INTERSOLAR/EES 2016 This summer’s conference and exhibition in Munich gave Energy Storage Journal the chance to review some of the latest range of energy storage products for the home.

Market range expands as residential energy storage surges ever onward

Germany is the largest market for residential distributed energy resources, in the form of solar-plus-storage systems. That’s thanks to a government incentive introduced in 2013, which has since been extended to late 2018.

By then the government anticipates that solar-plus-storage systems will cross with socket prices for electricity, saving on energy from being able to self-consume as much as 80% from solar generated power.

This is not due to retail electricity rates in Germany rising, as these should remain steady at around €0.29/kWh ($0.32/kWh).

Self-consumption is becoming more affordable due to the continuing price

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reductions in energy storage technology, as costs of lithium ion batteries come down.

By 2020 some estimates expect annual demand for home storage systems in Germany to be in the region of 50,000 a year. To date more than 30,000 systems have been installed, with about 16,000 of these connected in 2015.

According to market research by Federal Network Agency, the state bank KfW, which administers Germany’s PV and storage incentive programme and industry association BSW-Solar, 50% of new PV customers in the residential market are opting for batteries too.

The market of KfW-supported by PV plus storage systems by manufacturer is dominated by four German companies. All-in-one storage system provider Sonnen is the market leader holding a 19% share, followed by Senec with 16%, SMA with 15% and E3DC with 11%.

SMA is the inverter manufacturer with the largest share. The company has developed inverters that are compatible with most makes of battery modules, and include high as well as low voltage systems.

Historically, Germany’s southern regions, where installed solar capacity is highest, has also been the region that suppliers, such as Sonnen have reported the highest sales for their home storage systems. However, with the costs of the technology coming down, growth is picking up across other parts of the country.

Intersolar/EES held in Munich every June has become Europe’s leading tradeshow for visitors wanting to see the latest energy storage systems, developed for the residential and smallscale commercial solar market.

ESJ caught up with some the energy storage providers active in Germany as well as other European markets.

Sonnen

In Germany as well as in other global markets, including the US and Australia, Sonnen has been an early mover.

To date Sonnen has shipped over 12,000 of its energy storage systems and is expecting to ship 10,000 in 2016 alone, mainly for residential demand, though the company also supplies systems for the small-scale commercial applications.

Germany remains Sonnen’s largest

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 61

RESIDENTIAL PV: INTERSOLAR/EES 2016

Sonnenbatterie eco: an all-in-one system

Mercedes Benz’s Engergiespeicher builds on the firm’s reputation for quality

LG Chem’s RESU 6.5: part of an expanding product range

62 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

market by demand.

Elsewhere in Europe the company’s battery system is available in the UK, where it launched earlier this year and it also reports growing demand in Italy. Other markets where Sonnen’s battery system is available include Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

For many consumers considering installing solar-plus-storage, a key advantage of Sonnen’s product is that it is an all-in-one system, which also simplifies things for installers too — they only have one unit to install along with the PV system.

Sonnen’s system incorporates battery modules, a bidirectional inverter, a smart energy management system and metering.

The lithium iron phosphate battery is capable of 10,000 charge cycles.

The system can be programmed to maximize self-consumption, for example by activating the home’s electric loads, such as washing machines and dishwashers, when excess energy is available to power them.

Consumers get full access to an online platform via an app or on their computer, with real time data about consumption, production and storage.

Later this year Sonnen will expand its line, by launching a hybrid energy storage product that gives installers the option to DC-couple as well as AC-couple PV and storage.

“For a new installation it might be better to DC-couple since a PV inverter is not required giving a saving on this component. For retrofitting the DC-coupled option might also be good if the existing PV inverter is already old enough for replacement,” says Mathias Bloch, a spokesperson for the company.

In Germany with its incentive, Sonnen’s system can achieve a payback in around 10 years. The cost of the systems starts at €3,600 ($4,100).

In addition to the behind the meter benefits and features for consumers and households, Sonnen’s system is designed to be grid-friendly. It is able to combine weather and a consumption forecast so the production, consumption and storage capacity are known for three days in advance.

This allows the battery to store energy at peak production times and release it later on, relieving the grid when solar production is highest. For the grid as a whole the expansion of grid infrastructure does not have to

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RESIDENTIAL PV: INTERSOLAR/EES 2016 correspond with the expansion of renewable energy.

In Switzerland Sonnen recently partnered Swisscom Energy Solutions in a pilot study. Swisscom Energy Solutions runs the Tiko network, which forms part of Europe’s largest smart grid. The network, which includes over 4,500 participants, links up the heating systems of residential customers to a smart storage network and provides Swissgrid, the transmission system operator with energy balancing services.

The German PV-storage system market outlook The German PV-storage system market outlook More than 50,000 home storage systems per year in Germany by 2020 by 2020 More than 50,000 home storage systems per year in Germany Source: Germany Trade and Invest

Estimated number of newly installed Home PV-battery systems in Germany # of units 60000 50000

40000 30000 20000

Mercedes-Benz

At Intersolar last year, Daimler unveiled its Mercedes-Benz labelled energy storage system, exploiting the car brand’s global reputation for quality, luxury and premium pricing in new stationary storage markets.

The same proven battery technology that goes into Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles, made by Daimler subsidiary Accumotive, is also used to produce the company’s stationary storage systems, which are replete with the three-pointed star.

Daimler began sales of the system in April, launching its new subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage in June. Target markets include the UK, Netherlands and the US at some point, where the batteries, which can be scaled from 2.5kWh up to 20kWh can power electricity hungry air conditioning units and provide back-up power. The systems are compatible with SMA inverters.

Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage’s solar partners span large, established European businesses, including Krannich, Bayware and Segen, one of the UK’s biggest distributors.

Since 2015, Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage has also been working with partners to supply industrial gridscale projects in Germany, which will total 29MWh, providing services to Germany’s primary power market, when fully connected.

10000 0 2015

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2017

2018

2019

2020

Number of new battery systems with retrofit installations

Note: assumptions: new annual PV installations 2015-2020: 1.4 GWp Source: year 2015: Federal Network Agency, KfW Speichermonitoring, 2016; years 2016-2020: own calculation and estimate, 2016 © Germany Trade & Invest

The German PV-storage system market 2015

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The German PV-storage system market 2015 Sonnen, DEV (Senec) and SMA leading the market Sonnen, DEV (Senec) and SMA leading the market Source: Germany Trade and Invest Market share of KfWsupported PV-storage systems by manufacturer

Kostal Neeovoltaic Other 10% 1% 1% RWE Sony 2% 2% Solarworld 2% Fronius 2% Varta 2% IBC 4%

sonnenBatterie 19%

Senec 16%

Samsung SDI 4% LG 4% Nedap 5% E3DC 11%

SMA 15%

Note: includes all PV-storage system registered with KfW between Mai 2013 and December 2015; KfW registered PV-storage system make up around 50% of the total PVstorage market; Source: KfW Speichermonitoring, ISEA/RWTH Aachen 2016 © Germany Trade & Invest

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Falling battery prices make storage profitable The cost of Li-systems decreased by 18% p.a. in the past 2 years

Falling battery prices make storage profitable

Source: Germany Trade and Invest The cost of Li-systems decreased by ~18% p.a. in the past 2 years

-18% p.a.

