| From: Eric | 8/29/2022 11:52:38 AM | | | | | | Liquid metal long-duration storage to be demonstrated at solar test site
Colorado utility Xcel Energy will test the use of Ambri’s energy storage technology at the Solar Technology Acceleration Center.
August 26, 2022 Ryan Kennedy
Energy Storage
Markets & Policy
Colorado
Image: Ambri
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Ambri, a developer of liquid-metal long-duration energy storage systems, announced it will partner with Colorado electric utility Xcel Energy on a demonstration project. The project will demonstrate Ambri’s calcium-antimony liquid metal batteries’ ability to interact with renewable energy.
Nonprofit MRI Global’s Solar Technology Acceleration (SolarTAC) will be the host site for the demonstration project. The SolarTAC was established to test renewable energy technologies in a real-world, grid-connected environments.
Ambri’s chemistry is being developed to meet the demands of large industrial energy customers, such as data centers. The company’s large-scale battery unit has a 250 kW / 1000 kWh capacity, DC efficiency of over 80% under a wide set of use cases, has a response time of less than 500 milliseconds, voltages between 550 V to 1150 V, and is housed in a 10-foot shipping container.
Image: Ambri
The containerized system holds shelves of cells, thermal management systems, a weatherproof outer enclosure, and a battery management system for applications that require high energy capacity, frequent cycling, long life and high efficiency.
“We are honored to be selected by Xcel Energy as they continue to drive towards a carbon-free future,” said Adam Briggs, chief commercial officer at Ambri.
Xcel Energy became the first utility in the United States to set a long-term goal of providing its customers zero-carbon electricity. The utility aims to be net-zero across electricity, heating, and transportation by 2050. Ambri’s technology is designed to perform in a wide range of environments, potentially making it the right fit for Xcel to effectively store and dispatch power in harsh Colorado weather conditions.
“We look forward to learning what (Ambri’s) technology can accomplish in a range of extreme environmental conditions as we look to build out the long-duration energy storage that will help us reach our carbon reduction goals,” said Alice Jackson, senior vice president and chief planning officer at Xcel Energy.
The SolarTAC has been owned and operated by MRI Global since 2011. It will test Ambri’s technology for one year. In addition to solar and energy storage, the site is used to test microgrid capabilities at the edge of the electric distribution system.
Late in 2020, Ambri agreed with TerraScale, a clean infrastructure design and development firm, to deliver 250 MWh of Ambri systems to TerraScale’s Energos Reno data center project. The site’s battery will be bolstered by a reported 500 MW of on-site renewable generation.
Last year, the MIT-spinoff announced that it achieved a $144 million funding round, led by Reliance New Energy Solar, Bill Gates-backed Paulson & Co., and Fortistar, Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates, Japan Energy Fund, and others. Ambri also entered into a long-term antimony supply agreement with Perpetua Resources. The agreement helps secure a domestic source of antimony for its supply chain.
The liquid metal battery is comprised of a liquid calcium alloy anode, a molten salt electrolyte, and a cathode comprised of solid particles of antimony, enabling the use of low-cost materials and a low number of steps in the cell assembly process.
The company said that the active materials in its cells reversibly alloy and de-alloy while charging and discharging. The electrolyte is thermodynamically stable with the electrodes, avoiding side reactions such as film-formation that can lead to performance degradation. The negative electrode is fully consumed when discharged, and reformed on every cycle, resulting in what the company said is a “highly repeatable process with no memory effect.”
Ambri said that following the funding round it now is able to scale for projects from 10 MWh to over 2 GWh around the globe, with durations ranging from 4 to 24 hours.
pv-magazine-usa.com |
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| From: Eric | 9/8/2022 6:21:24 PM | | | | | | From Idea to Reality - Battery Storage Comes of Age on the California Grid
The California Independent System Operator’s new video, “From Idea to Reality: Battery Storage Comes of Age on the California Grid,” tells the story of California’s historic embrace of battery storage to support the grid as we transition to a carbon-free system.
