SunPower CEO Tom Werner says that the idea of solar power users combining their systems with battery storage to become fully independent of the grid is “naïve”, echoing the views of one of SolarCity’s founders.
PV Tech Storage speaks to Wolfram Walter of German storage designer and manufacturer ASD Sonnenspeicher about a subject close to home, his home. Walter built a battery system for his own PV array, turning it into a business and turning his prized Porsche into a PV-friendly EV along the way.
US space exploration agency NASA is considering proposals for four different energy storage systems, submitted by academic institutions and private companies that could power its future robotic and human missions to space.
PV Tech Storage interviews Paul Bundschuh of Ideal Power, whose company will supply Sharp’s new Smartstorage system with power converters and has also developed a three-port hybrid battery converter to better enable grid-resilience and micro grids.
Samsung SDI will supply its lithium-ion batteries to a Japanese company building a 1MW solar farm, with the deal expected to then go on to furnish an initial 20 solar farms with batteries.
The US arm of Japanese consumer electronics company Sharp has launched an energy storage product for businesses in California which can be installed either independently or in combination with a PV system.
One of the largest investor-owned utilities in the USA is looking to use a series of measures that are likely to include customer-side energy storage in order to stave off the need for US$1 billion worth of infrastructure investment.
The UK division of Chinese PV manufacturer ReneSola has sold forty domestic energy storage units to an installation company in Essex, England.
India looks to be the latest country to examine installing energy storage at the top level, with the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) actively seeking demonstration projects and the country’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) inviting comments from stakeholders ahead of similar plans.
An antenna tower in Australia serving a broadcaster will be the site of a solar-plus-storage project funded by the German government and designed to deliver power 24 hours a day.
