From pv magazine ESS News

The California Energy Commission expects to issue flexible demand appliance standards for electric storage water heaters “hopefully” within months, said Michael Sokol, director of the efficiency division at the California Energy Commission (CEC), on a webinar hosted by the Clean Energy States Alliance.

The CEC issued a flexible demand appliance standard for pool controls last October. CEC Commissioner Andrew McAllister said at the time that a standard for electric storage water heaters would be next, noting that ten of the largest heat pump manufacturers had committed to help California reach its goal of 6 million heat pumps for water or space heating by 2030.

Flexible demand appliance standards in California will work in tandem with flexible rates for electricity, enabling appliances to operate when rates are lower, for example when renewable generation is high.

EV chargers, batteries, and more

The CEC has set a tentative sequence for developing flexible demand appliance standards for five more types of appliances, based on “our early analysis” and preliminary stakeholder planning discussions, Sokol said.

The third standard, after pool controls and electric storage water heaters, is expected to cover electric vehicle supply equipment, such as EV chargers. Next would be standards for battery energy storage systems.

The next three standards to be developed would have “end-user time impacts,” Sokol said, namely low-voltage thermostats, electric clothes dryers and dishwashers.

McAllister said last year that California aims to reach 7 GW of load flexibility by combining 3 GW of price-responsive demand from appliances with 4 GW of traditional demand response, in which some customers “drop load” during the 100 highest-demand hours of the year.

A Californian who owns a pool and operated a flexible demand pool control unit on its default schedule would save about $100 per year, Sokol said. Customers will have the ability to override the default schedule and operate a pool control unit at times of their choosing.

CalFlexHub

Much of the research underlying the new standards is conducted by the California Load Flexibility Research and Deployment Hub (CalFlexHub) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

CalFlexHub will hold an all-day symposium on September 24.

From ESS-news

he U.S. Department of Energy has granted $147 million to construct an energy storage facility at a shuttered paper mill. The battery energy storage system (BESS) from Form Energy, a Somerville, Massachusetts-based grid-scale energy storage developer, will be able to store enough wind and solar power to serve up to 85,000 homes.

The 85 MW iron-air battery system is both safer and more affordable than its lithium-ion counterparts since it uses abundant iron and oxygen. The battery storage project will be one of the largest of its kind in the world and is meant to support one of the most congested parts of the New England grid.

Form Energy will deploy the 85 MW battery system at Lincoln Technology Park, which can discharge energy for up to 100 hours or just over four days. The Power Up New England program includes strengthening the transmission system to deliver higher power loads from renewable sources, including nearby onshore wind turbines.

According to local media sources, Sen. Angus King, an independent, said the project is a step forward in tackling the increase in extreme weather events in Maine. In December and January just passed, hundreds of thousands of Mainers were left without power for extended periods of time after the devastating storms that hit the state.

Although iron-air battery systems are a nascent technology, iron-air batteries are finding increased attention globally as governments strive to secure grids with renewable energy using energy storage systems from abundant materials.

A recent report in Chinese media describes the metal-air battery industry internationally as showing “great market potential”. Supportive policies for these battery types have been developed in China, Japan and in Europe, while the U.S. has funded the research and development of metal-air battery technology through the Advanced Energy Research Program (AERP).

According to the Chinese publication Sohu.com, the US and Japan are in the leading position globally in terms of metal-air battery technology research and industrialization. While some local news sites in Maine suggest the local population is still skeptical of the project, the operating company, Form Energy, is already building a number of such projects across the United States.

In June 2023, Form Energy announced a definitive agreement with Georgia Power, a Southern Company utility, to deploy a 15 MW / 1.5 GWh iron-air battery into the utility’s Georgia grid, providing a 100-hour dispatch long-duration energy storage (LDES) system. In July 2023, Minnesota’s public utilities commission approved Form Energy’s 10 MW/1 GWh iron-air long-duration energy storage facility construction project for Xcel Energy.

Continue reading on ESS-news.com.

From ESS-news.com

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the opening of the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), a new facility at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington.

The 93,000-square-foot or nearly hectare-sized research facility will house 30 laboratories and about 100 researchers. It is equipped to evaluate new battery materials and battery systems up to 100 kW operating under realistic grid conditions.

The DOE hopes that the ability to collaborate with scientists, engineers, industry, and agencies in one building will accelerate the development and roll-out of new grid-scale storage energy technologies and ideas.

Along with research initiatives, GSL will serve as an educational center, training technicians, grid operators, first responders, safety officials, and more.

Vince Sprenkle, energy storage expert and GSL’s first director said: “Energy storage will be a significant part of a resilient and reliable grid that’s fully decarbonized. And GSL will help us get there,” said “GSL is truly an integrated facility that incorporates everything from fundamental materials research to testing 100-kilowatt batteries.”

Read the rest of the article on ESS-news.com.

IRA-driven battery projects face delays amid economic headwinds: report A Financial Times report has found numerous IRA-driven projects announced or under construction have been placed on hold or cancelled, including the battery industry, due largely to an EV slowdown.

Solar inverter manufacturer financial stability ranking updated The latest financial stability ranking of inverter manufacturers from Sinovoltaics lists Hoymiles Power Electronics, Eaton, Enphase, Kstar and Delta Electronics as the top five.

Rhode Island passes new consumer protections for solar industry amid rising concerns Governor McKee has signed new legislation protecting consumers from aggressive sales practices by door-to-door solar salespeople. Compliance includes federal background checks, disclosure of savings documentation, and detailed breakdowns of lease versus cash system pricing.

DCE Solar “roof-friendly” solar mount passes key safety certification The Eco-Top rooftop mounting structure is designed for commercial and industrial rooftops.

Near $1 billion solar cell factory announced in New Mexico Ebon Solar will invest $942 million in a solar cell manufacturing facility, bringing over 900 jobs.

In case you missed it: Five big solar stories in the news this week pv magazine USA spotlights news of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

Solar+storage microgrids to provide reliability for Northern California tribes Solar-plus-storage microgrids to be built, owned and operated by three tribes in Humboldt County, California are expected to reduce outages by 90% at a lower cost than undergrounding power lines.

CleanCapital acquires 13 MW brownfield portfolio The two projects include Steel Sun II, located on the former Bethlehem Steel site on Buffalo’s waterfront and the Homeridae project, one of two solar arrays in Olean sited on a former oil refinery and tank farm.

SEG Solar opens 2 GW module factory in Houston Ribbon-cutting event marks $60 million investment in U.S. solar manufacturing.

Wood Mackenzie: U.S. community solar to double in five years  Cumulative community solar installations are forecast to increase from less than 7 GW installed today to over 14 GW by 2029.

Tesla usurps Sungrow as lead BESS producer globally in 2023 Sungrow has lost its crown as the “lead producer” in the battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market to Tesla, according to the Wood Mackenzie report ‘Global battery energy storage system integrator ranking 2024’. Tesla claimed a 15% global market share in 2023.

Three solar-plus-storage microgrids will “transform” a 142 mile-long distribution circuit that serves three tribes in eastern Humboldt County, California from “one of the state’s least reliable” circuits into a “highly resilient” system, says the Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt University.

The Schatz Center, which is leading the microgrid system design, says the microgrids will have a total of 9 MW of solar and 14 MW / 37 MWh of storage. The rural location will also enable 2 MW of small-scale, fish-safe hydropower and 1 MW of small-scale generation powered by forest residues.

A microgrid will serve each of the three tribes served by the “Hoopa 1101” distribution circuit—the Hoopa Valley, Yoruk and Karuk Tribes. The microgrids are expected to reduce outage hours in the area served by 90%. The cost will be about half the cost of improving reliability by undergrounding power lines, the Schatz Center said.

Chairman Russell Attebery of the Karuk Tribe said the project will “provide the safeguards needed to survive along the river. Our people will no longer fear losing their food or vital medical resources, like vaccines, as we have in the past.”

Each microgrid will be located “in front of the meter” and thus will be capable of powering a portion of the distribution circuit during local outages. The microgrids will be “nested,” enabling them to function either jointly or independently, as immediate circumstances along the power line require.

The project, known as the Tribal Energy Resilience and Sovereignty (TERAS) project, will advance sovereignty through tribal construction, ownership and operation of the advanced microgrid systems, and will include career development and education components.

The design has wide applicability, suggested Schatz Center Director Arne Jacobson, saying the center is “excited to radically expand the capacity of microgrids to provide energy reliability in high-risk locations.”

The Schatz Center previously designed California’s first front-of-the-meter, 100% renewable energy microgrid at the Redwood Coast Airport, and the first iteration of the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe’s microgrid in Humboldt County. The center is now designing an expansion of that microgrid into four nested, behind-the-meter microgrids, which will provide a demonstration site for the controls system that will subsequently be deployed along the Hoopa 1101 circuit.

The $177 million TERAS project is being supported with a federal cost share of $88 million, awarded in the latest round of grants under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program. In making the award, DOE said the project will “develop a replicable public-private partnership model for equitable and community-driven grid modernization.”

DOE says the GRIP program is designed to “enhance grid flexibility and improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of extreme weather and climate change.”

The Schatz Center is also developing a campus-wide microgrid at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Microvast Holdings, a battery designer, developer, and manufacturer, announced a new energy storage system product called the ME6.

The ME6 is a high energy density lithium ferro-phosphate (LFP) containerized battery system that carries 6 MWh of power in a 21-foot container.

Microvast has a long history of developing nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries for commercial vehicle customers. The new 565 Ah LFP-based batteries are optimized for stationary energy storage system customers.

“Energy storage is essential for carbon reduction and accelerating the global transition to clean energy. Our ME6 energy storage solution can be used for any application where electric energy supply is needed,” said Yang Wu, chief executive officer of Microvast.

The containerized battery has a lifecycle exceeding 10,000 cycles and up to a 30-year lifespan, said the company. It is IP55, and C4 rated for safety and contains nitrogen-based protection systems to prevent fires.

The ME6 includes an integrated modular cooling system, which extends battery life and enhances round-trip efficiency.

“Our integrated modular liquid cooling system helps ensure consistent battery temperatures, optimizing performance through active cell balancing and enhancing round-trip efficiency while reducing heat loss,” said Dr. Wenjuan Mattis, chief technology officer, Microvast.

Microvast said its LFP solution offers a lower-cost alternative to NMC batteries. The batteries do not contain cobalt, making them a more sustainable choice for large-scale renewable energy operations.

With this new product announcement from Microvast comes a shift in regional operations. The company will close its Colorado manufacturing facilities and focus solely on producing LFP batteries at its Clarksville, Tennessee facility. Microvast said its products are expected to qualify for the IRA Section 45X advanced manufacturing tax credit.

“ME6, the latest generation of our energy storage solutions, is engineered for enhanced efficiency,” said Mattis. “Utilizing our high-performance LFP cells, we have developed a ME6 container that boosts capacity and stability while providing an exceptional lifespan of up to 30 years and supporting more than 10,000 cycles.”

Array Technologies unveils wireless tracker system that requires no trenching The SkyLink Tracker System runs on solar power and stows when storms are detected by its snow and hail response systems.

Sunrun stock rises on strong cash generation in Q2 earnings The residential solar and energy storage provider increased its battery attachment rates and net subscriber value of its customers.

$500 billion into solar in 2024 The International Energy Agency projects that solar will attract more investment than all other electricity generation sources combined. Global energy spending is set to surpass $3 trillion for the first time this year.

Generac acquires microgrid controller specialist Ageto The company previously known for generators and battery backup systems, moves further into the C&I market with the acquisition of Ageto.

U.S. startup develops 28%-efficient perovskite-silicon tandem solar module PeroNova specializes in metal halide perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells made with its novel stability-enhancing interfacial treatment. It is targeting a range of applications including space and rooftop markets.

New battery sizing approach for virtual synchronous generators, control-based grid-forming inverters A group of researchers outlined a new methodology to determine the minimum power rating of energy storage systems (ESSs) used for emergency under-frequency response. The ESS size must be calculated to maintain the frequency within the standard operating range.