System cost per usable kWh (€/kWh)1

LG Chem

Aside from the domestic players, including Sonnen, Solarworld, Varta, E3DC and Senec, Germany’s residential solar plus storage market is competitive and large enough to attract international players, especially those that can sustain aggressive pricing.

According to KfW, which has produced market data on the market share of KfW-supported by PV plus storage systems by manufacturer, South Korean electronics brands LG

2016

Number of new battery systems with new PV installations

4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

Pb

Li

Pb

H1 2013 n=18

Li

H2 2013 n=8

n=152

Pb

Li

H1 2014 n=86

n=303

Pb

Li

H2 2014 n=251

Standard Deviation

n=480

Pb

Li

H1 2015 n=716

Pb

Li

H2 2015 n=120

n=309

incl. VAT, excl. installation Source: RWTH Aachen 2016 (Monitoring Report for KfW storage program)

1

© Germany Trade & Invest

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13

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RESIDENTIAL PV: INTERSOLAR/EES 2016 From PV Grid-Parity to Battery-Parity in 2018 From PV Grid-Parity to Battery-Parity in Saving energy costs while becoming 60-80% energy independent

2018

Saving energy costs while becoming 60-80% energy independent Source: Germany Trade and Invest EUR/kWh 1 0,50

Prognosis

0,45 0,40

PV+storage is cheaper than socket price.

Customers get 60-80% independent.

0,35 0,30

0,25

PV-energy is cheaper than socket price.

Customers get 30-40% independent.

0,20 0,15 0,10

Solutronic SolPlus 2 phase inverter Electricity cost for PV

Electricity costs for PV+Battery ²

Electricity price for households (2.5-5 MWh/a)

Model calculation for rooftop systems, based on 802 kWh/kWp (Frankfurt/Main), 100% financing, 6% interest rate, 20 year term, 2% p.a. O&M costs ² based on 5,000 cycles, C2, 87% efficiency Sources: Own calculation; System Prices: BSW 2016; Model Calculation: Deutsche Bank 2010; Electricity Prices 2007-2015: Eurostat 2016; Electricity Prices 2016-2020: own estimate at 0.29ct/kWh. 1

© Germany Trade & Invest

Chem and Samsung SDI each have a 4% share of the market.

LG Chem began serial production of its home battery module in 2015, the 6kWh RESU6.4, and this year is expanding the range.

RESU6.5 launched at Intersolar 2016, which replaces RESU6.4, is also compatible with a wider range of inverter makes, both European and Asian.

By October 2016, LG Chem will make available to installers four additional modules, which the company was promoting on its booth at Intersolar Munich. In addition to RESU6.5, they include two new low voltage (48V) home battery modules, RESU3.3, with a total capacity of 3.3kWh, and RESU10, which has a total capacity of 9.8kWh. The idea is that customers have more choice to meet their self-consumption needs — but can add an additional module if they need more in future.

The other two new modules in the RESU range are high voltage (400V), the RESU7H and the RESU10H. High voltage battery modules offer a better deal for the end customer as high voltage inverters are cheaper than low voltage products since no converter is needed to take the voltage down to 48V. LG Chem says the cost of its high voltage battery is competitive with Tesla’s Powerwall.

The company’s storage system originally used its JH2 lithium chemistry but has now switched over to its JH3 chemistry to double the energy density of its cells.

64 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

www.gtai.de

Ads-Tec

10

Ads-Tec is a German player with a specialized approach in the distributed energy storage market, serving exclusively demand for the technology in large residential and small commercial applications under its StoraXe range. These include condominiums, hotels, schools and other public buildings. The range also includes big batteries for the grid.

The company’s target customers include facilities owners and utilities and it has sold 90MWh of systems to date, mainly for projects such as new apartments.

Ads-Tec sources industrial-size lithium ion cells to produce its modules and racks and has developed its own energy management systems and storage system software controls.

It smallest systems start at 9kWh capacities and Ads-Tec also offers

integrated 19kWh or 28kWh systems for larger premises. As well as self-consumption the systems are designed with grid resiliency in mind, as they can provide emergency power and can be networked to operate as isolated systems in black-start mode.

Ads-Tec’s StoraXe range is compatible with SMA as well as other inverter makes.

Solutronic

Solutronic Energy, which was set up in 2014, following the insolvency of German inverter maker Solutronic, has revamped itself as a provider of power conversion, energy storage and energy management systems products for residential and commercial applications.

Solutronic Energy is a merger between Chinese company Shanghai Churui Energy Technology (ATFSS) and Scheuerle Vermögensverwaltung, the inverter and related technology is developed in Germany. The lithium iron phosphate batteries used in its systems are made by a Chinese manufacturer, set up by one of BYD’s cofounders.

Both AC-coupled storage systems for retrofitting batteries with PV and DC-coupled for new PV plus storage installations are available. In addition to Germany, Solutronic’s inverters and energy storage systems are also available elsewhere in Europe, including the UK.

Leclanché

Ads-Tec StoraXe

Swiss battery and energy storage system producer Leclanché is active in Germany, mainly supplying demand for PV retrofits, but due to the intense competition in the market has also been expanding across Europe, selling its storage systems in the UK,

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RESIDENTIAL PV: INTERSOLAR/EES 2016 France, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Slovakia, Belgium and Italy. It has also sold in Sri Lanka, Australia and Kenya, where its battery chemistry performs well in countries with high and humid temperatures.

The company supplies five products across the residential and small commercial markets. These include the Apollion Box and Apollion Cube ranges, which do not use Leclanché’s cells. The Apollion Cube is compatible with a range of inverter makes including SMA and Nedap.

The company’s mid-sized offering is the all-in-one battery and inverter SR2025, which has a capacity of 25kWh, which can be doubled to 50kWh. With its UK partner North Star Solar, Leclanché is trying to corner a market in the country among residential customers with the discounted economy 7 and economy 10 tariffs using off-peak electricity.

