AES Distributed Energy (AES DE), a subsidiary of AES Corporation, and nonprofit transmission firm Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) have broken ground on a 28MW solar and 100MWh five-hour duration battery energy storage system in Kauai, Hawaii.
Microgrids ensure energy security for mission-critical loads at military bases, and reduce reliance on fuel during grid outages. While they have much in common with many of the technologies used in ‘other’ microgrids, the stringent technical requirements involved add a new layer of complexity, explain Lisa Laughner and Tony Soverns from provider Go Electric.
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.
A unanimous vote taken by the US regulator FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) which would allow energy storage and other distributed energy resources to play into wholesale markets has been hailed as a “significant step” forward.
A US government energy saving scheme will pay out US$40 million for the development of a solar-plus-storage microgrid at a missile test site operated by the country’s military.
Utility Florida Power & Light claims that a just-completed battery addition will increase output from a large-scale solar farm in its home state, thought to be the first time a DC-coupled solution has been used at this scale in the US.
Vertically-integrated solar energy company First Solar will be involved in the first megawatt-scale battery system announced in Arizona since it was revealed the state could put a 3,000MW energy storage deployment target in place.
In part 2 of a technical paper first published in PV Tech Power Vol.13, Alex Eller of Navigant Research continues his look at how one of the most significant expenses for electric utilities, maintaining and upgrading transmission and distribution (T&D) networks, could be undercut using non-wires alternatives – including energy storage.
