Articles tagged with: Grid Stability

Feature

Interviews

Many things to many people: Virtual power plants Q&A with SolarEdge

7 May 2018, 16:49 • By Andy Colthorpe

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.

Aggregator moves on UK balancing mechanism with supply licence

13 Mar 2018, 12:05

UK demand response aggregator Flexitricity has successfully secured gas and electricity supply licences from regulator Ofgem, giving the demand response aggregator the green light to enter the country’s balancing mechanism.

UK’s new de-rating factors a boost for long duration batteries and energy arbitrage

11 Dec 2017, 14:54

Changes to the de-rating factors for battery storage projects competing in the UK's Capacity Market (CM) will push the sector towards longer-duration batteries, while potentially sparking a shift towards energy arbitrage as a source of revenue for shorter duration applications. David Pratt heard from several industry sources following last week's announcement.

UK battery storage deployment held back by government policy, claim politicians

8 Dec 2017, 11:50

Government policy and regulation offer the biggest barriers to the deployment of battery energy storage in the UK according to a cross-party group of MPs focussed on energy storage, which claims 12GW of batteries could be deployed by 2021 under the right circumstances.

Sumitomo seeks to bring redox flow systems to Europe, MENA with CMI partnership

4 Dec 2017, 12:29

The developer of one of the world’s biggest battery energy storage systems (BESS) installed globally so far will be taking its vanadium redox flow systems into the international market, beginning with a pilot in Belgium.

Lyon confirms sell-off for 800MWh energy storage, 545MW of PV across three Australia projects

27 Nov 2017, 15:25

Australian large-scale renewables investor Lyon Group has confirmed it is selling three projects under development, totalling 800MWh of energy storage and 545MW of PV generation capacity, in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.

Tesla makes good on ‘100 day’ battery promise, sells Boring hats

23 Nov 2017, 12:12

Amidst experiencing Model 3’s “production hell”, launching a semi truck, a new Roadster and a portable battery pack, Tesla’s work on a 129MWh energy storage system in South Australia appears on track to be completed in time.

Blockchain-powered P2P energy trading on trial at Britain’s biggest social housing PV installation

22 Nov 2017, 11:20

Verv, an energy monitoring and AI company, has laid claim to launching the UK’s first energy trading community at a housing estate in Hackney, East London.

Centrica reveals early stage plans for a 100MW battery in Ireland

14 Nov 2017, 16:14

Centrica has revealed plans to build a single 100MW battery energy storage system in Ireland for delivery by 2022 to take advantage of capacity market and grid services opportunities currently under development.

National Grid: ‘Don’t put all your eggs in the frequency response basket’

7 Nov 2017, 12:57

A representative of National Grid, the UK’s transmission system operator (TSO), has said that energy storage will be “integral” to the network’s flexibility strategy – while urging developers not to rely solely on early frequency regulation contracts.

Chinese government’s strategic push for energy storage to yield large flow battery projects

6 Nov 2017, 12:45

A project demonstrating the integration of energy storage onto grid networks in Hubei, China, will see the first phase of a 10MW / 40MWh project built by Pu Neng, a vanadium flow battery manufacturer.

New Siemens UK partnership to build 22MW battery portfolio and launch ‘storage as a service’ offer

6 Nov 2017, 10:15

Siemens has continued to bolster its UK presence with a new partnership with Grid Battery Storage Limited (GBSL) which will see a 22MW portfolio of four projects built and an ‘energy storage as a service’ offering launched.

Duke Energy develops 5MW Indiana National Guard microgrid storage and substation project

1 Nov 2017, 02:00

Duke Energy is planning to develop and install battery storage materials and PV panels that will serve as part of a microgrid system at the Indiana National Guard’s Camp Atterbury in Johnson County, Indiana.

Portland General Electric to invest up to US$100m for 39MW of energy storage

1 Nov 2017, 00:30

Oregon-based utility company Portland General Electric intends to spend between US$50 million to100 million on around 39MW of energy storage, company executives have revealed.

Nidec ASI selected to create dispatchable solar-plus-storage on Corsica

31 Oct 2017, 15:09

Nidec ASI has been selected to construct and maintain four PV plants with co-located energy storage systems on the French island territory of Corsica.