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Leclanché’s TiBox: lithium titanate offers 15,000 cycles

North Star is selling Leclanché’s Tibox system, which features its high cycling lithium ion titanate batteries, capable of 15,000 cycles. The idea is the batteries can be installed and can be cycled three times in a 24-hour day to charge up with off-peak electricity for the customer to use during peak rate times.

The TiBox systems along with Sonnen’s storage systems are being offered to residents in County Durham, in north-east England, in a partnership between North Star Solar and the local Stanley Town Council.

Leclanché also reports growing demand in Italy for its energy storage products.

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 65

CONFERENCE IN PRINT Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory — G Li, X Lu, JY Kim, KD Meinhardt, HJ Chang, NL Canfield and VL Sprenkle — have come up a new design for a sodium metal halide battery that offers a storage device that is less expensive, more stable, operates at a lower temperature and increases its energy density.

Advanced intermediate temperature sodium–nickel chloride batteries with ultra-high energy density

Despite the relatively simple redox reaction, cell degradation mechanisms of Na–NiCl2 batteries have not been clearly understood in the past. In our recent studies, we have reported detailed correlations between NaCl/Ni particle growth (Ostwald ripening) and battery-operating conditions, such as C-rate, cathode formula and cycling capacity window.

The main parameters that lead to faster Ni particle growth are higher current density, state of charge (SOC) at end of charge (EOC) and Ni/NaCl ratio. In the case of NaCl, significant growth has a close correlation with the cycling capacity window. To achieve sustainable battery cycle life, the conventional tubular Na–NiCl2 batteries are loaded with excessive Ni content in the cathode and also are operated with a shallow capacity window.

66 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

1,000

(a) –1

Equation1: (charged state) 2Na + NiCl2 <–> 2NaCl + Ni (discharged state) E0 = 2:58V at 300°C

The theoretical specific capacity and energy density of Na–NiCl2 ZEBRA batteries obtained from equation 1 are 305 mAh g−1 (without considering the melt) and 788 Wh kg−1 (open-circuit voltage at 2.58 V).

Despite the quite impressive theoretical energy density of Na–NiC2 batteries, general energy density obtained from a conventional tubular Na–NiCl2 battery (operated at ca.

300 °C) is about 95–120 Wh kg−1 due to excessive Ni content and shallow capacity window. Detailed plots of energy density versus Ni content with different cycling windows are shown in Figure 1.

Resolving this shortcoming on a material and cost level requires creating new platforms based on innovative scientific and technical approaches. Excited by the magnitude and implications of revisiting Na–NiCl2 ZEBRA battery technology, the research and industrial communities are seeking a revolutionary breakthrough that could enable substantially lower cost for materials and operations, as well as superior battery cycle life and safety.

Energy density, Wh kg

Recently, molten-sodium beta-alumina batteries have been considered as one of the most attractive stationary electric energy storage systems, which are crucial to stimulate the growth of renewable energy resources and to improve the reliability of electric power grids.

Sodium–sulfur and sodium-metal halide batteries (ZEBRA) are two typical molten-Na beta-alumina batteries; however, recent fire incidents involving Na–S battery systems have increased general concerns about the application of Na–S batteries as stationary energy storage devices.

Although they share some features (for example, moltensodium and ß-alumina solid electrolyte) in common with Na–S batteries, ZEBRA batteries can provide several advantages over Na–S batteries, including superior battery safety, high open-circuit voltage, lower operating temperature and ease of assembly in the discharged state without using metallic sodium in the anode.

Among various ZEBRA battery redox chemistries, the sodium–nickel chloride (Na–NiCl2) battery has been most widely investigated in the past. The overall redox reaction of a Na–NiCl2 battery during charging and discharging processes is described as follows:

500

(b) This work (c)

State of the art Tubular type

0 0.51

.0

1.52

.0

Ni/NaCl ratio

Figure 1: Specific energy density. Specific energy densities were calculated on different cycling capacity windows for (a) 100, (b) 60 and (c) 30%. Energy density was calculated without considering the weight of melt required in the cathode.

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CONFERENCE IN PRINT PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER been considered as one of the more attractive technologies for stationary electrical energy storage, however, they are not used for broader applications despite their relatively well known redox system.

One of the roadblocks hindering market penetration is the highoperating temperature. Here we demonstrate that planar sodium– nickel chloride batteries can be operated at an intermediate temperature of 190 °C with ultra-high energy density.

A specific energy density of 350 Wh kg−1, higher than that of

Previously we had found that the operating temperature has significant influence on the cell chemistries during the battery cycling. The cell polarization, an important indicator of cell degradation, was found to increase faster at 280°C than at 175°C due to faster grain growth in the cathode ingredients.

From a cell-operation point of view, a lower temperature can potentially reduce costs associated with cell packing and reduce heat loss. In a recent report, Gerovasili et al concluded that lower heat transfer losses at 240°C could result in up to 49% reduction in heating energy compared with operation at 275°C. (It should be noted that it is intrinsically difficult for a tubular ZEBRA battery to operate below 240 °C.) Drawing inspiration from the temperature-dependent particle growth, we construct a planar intermediate temperature (IT) Na–NiCl2 ZEBRA battery technology, which allows the cells to be operated at an IT of 190°C with considerable discharge power as high as 75 mW cm−2 (~0.6 C).

Extensive investigations of cell performance and fundamental understanding of cathode degradation mechanisms at 190°C are studied, and indicate that this novel planar IT Na–NiCl2 ZEBRA battery technology could have a much higher specific energy density (350 Wh kg−1) and much more stable cycle life than the state-of-the-art ZEBRA battery.

highest energy density demonstrated for Na–NiCl2 batteries to the best of our knowledge.

Identical batteries tested at 280°C are also shown in Figure 2 (blue). The initial capacity of 140 mAh g−1 was obtained for the battery operated at 280°C. The higher initial capacity obtained at 280°C compared with that at 190°C is likely due to better sodium wetting on the BASE at 280°C. In contrast with IT Na–NiCl2 batteries at 190°C, the capacity of batteries operated at 280°C decreased drastically, to 107mAh g−1 (76% retention) over 200 cycles. The more stable performance of the Na–NiCl2 batteries at 190°C than at 280°C indicates that the lower operation temperature could be the most critical factor for obtaining sustainable cell performance, which has been surprisingly understated in the past.

Cells have been also tested with a higher discharge power (75mW cm−2, ~30 mA cm−2, ~0.6 C) at 190°C and 280°C. Similar to results shown in Figure 2, the capacity was more stable for batteries operated at 190°C than at 280°C. The Coulombic efficiencies shown in Figure 2 (red) of all tested batteries are nearly 100%, which is due to the use of BASE 200

150

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105

(b)

Capacity, mAh g

–1

Results

Battery performances of planar IT ZEBRA battery We constructed a planar IT ZEBRA battery, using a ß-alumina solid-state electrolyte (BASE; 3 cm2 effective areas), a Ni/NaCl granule cathode (157 mAh, 52.3 mAh cm−2) and NaAlCl4 as a secondary electrolyte.

