An EV and stationary energy storage battery start-up headed by former SpaceX, Tesla, Apple, Amazon and Samsung designers and engineers has mobilised almost US$100 million of financing and contracts to kickstart manufacturing operations.
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) assessment of reliability and security of the country’s electrical grid network is “encouraging”, the Energy Storage Association’s head has said in her initial reaction to the report’s publication.
The requirement of nine hours of energy storage duration at a project touted as a possible replacement for a new natural gas plant in California makes it tough for the newer technology to compete on cost, an analyst has said.
Another utility-scale energy storage facility has got the green light for construction in South Australia, claimed to be the first in the country to be “backed by mostly private investment from the energy industry”.
The growing commercial viability of energy storage has led regulators in the US state of New Mexico to add the technology to the suite of resources available to utilities in their forward-planning.
Regulations for the safe use of energy storage systems still need adaptation to “accommodate a broader use of energy storage with higher energy content like lithium-ion batteries in private homes”, experts at Fraunhofer ISE (Institute for Solar Energy Systems) have said.
An agreement to construct a 20MW lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) has been approved by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), which would reduce reliance on natural gas generation.
A set of guidelines for safely installing energy storage at customers’ houses will probably undergo significant revision from its current draft, which has been slammed as “not fit for purpose” by the head of the Australian Energy Storage Council.
Alevo, a US energy storage provider which only started shipping its containerised solutions in January, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