Liquid metal battery storage specialist Ambri emerges from restructuring After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the calcium-antimony liquid metal battery startup incubated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has now confirmed the closing of the sale of its assets.

Solar array installed for mission to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa The Europa Clipper mission will send a craft the size of a basketball court to Europa, a moon considered a potential habitat for life.

Goldman Sachs invests $440 million in renewable independent power producer The strategic investment in BrightNight will support the development of utility, commercial, and industrial solar and energy storage projects.

Generac Power Systems, known for its generators, battery backup and other power products, has acquired Ageto, a provider of microgrid controllers.

Ageto, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, developed the ARC microgrid controller, designed to integrate, optimize and manage distributed conventional resources, renewable energy resources and electric vehicle (EV) chargers in the commercial & industrial (C&I) market. Its controller provides a single interface for monitoring all components of a microgrid, the company reports.

“This acquisition enhances our ability to offer a complete energy technology ecosystem to domestic commercial & industrial customers with multi-asset sites,” said Erik Wilde, EVP and president, Domestic C&I at Generac. “By integrating Ageto’s industry-leading microgrid controller and advanced software into our systems, we’re simplifying asset integration, control and optimization for our customers and creating a competitive advantage for Generac.”

Generac has worked with Ageto since 2021, incorporating its microgrid controllers into Generac’s battery energy storage systems (BESS) solutions and generator sets. The transaction closed on August 1, 2024. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Generac was recently named a leader by Wood Mackenzie in the residential solar-plus-storage market. Not so long ago, Generac specialized in fossil-fuel based generators but it has fast become a leader in residential clean energy. PWRcell is its residential storage product, and coupled with the Concerto platform that is part of Generac Grid Services, it provides a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) that is designed to detect spikes in demand, signaling to the the batteries to automatically dispatch clean energy based on real-time grid conditions. 

Generac signed on with Southern California Edison (SCE) as a virtual power plant participant, using this solution to scale the utility’s Power Flex program.

Generac first stepped into the commercial and industrial (C&I) market when it acquired PowerPlay Battery Energy Storage Systems, an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm. PowerPlay specializes in turnkey battery energy storage systems for commercial and industrial customers, with systems sized up to 7 MWh. Generac said the acquisition will help the company offer a more complete ecosystem of products and solutions to C&I customers.

From ESS News

Ambri has confirmed the closing of the sale of its assets in accordance with Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code to a consortium of its lenders, as it prepares to take fresh steps toward commercialization of its long-duration storage technology.

Earlier this year, Ambri’s board, management and its lenders determined that a court-supervised 363 sale process was the best course to facilitate a comprehensive recapitalization in a bid to ensure long-term growth and profitability. The company filed for bankruptcy in May, blaming a challenging fundraising environment and thwarted plans to expand into manufacturing.

Now, the liquid metal battery storage startup has emerged with additional capital contribution from the Lender Consortium, whose bid was selected following a competitive sale process. The Lender Consortium comprises a group of Ambri’s pre-bankruptcy investors, including funds managed by each of Gates Frontier, Paulson and Co. Inc., Fortistar, and other investors.

“The team at Ambri has continued to make impressive progress towards a commercial long-duration battery system, including developing our third-generation cell product,” said David Bradwell, Ambri’s cofounder who is now taking the reins as the company’s new CEO.

“I am grateful for the dedication of our team and the support of our investors as we emerge as a leaner and more capital efficient organization. We look forward to offering our unique, safe, and low-cost commercial product to our customers at scale, to meet the strong customer demand for our battery systems, and for a cleaner energy future. As we embark on this fresh start with a stronger balance sheet and new capital, we are focused on positioning Ambri to play a leading role in the long duration energy storage market for the benefit of our stakeholders,” Bradwell said.

Founded in 2010 at MIT, Ambri has been working on building industrial-scale, liquid-metal batteries for over a decade. With Reliance Industries as one of its key investors, the company had plans to set up a large-scale battery manufacturing facility in India, in addition to building  a 140,000 square foot facility in Milford, Massachusetts.

As it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company said it had seen strong demand for its technology from across the market, equaling the planned output of its factory in Milford, Massachusetts, for three years.

Ambri’s batteries feature a liquid calcium alloy anode, a molten salt electrolyte, and a cathode comprised of solid particles of antimony, enabling the use of low-cost materials and a low number of steps in the cell assembly process.

To continue reading, visit our ESS News website.

Three small changes that can make a big difference to your energy bills  There are a few ways to make efficiency-minded changes at home that reduce energy bills now and in the future.

8 GW of solar-plus-storage at resilience hubs in California could save lives Solar and storage at almost 20,000 community sites across California could help protect its population during power outages, especially during heat and smoke events, a study found.

Battery fire shuts down California highway A utility-scale battery delivery overturned on a highway after the truck carrying the batteries collided with a car, overcorrected, tipped to the side and dumped its cargo, leading to a fire that lasted more than 24 hours.

Senate committee approves bill to improve permitting of energy projects The bipartisan legislation is designed to speed up permitting by setting deadlines and doubling production targets for renewable energy permitting on federal lands while not compromising environmental review or community needs.

Bill aims to cut 45X tax credits for Chinese solar makers While the lucrative tax credits has attracted clean energy manufacturers from around the world to build factories in the U.S., the fact that many of the new manufacturing facilities are from Chinese companies has created a controversy that this new bill aims to solve.

Data center power loads threaten corporate net-zero goals The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that by 2026, data centers will consume more than 800 TWh annually, more than double their consumption in 2022.

A truckload of batteries caught fire after an accident on a California highway on Friday, July 26, just before 6 a.m. PST, leading to significant delays as the lithium product burned through the weekend.

According to the California Highway Patrol:

The collision occurred when the driver of a 2020 Freightliner, trailering a flatbed trailer loaded with a sealed container of six industrial grade lithium-ion batteries, lost control and overturned onto the right shoulder of northbound I-15. Subsequently, the battery container became detached from the flatbed trailer and also rolled onto the right shoulder.

The truck was carrying just over 75,000 pounds of lithium batteries, six in total, which were headed to a project in Wisconsin. The battery manufacturer and solar power facility owner have not yet been publicly disclosed.

Due to the location of the accident, heading east out of Los Angeles, it is unlikely the batteries were manufactured by Tesla. The Tesla Lathrop, California megafactory is located due north of this facility and would likely have used a different set of highways to reach Wisconsin.

The San Bernardino County Fire Department stated, “Multiple attempts were made to move the container from the freeway shoulder to open land using heavy equipment from the County Fire’s Special Operations Division, including an excavator and a dozer. Ground improvements and grading were completed in preparation for relocating the container to a safe area for long-term mitigation and cleanup. However, the container’s weight, exceeding 75,000 pounds, has made these efforts unsuccessful so far.”

The fire burned for at least twenty-four hours, posing significant hazards. It was announced that at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 28th, crews had done enough work to reopen two lanes of the interstate. About an hour later, all northbound lanes were reopened. As of Tuesday afternoon, state officials reported that the fire was still burning to some degree.

Also on Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol released the name of the driver, but their injuries, if any, have not been announced.

Caltrans, the California transportation manager, said that they “coordinated delivery of essential supplies and medical aid, including 100 gallons of diesel and 60 gallons of gasoline to stranded motorists on I-15 and to those being diverted to I-40.” Additionally, multiple pallets of water were delivered to the site as temperatures in the desert began to increase. The Highway Patrol was also conducting welfare checks on vehicles stopped in the miles-long traffic jam.

California faces public safety power shutoffs, wildfires and heat waves that “increasingly trigger outages across the state,” creating a “pressing need” to support increased community resilience, says a research paper.

To help meet its climate resilience needs, the state could add rooftop solar and storage to about 20,000 schools, community centers and places of worship, creating what the authors call “resilience hubs.”

Resilience hubs could provide clean, cool air for those “who might otherwise die” in heat waves or smoke events, the study says, adding that the elderly and those with chronic health conditions are particularly vulnerable to heat waves.

Each site could, as a baseline, add an amount of solar-plus-storage that is economically optimal for everyday use, such that it could be financed, perhaps with state loan guarantees. Across all the sites, 5.5 GW of rooftop solar and 1.8 GW of storage could be financed to power everyday operations. In an emergency, if grid power is available, the sites could provide smoke-free, conditioned air for 40% of California’s 39 million people, and also power communication and medical devices, the study projected.

Increasing the rooftop solar to nearly the 8 GW maximum potential across all sites and increasing storage would increase resilience capacity. Because that increased capacity could not be financed at current electric rates, it would require grant funding, incentives, or more favorable rate designs.

The community sites considered could only partially help the state meet its needs for resilient power, the study found.

The nonprofit PSE Healthy Energy, which employs most of the study’s authors, said on a landing page for the study that resilience hubs are unlike emergency cooling centers as they are “built in trusted community spaces and provide resilience-building services on an ongoing basis,” such as helping vulnerable communities “to address underlying risk factors and improve resilience to disaster over time.”

Hybrid systems

The study evaluated resilience hubs powered by solar-plus-storage, but acknowledged that hybrid systems that add fossil generation “may be more economical, particularly when high levels of resilience are required.” Even so, fuel-based backup requires regular testing and maintenance, they study says, citing research finding that half of poorly-maintained generators fail within 48 hours during a long-duration outage.

The study used the REopt model, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in its analysis of the solar-plus-storage potential at the community buildings it considered.

The open-access study, published in the journal Risk Analysis, is titled “Modeling and design of solar + storage-powered community resilience hubs across California.”

AI-enabled solar installation robot Maximo the robot will soon help to construct the 2 GW Bellefield solar project in California. 

California state grant advances 2 GWh iron flow battery deployment plans The Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s long-duration battery energy storage project in partnership with ESS Tech, Inc. has been awarded a $10 million grant from the California Energy Commission to demonstrate the capability of iron flow battery technology.

Can the grid cope with the surge in electricity demand? The grid needs to modernize to meet a booming demand for electricity, which is only predicted to grow even further in coming years. IEC Standards are key to help with the transition.

Sunnova forges two new partnerships with home energy financers The residential solar and energy storage “adaptive services” provider partnered with EV charging and home energy financers.

Massive 900 MW solar project designed to preserve agricultural land Brookfield Renewable Partners filed a notice of intent for a 900 MW solar project in Oregon that will be installed in ribbons along the edge of a field to allow for continued agricultural use of the land.

Brookfield Renewable Partners announced it has filed a notice of intent to develop a 900 MW solar project in Oregon, making it among the largest solar projects in U.S. history.

The project is located near the Oregon Raceway outside of Grass Valley. It is placed next to existing transmission lines, eliminating the need for additional transmission infrastructure buildout.

Called Speedway Solar and Battery Storage Project, the proposed facility began community outreach efforts in the spring of 2024. Brookfield expects to issue a project order in fall 2024, apply for a site certificate in the winter of 2024, hold a public informational meeting in spring 2025, and deliver a proposed order in fall 2025. If approved, the project would receive a final order and site certificate in Spring 2026, after which the project can be constructed.

The project has a unique design in which the solar array is designed in “ribbons” along the edge of existing agricultural and wildlife corridors, thereby allowing for continued agricultural use of the land. Speedway Solar is expected to occupy about 4,500 to 6,000 acres.

“With Speedway, we want to preserve the county’s legacy of natural resource stewardship,” said John Soininen, vice president of development, Brookfield Renewables U.S. “By working with the landowners, we can reach our twin goals of decarbonizing the grid and maintaining the character of the region.”

During the construction phase, the project is expected to create hundreds of jobs and stimulate local economic activity. Once operational, it will provide ongoing employment opportunities and contribute to the local tax base for shared priorities like firefighters, education and infrastructure.

Find the website for the Sherman County, Oregon proposed project here.

From pv magazine Global

Electricity demand around the world is expected to sky-rocket as we switch to electric-powered vehicles, heat pumps for our homes and pursue the vast digital transformation of society. Emerging nations are also expected to use an increasing amount of electricity as they industrialize and give their populations ever greater access to energy. While this massive switch over to electricity is expected to considerably reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and help in the fight against climate change, a mounting concern is that electricity grids won’t be able to cope with the increased demand.