All batteries were charged and discharged between 2.8V (EOC) and 2.0V (end of discharge) to prevent side reactions occurring due to over-charging and over-discharging.

Figure 2 shows battery performance for cells operated at two different temperatures (190 and 280 °C) with a constant discharge power of 25mW cm−2 (~10 mA cm−2, ~C/5).

An initial capacity of 106 mAh g−1 was observed for IT Na–NiC2 batteries tested at 190°C. Interestingly, IT Na– NiCl2 batteries (Figure 2, black) showed a capacity increase for the first 100 cycles and then stabilized with a capacity of 137 mAh g−1 at the 200th cycle.

The specific discharge energy density for IT Na–NiCl2 batteries was 340Wh kg−1 (200th cycle), which is by far the

conventional tubular sodium– nickel chloride batteries (280°C), is obtained for planar sodium–nickel chloride batteries operated at 190°C over a long-term cell test (1,000 cycles), and this attributed to the slower particle growth of the cathode materials at the lower operating temperature.

Results reported here demonstrate that planar sodium–nickel chloride batteries operated at an intermediate temperature could greatly benefit this traditional energy storage technology by improving battery energy density, cycle life and reducing material costs.

(a) 100

100

190° 280° Coulombic efficiency

50

0

Coulomic efficiency, %

We have developed a novel planar Na–NiCl2 battery that can be operated at an IT of 190°C. This planar IT Na–NiCl2 technology was able to deliver an ultra-high energy density (350Wh kg−1) with very long cycle life (over 1,000 cycles) and excellent capacity retention (no decay until the 700th cycle, 0.01% per cycle thereafter). This work accomplished a breakthrough towards making Na–NiCl2 battery technology more competitive for stationary energy storage applications.

Sodium-metal halide batteries have

95 0

100

200

Cycle number

Figure 2: Capacity retention and coulombic efficiency plots Na–NiCl2 cells were operated at two different temperatures: (a) 190 (black) and (b) 280 °C (blue). Coulombic efficiency is shown in red. Cells were charged with a constant current (7 mA cm−2, ~C/7) and were discharged with a constant power (25 mW cm−2, ~10 mA cm−2, ~C/5).

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 67

CONFERENCE IN PRINT a

3.0 190°C 90% 100% Charge

E, V

2.5 Discharge(25 mW cm

–2

)

1st 100th

2.0

200th

12% 14% 17%

0

b

50 SOC, %

100

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95% 100%

Charge

2.5 E, V

Discharge(25 mW cm

–2

)

1st 100th

2.0

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50 SOC, %

100

Figure 3: Voltage profiles for planar IT Na–NiCl2 batteries. Cells were operated with constant-current charge (7 mA cm−2, ~C/7) and constant-power discharge (25 mW cm−2, 10 mA cm−2, ~C/5). Voltage profiles versus SOC are shown for 1st (black), 100th (green) and 200th (blue) cycles at two different temperatures (a) 190°C and (b) 280°C, respectively.

as the sodium-ion conducting solid-state electrolyte.

To further understand the effect of temperature on cell performance, voltage profiles (1st, 100th and 200th cycles) versus SOC for cells tested at 190 and 280°C are shown in Figure 3 (25 mW cm−2). For the cells operated at 190°C (Figure 3a), SOC at the EOC (SOCEOC) and SOC at the end of discharge (SOCEOD) for the 1st cycle were determined to be 90% and 17%, respectively.

In further battery cycles, SOCEOC was gradually increased to 100% and SOCEOD was decreased to 12%.

These adjustments are responsible for the progressively increasing capacity for the cells operated at 190°C (Figure 2), since the capacity of a battery can be calculated as follows:

Figure 4: SEM images for cathode materials. Cathode materials were retrieved from cells operated for 200 cycles. Ni particles are shown for cells operated at 190°C (25 mW cm−2) at (a) × 7,500 (scale bar, 2 μm), (b) × 1,000 (scale bar, 10 μm) and (c) Ni mapping × 1,000 (scale bar, 10 μm). Ni particles from cells operated at 280°C (25 mW cm−2) are shown at (d) × 3,000 (scale bar, 10μm), (e) × 1,000 (scale bar, 10μm) and (f) Ni mapping × 1,000 (scale bar, 10μm). NaCl particles are shown for cells operated at 190°C (25 mW cm−2) at (g) × 2,000 (scale bar, 10μm) and (h) Na mapping × 2,000 (scale bar, 10μm); (i) × 300 (scale bar, 100μm) and (j) Na mapping × 300 (scale bar, 100μm) for 280°C.

The higher initial capacity observed at the operating temperature of 280°C than at 190°C is most likely due to better sodium wetting on the BASE at the higher operating temperature. However, the SOCEOC of cells operated at 280°C rapidly decreased to 79% after the 200th cycle, which results in a capacity of 65% (76% capacity retention).

However, a quite stable SOCEOD observed over 200 cycles indicates that degradation on the anode side (sodium wetting) is negligible for 280°C as shown in Figure 3b.

The rapid degradation of capacity for the cells operated at 280°C is more likely due to cathode degradation at the higher operating temperature.

Scanning electron microscopy of cathode materials

Equation 2: Capacity = SOCEOC-SOCEOD

To investigate the correlation between morphology changes in Ni/NaCl cathodes and cell performance, the cells operated with a constant discharge power of 25 mW cm−2 were disassembled after 200 cycles and the fracture surfaces were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/ energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDS).

For instance, capacities of the 1st and 200th cycles for the cells operated at 190 °C were 73% and 88%, respectively, as calculated using equation 2. In contrast with the lowest capacity having been observed in the early stage of tested cycles at 190 °C, the SOCEOC and SOCEOD for the 1st cycle at 280 °C were 100% and 14%, respectively, which resulted in the largest initial capacity of 86% as shown in Figure 3b.

