Panasonic, Toyota to work together on automotive batteries ‘of the future’
Automotive giant Toyota and electronics firm Panasonic have announced a joint venture which will look to lead the field in EV battery technology.
Articles tagged with: Batteries
Feature
Guest blog
Investing in energy storage for resiliency: the business case in the US
Power outages pose great risks for corporate bottom lines and many have already suffered the economic brunt of unforeseen weather and grid events in 2018. Battery energy storage can be a versatile actor in networks, bringing resiliency as well as energy efficiency and economic benefits, writes Lisa Laughner, CEO of Go Electric.
Feature
Analysis
‘Silver bullets are for werewolf movies’: Being real about energy storage
Even among high level stakeholders, there are real gaps in education, knowledge and understanding of what energy storage is, and what it can do. We were privileged at last week’s Intersolar Europe/ees Europe shows in Munich, Germany, to be joined by four leading thinkers – and doers – in the energy storage industry, who helped us tackle this difficult question.
Pumped hydro and batteries combine at Engie’s new Bavaria project
An inauguration event was held last week to unveil a new battery energy storage system combined with pumped hydro storage in Bavaria, Germany, after multi-national utility Engie completed work on the project.
sonnen-Engie partner up in France to sell solar-plus-storage through ‘shared vision’
French utility Engie and German energy storage firm sonnen have formed a partnership to offer a package of solar and energy storage to households in France, according to Reuters.
Feature
Guest blog
Lead batteries: Still an essential energiser for a greener world
The huge increase in demand for safe and reliable batteries to store energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind heralds a new lease of life for advanced lead batteries, argues Dr Andy Bush of the International Lead Association.
‘NO MORE BROWNOUTS!’: Philippines town hails arrival of Tesla battery
The first solar-plus-storage microgrid in Asia to use Tesla’s Powerpack energy storage system is designed to end power reliability issues for a Philippines community, long used to losing light and productivity to brownouts.
Skeleton Tech CEO: Bankability of ultracapacitors could be key to lithium-ion hybrid potential
Some of the “world’s biggest insurance companies” are investigating the advantages of pairing lithium batteries with ultracapacitors in energy storage systems, which can lower costs and extend battery lifetimes, the CEO of an ultracapacitor maker has said.
Interviews
From ‘squishy batteries’ to pre-packaged systems - how the times are changing
ELM FieldSight has partnered with power conversion specialist Ideal Power on a number of microgrid and related projects, designing and supplying the control system that makes the system tick, balancing the different distributed energy sources plugged into it. Vice president of operations Jason Petermeier shared his thoughts on recent projects, not-so-recent projects and where microgrids are heading.
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.
India hikes customs duty for lithium-ion batteries from 10% to 20%
The Indian Budget has seen a hike in customs duty for lithium-ion batteries from 10% to 20%.
ENGIE, Macquarie invest in Connected Energy’s ‘2nd life’ EV pack storage
Energy storage provider Connected Energy has secured £3 million (US$4.13 million) of investment from Macquarie Group and ENGIE to fuel its growth plans in the UK and abroad.
Feature
Guest blog
Energy-Storage.News 2017: Best of the guest blogs, Part 1.
Since the launch of the site almost four years ago, Energy-Storage.News (and PV Tech Storage as it was previously known), has consistently brought you high-quality blogs from both guest contributors and our team of journalists and experts here at Solar Media. Here's just a selection of some of the best guest blogs we ran from January to June, 2017:
UK’s new de-rating factors a boost for long duration batteries and energy arbitrage
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.
Major blow for UK energy storage in Capacity Market following de-rating rule
Future battery energy storage projects in the UK have been hit with a major blow after the government published its intention to lower the de-rating factor in capacity market auctions by almost 80% for 30 minute duration batteries.
Southeast Asia: Early investors will gain huge advantage as solar-plus-storage becomes viable
Panellists at the opening day of Solar and Off-Grid Renewables Southeast Asia event in Bangkok warned that investors who come on board quickest are going to gain a huge advantage as solar-plus-storage starts to become viable at scale.
Capacity market de-rating in UK nudges Anesco towards flow batteries
Anesco is investigating how it could adopt flow batteries into future projects instead of lithium as a response to growing uncertainty around the future of storage de-rating in the capacity market, Clean Energy News can reveal.
US and Singapore to test energy storage technologies on island state’s grid
A US state-backed organisation is partnering with the government of Singapore to build and test up to three energy storage systems using a variety of technologies on the island state.
Tesla returns to profit in Q3
EV manufacturer and battery specialist Tesla Motors has reported strong results with a return to profit in Q3 this year and expectations of this positive performance to continue into Q4.
Storage and broader market change ‘terrifying some players and thrilling others’ – ARENA chief
The rapid march of energy storage batteries into the energy system is one element of a wider market transformation that is “terrifying some players as much as it is thrilling others,” according to the new chair of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Martijn Wilder.
Australian Clean Energy Council’s battery installation guidelines will be mandatory by October
As more and more Australians look to energy storage solutions, a set of installation guidelines from the Clean Energy Council (CEC) has been released for industry and consumers which will be mandatory for installers accredited by CEC schemes by October.
Germany and Britain’s centres for battery development and production are underway
Two initiatives have got underway in Europe, one in Germany and the other in Britain, aimed at accelerating battery development for electric vehicles and stationary storage respectively, while vacuum cleaner company Dyson has pledged a US$1.44 billion commitment to batteries – for cordless cleaning devices.
Guest blog
Optimising battery storage to extract maximum value
Placing a battery onto the grid is an economic investment. Matthew Hunt from the UK’s Chargesync discusses strategies for extracting the maximum value from devices and systems through optimising performance.
Guest blog
24M exits stealth mode, unveils low-cost design for lithium with nary a flow battery in sight
Lilia Xie of Lux Research spoke with the founders of 24M, which claims to have reduced lithium cell costs by 50% over existing technologies and is targeting US$100 per kWh by 2020.
Video: Future-proofing inverters for self-consumption and storage
Many in solar and other renewable energy industries are looking ahead to a future defined by self-consumption of on-site generated power and energy storage. As a key part of that, the role of the inverter is changing.
Interviews
Inside the Gigafactory: Tesla’s big plan
Tesla’s much talked about Gigafactory should be up and running in 2017. PV Tech Storage spoke to analyst Dean Frankel of Lux Research about some of the details and talking points of the EV maker’s ambitious plan to hit ‘500,000 battery packs by 2020’.
Nevada gets Tesla’s Gigafactory after all while analysts voice overcapacity concerns
Tesla’s lithium-ion ‘Gigafactory’ will be built in Nevada, after company officials including chief executive officer Elon Musk appeared alongside the US state’s governor at a press conference held yesterday afternoon.
NASA invests in ‘critical mission technology’ with four proposed energy storage systems
US space exploration agency NASA is considering proposals for four different energy storage systems, submitted by academic institutions and private companies that could power its future robotic and human missions to space.
KIT opens utility-scale battery and PV test facility
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has inaugurated a test centre at its northern campus that will pair a 1MW solar array to 100kWh of lithium-ion battery-based energy storage.