Ringing the alarm bell

The International Energy Agency (IEA) started ringing the alarm bell with a report it claims is the first of its kind. Published in 2023, it states that the world must add or replace 80 million km of transmission lines by 2040, equal to all electricity networks installed globally today, to meet national climate targets and support energy security. The report identifies a large and growing queue of renewables projects waiting for the green light to be connected to the grid, pinpointing 1 500 gigawatts (GW) worth of these projects that are in advanced stages of development. This is five times the amount of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind capacity that was added worldwide in 2022.

“The recent clean energy progress we have seen in many countries is unprecedented and cause for optimism, but it could be put in jeopardy if governments and businesses do not come together to ensure the world’s electricity grids are ready for the new global energy economy that is rapidly emerging,” says IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “This report shows what’s at stake and needs to be done. We must invest in grids today or face gridlock tomorrow.”

The World Economic Forum (WEF) also urges world leaders to take note. A recently published article by Marcus Rebellius, a member of the WEF managing board and an expert working for one of Europe’s biggest manufacturers of electricity and electronic devices, indicates that “while the generation of clean energy is important, digitalizing and expanding our electricity grids is also vital for the green transition. Only with smarter, digitalized and expanded electricity grids will we create a decarbonized, resilient and secure electrical network for a net-zero future.”

He warns that increasing the amount of electricity generated to meet the increasing demand is not the issue, but that the key problem is that the grid must be prepared to handle larger amounts of electric power. “Weak grid infrastructure, legacy issues and an ageing system can all hamstring the green transition irrespective of the latest floating wind turbines or gigantic solar arrays,” he says.

Pointing towards the solutions

Grids have become the bottlenecks of the energy transition. Rebellius points to several technology solutions that could help resolve those bottlenecks, such as digital twins, or the use of low-voltage networks. (For more on digital twins and the electricity network: Digital twins and the smart grid. For more on low-voltage networks, read Affordable, sustainable electricity for all.

Other options include massively increasing energy storage capabilities and the widespread deployment of smart grid technologies around the world. The IEC Electropedia defines the smart grid as an electric power system that utilizes information exchange and control technologies, distributed computing and associated sensors and actuators, for purposes such as the integration of the behavior and actions of the network users and other stakeholders as well as efficiently deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies. Adopting smart grid technology is viewed by many experts in the field as a cheaper solution for utilities than expanding or rebuilding legacy electricity grids, which would require massive investments.

Increased energy storage is a key requirement

At times of high electricity demand, extra electric capacity must be immediately available or the grid risks shutting down. One way of ensuring continuous and sufficient access to electricity is to store energy when it is in surplus and feed it into the grid when there is an extra need for electricity. Utilities around the world have ramped up their storage capabilities using lithium-ion supersized batteries, huge packs that can store anywhere between 100 to 800 megawatts (MW) of energy. California-based Moss Landing’s energy storage facility is reportedly the world’s largest, with a total capacity of 750 MW. These huge battery storage facilities are expected to increase as the demand for electricity soars.

Other reliable energy storage solutions are pumped hydro which currently accounts for more than 90% of the globe‘s current high capacity energy storage. Electricity is used to pump water into reservoirs at a higher altitude during periods of low energy demand. When demand is at its strongest, the water is piped through turbines situated at lower altitudes and converted back into electricity. Pumped storage enables to control voltage levels and maintain power quality in the grid.

Another option that is much talked about is to use electric vehicles (EVs) as a source of energy to deliver power to the grid. According to Frances Cleveland, who is a lead for cyber security and resilience guidelines in the IEC Systems Committee on Smart Energy (IEC SyC Smart Energy), “There are many research and pilot projects around the world that are deploying some form of bidirectional flow of energy (charging and discharging), either as vehicle-to-grid or vehicle-to-home with EVs, able to sell power to the main grid and even support the energy management of microgrids. One of the driving ideas behind these projects is to provide a means of storing energy in the EV from variable renewable resources, like solar and wind, for use at other times. This implies that EVs can actually be viewed as a type of distributed energy resource (DER).”

EVs can charge when renewable energy generation from wind or the sun is high or when there is a lower demand for electricity, for instance when people are sleeping. But when demand is high, or less energy is generated by the wind or the sun, the electricity stored in EV batteries could be put to contribution.

State of play for smart grids

According to the IEA, in a report that tracks the advancement of smart grids around the world, significant levels of investment in smart grid tech have been made in many countries around the world – even if much more needs to be done. Several examples are given, including the EU action plan Digitalisation of the energy system. The European Commission expects about EUR 584 billion (USD 633 billion) of investments in the European electricity grid by 2030, of which EUR 170 billion (USD 184 billion) would be for digitalization (smart meters, automated grid management, digital technologies for metering and improvement on the field operations). Another important source of information on the roll-out of smart grid tech is the Smart Grid Index, provided by a leading utilities group in the Asia Pacific and which is used by many experts involved in the field. According to Peter Jensen, the Chair of IEC TC 13 which prepares standards for smart meters, “The index provides an excellent view of the maturity of grid system operators in different regions of the world. It uses a grid modernization measure based on seven pillars,” he describes. (For more on IEC TC 13, read Peter Jensen’s interview in e-tech.)

IEC Standards to the rescue

IEC Standards help energy storage systems to interoperate and interconnect with the grid. They also pave the way for smart grid technologies to be used safely and efficiently. IEC TC 4 prepares standards for hydraulic turbines and has published IEC 60193 which specifies the requirements for pumped storage.

IEC TC 120 was set up to publish standards in the field of grid-integrated electrical energy storage (EES) systems to support grid requirements. The TC is working on a new standard, IEC 62933‑5‑4, which will specify safety test methods and procedures for lithium-ion battery-based systems for energy storage. IEC TC 69 prepares standards on electrical power/energy transfer systems for electrically propelled road vehicles drawing current from a rechargeable energy storage system. IEC TC 57 is the IEC committee that prepares core standards for the smart grid, notably the IEC 61850 series. They deal with substation automation, two-way information exchange, global control functions, renewable energy integration and cyber security, to name but a few. IEC TC 13 prepares key standards in the field of electrical energy measurement and control, for smart metering equipment and systems forming part of smart grids.

A subcommittee of IEC TC 8 prepares standards dealing with the integration of renewable energy systems in the grid. One of the four IEC Conformity Assessment (CA) Systems, IECRE (IEC System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in Renewable Energy Applications), is the internationally accepted CA system for all power plants producing, storing or converting energy from solar PV, wind and various forms of marine energy.

The IEC SyC Smart Energy helps to coordinate and guide the various efforts across these different IEC technical committees. It is for instance working on a document, IEC 63460, that will describe the architecture and use cases for EVs to provide grid support functions. Most of this standard will be concerned with identifying realistic EV charging and discharging configurations, and the communication and control between the various actors, grid system operators, aggregators, premises energy management and EV charging systems. The results from this document will hopefully help other IEC technical committees to take the grid-support capabilities of EVs into account as they develop their own standards.

The hope is that enough will be done in time to make sure the lights will be kept on as we move towards an all-electric and connected society. One certainty is that IEC Standards and conformity assessment will be called upon to play an ever-increasing role in ensuring we get there.

Author: Catherine Bischofberger

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a global, not-for-profit membership organization that brings together 174 countries and coordinates the work of 30.000 experts globally. IEC International Standards and conformity assessment underpin international trade in electrical and electronic goods. They facilitate electricity access and verify the safety, performance and interoperability of electric and electronic devices and systems, including for example, consumer devices such as mobile phones or refrigerators, office and medical equipment, information technology, electricity generation, and much more.

Q. When did you install energy storage? Was it part of a solar project?

In December 2019. I installed a single battery along with 25 solar panels on my roof.

Q. Did the project have an EV charger included?

Yes, I also installed an EV charger at the same time. I bought a Tesla Model 3 in June 2019. Until the EV charger was installed, I was driving to a nearby Supercharger to charge my car. Now I charge mostly at home.

Q. What brand of storage do you use?

I went with an LG Chem battery. It was a choice between a Tesla Powerwall and an LG Chem battery. The Powerwall had more storage capacity but was substantially more expensive.

Q. How did you decide on the size of the battery you needed?

I went with the solar installer’s recommendation and installed a single battery.

Q. Why did you include energy storage?

I installed it for two reasons: to power essential circuits in the house during power outages and to engage in arbitrage against a three-period time-of-use rate, EV-A rate. It had much lower off-peak prices than the standard TOU rate.

Q. What functions do you use the battery for?

Every day the battery is used for TOU arbitrage. It is charged every morning by the solar panels while the house is powered by the grid at the off-peak rate. After the battery is fully charged, the solar panels power the house. That usually begins in the late morning hours and continues until the early afternoon hours. When the solar panels are not generating enough power to meet the needs of the house, the battery begins to send power to the house. That continues until the battery has dropped to 30% charge. Then it goes into standby mode, to supply power if an outage occurs.

On mild weather days, when the central air conditioner is not running, the battery can keep on powering the house until 10 or sometimes even 11 pm. In the summer, the battery stops charging the house around 6 or 7 pm.

Q. How often do you have power outages? What kind of problems do they cause?

From June 2021 onwards, I have had more than a dozen power outages. Usually they are just a few hours long. The battery kicks in and runs five essential circuits, including the refrigerators, the freezer, lights and numerous plug loads.

I have now added a sixth circuit, which supplies power to the gas furnace. I did that when we had a couple of outages during the winter months. Both lasted longer than 10 hours. One was a planned outage for repairs to the underground wiring that we have in our neighborhood. It was followed two days later by an even longer unplanned outage. During those days, the gas furnace was not getting power and it did not run. The temperature in the house dropped to 60 degrees.

Q. Has the battery suffered degradation? Has it needed repairs?

Slight degradation seems to have occurred. It’s rated at 9.8 kWh but I don’t think it is storing that much power now, four and half years after installation. The only repairs that were needed were when it was just a month old. An installation error occurred, and the battery died. A replacement was installed a couple of months later.

There was also a problem with the two “strings” that connect the solar panels with the inverter. One of them was inadvertently disconnected when the contractor came by to check why my net usage data from the inverter did not line up with the data in my monthly PG&E bills. I was quite despondent. Thankfully, the problem was remedied in a few weeks by the contractor, but only if I reached out to the president of the firm.

Q. Has everything met expectations?

Pretty much. The solar panels have substantially reduced my net usage from the grid, as shown in the charts below. I have data from PG&E’s website on my usage going back to 2008. It does not have the ability to show solar production but shows imports and exports and net usage. Production data is only available on the SolarEdge website.

From 2008 to 2015, my monthly consumption averaged 1041 kWh. In 2015, two of my PG&E monthly bills (for electric and gas) exceeded $500. In February 2016, I did a whole house energy upgrade which lowered my consumption to 806 kWh, but that did little to lower my bills since electric rates kept on rising. So, at the end of 2019, I installed solar and storage and my consumption since then has averaged 103 kWh (which includes the charging of my EV).

Electricity consumption varies across the months, since I live in the East Bay Area. Summers are hot and winters are cold. However, what stands out in the figure below is the dramatic difference in the pre-solar and post-solar pattern of usage.

Of course, there is year-to-year variation in the usage pattern, driven largely by weather. That’s brought out in this figure.

Here’s another way to unpack the data.

Q. Can you compare solar production with household consumption?

SolarEdge, through its inverter, knows how much electricity is being produced by the solar panels. It also knows how much electricity is being exported and imported and thus my net usage. Thus, it can solve for my gross consumption using a simple equation: Net usage = Production – Consumption.

The following figures provide consumption and production data by month for the years 2020-2024.  Consumption has risen over the years mostly because I have begun charging mostly at home and because I did not drive the car much during 2020-21 because of the lock down. Production has risen over the years because some foliage that was casting a shadow on the solar panels was removed.