PNNL is testing the use of polymer seals in their new battery design. The research team is also scaling up the battery and will next build a five watthour test battery for further research

68 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

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CONFERENCE IN PRINT This planar IT Na–NiCl2 technology was able to deliver an ultra-high energy density (350Wh kg−1) with very long cycle life — over 1,000 cycles — and excellent capacity retention For cathodes retrieved from cells tested at 190°C, lighter spots shown in Figure 4a (high resolution) and Figure 4b represent Ni particles and corresponding images of Ni mapping are shown in Figure 4c. Similarly, nickel particles are shown in Figure 4d (high resolution) and Figure 4e,f (Ni mapping) for cells tested at 280°C. Quite different sizes of Ni particles were observed for the cells operated at 190°C compared with those at 280°C. The typical particle size of Ni cathodes for the cells tested at 190 °C was 1–2μm (Figure 4a,b), which is similar to the initial particle size of raw Ni powders. However, significant Ni particle growth, up to 10μm (Figure 4d,e), was observed for the cells tested at 280°C. Particle sizes of NaCl were also determined from SEM images (Figure 4g,i) and corresponding images of Na mapping (Figure 4h,j). NaCl particle sizes in the cells operated at 190°C and 280°C were ~5μm and ~50μm, respectively.

SEM/EDS measurements were also performed for the cells operated with a higher discharge power of 75 mW cm−2 at 190°C and 280°C. Similar to the cells tested at a discharge power of 25 mW cm−2, larger NaCl and Ni particles were observed in cells operated at 280°C than in cells operated at 190°C with a discharge power of 75 mW cm−2.

(1μm–2μm) and NaCl powders (~5μm), the particle growth at 190°C is much slower than that at 280°C. The morphology evolution of cathode materials has been considered as the most important cause of the degradation of Na–NiCl2 batteries. For the charging process, the main reactions in the cathode side of Na–NiCl2 batteries are the dissolution of NaCl particles into the melt and the formation of NiCl2 layers on the surfaces of Ni particles.

Larger particles of active ingredients existing in the cathode will lead to a sluggish dissolution of NaCl and less surface area of Ni particles, which will eventually cause a limited charging capacity.

This is in good agreement with the observations shown in Table 1.

For example, an IT Na–NiCl2 battery operated at 190°C can still be charged to 100% SOC after 200 cycles due to the minimal morphology changes in the cathode, but identical cells operated at 280°C can be only charged up to 79% SOC after 200 cycles due to the accelerated particle growth in the cathode.

The mechanism of particle growth in Na–NiCl2 batteries operated at 280°C has been proposed in our previous study

Ni and NaCl particle growth

From a cell-operation point of view, a lower temperature can potentially reduce costs associated with cell packing and reduce heat loss. A recent report, concluded that lower heat transfer losses at 240°C could result in up to 49% reduction in heating energy compared with operation at 275°C

The sizes of Ni and NaCl particles from tested cells, cell cycling conditions and cell performances are summarized in Table 1 for a better comparison. It is quite clear that the particle sizes of Ni and NaCl for the tested cells show a strong dependence on the cell-operating temperature.

For instance, the average Ni particle size at 280°C is around 10μm, which is significantly larger than the average particle size of 1μm–2μm observed at 190°C. Similarly, the NaCl particle size at 280°C was 50μm, which is much larger than an average particle size of 5μm–10μm at 190 °C. Considering the particle size of raw Ni powders

Discharge (mWcm-1) C-rate Ni (μm) NaCl (μm) EOC (%)† EOD (%)† Capacity window (%) Energy density (Wh g-1) Degradation (%)

190 C 25 C/5 1–2 <5 100 12 88 340 19*

280 C 75 0.6 C 1–2 ~10 100 17 83 300 13*

25 C/5 ~10 ~50 79 14 65 258 –24

75 0.6 C ~10 ~50 78 20 58 220 –30

EOC, end of charge; EOD, end of discharge. *Positive degradation is due to the increased capacity of the 200th versus the 1st cycle at 190 C. † EOC and EOD of 200th cycle are shown in the table.

Table 1: Grain sizes of Ni and NaCl particles and other battery performance data for cells cycled at different temperatures and discharge powers.

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Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 69

CONFERENCE IN PRINT

Discussion

For stationary energy storage, long-battery lifetime and lower materials cost are two critical factors. As shown in Figure 5, long-term cycling of an IT Na–NiCl2 battery showed an excellent stability over 1,000 cycles, which was a testing period of one year and six months.

No battery degradation was observed until the 700th cycle, and the degradation rate thereafter was <0.01% per cycle.

The energy density of an IT Na–NiCl2 battery shown in Figure 5 was generally over 330 Wh kg−1. Because of the ultra-high energy density of the IT Na–NiCl2 batteries demonstrated in this work, the materials cost of cathodes (no-

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400 300 100 200 Energy density Coul. efficiency

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Coulombic efficiency, %

by attributing it to Ostwald ripening. Here we would like to extend the particle growth mechanism by including the operating temperature as an important factor.

In the literature, it has been generally understood that the influence of temperature on Ostwald ripening is through its effects on various parameters, such as the equilibrium solubility, the diffusion-influenced growth coefficient, the phase-transition energy and interfacial energy.

Here, temperature effects on equilibrium solubility and diffusion-influenced growth coefficient are particularly important to understanding the enhanced particle growth in Na–NiCl2 batteries at the higher temperature. For instance, the solubility of cathode materials (NaCl and NiCl2) will drastically decrease with a decrease in the operating temperature.

The diffusion coefficients of dissolved NaCl and NiCl2 will decrease as well, due to the increased viscosity of the melt. Since the equilibrium solubility and diffusion-influenced growth coefficient are proportional to the solubility and diffusion coefficient, respectively, particle growth

by Ostwald ripening will be greatly suppressed at lower operating temperatures.

500

Energy density, Wh kg

Planar sodium–nickel chloride batteries operated at an intermediate temperature could greatly benefit this traditional energy storage technology

95 0

500

1,000

Cycle number

Figure 5: Energy density and Coulombic efficiency.

Planar IT Na–NiCl2 cells were operated at 190°C over 1,000 cycles in a period of 1 year and 6 months. No degradation was observed for the first 700 cycles. A degradation rate of <0.01% per cycle was obtained for the test after the 700th cycle.

tably the cost of Ni) can be greatly reduced compared with the conventional tubular Na–NiCl2 batteries, which would be considered as a significant saving.

One concern with decreasing the operational temperature from 280°C to an IT of 190°C is the inevitable loss in energy efficiency of a Na–NiCl2 battery. Cells operated at the lower temperature showed generally larger overpotentials than cells operated at the higher temperature as shown in Figure 3.

Typical overall energy efficiencies at the 200th cycle are 91.6% (190°C, 25 mW cm−2), 86.5% (190°C, 75 mW cm−2), 92.3% (280°C, 25 mW cm−2) and 88.4% (280°C, 75 mW cm−2). The energy efficiencies of cells operated at 190°C show about a 1% decrease in overall efficiencies versus those operated at 280°C; this is due to the close relationship between the operating temperature, interfacial resistance and sodium-ion conductivity in the cell.

However, the decrease in energy efficiency is trivial compared with the advantages of the lower operating temperature.

