Feature
Guest blog
Every charge cycle counts when it comes to battery degradation
As battery owners and operators seek to maximise the returns from their assets, they simultaneously face the Herculean challenge of managing degradation.
Articles tagged with: Aggregation
Batteries act as first responders when UK-France interconnector trips
Limejump said dynamic frequency response assets, predominantly batteries, were the first to respond as 1GW of capacity 'fell off' the system.
Feature
Analysis
Power to the people: Solar-plus-storage vs the UK’s ‘Big Six’ of energy suppliers
The UK’s energy retail market is witnessing an exodus of customers leaving the so-called Big Six for independent suppliers, who are attracting them with home solar systems and a battery to match. Liam Stoker uncovers what’s behind the trend for new energy suppliers taking to domestic PV
Home P2P trading frontrunner Ensync’s assets up for sale
Assets are up for sale following the bankruptcy of EnSync, a networked smart home solutions provider from the US which has been using battery energy storage to aggregate connected systems for energy trading and other services.
‘Significant acceleration’ in grid-connected storage could see 4.3GW installed worldwide in 2019
This year has already seen “significant acceleration” of activity in the global grid-connected energy storage market, with 4.3GW expected to be deployed this year, analysis firm IHS Markit has said.
Australian Energy Market Operator opens virtual power plant integration trial
The capabilities of virtual power plants (VPPs) to provide capacity as well as frequency regulation services to the grid in Australia will be demonstrated through a new integration trial.
AMS’ California VPP at ‘important milestone’ with 2GWh of grid services delivered
A contract with utility Southern California Edison (SCE) has led to Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) supplying 2GWh of grid services from just 60MWh of energy storage during 2018, with one analyst dubbing the feat an “impressive milestone”.
Feature
Editor's blog
Big tech and new solutions at Energy Storage Europe 2019
Walking around Energy Storage Europe this year it was obvious that the show, like the market, has grown from a small handful of “strong believers” as one source put it, to a forward-looking show focused on a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario.
‘Breakthrough moment’: Sunrun’s home solar-plus-storage to provide 20MW capacity in New England
Solar-plus-storage systems in ordinary households will provide 20MW of energy capacity in New England, with Sunrun announcing the award of a contract from the state’s ISO (independent system operator).
’Huge step forward’ for flexibility: UK’s National Grid adds DERs controls
National Grid, in its capacity as the UK’s Electricity System Operator (ESO), last week launched a new ‘Distributed Resource Desk’ in its control room in a move hailed as a “huge step forward” for electricity flexibility markets.
Sharing batteries for grid services could net US$2,500 discounts for EDF’s UK customers
EDF Energy, one of the UK's 'Big Six' major energy suppliers, is seeking to build a portfolio of domestic batteries to take into energy services markets by offering discounted energy storage units to consumers via a new partnership with manufacturer Powervault.
Feature
Editor's blog
Virtual reality: VPPs in a break with tradition
Cloud-aggregated virtual power plants using residential or C&I battery storage as part of a smart energy management system can benefit the grid, integrate renewables and EVs and hopefully add a powerful long-term value proposition for home storage. Andy Colthorpe and David Pratt report on how some of the UK’s first VPP projects are proving the concept.
Aggregators to enter ‘Great Britain’s core flexibility market’ in 2019 following market reforms
Energy storage and other flexibility providers with units as small as 1MW will soon be able to access ‘Great Britain’s core flexibility market’ under reforms being proposed by transmission system operator, National Grid.
Feature
Interviews
New controls, new values and new layers of functionality
Home storage systems have been considered an ‘early adopter’ market in many parts of the world, perhaps more important as a way that individuals can control their own green energy use and save energy than as a means of generating big money returns.
Sonnen CEO: Shell and other major players taking action, not just talking, about clean energy
Shell, which has just participated in an investment round for sonnen, is one of the big players in the incumbent energy industry that “really acts” on clean energy, rather than just talking about it, sonnen’s CEO has said.
Shell invests in Sonnen to drive distributed energy aims forward
Shell has continued to scale-up its interest in distributed energy by participating in a €60 million (US$70.23 million) investment round by German battery storage firm sonnen.
