BYD to supply batteries to Green Charge projects
China-based EV and storage specialist BYD is to supply batteries to projects built by Silicon Valley commercial energy storage provider Green Charge, which is a subsidiary Engie North America.
Connected Technologies
CEFC providing AU$94m debt financing for Queensland solar, wind, energy storage hybrid park
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) have both financed the Kennedy hybrid solar, wind and storage project in north Queensland, which is being developed Windlab and Eurus Energy.
Australian renewables, environment groups say ‘hard to imagine worse policy’ than dropping targets
Australia’s government has dropped plans for introducing a Clean Energy Target (CET) post-2020, opting instead for a technology-neutral plan that it claimed would prioritise reliability and bringing prices down.
Vattenfall in discussions over adding grid-scale battery storage at existing UK solar PV farms
Electricity and heat generator and retailer Vattenfall is developing a third party model for energy storage deployment, which will see the Swedish firm deploy batteries alongside UK solar farms.
Hurricane relief: Call for solar and energy storage donations
US trade association groups, the Energy Storage Association and Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), have called on their respective industries to assist hurricane relief efforts in the US and its territories.
Time running out to apply for 300MW of Thai hybrid PPAs with ‘continuous baseline’ requirements
Submissions for Thailand’s first 300MW hybrid PPA scheme, which encourages use of energy storage to supplement renewable energy generation, are due by 20 October.
Mahindra wins India’s first large-scale solar-plus-storage auction
State-run coal mining and power firm NLC India has auctioned a 20MW solar PV project to be combined with 28MWh of energy storage capacity in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Energy storage, management algorithms at heart of Alfen’s ‘self-healing’ grid solution
A distributed smart grid that can “heal” itself in the event of system components failing has energy storage and energy management software at its core, grid-scale system integrator Alfen has said.
Interviews
Navigant on energy storage as ‘non-wires’ alternative for utilities and grid operators
One of the ‘value of energy storage’ questions that was being asked a lot two or three years ago was around the use of batteries and decentralised system architecture instead of traditional “poles and wires” grid networks. However, advancements in this area have been slow to materialise and Navigant Research’s recent ‘Energy Storage for Transmission and Distribution Deferral’ report sought to fill the knowledge gap. Andy Colthorpe took the opportunity to ask lead author Alex Eller three quick questions around the topic.
Tender for demonstrating lithium-ion’s suitability in Indian mini grids launched
India-based promoter of decentralised power Clean Energy Access Network (CLEAN) has issued a request for proposal (RfP) for lithium-ion technology providers to show how their solutions can aid mini grid and distributed renewable energy development in India.
Q&A: Wattstor on the SPP Award-winning residential, C&I energy storage project for a care home
An ambitious project to convert the “grey fleet” of a care home for old folk in Scotland to a sustainable “green fleet”, using solar PV and battery energy storage, was winner of the Residential, Commercial and Industrial-scale Storage Project category at this month’s Solar Power Portal Awards.
Morocco’s ‘largest rooftop solar plant’ nears completion with cold storage
Casablanca-based confectionery and chewing gum producer Maghreb Industries is close to fully implementing a 1,361kWp rooftop solar system combined with an ice-based storage system on the roof of its new factory.
Mixed reaction: Liberals reject 50% renewables but offer support for batteries in South Australia
Solar Citizens has welcomed South Australia’s Liberal Party’s AU$100 (£59.1 million) commitment to support solar households in shifting to battery storage yet opposed them scrapping the 50% renewable goal as a missed opportunity.
UK aggregator Kiwi’s Tesla battery will provide 24/7 frequency response
Kiwi Power is to finance and develop a battery storage project at a multi-technology renewable energy site in south Wales, where it will provide constant grid services availability to National Grid for two years in a first for the aggregator.
Queensland tender draws 6GW of energy storage, 6.4GW of solar PV project proposals
Queensland’s tender for 400MW of large-scale renewables and 100MW of energy storage has received 115 proposals from 79 different entities spanning a wide range of technologies, according to the state's energy minister Mark Bailey.
Navigant: Lack of experience holding energy storage back as a non-wires alternative to T&D spending
Energy storage will increasingly be deployed to save money on electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure, with nearly half of the global market to be found in the Asia-Pacific region by 2026, Navigant Research has said.