Energy Storage Journal is always eager to hear market comment.

So much so, we’ve dedicated two areas of the magazine just for you to tell it as it is.

Speak to us!

The first is our section called COMMENT — which rather says it all. Here give us your views about what our industry is doing well (or badly) or just needs to open a discussion, this is where to air your views.

Disclaimer: Our editorial board necessarily vets every article that we print and will impartially approve pieces that it believes will be interesting and supportive of the energy storage industry and related products. Articles submitted should not be marketing pieces.

70 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

The second is called CONFERENCE IN PRINT. Here we’re looking for scholarly articles looking at the nuts and bolts of what we do. We’re looking for technical papers that can explain advances in chemistry or technology.

Contact: editor@energystoragejournal.com

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016

Solar Power International 2016 Las Vegas • September 12-15 Solar Power International (SPI) generates success for solar energy professionals and the global solar industry. SPI is ranked #109 in the Top 250 Largest Trade Shows (by Trade Show News Network), making SPI the largest solar show in North America.

In addition, SPI is a Gold 100 trade show (as ranked by Trade Show Executive), making it the only solar show to make both lists.

• SPI is North America’s premier business-to-business event for

The Battery Show Novi, Michigan, US September 13-15 The Battery Show is America’s biggest free-to-attend exhibition for advanced batteries. The very latest battery technology will be on display for a number of applications, from EV’s to Utility storage, through to bespoke mobile power applications, personal electronics and healthcare. If advanced battery technology is key to your products and services, The Battery Show will help your company stay ahead.

The Battery Show is also a supply chain event, where the latest solutions from raw material and equipment suppliers, to materials and testing and recycling services. If it happens through the life of a battery, the services to support this will be on display. A must attend event for battery manufacturers, from junior engineer to CEO level, The Battery Show will enable you to attain

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professionals in the solar energy and related fields.

• More than 15,000 solar energy industry professionals from 75+ countries attend.

• More than 600 leading manufacturers, service providers, and vendors on the exhibition floor.

SPI brings the full range of industry ideas, experts, professionals, and information together in one comprehensive event that delivers: • Peer-led educational programming designed to exchange ideas, share

lessons learned, and provide solutions for your business.

• Unique networking opportunities that allow you to solidify your current relationships and build new ones.

• Connections with industry vendors and professionals from the US and around the world as they showcase their newest products and services.

better battery performance, safety and cost.

Visitors to The Battery Show 2016 will also have free access to Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, the premier showcase for electric and hybrid vehicle technology and innovation, as well as Critical Power Expo, showcasing the latest backup power solutions.

Keep your finger on the pulse of the energy storage industry at The Battery Show Conference 2016. Early-bird registration is now open, so don’t delay!

Discover what’s driving demand, what’s shaping novel technologies, what’s at the cutting edge. Join the hundreds of industry delegates and be part of the whole picture at this invaluable knowledge sharing and networking experience.

Our panel of expert voices will again shine a light on all the pressing issues of the day, offering commercial, regulatory, safety, technological, stationary

energy storage and next-generation battery R&D perspectives.

This well-respected conference offers you multiple benefits, including broadening your knowledge base, growing your professional network, becoming part of an unrivaled expert pool, and the opportunity to expand your resource platform.

In addition to our established parallel three-track format, this year there will be a further track on the first two days. Newly introduced features include three interactive tutorials (thermal management; functional safety and risk; and fast charging), two special sessions dedicated to improving manufacturing and a workshop on evaluating different hybrid architectures.

Contact www.solarpowerinternational.com/

Contact Steve Bryan steve.bryan@smartershows.com Europe: +44 1273 916300 US toll free: +1 855 436 8683 Fax: +44 1273 774341

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 71

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 Intersolar Middle East 2016

10th Energy Storage World Forum Melbourne, Australia September 12-16 Dufresne, the event management groups, started researching this event in 2009 and The Energy Storage World Forum was the first three day dedicated conference on stationary storage to take place in Europe and in Asia since 2010.

Over 2,000 delegates (in total) and a total of 340 speakers, including more than 80 different utilities/TSOs/DSOs/ DNOs from 28 countries have attended our past seven Energy Storage World Forums.

These events took place in Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Rome and London bringing together an international array of speakers combined with local knowledge.

Contact Tel: +44 208 09 016 13 www.energystorageforum.com/asia

15th European Lead Battery Conference Valetta, Malta September 13-16 15ELBC will provide an ideal opportunity for those involved with the lead battery industry worldwide to review and discuss the most recent technical advances associated with lead-based batteries, especially for automotive and renewable energy storage applications.

Technical presentations will bring delegates fully up-to-date with the latest research and development information from around the globe. An extensive Exhibition – expected to involve over 100 stands – by suppliers to the industry of equipment, materials and technology, will also take place.

Since the first meeting in Paris in 1988, the European Lead Battery Conferences have developed a reputation for high quality presentations on the design, manufacture, performance and use of lead-acid batteries. Over 700 delegates and 100 exhibitors attended 14ELBC in Edinburgh 2014 and similar numbers are expected in Malta.

Contact International Lead Association Tel: +44 207 833 8090 Fax: +44 207 833 1611 Email: enq@ila-lead.org

72 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

Dubai, United Arab Emirates • September 19-21 The MENA region is predestined as a location for solar energy production.

With some of the highest solar irradiance levels in the world, large open spaces and an increasing demand for energy, experts verify the high growth potential of the region’s solar industry.

The organizers of Intersolar, the world’s leading exhibition and conference for the solar industry, have been active in the Gulf region for the past three years. In 2016 the organizers are teaming up with DMG events Middle East and Asia to organize Intersolar Middle East in conjunction with GulfSol. With Dubai, Intersolar Middle East has secured the ideal venue to reach all of the Gulf States as well as emerging solar markets such as Egypt, Jordan,

and Morocco. The event’s exhibition and conference both focus on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies.

Intersolar Middle East offers you the best possibilities to network with policy makers and government officials from the MENA region. Increase your profits at one of the most lucrative emerging solar markets and benefit from direct access to key buyers from across the Middle East and Northern Africa!

Contact Susanne Bregazzi Tel: +49 7231-58598-0 Fax: +49 7231-58598-28 www.intersolar.ae

Clean Energy Live October 4-6 Birmingham, UK

AIREC — Argentinian Renewable Energy Congress Buenos Aires, Argentina September 21-23 ANDREC Week will combine intimate networking opportunities alongside expert-led local content and insights to help delegates break into the potentially lucrative markets of Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru.

The Andes is an up and coming region for the development of renewable energy, with great potential for solar and wind development.