The monthly variation is driven almost entirely due to seasonal variation in the weather – temperatures as well as the number of daylight hours. It’s worth noting that I don’t have a heat pump for HVAC or water heating. I have installed a highly efficient gas furnace and a very low NoX gas water heater.

2020

2021

2022

2023

Q. How much have your bills changed?

Before installing solar, my bills were averaging $200 a month, and rising with every passing year. Since then, the bills have averaged $50 a month. Last year the number was $65 a month.

During this time period, the off-peak rate has doubled, from 17 cents/kWh to 35 cents/kWh. The average rate now is around 46 cents/kWh. PG&E has lowered rates by 10% during the summer to give customers some respite but rates are expected to rise again in the fall. They may hit 50 cents/kWh by year end.

My gross electricity consumption last year was 12,700 kWh using information on the SolarEdge website. Using a price of 40 cents/kWh as the average, which might be an understatement, my monthly bill would come out to $423 a month, as opposed to $65 a month which I paid. That’s a reduction of nearly 85%.

Q. Are you eligible for participating in a VPP?

Early on, SolarEdge in conjunction with PG&E made a VPP offer to me. My system includes an SolarEdge inverter. I gave it some thought but declined the offer. I was concerned they may deplete my battery on critical system days, which would be really hot days. My battery would not have backup power to supply the house if an outage occurred. I continue to have that reservation about the VPP model.

Q. Do you see home storage as a viable way to help Californians control their rising electricity costs?

Yes, but only if storage is paired with solar panels. The battery by itself cannot lower the electric bill.

Q. Do you expect most Californians to include energy storage in their solar projects going forward?

Given the shift from NEM 2.0 to NEM 3.0, a battery would appear to be a must. My understanding is that half of new solar installations now feature batteries. However, since NEM 3.0 has lengthened the payback period considerably, overall solar installations seems to have dropped by 60-80 percent.

Q. Do you see a possibility that NEM 3.0 will be adjusted or repealed, or is it here to stay?

That’s a very difficult question to answer. It all depends on what the legislature wants to do. The CPUC won’t change NEM 3.0 unless it is forced by the legislature to do so.

Dr. Faruqui is an Economist-at-Large who has been working on energy issues since the summer of 1976, when he interned at the California Energy Commission. From 1978 to June 1979, he was a full-time analyst at the CEC. Subsequently, he worked at the Electric Power Research Institute for 11 years and then at several consulting firms, most notably Barakat & Chamblerlin, Charles River Associates, and The Brattle Group.

From ESS News

Electric vehicle and energy storage maker Tesla initiated its Megafactory in Shanghai in December 2023 and completed the signing ceremony for land acquisition. Once delivered, the new plant will span an area of 200,000 square meters and come with a price tag of RMB 1.45 billion. This project, which marks its entry into the Chinese market, is a key milestone for the company’s strategy for the global energy storage market.

As demand for energy storage continues to grow, the China-based factory is expected to fill Tesla’s capacity shortage and become a major supply region for Tesla’s global orders. Moreover, as China has been the largest country with newly installed electrochemical energy storage capacity in recent years, Tesla is likely to enter the country’s storage market with its Megapack energy storage systems produced in Shanghai.

Tesla has been scaling up its energy storage business in China since the beginning of this year. The company announced its construction of the factory in Shanghai’s Lingang pilot free trade zone earlier in May, and signed a supply deal of eight Megapacks with Shanghai Lingang Data Center, securing the first batch of orders for its Megapacks in China.

Currently, China’s public auction for utility-scale projects saw fierce price competition. The quote for a two-hour utility-scale energy storage system is RMB 0.6-0.7/Wh ($0.08-0.09/Wh) as of June 2024. Tesla’s product quotes are not competitive against the Chinese manufacturers, but the company has rich experiences in global projects and a strong brand impact.

To continue reading, please visit our ESS News website.

In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, pv magazine reviewed the productive lifespan of residential solar panels and inverters. Here, we examine home batteries, how well they perform over time, and how long they last.

Residential energy storage has become an increasingly popular feature of home solar. A recent SunPower survey of more than 1,500 households found that about 40% of Americans worry about power outages on a regular basis. Of the survey respondents actively considering solar for their homes, 70% said they planned to include a battery energy storage system.

Besides providing backup power during outages, many batteries are integrated with technology that allows for intelligent scheduling of the import and export of energy. The goal is to maximize the value of the home’s solar system. And, some batteries are optimized to integrate an electric vehicle charger.

The report noted a steep uptick to consumers showing interest in storage in order to self-supply solar generation, suggesting that lowered net metering rates are discouraging export of local, clean electricity. Nearly 40% of consumers reported self-supply as a reason for getting a storage quote, up from less than 20% in 2022. Backup power for outages and savings on utility rates were also listed as top reasons for including energy storage in a quote.

Attachment rates of batteries in residential solar projects have climbed steadily  in 2020 8.1% of residential solar systems attached batteries, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and in 2022 that rate climbed over 17%.

Life of a battery

Warranty periods can offer a look in installer and manufacturer expectations of the life of a battery. Common warranty periods are typically around 10 years. The warranty for the Enphase IQ Battery, for instance, ends at 10 years or 7,300 cycles, whatever occurs first.

Solar installer Sunrun said batteries can last anywhere between 5-15 years. That means a replacement likely will be needed during the 20-30 year life of a solar system.

Battery life expectancy is mostly driven by usage cycles. As demonstrated by the LG and Tesla product warranties, thresholds of 60% or 70% capacity are warranted through a certain number of charge cycles.

Two use-scenarios drive this degradation: over charge and trickle charge, said the Faraday Institute. Overcharge is the act of pushing current into a battery that is fully charged. Doing this can cause it to overheat, or even potentially catch fire.

Trickle charge involves a process in which the battery is continually charged up to 100%, and inevitably losses take place. The bounce between 100% and just under 100% can elevate internal temperatures, diminishing capacity and lifetime.

Another cause of degradation over time is the loss of mobile lithium-ions in the battery, said Faraday. Side reactions in the battery can trap free usable lithium, thereby lowering capacity gradually.

While cold temperatures can halt a lithium-ion battery from performing, they do not actually degrade the battery or shorten its effective life. Overall battery lifetime is, however, diminished at high temperatures, said Faraday. This is because the electrolyte that sits between the electrodes breaks down at elevated temperatures, causing the battery to lose its capacity for Li-ion shuttling. This can reduce the number of Li-ions the electrode can accept into its structure, depleting the lithium-ion battery capacity.

Maintenance

It is recommended by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to install a battery in a cool, dry place, preferably a garage, where the impact of a fire (a small, but non-zero threat) may be minimized. Batteries and components around them should have proper spacing to allow cooling, and regular maintenance check-ups can be helpful in ensuring optimal operation.

NREL said that whenever possible, avoid repeated deep discharging of batteries, as the more it is discharged, the shorter the lifetime. If the home battery is discharged deeply every day, it may be time to increase the battery bank’s size.

Batteries in series should be kept at the same charge, said NREL. Though the entire battery bank may display an overall charge of 24 volts, there can be varied voltage among the batteries, which is less beneficial to protecting the entire system over the long run. Additionally, NREL recommended that the correct voltage set points are set for chargers and charge controllers, as determined by the manufacturer.

Inspections should occur frequently, too, said NREL. Some things to look for include leakage (buildup on the outside of the battery), appropriate fluid levels, and equal voltage. NREL said each battery manufacturer may have additional recommendations, so checking maintenance and data sheets on a battery is a best practice.

The Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (EOC) will power its operations and electrify its fleet of vehicles with a three-acre solar farm, solar canopies and 56 charging stations. Fresno EOC will also use the vehicle-to-grid technology as it transitions its gas vehicles into a 50-shuttle electric fleet.

The EOC is a non-profit Community Action Agency that oversees more than 35 human services programs that help underserved populations in California’s Fresno County become more self-sufficient. It uses its bus fleet to transport community members to and from work, school and medical appointments, deliver meals, and fill other transportation needs to support its mission. To fund the solar project, EOC secured grant funding through the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program, and it will also receive rebates from local utility PG&E.

The project will take 24 months to complete from start to finish and will draw about 80% of the local workforce to help build the solar project. In addition, people enrolled in Fresno EOC’s own workforce and training program will receive education on energy and solar projects and may, in the future, provide hands on training and experience to the community.

The 1.5 MW ground-mount solar farm will be installed on a fixed-tilt racking system. Excess energy will be stored in a Nuvve-branded pre-validated battery energy storage system (BESS) integrated with Nuvve’s vehicle-to-grid platform.

The 56 charging stations are a mix of Nuvve PowerPort Neo level 2 EVSEs and V2G EVSEs. All chargers are Build America, Buy America (BABA) compliant

“Fresno as a community has historically endured poor air quality due to tailpipe emissions from the Los Angeles basin and gas-fired peaker power plants,” said Nuvve co-founder and CEO Gregory Poilasne. “With the adoption of our cutting-edge electric vehicle software and infrastructure, this project can serve as a model approach for modern, efficient, and eco-friendly public transportation.”

The Loan Programs Office of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has made a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee for up to $861 million to finance construction of solar-plus-storage projects and standalone storage projects in Puerto Rico.

The project developer and prospective borrower, Clean Flexible Energy LLC, is an indirect subsidiary of AES Corporation (AES) and TotalEnergies Holdings USA, Inc., and is managed under a joint venture agreement between the two.

The planned facilities, located in the municipalities of Guayama and Salinas, include two sites encompassing 200 MW of solar co-located with 285 MW of 4-hour batteries (1.14 GWh). Two other standalone battery storage sites would have a storage capacity not disclosed by DOE.

Puerto Rico currently has 154 MW of utility-scale solar, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The U.S. territory’s distributed solar capacity reached 842 MW by April this year, while residential storage has reached 1.6 GWh. The consultancy Wood Mackenzie has projected that over the next ten years more than 90% of Puerto Rico’s solar additions will be distributed solar.

Puerto Rico’s Act 17 calls for reaching 40% renewable generation by 2025—a target that is now very challenging to meet—and to reach 60% by 2040 and 100% by 2050.

Puerto Rico’s technical potential for utility-scale solar ranges from 14.2 GW under a “less land” scenario to 44.7 GW under a “more land” scenario, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s “PR 100” summary report published early this year. A technical potential analysis does not consider the financial viability of projects.

To secure the loan guarantee, Clean Flexible Energy LLC must first satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before DOE enters into definitive financing documents.

AES operates 19 GW of renewables capacity globally as part of its 35 GW generating portfolio, according to an investor presentation. AES also operates electric utilities.

TotalEnergies aims to reach 28 GW of installed renewable capacity globally this year, according to an investor presentation. The firm is also involved in fossil fuel production, refining and sales and electricity generation.

From ESS-news

Intersect Power is looking to deploy 15.3 GWh of Tesla’s Megapacks across its  solar-plus-storage project portfolio through 2030.

This agreement, when combined with previous commitments, will see Intersect Power roll out nearly 10 GWh of Megapacks by the end of 2027.

Tesla has previously supplied Megapacks for Intersect Power’s Base Portfolio of solar-plus-storage facilities totaling 2.4 GWh in operation or under construction. This includes 1 GWh in operation at the Oberon solar-plus-storage facility (pictured above) and 448 MWh in operation at the Athos III solar-plus-storage facility in California.

The developer is currently installing an additional 1 GWh of Tesla Megapacks at its Radian and Lumina solar-plus-storage facilities in Texas, which will be fully operational later this year.

Intersect Power plans to utilize over half of this new order of Megapacks for four projects in California and Texas expected to achieve operations by the end of 2027, “including what will be some of the largest battery installations in the country,” the developer said.

The balance will be utilized in Intersect Power’s subsequent portfolio of solar-plus-storage facilities, which are slated to come online in 2028-30.

“This storage franchise is the perfect complement to our multi-billion dollar expansion of renewable generation that is expected to more than triple the size of our company over the next three years,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO of Intersect Power.

