Feature
Editor's blog
What the heck is happening in Britain?
Despite policy uncertainty spanning years, and Brexit looming large, we still hear from the industry that the UK is a key market. Andy Colthorpe takes a closer look.
Articles tagged with: Analysis
Listen App: Our big solar (and storage) chat is now a podcast
Originally hosted on the Energy-Storage.news YouTube channel and of course the site itself as a video feature, our recent Editors’ Chat at Intersolar Europe / ees Europe 2019 is now the first episode to run on Solar Media’s new podcast channel.
Charge and discharge cycles are a meaningless metric, SolarEdge founder says
The way the industry talks about batteries needs to change, SolarEdge founder Lior Handelsman has said, arguing that knowing the number of cycles of charge and discharge a battery can perform in its lifetime is essentially “meaningless”.
Navigant: ‘Risk of slower than expected price declines’ for lithium batteries but prices will fall
Lithium-ion battery cell costs could fall to as little as US$76 per kWh by 2030, from around US$139 per kWh this year, according to new analysis by Navigant Research.
Feature
Analysis
UK’s evolving ESS market likely to take installed base above 1.2GW this year
The pipeline of projects currently stands at 11GW, and although it is unlikely that this will all be built, we currently see nearly 800MW of projects at the ‘under construction/ready to build’ stage.
Feature
Analysis
Redefining the energy business in 2019: Solar Media Editors’ Chat at Intersolar Europe / ees Europe
Two of Solar Media's editorial team discuss what they learned at Europe's biggest smart energy trade fair, Smarter-e; with Intersolar and electrical energy storage Europe (ees Europe) all taking place at the same time.
Tariffs on Chinese imports loom over US’ storage success
Strong deployment figures have been posted for the US’ energy storage market in both residential and non-residential segments in the past quarter, amid warnings that an escalating trade war with China could dampen some of that enthusiasm if tariffs are applied.
Feature
Analysis
New lease of life: Business models, batteries keep Japan’s solar boom afloat
Thanks to “innovative business models” and the combination of PV with batteries, Japan’s “solar boom” is far from over, market expert Izumi Kaizuka of RTS PV has said.
IEEFA: Solar-plus-storage undermines coal economics by ‘hundreds of millions’ of dollars
Phase-out plans of US utility giants underscore money-saving potential of cleaner alternatives, says think tank.
‘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.
Corporations, citizens and most bankable batteries: ‘Storage & Smart Power’ returns
Volume 19 of PV Tech Power has just hit the (digital) shelves and once again the quarterly technical journal from our publisher Solar Media includes ‘Storage & Smart Power’, the dedicated section created and curated by Energy-Storage.news.
Wood Mackenzie: US & China to be installing over half of global ESS by 2024
Grid-connected energy storage deployments have enjoyed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 74% worldwide in the years 2013 to 2018, with a “boom” in deployment figures expected over the next five years, analysis firm Wood Mackenzie has said.
‘Obvious benefits’ of ITC for energy storage could even meet Trump’s energy resiliency aims
A push to establish an Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for energy storage has not only been welcomed by clean energy advocates and the industry, but might also meet the some stated aims of the Trump administration’s energy policies, an analyst has said.
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
Analysis
Peak time to take action
In the hierarchy of grid needs, peaking power is often a priority in terms of providing resiliency and balance to the network. This is usually provided by natural gas turbines, which come at a high environmental and economic cost. Andy Colthorpe charts the rise of the solar-plus-storage peaker plant.
US residential storage on the rise in another record-breaking year
Energy storage enjoyed another record-breaking year of deployments in the US in 2018, while the residential segment is now “moving beyond early adopters” and into commercial viability, a report from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables claims.
Feature
Interviews
Overcoming uncertainty: UK energy storage market trends
Following the fourth annual Energy Storage Summit hosted by Solar Media in London this month, Solar Media Market Research analyst Lauren Cook discusses recent trends in the UK market.
Minnesota Legislature prepares for the introduction of energy storage
Legislators in Minnesota have begun the first steps to establishing fair or optimal market conditions for the deployment of energy storage, setting out rules for determining the value of storage to the network.
Feature
Editor's blog
2019 briefing: Several steps closer to ubiquity
We hope you've enjoyed our series looking back on last year's challenges, milestone and successes and looking ahead to a busy 2019. After featuring a range of views from industry participants and experts, now it's my turn to throw out some predictions for the year ahead...
Feature
Editor's blog
2018: Energy-Storage.news Editor’s Vlog of the Year
In another eventful and exciting year, Energy-Storage.news has been able to capture conversations and interviews with leading industry figures.
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.
Energy storage procurement targets could work for Nevada, PUCN-commissioned study says
Nevada could cost-effectively deploy between 750MW and 1,000MW of energy storage by 2030, according to an economic study commissioned by the state’s rulemakers to investigate the potential for the technology.
Residential overtakes quarterly utility deployment in US for the first time
The US deployed 42% megawatts more energy storage in the second quarter of this year than in the first, with residential installations overtaking utility deployments for the first time.
US has gone past 1GWh of installed battery capacity, with help from utilities
US utilities deployed more than 520MWh of energy storage on their networks in 2017, bringing the country’s cumulative installed capacity of grid-connected energy storage systems to over 1GWh, trade organisation Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) has found.
Feature
Editor's blog
Taking smart to the edges of the world - Part 2
Islands around the world provide ideal conditions for trialling new approaches to energy provision. David Pratt reports on how cutting-edge renewable energy, storage and smart grid technologies are being rolled out to geographically isolated communities. Part 2 of this feature article continues with a look at how some of these projects could provide real-time lessons for the global clean energy transition.
Mercom: Behind-the-meter providers among top five VC fund recipients in H1 2018
VC funding for battery energy storage companies in the first half of this year has already exceeded 2016’s total and looks on the way to bettering 2017, with US$539 million raised across 29 deals.
Navigant: Energy storage PCS becoming a ‘crowded market’
The market for power conversion systems (PCS) used in energy storage is becoming “increasingly crowded” with competitors, while the diverse field of players will contribute to “rapid technological innovations and price reductions”, Navigant Research has said.
Feature
Interviews
Europe in focus: behind-the-meter market comes alive
In the second part of our interview with Valts Grintals, analyst at Delta-ee we discuss why behind-the-meter energy storage, including commercial and industrial (C&I) and residential installations, contributed so much to the market’s recent success.
Commercial and industrial is ‘most exciting’ part of Europe’s energy storage market
Commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage in Europe, described by one analyst as “beginning to take off”, is the “most exciting” segment of the market at the moment, according to BYD’s global service partner.
Lead acid ‘toxic legacy in Africa’ disputed by Kenyan industry veteran
A veteran of Kenya’s renewable energy industry has argued strongly in favour of lead acid batteries over lithium-ion, in response to a recent Energy-Storage.news article on off-grid solar PV in Africa.