While sized only at 30kW, the successful installation of a battery energy storage system in Puebla, Mexico, is nonetheless being hailed as a milestone as it is claimed to be the first such system to deliver frequency regulation services in the country.
A new white paper from Wärtsilä Energy shows that being able to integrate and then optimise all of these different assets is the key to ensuring that your project – and your investment – is going to provide the maximum benefit, longest possible lifetime in the field – and the best business case. Risto Paldanius, Director of Business Development, Energy Storage and Integration at Wärtsilä told us a bit more about what optimization really means in today’s energy market.
Despite the huge strides energy storage has made, significant hurdles remain before the technology in its many guises can be claimed to have fulfilled its massive potential. E-S.n editor Andy Colthorpe assesses the key successes and ongoing challenges for this indispensable part of the future power system.
Gone are Europe’s weekly FCR auctions, replaced by daily auctions in a move designed to create greater flexibility and improve international co-operation in these markets in Europe, writes Jean-Paul Harreman of EnAppSys.
As battery owners and operators seek to maximise the returns from their assets, they simultaneously face the Herculean challenge of managing degradation.
Battery storage assets were called into action last week after the UK suffered country-wide power outages following a transmission system stress event.
Some choice words from conversations with Scott McGregor, CEO at redT, Avalon Battery president and chief product officer Matt Harper and NEXTracker’s chief technology officer, Alex Au.
We also asked what it means for the company to now be under SolarEdge’s ownership, why effective management and control of batteries may be a more important safety question than just which battery chemistry to choose.
The pipeline of projects currently stands at 11GW, and although it is unlikely that this will all be built, we currently see nearly 800MW of projects at the ‘under construction/ready to build’ stage.
Plans by ScottishPower Renewables to build a 50MW battery next to its Whitelee onshore wind farm have been approved by the Scottish government, with the developer hailing it as a “significant step” towards renewable energy providing the baseload for the grid.