Intersect Power develops, owns, and operates some of the country’s largest battery storage projects as part of its solar-plus-storage facilities in Texas and California, which comprises 2.2 GW of operating solar PV and 2.4 GWh of storage in operation or construction.

Only a day before disclosing the supply deal with Tesla, the developer announced the closing of two separate transactions representing an aggregate of $837 million of financing commitments for the construction and operation of three standalone battery energy storage systems in Texas – Lumina I, Lumina II, and Radian.

Each project comprises 86 Tesla Megapacks and will provide a capacity of 320 MWh of battery storage with a two-hour duration.

Continue reading at ESS-news.

Lithium-ion battery storage is beginning to play a more important role in backing up the utility grid. However, concerns about fire safety in these systems are rising along with installations, and handling a battery fire is not necessarily routine for first responders. Manufacturers are working with industry, regulatory bodies and the community to ensure safe operations and effective emergency responses.

One way to investigate fire safety in lithium-ion batteries is to set them on fire. Last May, Sungrow, a China-headquartered inverter and battery storage provider, which has its U.S. headquarters in Cosa Mesa, Calif., conducted a fire test to demonstrate the thermal management capabilities of its PowerTitan grid storage system. The exercise, conducted at a third-party facility in China and livestreamed to subject matter experts, utility engineers, fire protection consultants and other stakeholders, simulated a “thermal runaway” event in a battery energy storage scenario with multiple units.

According to Mandy Zhang, Sungrow’s battery storage product manager for overseas regions, this large-scale combustion test realistically replicated the layout of a power station’s energy storage system. A thermal runaway event was instigated in a single module causing a fire.

During the test, explosion relief panels atop the unit in which the fire was set automatically vented the fire upward to prevent it from spreading to adjacent battery units. The test event unfolded without intervention by personnel or fire suppression systems until the fire burned itself out.

“Before conducting this large-scale fire test, Sungrow had already performed multiple system-level fire tests and research,” Zhang told pv magazine USA. “The research on energy storage safety will continue to progress with the development of energy storage technology.”

In this sense, the large-scale test was more of a demonstration of thermal management capabilities intended to assure the above-mentioned stakeholders. Based on feedback, Zhang said, the test has addressed some customers’ concerns about the safety of liquid-cooled energy storage.

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in many fields, making any fire incident highly publicized. Zhang said this leads to a perception of increased fire risk.

“We believe the industry’s focus on fire risk is mainly due to a lack of understanding of fire in energy storage systems,” she said. “Statistical data shows that the actual fire risk is relatively low. Reports from organizations like the National Fire Protection Association and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission support this.”

Zhang believes that current fire safety certifications and standards in certain regions are lagging behind the rapidly increasing installed base of lithium-ion battery storage. She said that battery manufacturers must work with relevant standards bodies to keep them up to date on battery storage and management systems

“Applying existing building fire safety standards to energy storage system products is not very meaningful for product fire safety and can even become an obstacle,” said Zhang. “We hope that more innovative safety technologies can be applied to energy storage systems, particularly in developing countries and regions, as well as by local firefighters. In many cases, these first responders are not familiar with energy storage system fires and may apply techniques that are not well-informed.”

Enphase Energy releases EV charger for commercial fleets The CS-100 provides up to 19.2 kW of continuous power output and enables the fleet operator to set up charging schedules using the Enphase proprietary COSMOS interface.

SolarEdge aims to qualify for U.S. domestic content incentive The company has brought over 1,500 new jobs to the U.S. through contract manufacturing facilities.

Protecting smart inverters from cyberattack The National Institute of Standards and Technology has flagged a cybersecurity risk for smart inverters, and is developing guidelines to prevent cyberattacks.

Generac introduces residential EV charger The Level 2 charger offers between 25 and 30 miles of charge per hour.

Texas solar shines through Tropical Storm Beryl In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that the Tropical Storm Beryl caused a large but temporary dip in solar generation potential across Texas on July 8. However, cross-referencing with grid operator reports revealed that very little production went offline due to the storm, showing the resilience of Texas’ solar infrastructure.

IEA-PVPS identifies 456 patents in PV module recycling The IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme’s (IEA-PVPS) latest report on solar panel recycling offers a comprehensive review of all existing technologies in this market segment, from pure mechanical recycling to innovative techniques such as as light pulse treatment, water-jet cleaning, pyrolysis, and chemical treatments.

Volytica, Sinovoltaics launch new analysis service for 100% battery pack review at factory  The newly launched BESSential analysis goes deeper than traditional Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), which is performed at the container level. The service evaluates each battery energy storage system pack down to the cell level and detects and corrects thermal, electrical, and capacity imbalance issues.

From ESS News

Hong Kong-based technical compliance and quality assurance service firm Sinovoltaics and German cloud-based battery diagnostics software provider volytica have teamed to develop a battery energy storage system (BESS) analysis service, offering 100% pack review.

According to the developers, their BESSential analysis detects and corrects thermal, electrical, and capacity imbalance issues directly at the BESS factory and goes beyond typical Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), which is performed on the container level.

While FAT involves extensive electrical and performance tests at the factory to ensure the battery systems meet industry standards, “they can miss smaller defects and abnormal behaviors that may not become apparent for years,” the companies argue. What is more, some BESS integrators only perform sampling performance tests and can miss underlying issues in subsystems, racks, or battery packs that emerge after installation.

“Even a minor defect at the cell level can jeopardize an entire BESS investment. Our BESSential 100% pack analysis mitigates this risk, protecting the client’s physical asset while also securing their return on investment,” said Arthur Claire, director of technology at Sinovoltaics.

BESSential collects and compiles the vast amount of data from the FAT and then goes a step further to evaluates each pack down to the cell level. It can identify volatility in individual battery packs and cells, such as temperature shifts, voltage irregularities, capacity imbalance, and other factors predictive of battery defects.

These metrics are then used to model the micro-environment of each battery pack. Any anomalies that are found are flagged in the system for further inspection.

Continue reading at ESS-News.com.

Anker launches new all-in-one home storage solution Anker has developed a new all-in-one home storage solution with up to 30 kWh of capacity, available in single-phase and three-phase configurations.

Residential PV power forecasting method based uniquely on direct radiation Researchers in Spain have created a novel PV forecasting method that uses only direct radiation as a parameter. They found it to be “comparable, if not superior” to four established forecasting techniques. The method could help homeowners with PV systems decide when to use electricity-intensive appliances and cleaning systems.

Solar panel cleaning with electromagnetic waves Three companies, including Massachusetts startup Sol Clarity, are experimenting with electrodynamic screen systems to clean solar panels using minimal electricity and no water.

Amazon hits 100% renewable energy goal seven years ahead of schedule The retail giant matched 100% of the electricity used in its operations with investments in renewable energy in 2023.

All-perovskite tandem solar cell based on tin-lead perovskite achieves 27.8% efficiency Scientists in the United States have fabricated an all-perovskite tandem solar cell that reportedly shows reduced interfacial energy loss in the cell’s top device. It was built with a hole transport layer based on a compound known as P3CT that was doped with lead iodide.

From pv magazine Global

Chinese electronics manufacturer Anker has launched a new all-in-one home storage solution.

The Anker Solix X1 system comes in either single-phase or three-phase configurations and has a storage capacity of up to 30 kWh.

“It integrates a power module, battery module, solar Inverter and energy management system,” a company spokesperson told pv magazine. “With its slender 15-centimeter profile, presents a striking contrast to the bulky appearance of traditional home storage devices.”

The single-phase product is available in four versions, with PV inputs ranging from 7.36 kW to 12 kW of PV input, while the AC output ranges from 3.68 kW to 6 kW. It measures 670 mm x 335 mm x 150 mm and weighs 19 kg.

The three-phase storage system is also available in four models, with a PV input ranging from 10 kW to 24 kW and an AC output of 5 kW to 12 kW. It measures 670 mm x 450 mm x 150 mm and weighs 30 kg.

All power modules are to be paired with 5 kWh Li-ion (LFP) battery modules that can be stacked to six for a total storage of 30 kWh. The maximum charge or discharge power is 3 kW, and the maximum charge or discharge current is 7.6 A. The new product also also features IP66 protection.

“Our innovative energy optimizer allows each battery pack to charge and discharge independently, ensuring efficient storage and utilization of energy,” the company said. “The Solix X1 is equipped with multiple safety protection mechanisms, LFP batteries from top manufacturers, abnormal batteries auto-isolate, and 0-volt shutdown technology, all of which ensure power safety to the greatest extent.”

Indiana’s largest solar power plant about to come online Mammoth North Solar is a 400 MW agrivoltaic installation that is the first phase of Doral Renewables’ 1.3 GW solar complex.

People on the move: SolarEdge, SEIA, Mitsubishi Power Americas, and more  Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

World’s first anode-free sodium solid-state battery Researchers at the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion have created a new sodium battery architecture with stable cycling for several hundred cycles, which could serve as a future direction to enable low-cost, high-energy-density and fast-charging batteries.

Researchers build 16%-efficient mini perovskite solar module resistant to UV light-induced degradation A U.S. research team has built a 15 cm2 perovskite solar module with improved stability and efficiency thanks to a polymer hole transport layer that reportedly improves the panel stability and efficiency.

With great (solar) power comes great responsibility Consumer protection and transparency are the keys to reigniting industry growth. Josh Levine, vice president of marketing, EnergySage shares his perspective

Organic solar cell gains counterintuitive efficiency boost from entropy A research team at the University of Kansas found that organic semiconductors known as non-fullerene acceptors demonstrate a high solar cell efficiency due to a reversed heat flow.

From pv magazine ESS News site

In what is described as the world’s first, researchers at the Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC) have managed to devise design principles for enabling an anode-free all-solid-state battery.

LESC is a collaboration between the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the University of California San Diego’s Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering.

“Although there have been previous sodium, solid-state, and anode-free batteries, no one has been able to successfully combine these three ideas until now,” said UC San Diego PhD candidate Grayson Deysher, the first author of a new paper outlining the team’s work.

To create a sodium battery, which is said to boast an energy density on par with lithium-ion batteries, the research team needed to invent a new sodium battery architecture.

It opted for an anode-free battery design, which removes the anode and stores the ions on electrochemical deposition of alkali metal directly on the current collector. Eliminating the anode enables reduced weight and volume, higher cell voltage, lower cell cost, and increased energy density, but brings its own challenges.

“In any anode-free battery there needs to be good contact between the electrolyte and the current collector,” Deysher said. “This is typically very easy when using a liquid electrolyte, as the liquid can flow everywhere and wet every surface. A solid electrolyte cannot do this.”

However, the liquid electrolytes create a buildup called solid electrolyte interphase while steadily consuming the active materials, reducing the battery’s lifetime.

To continue reading, please visit our new ESS News website.

Global energy storage fleet to surpass 1 TW/3 TWh by 2033 According to the latest forecast from Wood Mackenzie, the global energy storage market (excluding pumped hydro) is on track to reach 159 GW/358 GWh by the of 2024 and grow by more than 600% by 2033, with nearly 1 TW of new capacity expected to come online.

Solar for small-scale brewing  Researchers in Spain have investigated the potential of using photovoltaic (PV) or photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) systems in microbreweries and have found that PVT systems can cover more energy demand but have a longer payback time.

U.S. manufacturer Toledo Solar closes business The Ohio based thin-film solar module producer was sued last year by First Solar, alleged that Toledo Solar sold Malaysian-made First Solar modules under the Toledo name.

Transfer switch for home solar power integration Nature’s Generator now offers a 50-amp, 12-circuit switch to manually power up selected circuits from backup system.

Solar tariffs could “unintentionally cede U.S. leadership in the solar industry” A report from Clean Energy Associates (CEA) and the American Council on Renewable Energy shows how antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) tariffs create cost issues not just for imported solar panels, but for U.S.-made solar panels as well.

The Hydrogen Stream: Hydrogen power plants feasible but inefficient, says CATF The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) says in a new report that dedicated clean hydrogen production and use is often a costly, inefficient decarbonization strategy for the power sector, while American Airlines says it has signed a deal with ZeroAvia for 100 hydrogen-electric engines.