Contact +44 20 7099 0600 www.greenpowerglobal.com

The UK’s largest solar and storage Expo is back and we’re delighted to announce that Solar Energy UK (SEUK) has evolved into the core component of a broader, supporting exhibition — Clean Energy Live, where converging technologies including solar, energy storage, energy management and renewable heat will connect.

Evolving from the roof to smart building and centralised to distributed energy, SEUK and Clean Energy Live will integrate solar alongside compatible technologies, opening up new market segments and bring whole building energy solutions to the mainstream.

Clean Energy Live continues to be the premier UK event for the convergence of new technologies.

Contact http://cleanenergylive.co.uk

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 Energy Storage, North America

Energy 2016

San Diego, California, USA October 4-6 Energy Storage North America is North America’s largest energy storage conference and exhibition, recognized and recommended for its focus on projects, customers, and deal-making. More than 2,000 attendees from dozens of countries will come together to learn, strategize, network, and ultimately shape this fastgrowing market.

The theme this year is Building the Ecosystem for Cost Effective Applications of Energy Storage in North America Contact Daniela Knoll E-mail: dknoll@mdna.com Tel: +1 312 621-5838

CIREC Week — Building Chile’s 21st Century Energy System Santiago, Chile October 17-20 CIREC WEEK is back! From October 17-20, over 600 senior level attendees will come together at Casa Piedra- Santiago, Chile, all with the aim of driving the marketplace forward.

CIREC has been design to provide you with the best insights into coping with an evolving market, while offering the knowledge and a platform to build business relationships and make effective commercial decisions for future project development.

Contact +44 20 7099 0600 www.greenpowerglobal.com

INTELEC 2016 Austin, Texas, USA October 23-27 INTELEC has an extensive 35-year history in the field of power and energy in the communications industry and is a unique source of technical information. It is an annual conference which examines and analyzes the latest developments in communications energy systems and related power processing devices and circuits.

Technical papers provide results of research and new developments in power electronics and communications power systems.

Topics include DC power plants, powering architectures, AC systems, DC-DC converters, batteries, grounding, physical and thermal design, alternative power, such as solar, wind, fuel cells, turbine and diesel engine generators, and building and equipment cooling systems.

Contact Tel: +1 512 343 2626 www.intelec2016.org

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Birmingham, UK • October 18-20 Energy 2016 is back for its second year at the Birmingham NEC as part of UK Construction Week.

Already backed by leading industry bodies such as the REA (Renewable Energy Association), the STA (Solar Trade Association), BPVA (British Photovoltaic Association), the EMA (Energy Managers Association), the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) and many more, Energy 2016 will unite key business players in renewables, innovation and power generation. Bringing together engineers, project and energy managers, developers, architects and academics, the show will be the perfect platform to showcase new solutions, meet new contacts and learn new skills.

Energy 2016 supporter, REA will shape the majority of the show’s educational content and host three halfday conferences in a purpose built seminar theatre.

The talks will uncover recent developments within energy storage and focus the other half day on renewable energy for the built environment. As the organization that has promoted sustainable energy usage and highlighted key improvements to the capacity market, the REA is a leading voice in the renewables conversation.

The conferences will provide essential information to help the sector work together and pre-empt future difficulties.

Energy 2016 will now span two halls of the NEC and play host to several feature areas. Central to the space will be the Energy Hub, a dynamic platform for the show’s comprehensive seminar content. Incorporating a mix of live debates, CPD seminars, keynote speeches and workshops, the Energy Hub content will address the core issues in the industry today

as well as give insight into the latest regulations, policies and technologies.

Another area that is certain to garner attention will be the central bar, which will be lit up by Pavegen’s innovative solar flooring. This technology converts energy from footsteps into renewable electricity and is integrated into the tiles discreetly.

Energy 2016 will also host a VIP lounge bringing a string of high profile buyers and visitors to the show.

The Energy 2016 VIP section will be located within the show’s footprint offering exhibitors the unique opportunity to interact with some of the biggest players in the industry.

Nathan Garnett, events director at Media 10 – the organisers of Energy 2016 and UK Construction Week, said: “The energy sector is one of the most important and dynamic industries in the UK. Especially with REA’s involvement this year with three workshops on energy storage, this show can play a key role in the development of a greener, smarter and more efficient Britain.”

Some of the exhibitors already signed up to the show include utility provider Scottish Power, global renewable energy provider RES Ltd, energy storage pioneers Cumulus Energy Storage and smart flooring experts Pavegen.

Energy 2016 is free to attend and is part of UK Construction Week..

UKCW consists of nine shows under one roof, Timber Expo, Build Show, Civils Expo, Plant & Machinery Live, Energy 2016, Smart Buildings 2016, Surface & Materials Show, HVAC 2016 and Grand Designs Live.

Contact Marlon Cera-Marle Tel: +44 203 225 5299 Email: marlon.marle@media-ten.com

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 73

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 BIREC

ees India

São Paulo, Brazil November 7-10 Seizing the opportunity and overcoming challenges in Brazil’s high-risk highreward renewable energy sector: higher returns, more investment and optimised project development. BIREC is the must-attend event for domestic and international decision makers looking to develop, grow and succeed in the Brazilian wind and solar energy markets.

Contact Tel: +44 20 7099 0600 www.greenpowerglobal.com

Energy Storage Summit, Japan Tokyo, Japan November 8-9

Mumbai, India • October 19-21 ees India (electrical energy storage) is the major platform for storage technologies reshaping India’s energy sector and enhancing grid reliability ees is the industry hotspot for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and users of stationary and mobile electrical energy storage solutions. Covering the entire value chain of innovative battery and energy storage technologies — from components and production to specific user application — ees, a special exhibition at Intersolar India, is the ideal platform for all stakeholders in the rapidly growing energy storage market.

In conjunction with Intersolar India, it is the country’s largest exhibition and conference for the solar industry.

It takes place annually at the Bombay

Capture 2016 Milton Keynes, England November 1 Capture 2016 will address the role for energy storage in the new energy infrastructure and consider the latest developments, strategies and opportunities within UK energy storage. Through a combination of conference discussions and networking the event will provide a platform for stakeholders to discuss key debates and accelerate growth within the UK energy storage industry.

The conference will address the current status of the industry and provide a strategic overview of the development needed to enable energy storage technology to flourish in the UK. Capture 2016 will also feature a break-out exhibition showcasing the latest technologies and solutions from across the energy storage industry. The exhibition will also host networking throughout the course of the day, bringing together government officials, project developers, operators, utilities and investors

74 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

Exhibition Centre in Mumbai. The event’s exhibition and conference both focus on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies.

