Mexico’s economy, international competitiveness and quality of power on the electric grid – as well as its environment – could be given a serious boost if battery energy storage systems were given a greater chance to contribute, a developer of projects based in the country has said.
North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for battery storage to manage its electricity costs, with 15-year contracts on the table for the delivery and operation of a turnkey energy storage system.
National Grid ESO, the electricity system operator tasked with keeping the lights on in the UK, is looking to enable multiple application stacking for providers of a new frequency response service that also participate in the national Balancing Mechanism.
Despite the fall in unit prices for energy storage, a total of US$3.6 billion of investment was committed to energy storage projects in 2020, around the same amount as in 2019.
A large-scale vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) demonstration project in California which has been providing grid services on a commercial basis will now also trial the use of the technology for microgrid applications.
Solar inverter manufacturer Sungrow’s energy storage system (ESS) solution will power a 100MW battery storage project in Texas which is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2021.
France’s electricity transmission system operator, RTE, is exploring options to reduce congestion on the grid at four strategic locations around the country and could award long-term contracts to battery storage systems that can help.
Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the national Energy Storage Association (ESA), has been named in the newly appointed senior leadership team at the US Department of Energy (DoE).