Nature’s Generator added a 50-amp 120/240V 12-circuit transfer switch its lineup of power transfer switches.

Designed to connect a home power supply to a solar-powered home’s power supply to a battery backup system, this 50-amp switch provides homeowners with the option to power more circuits than lower amp models. The company reports that the 50-amp model can handle up to 12,000 watts of power for 12 circuits (6 of 240V circuits or 12 of 120V circuits).

These switches, when connected to a home’s power supply and solar-powered battery-backup generator system, enable homeowners to manually choose when to power the selected circuits from their solar generator system.

The switches work by isolating the backup power from utility power. Nature’s Generator reports that its switches are code compliant and certified according to ISO/IEC Guide 17067, Conformity Assessment-Fundamentals of Product Certification, System 3, and in accordance with UL 1008 and CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 178.1. Although the transfer switch is prewired and designed for ease of installation, a licensed electrician is recommended

In September 2023 Nature’s Generator introduced a 30-Amp 12-circuit 120/240-Volt transfer switch.

“Our transfer switches integrate easily with home load centers,” explains Lawrence Zhou, CEO of Nature’s Generator. “During  outages, the manual switch can power a home’s selected circuits keeping families safe by providing power for lighting and important electrical appliances. Additionally, with utilities’ higher peak-use rates, transfer switches empower homeowners to avoid those costs — saving money while saving the planet.”

The company says its switches can be used with other battery-backup solar generators as well as fossil fuel-powered generators. The caveat is that gas or propane generators require the inlet box (included with the 50-Amp model) be installed outdoors for safety from noxious fossil fuel fumes.

The retail price on the 50-amp Transfer Switch is currently $499.95. Click here for more details.

Battery storage deployment in Canada kicks into gear  The deployment of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Canada is picking up the pace, with the announcement of a 705 MWh battery storage system delivery to Nova Scotia by Canadian Solar’s e-Storage and various other projects in provinces across the country. However, this surge cannot come quickly enough says Energy Storage Canada.

Vineyard installs solar to keep distillery warehouse cool  The 55kW system is expected to produce more than .06 MWh a year and will help keep the vineyard’s distillery storage warehouse at the optimal temperature of 50 to 60 F throughout the year.

California approves 525 MWac of solar and 320 MW of geothermal Southern California Edison received approval from the State of California to proceed with power purchase agreements for three solar power projects and two geothermal projects from startup Fervo Energy.

How grid operators and renewable energy producers can use batteries to develop a flexible energy system As the urgency of mitigating the impacts of climate change intensifies with each passing year, it is the collective responsibility of grid operators and renewable energy producers to spearhead the transition to a renewable energy system.

Global solar installations to nearly quadruple by 2033 Wood Mackenzie forecasts 4.7 TW of solar capacity to be built between 2024 and 2033, with China accounting for about 50% of the growth.

TrendForce says 210 mm module shipments surpassed 260 GW in Q1 Market intelligence platform TrendForce says 210 mm n-type technology is “set to spearhead a new industrial revolution.” It expects 210mm modules to account for 78.29% of the large-format module market this year, increasing to 82.51% by 2027.

Aggreko Energy acquires C&I solar developer With the acquisition of Infiniti Energy, Aggreko expands its commercial and industrial development portfolio.

Enphase begins shipping U.S.-made microinverters for commercial applications The IQ8P-3P commercial microinverters support up to 480 W of peak output power for three-phase commercial installations, and they’re compatible with a wide range of solar modules up to 640 W.

From ESS News

Canadian Solar’s e-Storage has secured a contract from Nova Scotia Power to develop the first grid-scale battery energy storage projects across three locations in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The projects, totaling 150 MW / 705 MWh DC and located in Bridgewater, Waverley, and White Rock, will play a major role in enhancing the grid reliability and stability, while contributing to provincial and federal targets of achieving 80% renewables by 2030.

Construction will be completed by the end of 2026, and the first site expected to be operational in 2025. e-Storage will provide comprehensive engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services along with long-term service agreements (LTSA).

Peter Gregg, President of Nova Scotia Power, said: “We look forward to collaborating with communities and project partners to ensure these projects provide the most cost-effective value to our customers.

Elsewhere, the Canadian province of Saskatchewan’s first utility-scale BESS project came online last week. The construction of the 20 MW facility began in 2022, and it was a Canadian community effort.

Canada’s On Power provided the BESS’ equipment while local utilities business SaskPower employed contractors to complete the installation onsite. The BESS is located at SaskPower’s Fleet Street substation in Regina, which is the capital city of Saskatchewan. The Canadian government supplied approximately $13 million of the project’s total $34 million cost.

“The addition of battery storage will enable SaskPower to better respond to the fluctuating demands of our electrical grid,” said Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskPower.

Rupen Pandya, SaskPower’s president and CEO said the company was pleased to be adding battery storage as another tool to help it provide power to its customers. Pandya hinted at the possibility for more BESS work if the Regina BESS is a success.

“The experience we gain from operating our first BESS will help us determine the potential for more battery energy storage in the future,” he added.

The project coming online is a significant development for Saskatchewan, which hopes to reach net-zero emissions 15 years later than the national Canadian target of 2035.

Elsewhere in Canada, other BESS-related advancements have been pouring in. In May, the government of Ontario completed the largest battery storage procurement in Canadian history. It secured 2,195 MW from ten projects ranging in size from 9 MW to 390 MW.

Article continues on ESS News…

The City of Campbell, California announced a partnership with Paired Power to install a solar parking canopy with integrated electric vehicle chargers. The project will enable the city’s Public Wors Department to add electric vehicles to its fleet.

The solar canopy, called PairTree, will generate electricity and charge the city’s Ford F-150 Lightning Pro electric truck. Paired Power will deliver electricity to the Level 2 chargers attached to the canopy through its management software called EV Connect.

The project was funded through a resiliency grant from Silicon Valley Clean Energy.

“We’re excited to work with Paired Power to supply the City of Campbell with a 100% renewable EV charging solution powered by the sun, further enhancing the city’s commitment to sustainable transportation,” said Scott Kaptur, director of government and fleet solutions at EV Connect.

The PairTree solar canopy is comprised of a bifacial solar panels and a 42.4 kWh energy storage system.  The off-grid solar EV charger includes up to two Level 2 charging ports with up to 5.3 kW charging power. The PairTree is typically intended for remote locations, like concert venues and military sites, said Paired Power. The energy storage system is UL9450 certified.

“The solar panels have 4.6 kW units and the battery capacity maxes out at 42.4 kWh, which is substantial enough to provide between 75 and 230 miles of range,” said Paired Power.

Paried Power said setting up one of these EV charging stations takes about four hours.

The company said the solar canopy starts at $26,000, while some systems outfit with energy storage and multiple chargers may cost about $70,000. Installation costs average about $5,000 per canopy, said the company.

Keeping the grid stable is priority number one for grid operators, and over the past century, various technologies and strategies have emerged and been implemented to assist with load management, frequency regulation, and black start capability, among others. Most of these solutions are designed to work with a grid characterized by high inertia provided by spinning generators. However, as solar PV and other inverter-based power generation resources increase in number on the grid, they often displace spinning generators, the source of high inertia, leaving grid operators who have small and islanded systems to manage low-inertia grids with tools designed for high-inertia grids. This doesn’t work.

One big problem for island systems with low inertia is that the rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) is faster on a low-inertia grid than on a high-inertia one. This means that the response rate to correct a frequency deviation must occur within milliseconds on a low-inertia grid, whereas a high-inertia grid can rely on that inertia to carry it through the first five to ten-second period before needing to rebalance. Traditional frequency regulation methods such as generator and load-shedding responses are simply not fast enough for low-inertia grids.

The solid lines on this graph depict the dropping frequency on low, medium and high inertia systems. As is demonstrated by the steep drop of the yellow (low inertia) line, the frequency drops much more rapidly on a low inertia system than on a high inertia (red line) system.

To combat this problem, low-inertia grid operators turn to traditional solutions, such as increasing the number of fossil-fuel spinning generators to compensate for the drop in system inertia. Then, because they need to keep the additional generator running so it is ready to respond to such an event, and this generator is producing electricity, the operators resort to curtailing the renewable energy generated by their inverter-based resources because they now have an excess of power supply. In addition to wasting generated renewable energy, this approach creates a vicious cycle that adds unnecessary redundancy, expense, and runs counter to environmental and sustainability initiatives.

Solving the inertia deficit

It may seem counterintuitive to operators who are familiar with traditional grid management methods, but the key to stabilizing the destabilizing effects of more renewables on the grid is—more renewables. And the key to managing more renewables is—software in the form of a high-speed, precise controller. The renewables can make up for the lost inertia by offering synthetic inertia in the form of rapid or fast frequency response, and the controller is the brains behind detecting grid disturbances and ensuring the inverter-based resources are dispatched within milliseconds to rebalance any deviations.

A critical part of this approach is to integrate a battery energy storage system (BESS). The BESS behaves as a shock absorber capable of absorbing or releasing power from/onto the grid to compensate for changes in production, load, or frequency. When a BESS is paired with a sophisticated high-speed controller, the BESS can be called upon to perform additional grid management functions, increasing its own return on investment. These additional BESS functions include:

• Energy shifting: Absorbing excess solar PV power during periods of high production and dispatching it during low production times. This reduces the need for curtailments, captures generated power that would otherwise be lost, and augments the ability to respond to demand spikes.
• Ramp control: Solar PV production is intermittent and can be highly variable during weather events when cloud cover can cause rapid peaks and valleys in power output. A BESS can absorb those peaks and bump up the valleys to smooth and stabilize power output.
• Frequency regulation: Providing fast frequency response to address the steep RoCoF on low-inertia grids is a snap as BESS power can be instantly dispatched to address a frequency deviation.

It takes a multi-level, high-speed controller to manage all these use cases in a single battery. The controller needs to be able to generate a plan in advance that factors in anticipated grid load requirements and be able to adapt that plan in response to current events. Without the kind of parallel processing capability that can learn, plan, triage, and command, the BESS might be full when it needs to absorb and drained when it needs to dispatch. Of course, it’s possible to have dedicated BESS units for each use case but given the amount of downtime that the BESS is idling in between use cases, it makes more sense to pack all the use cases into one. This saves capital costs and helps in instances where there may be physical constraints that prevent multiple BESS units from being installed.

So far, we’ve revealed that the ‘secret’ to keeping a highly renewable grid stable is to integrate a BESS + multi-level, high-speed controller onto the grid. But what about inverters, where do those come in?

Will grid-forming inverters help?

When it comes to tools made for the 21st-century grid, grid-forming inverters show a lot of promise. Unlike grid-following ones, grid-forming inverters don’t require a fully functioning grid to “follow” to determine their own set points. This makes them great for managing inverter-based resources on low-inertia grids.

When paired with renewable resources like solar PV or a BESS, grid-forming inverters can help with grid support services such as black start and frequency management. However, there are some services they can’t assist with, and worse, when multiple grid-forming inverters are configured on a grid, they can compete with one another to try to re-stabilize the grid after a disturbance, which results in more destabilization. So, they can’t offer a full solution to low-inertia grid woes.

What the inverters need is something in charge of all of them. That’s where the multi-level controller comes in again. A multi-level, high-speed controller establishes and enforces a control hierarchy over all the grid’s energy resources, empowering each resource to contribute when and as needed, as directed by the controller. It can work with both grid-forming and –following inverters and integrate with the grid’s existing resources. Plus, if it is both network- and equipment-aware, the controller will ensure operations remain within the system’s constraints.

With visibility over the entire grid and its resources, the multi-level controller can take a holistic approach and make real-time decisions that take the grid’s limitations and the operator’s priorities into account. That leads to fewer outages and more rapid restorations when unavoidable outages occur.