In 2015, 200 international exhibitors and around 11,000 visitors attended Intersolar India. Some 100 speakers and about 680 attendees discussed current industry topics and shed light on the conditions surrounding technological, market and political developments at the accompanying conference.

Contact Tel: +49 7231 58598 0 Email: info@ees-europe.com www.intersolar.in with manufacturers and system providers. For more information on attending, exhibiting or sponsoring please get in touch with Eric Lewis, Sales at Charles Maxwell Ltd. Contact Tel: +44 151 230 2106 Email: eric.lewis@charlesmaxwell.co.uk www.captureenergystorage.com

To achieve low-carbon, sustainable societies, the production and storage of renewable energies is a subject which is of concern to scientists, politicians, and businesses all over the world. It is for this reason that Messe Düsseldorf Japan will hold the 3rd Energy Storage Summit Japan, an international conference and expo on November 8-9, 2016, at Belle Salle Shibuya First in Tokyo.

The Energy Storage Summit Japan 2016 brings — again — together leading international company representatives, policymakers and scientists from Europe, the US, India and China with their Japanese counterparts. They will discusse energy market deregulation and explore business opportunities this presents for Japan.

Additional topics cover energy storage applications like e-mobility, residential and industrial batteries, hydrogen storage, thermal storage, and solutions for renewable energy integration, smart grid, micro grid, off grid and decentralized energy supply, as well as the cost efficiency and bankability of energy storage solutions.

Contact Tel.: +81 3 52 10 99 51 Fax: +81 3 52 10 99 59 Email: mdj@messe-dus.co.jp https://essj.messe-dus.co.jp/jp/energystorage-summit-japan

www.energystoragejournal.com

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 Solar Asset Management Europe 2016

IranREC 2016: Iran Renewable Energy Congress Tehran, Iran December 4-8

Milan, Italy • November 9-10 Solar Asset Management is Solarplaza’s flagship event and widely considered as Europe’s leading conference dedicated to optimization of the operational phase of PV plants and portfolios For the third year in a row, Solar Asset Management Europe will bring together the leading investors, owners and service providers in the European PV industry. The event provides an unparalleled networking opportunity, as well as the best way to learn about innovations and best practices for optimizing performance, management and financial returns of PV assets.

This must-attend event is fully ded-

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icated to the operational phase of PV assets. It will contain: • 400+ attendees, representing the value chain from service provider to asset manager and investors • 50+ leading experts on stage sharing their vision, expertise and experience • 30+ sponsors and exhibitors profiling themselves and their leading products/services Contact Stefano Cruccu Email: stefano@solarplaza.com Shushan Khachatryan Email: shushan@solarplaza.com

Iran Renewable Energy Congress 2016 (IranREC 2016) is designed to help you access the Iranian renewable energy sector.

A need for greater energy security, falling global oil and gas prices and rising domestic power demand has led to a committed focus on renewable energy development in Iran. The Iranian government and policy makers have set an ambitious renewable energy target of 5GW by 2020.

Following the sanctions relief coming into effect and Iran re-entering the international trade and financial markets now is the time to coordinate your strategy for this new renewables market. Our high quality, content lead programme will provide in-depth analysis of the prospects in the Iranian renewables space and highlight best practice in project development and financing.

IranREC 2016 is truly the first and only event dedicated to bringing the international and domestic communities together to discuss the critical challenges and issues facing Iran’s clean energy sector, backed up by the expertise you need to navigate the business landscape and the government figures that will be driving the reform.

IranREC 2016 is not a trade show and is not open to the general public. This will be reflected in the levels of senior decision-makers and budget holders who will attend.

Don’t miss this chance to capitalise on the country’s growing commitment to green energy – 5GW of electricity from renewable sources by 2020!

Contact Tel: +44 20 7099 0600

Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016 • 75

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 US Energy Storage Summit 2016 San Francisco, USA December 7-8 Now in its second year, the US Energy Storage Summit — organized by the Energy Storage Association — will bring together utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive highlevel networking.

We will kick-off the event with an overview of the current energy storage market on both sides of the meter, examining utility strategies, policies, and market designs. On Day 2, we’ll take a closer look at emerging technologies, business models and financing strategies.

Contact Tel: +1 202 293-0537 Email: events@energystorage.org

Powergeneration Week Orlando, Florida, USA December 11-15 As the world’s largest power generation event, boasting 20,000 attendees and over 1,400 exhibitors from around the world, Power Generation Week is designed to connect key suppliers and service providers with influential decision makers in the domestic and international power sector. Attendees and exhibitors can take advantage of attending an event that truly covers every aspect of the power generation industry.

Over 300 industry experts will present new solutions and innovations for the future in 70+ conference sessions offering full conference attendees a chance to earn 10 PDH credit hours.

Contact Tel: +1 888 299-8016 Tel: +1 918 831-9160

Energy Storage, India 2017 Mumbai, India January 11-13, 2017 Deliberations at Energy Storage India 2016 demonstrated a wider consensus that energy storage is the game changing technology that will help India leapfrog its energy infrastructure within the next decade.

Leading ESS companies of the world – AES & Panasonic unveiled huge interest in the Indian market with their participation at Energy Storage India 2015.

There are exciting times ahead for energy storage in India!

The 2016 conference attracted 720 delegates from 16+ countries. 80+ speakers shared their knowledge and

76 • Energy Storage Journal • Summer 2016

views with the participants leaving a prominent image of the show. ESI yet again proved to be the largest and finest gathering ever held in India showcasing the niche topics and discussions.

Contact Ms Shradha Malik E-mail: maliks@md-india.com Tel: +91 11 4855 0059 Cell: +91-9871192345 www.esiexpo.in www.md-india.com

Want to get your message across — for free?

Speak to us!

Energy Storage Journal is always eager to hear market comment.

So much so, we’ve dedicated two areas of the magazine just for you to tell it as it is.

The first is our section called COMMENT — which rather says it all. Here give us your views about what our industry is doing well (or badly) or just needs to open a discussion, this is where to air your views.

The second is called CONFERENCE IN PRINT. Here we’re looking for scholarly articles looking at the nuts and bolts of what we do. We’re looking for technical papers that can explain advances in chemistry or technology.

Contact: editor@energystoragejournal.com Disclaimer: Our editorial board necessarily vets every article that we print and will impartially approve pieces that it believes will be interesting and supportive of the energy storage industry and related products. Articles submitted should not be marketing pieces.

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18–20 OCTOBER 2016 • NEC • BIRMINGHAM

18–20 OCTOBER 2016 • NEC • BIRMINGHAM

Discover new products from Nissan, Libra Energy and British Gas

Network with the likes of Scottish and Southern Electric and Mitie

Listen and learn at the Energy Hub from Kingspan, IEMA and the REA

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