Storage player AMS helps Australian wind farm trade power
26 August 2019: Advanced Microgrid Solutions, known in the US energy storage industry for putting energy storage and smart controls into commercial buildings to reduce energy costs and in some cases provide energy network services, has just used its AI algorithms to help an Australian wind farm trade power.
AMS announced earlier this month that the 100MW Snowtown 1 Wind Farm in South Australia “successfully navigated a wave of negative wholesale energy prices” using the company’s AI software and automated “precision trading” strategy. The wind farm’s owner, Tilt Renewables, had to negotiate a “wave of extreme volatility and negative prices in South Australia”, AMS said.
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“AI software gives us an edge to manage risk and improve margins in energy markets that are becoming more challenging with high penetration of renewable generation,” Tilt Renewables chief executive Deion Campbell said.
“This time, artificial intelligence is being used to save the planet. If we’re going to address climate change, we need to build renewable energy on a massive scale. Electric grids around the world can’t handle renewable energy on a massive scale without AI,” Actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger, an investor in AMS, said.
Yotta Energy fuels panel-level ESS device commercialisation
27 August 2019: Yotta Energy, a US company creating energy storage solutions fitted to solar PV panels, so-called ‘panel-level storage’, has raised a modest amount of funding to fuel its product development and commercialisation.
The company raised US$1.5 million in seed funding as well as US$300,000 in grants to continue work on its product, the SolarLEAF. The firm claims that in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector in particular, attaching energy storage at panel level can be safer, cheaper and easier to deploy than larger battery energy storage systems.
Previously another US company, JLM Energy, had attempted to commercialise what it had called Microstorage through its Phazr brand of panel-level storage devices that could add up to five hours of storage. Despite raising funds during 2018, JLM Energy had already gone out of business and laid off workers by the end of last year.
PV inverter maker Growatt prepares for Australia’s ESS take-off
29 August 2019: China-headquartered PV inverter manufacturer Growatt is looking to build on its presence in Australia’s rooftop solar market with the launch of a battery ready inverter.
Having connected some 200,000 inverters for rooftop systems in the country since its arrival in 2010, Growatt has plans to launch its MIN 2500-6000 TL-XH “future-proof PV solution” at an unspecified date in the near future.
The inverter can be used with low-voltage battery systems and is adaptable to add batteries at a later time after initial installation. The company also claims the inverter is made with lightweight materials and OLED display and touch button interface.