10 November 2021: PV module-level battery storage provider Yotta Energy raises US$13m funding
US$13 million has been raised in a funding round by Yotta Energy, a US company which makes 1kWh distributed battery storage units designed to be installed under individual solar PV modules.
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The company’s SolarLeaf module-level battery product uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry batteries and is aimed at the commercial and industrial (C&I) solar-plus-storage market. Yotta said the ideal system size is up to 1MWh and the product should meet or exceed even the most stringent safety standards.
Designed for use on flat roofs, the technology has in-built thermal management and could lead to quicker and streamlined permitting of solar-plus-storage and lessen logistical concerns as well as the space required to host battery capacity.
A pilot programme was launched towards the beginning of last year by California State University, Dominguez Hills putting the ‘microstorage’ systems across university buildings. Another company, JLM Energy had attempted to commercialise a similar technology previously before going out of business in 2018.
10 November 2021: Solar-plus-storage microgrid enables electric bus fleet charging in Los Angeles
A solar and battery storage microgrid will be used to charge a fleet of more than 100 electric buses in Los Angeles, California.
A grant was awarded to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation worth US$6 million by the California Energy Commission for the project’s installation. The Department wants its buses to all be fully electric by 2028.
The microgrid will combine 1.5MW of rooftop and bus canopy-mounted solar PV with a 4.5MWh battery energy storage system, five 1.5MW electric vehicle (EV) fleet chargers and 104 remote EV charge units.
Energy management company Apparent will provide the battery storage system and solar PV, and the company’s intelligent grid operating system (igOS) platform will integrate charging infrastructure from zero-emission vehicle solutions company Proterra with energy generation.
Energy-Storage.news reported on a similar project in New South Wales, Australia, in late October. Doubtless many more will come.
10 November 2021: Australian Vanadium signs MoU with Spanish flow battery manufacturer E22
Australian Vanadium, a company developing primary vanadium production resources in Western Australia, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for supply with Spain’s E22.
Flow battery manufacturer E22 could receive supply of vanadium pentoxide, a crucial material in the electrolyte for its flow batteries, for global battery projects, finished vanadium electrolyte for projects in Australia and leasing of electrolyte for projects in the country.
The MoU also covers the potential sale of E22’s vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) through Australian Vanadium’s renewable energy generation and energy storage subsidiary VSUN Energy. VSUN Energy is already working to develop markets for VRFBs in Australia.
In addition to developing its extraction project in Meekatharra, Western Australia, Australian Vanadium is building a 33MWh vanadium electrolyte manufacturing plant. The company recently received financial assistance from the Australian government towards construction of the plant in Kwinana, Western Australia.