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| From: Eric | 9/9/2022 11:57:08 AM | | | | | | Norway’s largest pension fund backs fund pursuing Australia’s biggest battery project
Giles Parkinson 9 September 2022 0
Image supplied
Oslo based funds manager KLP has invested 2 billion Norwegian kroner ($A300 million) into a Quinbrook renewables investment fund looking to build the biggest battery storage installation in Australia.
KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund, has $A105 billion in assets and is looking to invest $A1 billion a year into “climate-related investment”, which now account for eight per cent of its total.
The KPL money will go into into the Quinbrook Net Zero Power Fund, which is investing into some of the biggest solar plants in the US and the UK, as well as the Supernode project near Brisbane, which will serve data centres and could be the biggest battery storage facility – 2000MWh – in the country.
The 800MW/2000MWh “Supernode” battery project proposes to support data centres, provide dispatchable services to the grid, firm additional renewables capacity, and act as a “backstop” to reduce the risk of power outages in Queensland.
Quinbrook is also proposing another 1,000MWh battery storage project at Lockyer, where an original idea to build a gas peaking plant has been converted into a plan to focus on battery storage.
Quinbrook was founded by two Australians and now ranks as one of the world’s leading renewable energy developers, with more than $US5 billion under management.
“We are excited to have their support as we devise and execute innovative new infrastructure investment strategies driving the energy transition in impactful ways that are delivering positive and measurable outcomes for the environment and the communities in which we operate,” Quinbrook co-founder David Scaysbrook said.
reneweconomy.com.au |
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| From: Eric | 9/14/2022 1:41:56 PM | | | | | | Neoen plans 1 GW /4 GWh battery in Australia
French renewables developer Neoen has filed an application to build a 1000 MW /4000 MWh big battery in Western Australia.
September 14, 2022 David Carroll
Energy Storage
Energy Storage Markets
Markets
Utility Scale PV
Utility Scale Storage
Australia
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From pv magazine Australia
Renewable power producer Neoen Australia has filed planning documents to develop a standalone 1 GW /4 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) near the town of Collie, Western Australia.
In planning documents lodged with the Shire of Collie, Neoen said the big battery will be built on a 31-hectare site about 12 kilometers northeast of Collie, approximately 215 km southeast of Perth. The company said the battery is expected to be constructed in five 200 MW/800 MWh stages “or as required to meet the evolving needs of the SWIS.”
The company is also seeking approval to build new switchgear, a 330/33 kV substation with step-up power transformers, and 330 kV overhead cables to connect to the existing Western Power transmission infrastructure. It said the staged approach to development means construction activities could span over 10 years, with each stage to generate up to 150 direct jobs.
The day-to-day operations and interactions with the wholesale electricity market (WEM) will be predominantly monitored and controlled remotely from the company’s Operation Control Centre (OCC) in Canberra which currently operates 14 existing projects across Australia.
Neoen says the Collie Battery is the key to unlocking future investment in, and uptake of, renewable energy in the state and helping to solve existing grid limitations by providing greater reserve capacity to the SWIS.
“System security risks are emerging now as the increase in large-scale renewable generation and distributed energy resources displaces the dispatchable thermal generators that presently provide all system security services such as inertia, frequency control, system strength, and voltage control,” Neoen said. “The proposed project will address these issues. There is significant potential for the project to address intermittencies in energy supply due to the ability of utility-scale battery facilities to respond quickly to fluctuations in the grid.”
Neoen said this week it has more than 2.5 GW of renewable assets in operation or under construction in Australia, representing more than AUD 3.5 billion ($2.4 billion) in investment. The company aims to reach 5 GW in Australia by 2025.
pv-magazine.com |
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| From: Eric | 9/15/2022 1:25:28 PM | | | | | |
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is already sparking new activity in the energy storage field, with Goldman Sachs and Cleanhill in the lead (photo courtesy of EPC Power)
Energy Storage
Goldman Sachs Ignites Energy Storage Gold Rush
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is already sparking new activity in the energy storage field, with Goldman Sachs and Cleanhill Partners in the lead.
