UK ROUNDUP: Utility-scale, remote grid and virtual power plant energy storage news from Britain
News in brief from around the world in energy storage: this edition has a distinctly British flavour.
Articles tagged with: Virtual Power Plant
Home solar batteries in Hawaii to provide capacity, grid services through 80MW virtual power plant
Solar-plus-storage systems at customers’ homes in Hawaii will create a “comprehensive” virtual power plant (VPP) network on three Hawaiian islands of up to 6,000 individual systems.
Eaton teams up with EV charging specialist to create virtual power plant offering
Distributed energy storage systems made by power management company Eaton will be able to participate in grid balancing markets through integration with a virtual power plant (VPP) platform developed by electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment provider Virta.
California utility PG&E requests approval for 387MW / 1,548MWh of battery storage procurements
PG&E, one of California’s main investor-owned utilities (IoUs) has awarded contracts for more than 1,000MW of battery energy storage projects to be deployed in its service area by the end of 2023, the company’s senior VP for energy policy and procurement has said.
Swell Energy seeks US$450m financing for distributed solar-plus-storage virtual power plants
Swell Energy, a provider of distributed energy storage systems headquartered in Southern California, is seeking to develop four virtual power plants (VPPs) by mid-2023, through aggregating 100MW of solar PV with 200MWh of battery storage capacity at customer sites.
California utility SCE’s latest battery storage contracts to take company beyond 2GW mark
Southern California Edison (SCE), one of California’s three main investor-owned utilities, has signed new long-term contracts with developers of 590MW of battery energy storage.
Sonnen launches ‘affordable’ all-in-one home battery storage system in US
Germany-headquartered residential battery storage manufacturer sonnen has launched an “all-in-one” system in the US which comes at a recommended retail price of US$9,500.
UK firms make international expansion moves with residential solar-plus-battery offerings
Two UK-based firms, energy supplier OVO Energy and integrated home battery storage provider Social Energy, have expanded into international markets in Spain and in Australia respectively.
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News in brief from around the world in energy storage.
Mobile battery project will provide up to 3MW of frequency control services in Netherlands
A new project in the Netherlands will see a number of mobile battery storage units used to power construction sites and outdoor events provide up to 3MW of frequency control ancillary services for grid operator TeneT.
1,000MW industrial VPP project to begin across Australia ‘as soon as Victoria out of lockdown’
The first phase of a 1,000MW behind-the-meter virtual power plant (VPP) is expected to begin deployment in Australia as soon as the state of Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdown is over.
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News in brief from around the world in energy storage.
Sonnen CEO steps down, company targets next stage of replacing fossil fuels
Sonnen founder Christoph Ostermann will be succeeded as CEO by chief operating officer Oliver Koch tomorrow, as the Germany-headquartered energy storage system maker targets its “next growth stage”.
Social housing residents joining Tesla’s South Australia virtual power plant at ‘no upfront cost’
Thousands of residents of social housing in Adelaide, South Australia, will get Tesla PV panels and battery storage in their homes if they join a virtual power plant (VPP) project run by the state.
Sonnen to deliver 60MWh for real estate group Wasatch’s US$130m California virtual power plants
More than 60MWh of residential battery energy storage systems from sonnen will be used in a virtual power plant (VPP) project in California that will fit out solar-powered energy solutions for around 3,000 residential apartments.
Feature
Guest blog
Raising standards for interconnecting renewables across the US: Utility Commissions Q&A with IEEE
Within the US, different jurisdictions are at different points of DER adoption and interconnection: Ravi Subramaniam at IEEE asks commissioners from across the country about the different drivers and dynamics they see.
Future Grid project puts historic town in centre of Australia at ‘forefront of energy transition’
A series of smart energy projects in the town of Alice Springs in central Australia could be exemplary to the direction of travel for the energy transition across the country if successful.
Staying on-grid: Domestic solar provider Sunrun sees big opportunity in networked services
Lynn Jurich, CEO at major US residential solar installation and leasing company Sunrun has spoken of the big opportunity for aggregated solar-plus-storage systems to provide grid services and in doing so help lower the cost of installations.
Energy trading with batteries ‘will be scalable business in Japan’ once rules change in coming years
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading using distributed battery storage in Japanese households could be a scalable business once prohibitive rules change in a couple of years’ time, a provider of renewable energy equipment in the country has said.
Feature
Interviews
Kiwi Power: Now’s the time to take ‘decarbonisation-enabling’ VPP platform into North America
Bringing a proven, flexible, virtual power plant (VPP) platform into North America is a step towards “unleashing the potential” of distributed energy, the chief commercial officer of UK-headquartered solutions provider Kiwi Power says.
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Our roundup of news in brief from around the world of energy storage has a residential flavour this time out.
‘Flexibility over power’: First move into US for Kiwi Power, UK distributed energy platform provider
UK-headquartered distributed energy services provider Kiwi Power has made its first official expansion into the US, operating in the ERCOT market of Texas and planning a further step into the PJM Interconnection service area.
Solar-plus-storage with smart controls could cut 97% of evening peak, UK study finds
A combination of residential solar, storage and smart controls could "dramatically reduce" evening peak grid usage at homes in Britain.
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Guest blog
Digitising the solar revolution
Our ability to generate renewable energy is scaling up fast, and solutions to integrate that energy will rely on technologies like blockchain to help keep new solutions on track. Power Ledger’s executive chairman and co-founder, Dr Jemma Green, looks at the role blockchain plays within her company’s platform to integrate and automate solar energy trading and balancing.
Sunrun picks AutoGrid software platform to optimise aggregated fleets of solar-plus-batteries
Sunrun has made a further expansion in providing grid services by choosing AutoGrid’s software to help manage its fleets of aggregated home solar and battery systems.
Tokyo Electric’s renewables utility and ESS maker Itochu to create new business models
Itochu, a major Japanese corporation which has sold over 330MWh of residential battery storage systems in its home market, has invested ¥1 billion (US$9.35 million) in TRENDE, a renewable energy retailer which counts utility company Tokyo Electric Power among its major shareholders, with a view to launching a range of renewable energy and storage-enabled services.
Sunrun sets up 300-home virtual power plant for Southern California Edison
US residential solar installer Sunrun is deploying aggregated rooftop solar-plus-batteries in partnership with utility Southern California Edison (SCE), in a demonstration project of the systems’ capabilities to run as a virtual power plant (VPP).
SimpliPhi solar-storage VPP helps Louisiana with tentative grid-modernisation steps and backup
A project demonstrating aggregated solar-plus-storage in Louisiana involving energy storage company SimpliPhi Power, technology partner Heila and local utility SWEPCO has started off small, but is “expected to transition into a larger network of distributed systems, soon”.
QCELLS invests in Australian DER software company SwitchDin
QCELLS has invested AU$5 million (US$3.45 million) in SwitchDin, an Australian distributed energy resources (DERs) software company that offers capabilities including virtual power plant aggregation and microgrid-forming.
Sector-coupling demonstrator project in UK will integrate low carbon energy, heat and transport
A £31 million (US$38.06 million) demonstrator project in the UK, integrating heat, transport and energy is to progress despite COVID-19 restrictions.