Islands wishing to reduce their reliance on fossil fuel power generation need to let go of traditional grid management methods and embrace the tools of the 21st-century grid. Solar PV, wind generation, high-speed inverters, and BESSs are all part of the new technology mix, and when combined with a multi-level, high-speed controller, have been proven in real-world island environments.

Tim Allen, CEO of PXiSE Energy Solutions, brings more than 22 years of experience across utility-scale solar, wind and energy storage projects, software controls, investor-owned utility, independent power producer and pure developer realms. His unique set of skills, beginning with an Electrical Engineering degree from CalPoly offers seasoned perspectives and relationships that position him to lead PXiSE into the future. 

Lithium-ion battery fire safety starts with the manufacturer Fluence America’s president says stakeholder and first responder engagement is necessary to keep failures from becoming newsworthy events.

How to speed interconnection studies Automation of interconnection study processes is already underway and has room to grow, said executives from Pearl Street Technologies and Nira Energy on an industry panel. Other panelists discussed developing the engineering workforce.

Tesla battery deployment up 157%; Megapack pricing down 44% In its latest quarterly press release, traditionally focused on vehicle production, Tesla revealed a significant increase in energy storage deployment, officially reporting revenue for 9.4 GWh of deployed storage products.

Michigan legislation bars homeowners associations from banning solar House bill 5028 currently sits on Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s desk for signature, and once signed will grant condominium owners the freedom to generate solar energy on their rooftops.

All solar cell efficiencies at a glance – updated The research group led by Professor Martin Green has published Version 64 of the solar cell efficiency tables. There are 19 new results reported in the new version.

The importance of measuring albedo at solar sites As bifacial modules proliferate, estimations of albedo are becoming more important and with developers not prepared to install weather stations to assess solar resource, a popular option has become third-party, on-site measurements over periods as short as a day. Is this an acceptable compromise between costly on-site measuring and less accurate satellite data? Everoze’s Stefan Mau discusses the potential benefits and limitations of this approach.

Rhode Island passes energy storage act The act sets a storage procurement goal for the state requires utilities to create an interconnection tariff that values the flexibility benefits of energy storage.

Tesla set a company record by deploying 9.4 GWh of energy storage in the second quarter of 2024, more than doubling its largest previous quarterly deployment. The 9.4 GWh value was 131% greater than the previous quarter, and 157% greater than the volume deployed in Q2’2023.

The company’s first two quarters of energy storage deployment in 2024, are equal to just over 91% of the entirety of the capacity deployed in 2023 – with the second quarter alone equal to almost 64% of 2023’s total deployment capacity.

The announcement was made in an unconventional section of Tesla’s end-of-quarter press release, which typically focuses on the number of vehicles manufactured. This quarter’s release highlighted the company’s significant strides in energy storage, showing its increasing importance to the bottom line.

From 2016 through the first quarter of 2024, Tesla’s energy business consistently contributed less than 10% to total revenue. The only exceptions were in 2017, where contributions peaked at 9.49%, and in the first quarter of 2024, at 9.41%, with all other periods seeing contributions remain below 7.25%. Based on estimates derived from vehicles sold and the substantial projected increase in energy storage revenue, we anticipate that energy revenue will account for 15% to 21% of Tesla’s overall revenue in upcoming periods, likely leaning towards the upper end of this range.

The capacity increase follows the initiation of operations at Tesla’s Megapack assembly facilities in Lathrop, California, in 2022, and in Shanghai, announced in 2023. Each facility is capable of delivering up to 40 GWh of Megapacks annually.

Unlike its regular updates on vehicle production, Tesla does not disclose the volume of energy storage products manufactured each quarter. Instead, it reports on the revenue from products it can recognize, which coincides with when the battery packs are activated. It is likely that several tens of GWh of capacity have been manufactured and delivered but remain unrecognized due to accounting practices.

The featured image in this article showcases the recently activated Sierra Estrella energy storage facility in Arizona.

In addition to its operational achievements, Tesla has relaunched its online energy storage pricing tool, now featuring significantly lower prices.

The company’s pricing for a 1.9 MW/3.9 MWh Megapack is currently listed at $1,039,290, which equates to $266/kWh. This price does not include installation or delivery and requires a $1,000 deposit to secure the order.

In April 2023, the price of the same hardware was $1,879,840, at a rate of $482/kWh. The price has decreased approximately 44% during the 14-month period.

This price reduction aligns with a general market trend that has seen energy storage cell costs in China drop from between $110 and $130/kWh to near $50/kWh.

According to the U.S. Energy information Administration, battery storage capacity in the country is on track to double in 2024, with developers planning to bring the total to over 30 GW by the end of the year. The vast majority of these new batteries are based on lithium-ion technology, which dominates the industry. However, lithium-ion batteries are in some ways a victim of their own success as perceptions of fire safety issues are growing along with installations.

John Zahurancik, president, Americas, of battery-maker Fluence Energy, said failures are going to happen with any equipment that has a significant installed base. The trick is to understand how and why failures happen and to make sure everybody affected knows what they are dealing with when they do.

“Some electrical transformers will fail just because you have millions and millions of units that are being shipped,” Zahurancik told pv magazine USA. “Not everything will be done perfectly, whether it’s manufacturing or installation or some random event like a lightning strike.”

Electric transformers have a large installed base, and while failures sometimes cause explosions or fires, it doesn’t mean the technology is inherently unsafe; it means there are a lot of them out there. As a result, fire and utility crews have become experts at handling and replacing transformers when they fail.

Zahurancik said the energy storage industry is working with standards organizations, first responders and professional associations to understand the characteristics of lithium-ion grid batteries in order to make them safer and more reliable.

“There has to be intelligence on the part of suppliers to make sure battery grid storage systems stay safe and effective throughout their lifespan,” he said. “There’s definitely design elements to managing safety and thermal events.”

Major suppliers such as Fluence have battery management systems incorporated into their grid storage projects. However, this is just a start, Zahurancik said, adding that to ensure operational safety:

• Companies need to have emergency response plans incorporated into every into every battery project;
• The projects themselves should be structured as multiple smaller battery storage units in order to reduce the spread of fires and make them easier to contain; and
• They should provide training to first responders at local fire departments where projects are to be deployed.

According to Zahurancik, expertise needs to flow readily between supplies, contractors, operators and first responders to prevent thermal events from making the news and warping public perceptions of lithium-ion battery safety. The company has representatives in fire safety standard bodies, such as the [National Fire Protection Association] NFPA 855 technical committee on energy storage installation.

“When things don’t go well, we have to talk about that in the spirit of, hey, everybody shouldn’t have to learn this lesson on their own,” he said. “We’re part of the American Clean Power Association and, one of its big pushes is to collect some of this information and propagate the best safety approach.”

Sometimes the best way to prevent fires is to start them and study the results. In May, Sungrow conducted a burn test of a 10 MWh installation to demonstrate the ability of its PowerTitan battery energy storage system to manage a thermal event without having it spread to other cabinets or require invention by emergency crews. The test was livestreamed to stakeholders and fire consultants.

“Too often, renewable energy skeptics raise fire safety concerns, even though batteries are overwhelmingly safe,” said the manager of energy storage engineering at Sungrow Americas, in a statement after the test. “These criticisms slow the adoption of such technologies.”

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public input to inform development of an environmental assessment for the proposed Socorro Solar Energy project in southeastern La Paz County.

According to the application submitted by developer EDF Renewables in October 2021, the proposed Socorro project is designed to produce up to 350 MW of solar energy along with battery energy storage.

The BLM, Arizona State Office, completed the solar variance review process and determined that it is appropriate to continue processing the Socorro Solar Project application. At this time, BLM AZ is requesting concurrence on the State Director’s Socorro Solar Project Variance Determination.

Concurrence will not approve the proposed project, but allows the BLM to continue processing the application and initiate its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, including this public scoping and the preparation of an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement

July 1 marked the start of a 38-day public scoping period for an environmental assessment to analyze and disclose potential impacts. The BLM is seeking input relevant to the development of alternatives, environmental analyses and resource protection measures.

The project is expected to take up 3,066 acres of the nearly 6,000-acre site located within a Renewable Energy Development Area (REDA) as designated by the Arizona Restoration Design Energy Project Record of Decision issued by BLM in January 2013.

The clean electricity is expected to be delivered to the grid through the Ten West Link 500 kV bulk transmission line anticipated to be approximately 1.3 mile, which would cross the Central Arizona Project (CAP) and Interstate 10 to the south of the CAP. The application includes 30-foot wide access road for which the BLM is seeking a right-of-way for 40 years.

Project information, including maps, will be available on the project website within the BLM’s National NEPA Register.

Environmental assessments evaluate potential impacts of the project and addresses Native American religious concerns; threatened, endangered, and sensitive species; socioeconomic effects, environmental justice and other issues. The environmental assessment also looks at potential mitigation measures that can lessen environmental impacts.

In April the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released final rules governing the leasing and rental of renewable energy projects sited on public lands. The rules were developed with consultation from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Earlier in the year, the BLM released a draft analysis of the Utility-Scale Solar Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) that identifies 22 million acres across 11 states that are best suited for solar development. The document calls for solar development to be focused on areas with fewer sensitive resources, less conflict with other uses of public lands, and close proximity to transmission lines, having identified 200,000 acres of land near existing transmission infrastructure.

A recent study by the Energy Markets and Policy (EMP) department at the Berkeley National Laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, found that engaging the public is important when siting large-scale solar energy projects.

“The public’s input during scoping will help inform the BLM’s development of a range of alternatives that will be analyzed,” said William Mack, Colorado River District Manager. “We invite our federal, state, tribal, as well as local partners, stakeholders, and the public to participate in scoping.”

The United States has set a goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2035. To do so, a vast amount of land needs to be used for solar energy production. The National Renewable Energy Lab estimates that if the United States were to meet all of its electricity needs with solar alone, around 10 million acres, or 0.4% of the area of the country, would be needed.

Comments must be submitted in writing by close of business on August 7, 2024. Written comments are encouraged and may be submitted by mail or email at BLM_AZ_CRD_SOLAR@blm.gov or within the project website in BLM’s National NEPA Register. If submitting by mail, send to: BLM Arizona State Office at 1 North Central Avenue, Suite 800, Phoenix, AZ 85004, and please note “Attention: Derek Eysenbach/Socorro Solar Project.”

If approved, the Socorro project is scheduled to begin construction in 2025.

From pv magazine ESS News site

Electrical standards provider UL Solutions has announced a new testing protocol that addresses fire service organizations’ demand for enhanced evaluations of residential battery energy storage systems (BESS).

The UL 9540B Outline of Investigation for Large-Scale Fire Test for Residential Battery Energy Storage Systems includes a testing protocol with a robust ignition scenario and enhanced acceptance criteria. It addresses the fire propagation behavior of a BESS if a thermal runaway propagation event leading to an internal fire were to occur during the system’s lifetime.

Since battery energy storage systems were first deployed a decade ago, UL Solutions has been addressing the associated fire safety concerns by working with fire protection and battery experts, original equipment manufacturers, code authorities and other key stakeholders to enhance the test methods for evaluating thermal runaway fire propagation in BESS.

The organization previously developed the energy storage industry’s safety benchmarks – UL 9540, the Standard for Energy Storage Systems and Equipment, and UL 9540A, the Standard for Test Method for Evaluating Thermal Runaway Fire Propagation in Battery Energy Storage Systems.

To continue reading, please visit our ESS News website.

ESS Tech, listed on the New York Stock Exchange as “GWH”, announced it has secured a $50 million investment from the Export-Import Bank of The United States (EXIM).

The funds are expected to support the expansion of ESS production capacity at its Wilsonville, Oregon plant. The company develops long-duration energy storage iron flow batteries. The investment is expected to help ESS triple its manufacturing capacity at the Wilsonville plant.

“Our technology uses earth-abundant iron, salt and water to deliver environmentally safe solutions capable of providing up to 12 hours of flexible energy capacity for commercial and utility-scale energy storage applications,” said ESS Tech.

EXIM made the investment via its Make More in America Initiative, which makes available medium- and long-term loans, loan guarantees, and insurance to finance export-oriented domestic manufacturing projects.

