PODCAST: Green recovery policy picks, ESS providers that aren’t Tesla, the solar panel arms race
Solar Media's Liam Stoker and Andy Colthorpe return for the July 2020 episode of the Solar Media Podcast.
Business
Solar farm fitted with batteries to meet grid output control requirements goes online in Japan
One of the first large-scale solar farms in Japan so far to be equipped with battery storage in order to meet the requirements of a local grid operator and utility, has been completed on the island of Hokkaido.
Feature
Analysis
Building battery storage systems to meet changing market requirements
Battery system integrators must navigate a broad array of technologies and varying market drivers when putting systems together. Andy Colthorpe speaks to Powin Energy and Sungrow about the engineering challenges involved in building lithium-ion battery storage.
Rely on FFR revenues alone and miss out big on revenues, UK asset owners warned
UK aggregator Kiwi Power is launching a ‘co-optimisation’ offering as it warns that relying on fast frequency response (FFR) could risk half of potential revenues.
Varta receives €300m funding to pilot large format Li-ion cells
Germany-headquartered battery manufacturer Varta will receive €300 million (US$338 million) of government funding to develop large format lithium-ion cells, which has been deemed a project of potentially strategic interest for Europe.
Utility Portland General Electric launches 4MW virtual power plant pilot in Oregon
More than 500 residential energy storage batteries will be aggregated into a virtual power plant (VPP) by US utility Portland General Electric (PGE), with some participating households offered US$5,000 rebates on battery system purchases as well as money off their monthly electricity bills.
Batteries replace diesel for jumpstarting Indiana natural gas plants
FlexGen, an energy storage system integrator that counts GE and Caterpillar among its backers, said this week that a lithium-ion battery storage system it was supplied was used by an Indiana utility to black start a 77MW natural gas plant.
Mitsubishi, Japanese telecoms co NTT step up focus on renewables, storage, EVs and energy management
Mitsubishi Corporation said today that it is partnering with major Japanese telecoms provider NTT to “study cooperation” in renewables, energy management using electric vehicles and battery energy storage, while according to reports, NTT is investing around US$1 billion a year in renewable energy up to 2030.
1.4GW of energy storage included in Tucson Electric Power’s coal retirement IRP
Arizona utility Tucson Electric Power (TEP) has set out plans to provide 70% of its power from solar and wind by 2035, backed up with investment in new energy storage capacity.
EDF, Green Investment Group and Gore Street behind hundreds more megawatts of UK storage
French utility EDF is launching a major solar-plus-battery storage hybrid initiative in England and Wales as part of plans to double its installed renewable base.
Siemens Energy to develop thermal energy storage with startup EnergyNest
Siemens Energy has formed a partnership aimed at sustainably decarbonising the industrial sector with Norway-headquartered thermal energy storage company EnergyNest.
ROUNDUP: US$1.5m for geothermal lithium, Eos’ public listing, C&I thermal storage using aluminium
News in brief from around the world in energy storage.
Fluence ‘reveals’ 500+MW contracted portfolio in unnamed Southeast Asia territory
Fluence has announced that it has been contracted to deliver a large tranche of projects in Southeast Asia, but has agreed with its customer not to reveal yet which country they will be located in.
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.
Li-ion battery pioneer Goodenough congratulates CATL on new energy tech lab
Dr Prof John Goodenough, one of the three inventors of the modern lithium-ion battery has congratulated Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) as it breaks ground on a new laboratory in China to expand its research and development (R&D) into novel energy technologies.
EDF adds another 49.9MW to UK battery storage optimisation portfolio
EDF is set to optimise 49.9MW of battery storage owned by UK developer Pivot Power in a bid to enable "greater flexible electricity capacity for the grid".