While interconnection queues for America’s electric transmission and distribution operators are “swelling up” with growing numbers of energy storage projects, some of the big challenges ahead include enabling fair market participation for both standalone storage and storage paired with generation.
After a recent tender process, up to 1,300MWh of grid-connected energy storage will be deployed in combination with renewable energy in South Africa through a number of large-scale projects.
South Australia’s government has welcomed the granting of planning approval for the first phase of a AU$3 billion large-scale hybrid renewable energy project in the state’s Goyder region.
Enel Green Power North America has begun construction of a wind-plus-storage hybrid resources project in Texas that will serve off takers including breakfast cereal maker Kellogg Company.
Specific recommendations from a prominent industry group for tax reforms and other changes to support energy storage were not included India’s Union Budget for 2021-2022, but certain aspects of the budget such as the promotion of domestic self-reliance have been welcomed by it.
Solar PV bidders secured two-thirds of allocated capacity in the first of Spain’s new renewable energy auctions, while energy storage was not included in any of the winning bids.
NextEra Energy Resources said in December that wind turbines had been successfully installed and became operational at Skeleton Creek, a hybrid renewable energy project the company is building in Oklahoma, US.
While European power markets outpace the US and China for renewable energy deployment, the continent’s policymakers are yet to recognise the importance of energy storage for integrating that capacity onto the grid, new research from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables finds.
