Ensuring battery systems used in conjunction with solar perform safely and optimally is essential in the continued roll-out of storage technology. Robert Puto and Gerhard Klein of TÜV SÜD examine independent technical assessments that must be undertaken before a storage system is built.
After a power failure and fire at a battery storage system in South Korea was investigated, DNV GL has reported that “current approaches” for monitoring and preventing fires may be inadequate and could result in “small failures” becoming “major issues”.
CATL sold 21.31GWh of lithium batteries in 2018, primarily to the EV market in China, but after exhibiting at two major trade shows in the west, claims its 12,000 cycle lithium iron phosphate batteries are ready to take on the stationary energy storage system (ESS) market, too.
As it prepares to break ground on a ‘Gigafactory’, energy storage system provider Tesvolt has said that gaining certification across diverse regions remains the biggest challenge in forming strategy today.
US$400 million of funding pledged by New York’s state Governor Andrew Cuomo last week towards his “comprehensive climate agenda” will include US$280 million in support for energy storage.
A fire at a large-scale battery energy storage project late last week left four firefighters injured in Arizona, with two reported to be seriously injured, in an incident now under investigation.
NEC has now executed five grid-scale battery energy storage projects in China and been awarded another, winning deals in spite of what a company representative described as “aggressive” price competition from domestic vendors.
LG Chem, IBM and Ford Motor Company have joined an effort to increase the transparency of supply chains for cobalt used in batteries – referred to by some as the ‘Blood Diamond’ of the energy and tech sectors.
