Hybrid renewables are playing a strategic role in accelerating the decarbonisation of power generation and supporting the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as supporting the UK’s net zero by 2050 ambition and its interim emissions reduction of 78% by 2035. Consultant Peter Lo of ITPEnergised discusses the UK’s emergence into the hybrid energy sector and how it is better for our planet, better in the economics and better for offtake.
There are several potential benefits to pairing electricity generation with energy storage, but US network operators still have some way to go to best accommodate the fast-growing interest in so-called ‘hybrid resources’.
Construction has begun on more than a gigawatt of large-scale renewable energy projects with battery storage attached in Texas, by Enel Green Power North America, the regional renewable and clean energy arm of European utility Enel.
US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) funding has been allocated to feasibility studies for large-scale battery storage projects co-located with wind power in Senegal, west Africa and Mozambique, in southeastern Africa.
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.
Wärtsilä Corporation has been contracted to install a 10MW battery energy storage system at a wind farm in Mexico, marking an expansion into the country for the energy solutions provider.
While the Federal government of Australia resists public and political pressure to commit to net zero targets, the states of Victoria and Queensland have made progress in advancing plans for a large-scale standalone battery project and a wind-plus-storage plant respectively.
10MW / 20MWh of Tesla Megapacks used for Alberta’s first-ever large-scale battery energy storage system have gone into action as TransAlta Renewables announced the project has reached commercial operation.
Combining energy storage with generation helps to unlock the core value of batteries and other storage, the US Energy Storage Association (ESA) has said, while data is now available on the status of installed and proposed utility-scale hybrid power plant projects throughout the country.
The first grid-scale battery energy storage project in the Canadian province of Alberta is on-track to go into operation this month, while TransAlta, the company behind the project, has expedited plans to retire a coal plant citing “future market conditions”.