ESS Tech is delivering iron flow energy storage systems to customers in Europe, Australia and Africa. The company manufactures 100% of its products in the United States, with a predominantly domestic supply chain that spans 29 states.

“Our partnership with EXIM underscores the critical role that American-made clean energy technology will play in the global clean energy transition,” said ESS chief executive officer Eric Dresselhuys. “ESS’s iron flow technology is already deployed in Australia and Europe and with this agreement, we are well positioned to meet the growing needs of our current and future global customers.” 

ESS battery systems are designed to operate for 25 years, while conventional batteries last about 7 to 10 years. The battery modules, electrolyte, plumbing, and other components may well last for decades longer with proper maintenance, said the company. The battery, for example, is expected to experience zero degradation over 20,000 cycles. The long duration energy storage (LDES) system can store and dispatch electricity for 12 hours or more.

According to the Department of Energy’s ‘Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Long Duration Energy Storage’ report, the U.S. grid needs 225 to 460 GW of LDES capacity for power market application for a net zero economy by 2060. The global LDES market is estimated to be $50 billion per year and forecast to grow significantly with a cumulative investment of up to $3 trillion by 2040, according to the LDES Council and McKinsey & Co.

Wendy’s enrolls in community solar to power 130 locations Through a partnership with Ampion, Wendy’s restaurants will access renewable energy certificates to offset carbon emissions.

Recurrent Energy transfers $103 million in tax credits for Oklahoma project The owner and operator of the 160 MW North Fork Solar project signed the tax credit facilitation agreement with Bank of America.

IEA-PVPS releases fact sheet on environmental life cycle assessment of PV Systems The updated IEA PVPS Task 12 Fact Sheet provides a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts associated with PV systems. It highlights the significant advancements made in PV technology, emphasizing improved efficiencies and reduced environmental footprints.

Generac acquires commercial and industrial energy storage provider The company acquired engineering, procurement, and construction firm PowerPlay Battery Energy Storage Systems.

GCL Perovskite, a branch of GCL Tech within the GCL Poly and GCL Solar group, introduced their latest perovskite and perovskite-silicon tandem solar modules. A key highlight was the public IEC test documentation, indicating they may have conquered the perovskite degradation challenge. The company plans to incorporate this technology in the top layer of their tandem modules, aiming for efficiencies above 27% in limited deployment testing next year.

The Solar Roll by Apollo, featured in the main image above, is a flexible roll measuring 20.1 feet in length and 6.6 feet in width. This innovative setup combines six 300-watt solar panels into a 1.8 kW array capable of generating more than 10 kWh in a single day. The unit, equipped with MC4 connectors, is designed for easy integration with any standard solar inverter.

Throughout the three days of Intersolar, as detailed on the pv magazine Intersolar Live Blog pages – Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 – attendees witness an impressive array of battery products. Numerous manufacturers showcased their latest offerings, particularly focusing on home battery solutions.

EcoFlow’s latest release, the PowerOcean Plus, represents a significant increase in residential system size and capacity. This smart hybrid inverter can manage up to 40 kW solar input with a 29.9kW AC output. Notably, it can support up to 60 kWh of battery capacity, 15 kWh more than its predecessor. Kevin Benedict, EcoFlow’s product and solutions manager, explained that this upgrade was a direct response to customer demand for larger systems to optimize home solar use and EV charging.

The presence of electric vehicles and their charging infrastructure was also a focal point at the event.

The Evum-motor aCar, showcased with a solar panel cleaning robot strapped to its flatbed, is tailored for operations and maintenance tasks. Starting at €33,990, this versatile vehicle is offered in several configurations: the base model features a 16.5 kWh battery with a range of 91 km. Additional options include a 23 kWh battery, which extends the range to approximately 128 km for an additional €4,290, and a 33 kWh battery that offers up to 203 km for an additional €10,890. Available in six base packages, the aCar punches above its weight with a payload capacity of 1,100 kg and a towing capacity up to 1,500 kg.

The aCar’s design, including its 1.5 meter width, allows it to fit comfortably between the rows of panels on solar farms, enhancing its utility. Its low-speed torque is specifically advantageous for traversing loose and steep terrain, facilitating the transport of essential hardware and personnel to less accessible areas. The inclusion of the solar panel cleaning robot underscores the vehicle’s practical application in maintaining and operating remote or large-scale solar operations.

Electric bike charger econec shared three electric bike chargers: the eBike Box micro for home use, eBike Box mini C for businesses, (featured in the image below), and eBike Box Vision for public charging. A notable feature of these systems is their customizable charger. Representatives noted that the e-bike industry has around 25 charging standards, with the public charging model, the eBike Box Vision, accommodating up to five unique plugs. Although Bosch dominates the market with 50% to 60% of all charger adapters, it offers two different types of connectors. Currently focused primarily on the European market, Econec is actively seeking U.S. partners as it works to expand its certifications.

Aiko is poised to launch the ABC Infinite Gen 3 solar module range, with efficiencies ranging from 24.2% to 25.2% in the fourth quarter. The standout 650 watt module, featuring 25.2% efficiency, aims to be the highest efficiency module globally upon its release. These products will be produced in the company’s two manufacturing facilities, with capacities of 10 GW and 14 GW of modules per year. A significant efficiency enhancement in these modules is the relocation of the busbars to the backside of the solar panels. While this adjustment reduces the bifaciality value to nearly 70%, it opens more silicon to face the sun on the front site, white significantly improving shade management capabilities.

Georg Giglinger, an environmental engineer, shared via Twitter what may have been the highest wattage module at Intersolar: Tongwei’s 765.18 watt rated, 24.63% efficiency panel.

Announced directly from the floor in Munich, Germany, Nextracker has acquired specialty ground screw manufacturer Ojjo in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $119 million. Ojjo’s truss systems are designed to use half the steel of conventional foundations, aim to reduce grading requirements, and would be the foundation that supports NexTracker’s motors and torque tubes.

The pv magazine team at Intersolar Munich 2024 included over 30 representatives from regions such as Ireland, England, Western and Southern Germany, the U.S., among others.

Summit Ridge Energy expanded its partnership with Qcells with an agreement to purchase 800 MW of solar panels.

The agreement builds on an existing 1.2 GW relationship between Qcells and Summit Ridge, announced in April of 2023 by Vice President Kamala Harris. At the time the 1.2 GW order was the largest equipment purchase in history for the community solar market.

By increasing the total commitment to 2 GW, Summit Ridge reports it will develop more than 100 additional community solar projects across the country using U.S.-made solar.

Last year Qcells announced what was then the largest investment in U.S. solar manufacturing history, investing more than $2.5  billion to build a complete solar supply chain in the United States. This made the Korean company, a subsidiary of Hanwha Solutions, the first company to establish a fully-integrated silicon-based solar supply chain in the U.S. When complete, Qcells solar panels — from polysilicon to the finished panel — will be entirely made in the U.S.

Both the build-out of Qcells U.S. manufacturing footprint and the growth of Summit Ridge Energy are incentivized by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The includes tax incentives for domestic energy production as well as manufacturing. Many of Summit Ridge’s solar projects also qualify for IRA tax credits that will provide thousands of low-income households with greater access to clean energy savings.

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Qcells, which enables Summit Ridge to deliver on our promise of giving more Americans the opportunity to power their homes and businesses with locally generated clean energy,” said Brian Dunn, chief operating officer of Summit Ridge Energy. “Through our Qcells partnership, we are able to support domestic manufacturing and job creation, while simultaneously bringing low-cost clean energy to communities that have historically been left out of the clean energy transition.”

Summit Ridge’s planned fleet of community solar farms are expected to generate enough clean energy to power an estimated 200,000 homes and businesses. Since launching in 2017, the company reports that it has deployed over $2.6 billion into clean energy assets and controls a development pipeline of more than 3 GW that will provide solar power to homes and businesses nationwide.

“Expanding this relationship with Summit Ridge Energy means more communities will have access to the most affordable energy resource in the world,” said Justin Lee, CEO of Qcells. “This partnership not only supports the domestic manufacturing industry and thousands of jobs in solar, but it also ensures more people – especially those who have historically been left out – benefit from everything the clean energy economy has to offer.”

The majority of the solar panels purchased by Summit Ridge will be produced in Qcells’ new U.S. manufacturing facility located in Georgia. Additionally, Qcells will continue to provide Summit Ridge with battery storage and software solutions under separate procurement agreements.

New York policy authorizes $814.6 million to fund energy storage The new order puts the state on track to install 6 GW of energy storage by 2030.

Utility-scale solar development: Good planning makes good neighbors A recent study by Berkeley Lab, the University of Michigan, and Michigan State University found that sharing plans for large-scale solar projects with local residents improves the perception of such sites.

GCL says perovskite solar module passes silicon degradation tests At Intersolar Europe, the Chinese manufacturer said the perovskite-silicon tandem module would cost 50% of a crystalline silicon module that costs $0.15 per W, meaning $0.075 per W.

A look at the prevailing wage and apprenticeship final rule Taxpayers seeking to claim the highest available investment and/or production tax credits for renewable energy projects must comply with the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.

Spontaneous glass breakage on solar panels on the rise The National Renewable Energy Laboratory noted an increase in spontaneous glass breakage in solar panels. The PV Module Index from the Renewable Energy Test Center investigates this and other glass-related trends in solar manufacturing.

In case you missed it: Five big solar stories in the news this week  pv magazine USA spotlights news of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

BASF, NGK launch sodium-sulfur battery with less than 1% degradation rate A set of technological improvements incorporated into the new product NAS MODEL L24 allows for lower maintenance costs compared to the earlier sodium sulfur battery type developed by the two manufacturers.

NREL guide for anyone seeking more solar and storage in utility resource plans A guide to utility resource plans aims to help state regulators and others engage effectively with utilities in reviewing the plans, which have often been challenged for limiting solar and storage in projections of new generating capacity needed.

Nextracker expands U.S. manufacturing with Unimacts Owned by Unimacts and located near Las Vegas, this factory will produce steel components exclusively for Nextracker, bringing the tracker specialist’s annual domestic solar tracker capacity to over 30 GW.

Final guidance released on IRA’s prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements According to the Treasury Department, developers of clean energy projects may be able to claim an increased credit equal to five times the base incentive.

Solar startup claims doubled energy per acre with terrain-following array California startup Planted Solar uses construction robots and high-density arrays to deliver what the company says are higher energy outputs and lower balance of system costs.

U.S. grid-scale storage grows 84%, residential storage 48% Wood Mackenzie reported large growth in Q1 year-over-year for grid-scale storage and residential storage, while commercial and industrial storage slowed.

Commercial real estate to host VPP-connected flywheels and batteries U.S.-based technology provider Torus has agreed to supply nearly 26 MWh of energy storage for Gardner Group’s commercial real estate portfolio. The project will integrate battery and flywheel energy storage systems (BESS, FESS) with Torus’ proprietary energy management platform.

From ESS news

BASF Stationary Energy Storage, a subsidiary of chemical company BASF, and Japanese ceramics manufacturer NGK Insulators have launched a new version of their sodium-sulfur (NAS) batteries.

The containerized NAS MODEL L24 battery jointly developed by the partners, whose cooperation started in 2019, boasts a few technological improvements. Compared to the previously available battery type, the new NAS battery is characterized by a significantly lower degradation rate of less than 1% per year thanks to a reduced corrosion in battery cells.

Another technical achievement is an improved thermal management system in battery modules, which enables a longer continuous discharge. For instance, in the case of discharging at 200 kW-dc per NAS MODEL L24 unit, the continuous discharging duration is six hours.

The new technology elements have been incorporated into the field-proven battery design. Namely, NAS batteries were implemented practically for the first time in the world by NGK and since then installed at over 250 locations worldwide, with a total output of over 720 MW and total capacity of around 5 GWh installed.

Like the earlier version, the new concept complies with the latest safety standards for energy storage installations, such as UL1973 and UL9540A.

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