Articles tagged with: Blackouts

Feature

Editor's blog

Texas blackouts and the role energy storage can play in a more resilient future

3 Mar 2021, 08:24 • By Andy Colthorpe

Texas’ grid and the idiosyncrasies of its electricity planning system regime made global headlines in February following a harsh winter storm and subsequent blackouts that affected millions of people and businesses for almost an entire week. It may be a unique market with unique characteristics, but what wider role can batteries — and other energy storage technologies — play in assisting the grid to remain stable and prevent a situation like this from happening again?

Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries to ensure resilient telecoms in Australian government initiative

16 Feb 2021, 08:03

Dozens of zinc-bromine flow battery units will be deployed at 56 remote telecommunications stations in Australia, supplied by manufacturer Redflow.

Japan/California-funded flow battery used in tests ‘to help achieve zero-emissions microgrids’

25 Jan 2021, 13:22

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.

California opens up opportunities for microgrids to play role in boosting reliability of energy mix

21 Jan 2021, 08:59

Microgrids in the service territories of California’s main investor-owned utilities (IOU) could get a wider opportunity to help solve the state’s challenging energy situation with wildfire season approaching.

Construction of 250MWh liquid air ‘CRYOBattery’ has begun in UK

10 Nov 2020, 09:59

Construction work has begun on Technology provider Highview Power's 50MW / 250MWh liquid air energy storage (LAES) facility in Greater Manchester, England.

Direct Energy Business to use some of world’s biggest battery projects to serve California customers

30 Oct 2020, 06:38

US electricity provider Direct Energy Business will be using some of the world’s largest battery energy storage systems to help cover its customers’ peak demand for power, signing contracts with project developer and investor LS Power.

‘Serial entrepreneur’ brings second Tesla grid-scale battery project in Slovenia online

21 Oct 2020, 09:41

About a year after unveiling what is thought to be the first large-scale Tesla Powerpack battery project in the Balkans, Slovenian energy services company NGEN has confirmed that it has completed its second, even bigger project.

Feature

Editor's blog

Solving California’s energy puzzle: Microgrids, home batteries and power-to-gas

15 Oct 2020, 08:22 • By Andy Colthorpe

While planning a better future for California’s energy system will take time and lies in the hands of many, many stakeholders from regulators to government to citizens and corporations, here are a few more of the recent moves forwards in clean energy in the state.

Western Australia considers 200MWh battery system at site of decommissioned fossil fuel plant

5 Oct 2020, 10:44

The government of Western Australia has issued a Request for Information (ROI) for parties interested in working on a 100MW / 200MWh battery energy storage project at the site of a decommissioned power station.

California community group contracts for 260MWh of batteries to help keep lights on in dark times

29 Sep 2020, 07:10

A community choice energy provider run by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in California has signed contracts for battery storage with EDF Renewables and NextEra Energy totalling 260MWh, to be deployed in combination with solar PV.

California’s energy emergency: ‘The answer is to build out more solar-charged batteries’

19 Aug 2020, 06:17

“Solar-charged batteries” can help solve California’s energy shortage, with energy storage already playing a small but active role in mitigating the struggle to meet peak energy demand, according to the leadership of two trade associations based in the US state.

After bushfires, batteries seen as wise investment in Australia

27 Mar 2020, 08:53

“The bottom line is that this is a good business decision. We will get back our money in eight to 10 years at the current price of power. As the price of energy goes up, we’ll pay it back even quicker.”

COVID-19: Solar and storage installs considered ‘essential services’ in locked-down California

25 Mar 2020, 04:14

Installing and maintaining renewable energy resources can be viewed as an “essential service”, according to the California Solar + Storage Association (CALSSA).

California offers extra solar, storage incentives after wildfires and shut-offs

28 Oct 2019, 13:13

Communities most likely to be affected by both the effects of and the response to devastating wildfires which have wreaked havoc on California will be given extra incentive to install solar-plus-storage at their properties.

Feature

Guest blog

Europe’s changing FCR auctions and their impact on the energy storage industry

9 Sep 2019, 12:41 • By Jean-Paul Harreman

Gone are Europe's weekly FCR auctions, replaced by daily auctions in a move designed to create greater flexibility and improve international co-operation in these markets in Europe, writes Jean-Paul Harreman of EnAppSys.

PODCAST: UK blackouts and Tesla’s travails

28 Aug 2019, 15:17

Our in-house editorial and events team and industry folk, experts and whoever else interesting we can bring you will discuss clean energy and renewables technologies and their place on the decarbonised planet.

Australia’s first big grid-connected solar-storage plant pioneers ‘islanding’

19 Feb 2018, 06:40

The first large-scale solar and battery storage project to be connected to the grid in Australia has started providing power to 3,000 homes and businesses in Far North Queensland (FNQ) while forming a test case for deliberate 'islanding'.

Ideal Power supplies power converters to PV-plus-storage projects in California, Texas

28 Jul 2017, 13:50

Ideal Power, the US company best known for its power conversion systems for energy storage, has announced two recent project orders totalling 1.6MW in northern Texas and in California.

Lyon Group to build world’s largest solar-plus-storage project in South Australia

30 Mar 2017, 13:23

Brisbane-based renewable energy investor Lyon Group will soon start building a AU$1 billion (US$767 million) solar-plus-storage farm in South Australia - the world’s largest.

ROUNDUP: Sunverge’s AC-coupled storage, South Australia’s blackouts, Germany’s &#8

9 Dec 2016, 13:23

News in brief: Sunverge launches AC-coupled systems, whether South Australia’s blackouts could have been a different story with batteries, German government approves model region project for renewables, storage and grids.

California’s rapid-fire storage procurement is a ‘chance to outshine natural gas’

2 Jun 2016, 17:58

Energy storage developers have an opportunity to prove the benefits of storage systems compared to fossil fuel technologies in what will be one of the fastest energy storage procurements in history pending in California, according to industry commentators and analysts.

UK engineering group is latest to put storage at heart of low carbon transition

28 Oct 2015, 16:24

The UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has publishing a report which looks at how unlocking the potential of electricity storage through regulatory changes would support the transition to a secure and affordable low carbon economy, adding to a chorus of recent voices on similar topics coming from Britain.

California community-owned utility goes for battery to integrate 50MW of PV

2 Jan 2015, 16:15

A community-owned utility company in California is preparing to install a large-scale battery system that could enable the addition of around 50MW of solar generation capacity to the local grid.

Guest blog

Waste not want not: why energy storage is vital to prevent winter blackouts

30 Oct 2014, 16:20

• By Mark Moreton

In the UK, the National Grid has recently warned the government that its capacity to supply electricity is at a seven-year low due to recent generator closures, fires and outages. The margin of capacity over demand is expected to be just 4% this winter.