UK smart energy platform provider Kiwi Power moves into Japan’s fast-growing flexibility market
UK based Virtual Power Plant (VPP) company Kiwi Power is to expand into the Japanese market thanks to a new partnership with ENECHANGE.
Residential
Poland adapts energy policy to ‘give green light to development of energy storage’
Policymakers in Poland have removed legal and regulatory barriers to the development of an energy storage industry based in the European country.
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Guest blog
Preventing thermal runaway in lithium-ion energy storage systems
Safely managing the use of lithium-ion batteries in energy storage systems (ESS) should be priority number one for the industry. In this exclusive Guest Blog, Johnson Controls' industry relations fellow Alan Elder, with over four decades of experience in the field of gaseous fire suppression systems and Derek Sandahl, product manager for the company's engineered fire suppression products, talk about the best ways to achieve prevention of fire incidents stemming from thermal runaway in lithium cells.
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Analysis
VIDEO: Ensuring fire safety for lithium-ion battery storage
Safety is a consideration when it comes to any energy asset and lithium-ion batteries are no exception. Fires are rare, but do happen, particularly when you consider how much juice lithium storage systems can pack into a fairly small space. In this panel from the Energy Storage Summit 2021, experts including firefighter Charlie Pugsley of London Fire Brigade talk about the strategies stakeholders should be using today and in the future to ensure a safe industry for all.
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Guest blog
Innovative battery solutions and electric vehicles are solar energy’s strongest allies
With batteries today finally reaching the size and capacity that enables renewables to replace medium-sized natural gas generators, a future ruled by solar and storage is just around the corner, writes Radoslav Stompf, CEO of FUERGY.
Tesla aiming for ‘comparable margins in energy storage as in vehicles’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that the company is already achieving “good margins” on the residential Powerwall product, but that “some additional work is needed” for its utility-scale Megapack to do so.
ROUNDUP: NAS batteries for local energy, Metal-hydrogen distro deal in China, NeoVolta’s new backup
News in brief from around the world in energy storage.
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Editor's blog
From customers’ homes to utility portfolios: Inside Swell Energy’s new virtual power plant reality
In the first part of this interview with Swell Energy CEO Suleman Khan we heard about how Swell Energy has been working to ‘productise’ the virtual power plant proposition: making it attractive to utilities and to their end-customers and then wrapping that into a long-term agreement. This time out, we speak to Suleman about some of the finer details of the VPP proposition and where he thinks the market is heading.
Li-Cycle picks strategic US location for next commercial lithium battery recycling plant
Canada-headquartered lithium-ion battery recycling specialist Li-Cycle will build its third facility in Arizona, joining plants the company already operates in Ontario and New York State.
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Editor's blog
Time to take virtual power plants seriously: Swell Energy creates asset class from customer assets
As society moves away from centralised fossil fuel generators to increasing shares of distributed renewable energy resources, the idea that customers’ homes could become host to virtual power plants (VPPs), joining the dots between electricity supply and demand across the grid, has gradually gathered traction. Andy Colthorpe speaks with Suleman Khan CEO of Swell Energy, which has raised nearly half a billion dollars in financing for solar-plus-storage VPPs in 14,000 homes across California, New York and Hawaii.
ROUNDUP: Fujitsu markets VPP in Japan, Ameresco rural Colorado project, Nexamp hires head of storage
News in brief from around the world in energy storage.
Ahead of SPAC merger Li-Ion recycling company Li-Cycle details risks and rewards
Equity investors have already committed more than US$300 million to lithium battery recycler Li-Cycle’s plan to go publicly-listed through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger.
Biden’s US$2 trillion American Jobs Plan for infrastructure ‘prioritises energy storage’
A plan proposed by US president Joe Biden to invest US$2 trillion in infrastructure has been praised for “prioritising energy storage and policies that support the industry’s growth”.
Mining and raw material sourcing in US could ‘scale-up’ as battery demand grows
The US could see new mines and raw material production "scale up" as demand for battery energy storage systems and grid resilience increases over the next decade, according to Margaret O'Riley, battery, automotive and electrification business recruitment lead for Duke Energy Corporation.
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Guest blog
Energy security in climate disasters: From Texas’ unheeded lessons to customer-sited reserves
How do electric grids that were state-of-the-art in the 19th Century remain stable and resilient through 21st Century climate disasters and other problems? They don't, says Catherine Von Burg, CEO and co-founder of distributed battery energy storage company SimpliPhi Power - but giving people the power to be independent can be a solution fit for the future.
California city’s residents cut electricity bills by cutting carbon with solar-plus-storage
The residents of Parlier, a small city in Fresno County, California, are being offered a 20% reduction on their energy bills and reduce the amount of power they buy from utility Pacific Gas & Electric by 90%, by getting solar-plus-storage and energy efficiency equipment installed.