Feature
Interviews
Many things to many people: Virtual power plants Q&A with SolarEdge
Israel-headquartered SolarEdge launched a software platform for aggregating household energy storage units - and other distributed energy equipment - into virtual power plants, last week. The company’s solution has already been chosen for a VPP project in Australia by AGL, one of the country’s biggest utilities. The commercial launch of the VPP platform direct to customers is now underway. Andy Colthorpe spoke with Lior Handelsman, one of SolarEdge’s founders and vice president of marketing and product strategy.
SolarEdge launches virtual power plant platform to create new value for distributed storage
Virtual power plants (VPPs) can greatly increase the value of home energy storage systems for a range of stakeholders including grid operators, utilities and their customers, according to SolarEdge, which has just launched a VPP software platform.
Renewable retail plans from Japanese utility TEPCO include home battery rollout
TEPCO, one of Japan’s national utilities and grid operators, will roll out home solar-plus-storage systems for its customers as part of a drive to create a renewable energy retail business.
ENGIE uses Tesla Powerwalls to build South Australia’s next big virtual power plant
Simply Energy, the Australian retail arm for ENGIE, will aggregate 6MW of Tesla household batteries together with 2MW of demand response at commercial premises in Adelaide in a project supported by the government-backed Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
UK aggregator Kiwi Power completes 4.8MWh battery in South Wales
UK demand response and energy resource aggregation company Kiwi Power has unveiled its largest behind the meter battery to date with the completion of the 4MW / 4.8MWh Tesla battery at Cenin Renewables in south Wales.
Stem CEO: Business models and AI developed in USA applied to Japan project
The CEO of ‘intelligent energy storage’ provider Stem Inc, has said a recently-awarded project in Japan will lean on business models the company has used in the US, while artificial intelligence (AI) technology makes that same transference possible.
FERC ruling a ‘significant step’ towards wholesale market participation for energy storage
A unanimous vote taken by the US regulator FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) which would allow energy storage and other distributed energy resources to play into wholesale markets has been hailed as a “significant step” forward.
Japan’s Itochu will integrate UK-developed aggregation platform into own batteries
Japanese trading house Itochu has invested £5 million (US$7.04 million) into UK-based energy storage and related services provider Moixa, which will enable Itochu to add Moixa’s ‘GridShare’ aggregation platform to its own suite of battery storage solutions.
Storage investment rush continues as Stem raises US$80 million in Ontario
Stem Inc, self-described as a supplier of “artificial intelligence-powered” energy storage, which deployed a system on average every two days last year, has closed a US$80 million Series D financing round.
Irish virtual power plant trial will link up household batteries, renewables
Battery storage and smart technologies are to be rolled out to homes in the Irish town of Dingle as part of a new trial to test their potential to support the use of variable renewable energy supply resources and smart connection to the Irish electricity grid.
Feature
Guest blog
How California demand response has opened up to energy storage, virtual power plants
We often hear about California's leading position in solar and latterly in energy storage. Perhaps lesser known than direct policy support for energy storage and renewable technologies is the way California's network operator (CAISO) is starting to reconfigure how it procures demand response, with a positive impact for energy storage - and particularly behind-the-meter assets, as Ted Ko, policy director of Stem, explains.
Moixa gets UK gov’t grant to add third-party residential batteries into grid services platform
Home battery storage company Moixa is to expand its GridShare aggregation platform to include third party units for the first time after securing over a quarter of a million pounds from the UK government.
Feature
Interviews
Navigant on energy storage as ‘non-wires’ alternative for utilities and grid operators
One of the ‘value of energy storage’ questions that was being asked a lot two or three years ago was around the use of batteries and decentralised system architecture instead of traditional “poles and wires” grid networks. However, advancements in this area have been slow to materialise and Navigant Research’s recent ‘Energy Storage for Transmission and Distribution Deferral’ report sought to fill the knowledge gap. Andy Colthorpe took the opportunity to ask lead author Alex Eller three quick questions around the topic.
Navigant: Lack of experience holding energy storage back as a non-wires alternative to T&D spending
Energy storage will increasingly be deployed to save money on electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure, with nearly half of the global market to be found in the Asia-Pacific region by 2026, Navigant Research has said.