With the UK’s Renewables Obligation now closed for large solar projects, energy storage takes the position of the most active sector in the UK energy market. As with any new technology, we have seen a lot of build up over the past few years, with much speculation about when the utility-scale market will take off, and how big it will be. Analyst Lauren Cook takes a deep dive.
Austin Energy, a publicly-owned electric utility in Texas, is delivering megawatt-scale storage systems as part of the US Department of Energy’s Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV (SHINES) project.
UK distribution network operator Western Power Distribution (WPD) has launched a consultation seeking views on the potential growth of energy storage on its distribution network after receiving an ‘unprecedented’ 8GW of applications in the last 18 months.
Tesla has announced the first programme to aggregate the capabilities of hundreds of its residential and commercial stationary storage systems in a partnership with Vermont utility Green Mountain Power.
Multinational energy company Engie Group has contracted NEC Energy Solutions and NEC Chile to provide a 2MW / 2MWh energy storage system to its subsidiary Engie Energia Chile in Latin America.
A 500MW energy storage facility with “5-8 hours” storage duration could be built in San Diego, California, with a local water authority seeking detailed proposals for such a project to support the grid and help integrate renewable energy.
Clearly, renewable energy is now a viable alternative to traditional generation from a cost perspective. However solar and wind’s penetration of the grid is constrained by ageing infrastructure, high grid connection costs and their intermittent, weather-dependent nature. Scott McGregor looks at how long-duration energy storage on an industrial scale can help.
Energy storage companies “have suffered significant and detrimental harm” from changes to rules governing the frequency regulation market in US regional transmission organisation (RTO) PJM Interconnection’s service area, the Energy Storage Association has said.
Siemens has been contracted by German public utility Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Hall to deliver and install a 1.4MWh battery storage system to be used to market primary control reserves.