‘World’s tallest’ wind turbine gets 70MWh of pumped storage near Stuttgart

30 Oct 2017, 16:22

The world’s tallest wind turbine to date, under construction at a German wind farm, will be paired with 70MWh of pumped hydro energy storage onsite.

Completed EFR battery system a “milestone for E.On in the new energy world”

9 Oct 2017, 16:52

E.On has become the first company to have secured an Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) contract in Britain last year to announce the completion of its project, following the installation and connection of a 10MW battery at a biomass plant last month.

Massachusetts’ largest ESS will help ‘stabilise’ utility customers’ rates for 20 years

5 Oct 2017, 12:49

The largest grid-connected energy storage system in Massachusetts will be used to determine the value of the technology throughout the US Commonwealth territory, supported by a Department of Energy Resources (DOER) grant.

US Trade and Development Agency pays for South Africa flow battery pilot

20 Sep 2017, 15:42

A test and demonstration facility operated by South Africa’s main utility Eskom will trial Primus Power’s flow batteries, after a local developer was awarded a grant for the project by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

‘Immense value’ of thermal energy storage ‘not yet recognised by Europe’s policymakers’

11 Sep 2017, 16:15

Heating and cooling uses more than half of Europe’s energy, but the potential “immense value” of thermal energy storage has barely been explored, the head of an energy storage trade group has said.

ABB to supply battery energy storage for Dong’s 90MW UK wind farm

31 Aug 2017, 12:09

Swiss engineering and automation company ABB will be supplying Dong Energy’s 90MW Burbo Bank wind farm in the UK with battery energy storage.

UK distribution network operator’s 34MW flexibility tender seeks to ease demand concerns

22 Aug 2017, 10:37

One of the distribution network operators (DNOs) tasked with maintaining security of electricity supply into British homes is launching a tender for flexibility services that include energy storage.

Expanded 15MWh German battery park demonstrates successful black start

17 Aug 2017, 16:31

Europe’s ‘first commercial battery park’, a 5MWh lithium-ion battery system that was recently tripled in size to 15MWh, has been used to successfully restart a disconnected power grid in Germany.

PPA signed for Middle East’s ‘largest’ solar-plus-storage project

11 Aug 2017, 11:31

The power purchase agreement (PPA) for what is claimed to be the Middle East’s largest solar-plus-storage project has been signed.

US utilities, tech companies make GridWise recommendations on front-of-meter energy storage

17 Jul 2017, 17:43

Market conditions are “artificially” restricting energy storage batteries from “leveraging and maximising their multiple capabilities” a US trade group which includes utilities, technology and service providers and grid operators among its membership has argued.

Sonnen wants to take 2,000 Australian customers away from big utilities this year

6 Jul 2017, 14:46

Sonnen is looking to sign up 2,000 Australian customers this year for SonnenFlat, where households sign up to pay a monthly ‘flat rate’ for power while their batteries are used to benefit the local grid.

National Grid teases huge reforms to UK’s grid-balancing services market

14 Jun 2017, 14:17

The UK's main electricity transmission network operator (TNO) National Grid has published a new consultation on its system needs and product strategy which paves the way for a number of new services tenders to be made available from next year.

Analysis

UK grid-scale storage: A fast-moving pipeline

6 Jun 2017, 16:08

• By Lauren Cook

With the UK’s Renewables Obligation now closed for large solar projects, energy storage takes the position of the most active sector in the UK energy market. As with any new technology, we have seen a lot of build up over the past few years, with much speculation about when the utility-scale market will take off, and how big it will be. Analyst Lauren Cook takes a deep dive.

Texas publicly-owned utility goes big on energy storage

2 Jun 2017, 16:26

Austin Energy, a publicly-owned electric utility in Texas, is delivering megawatt-scale storage systems as part of the US Department of Energy’s Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV (SHINES) project.

UK DNO investigates the future of storage after ‘unprecedented’ applications

19 May 2017, 15:45

UK distribution network operator Western Power Distribution (WPD) has launched a consultation seeking views on the potential growth of energy storage on its distribution network after receiving an ‘unprecedented’ 8GW of applications in the last 18 months.