By
Tina Casey
Published 10 seconds ago
Tell Us What You're Thinking!
The ink has barely dried on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and at least one of the world’s top investment firms has already leveraged the law’s new tax credit for energy storage. That would be Goldman Sachs, which seems determined to ignore the rising hullabaloo over “woke capitalism” in favor of making bank off the sparkling green economy of the future.
A New Tax Credit For Energy Storage
Federal tax credits for solar and wind development have played an essential role in kickstarting the domestic renewable energy industry. Energy storage is another key element in the clean power revolution, but up until now the tax situation has not reflected the ability of standalone energy storage systems to accelerate wind and solar development.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 changed all that. The new law is a watered-down version of President Biden’s signature “Build Back Better” climate action bill. However, it still packs a powerful decarbonization punch and the new energy storage tax credit is part of the reason why.
As described by our friends over at the National Law Review, Section 48c of the IRA provides for a tax credit of up to 30% for property used in a “qualifying advanced energy project,” as certified by the US Department of Energy.
Energy storage systems come under the IRA’s expanded definition of “qualifying,” along with a long list of other things. For all the juicy details go visit NLR.
Goldman Sachs Seizes Energy Storage Opportunity
Goldman Sachs, for one, was quick to catch on to the new opportunity. Earlier this morning the US inverter supplier EPC Power Corp. announced that Goldman Sachs Asset Management has hooked up with Cleanhill Partners to stake an undisclosed sum in its end-to-end power conversion business model (undisclosed as of this writing, that is).
“The strategic investment, along with a comprehensive recapitalization, positions EPC Power to expand and deliver against rapid growth in the renewable energy storage markets while helping facilitate the U.S. economy’s clean energy transition,” EPC enthuses.
EPC also gives credit where credit is due.
“The transaction closely follows the signing into law of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which among other provisions extends a first-ever tax credit to stand-alone energy storage, creating a significant financial incentive for adopting EPC Power’s inverters and other technologies,” they added.
EPC Power bills itself as “the only U.S.-based, end-to-end power conversion solution provider, making its technology well-suited for grid-scale applications that require added layers of security.”
“EPC Power’s smart inverters are uniquely suited for applications in standalone energy storage, solar energy storage and data center backup power,” the company explains.
“Going beyond the role of traditional inverters to feed power into the grid, ‘smart’ inverters are powered by advanced software and work dynamically with the grid to increase resilience, reliability, safety and security,” they add.
Cleanhill Partners Also Piles Onto Energy Storage Pile
The hookup with Goldman also affirms Cleanhill’s prior financial stake. In addition to an underwriting role, Cleanhill — a private equity firm focusing on decarbonization — has also been guiding EPC on operational and strategic matters since last year.
The bet on the energy storage field is a good one. EPC cites BloombergNEF’s 2021 Global Energy Storage Outlook, which projects that the global stock of energy storage installations will multiply 20 times by the end of the decade, using 2020 as a starting year.
Here in the US, the Biden administration is putting a premium on made-in-America tools for the clean power transition, which gives EPC an extra advantage. The California-based company already has its first manufacturing facility up and running in San Diego County, and plans are under way to get a second facility online later this year, somewhere on the East Coast.
If you can guess where that might be, drop us a note in the comment thread. We’re thinking somewhere in the northeast, where the offshore wind power industry is about to kick into high gear. Right across the pond lies Europe, where policy makers are scrambling for alternatives to Russian gas. Although EU electrical systems don’t always jive with US standards, EPC notes that its inverters are certified to European standards and grid codes, as well as those of the US and Australia.
You Do You, Goldman Sachs
The US clean tech industry reached juggernaut status long before President Biden put his John Hancock to the Inflation Reduction Act, and the EPC news is just the beginning of a fresh torrent of investment.
A number of Republican policy makers have tried to stem the tide by evoking the “woke capitalism” canard. In their view, the ESG ( environmental, social, governance) investing trend unfairly discriminates against fossil energy companies, among others.
It’s more than a rhetorical device. Last year, legislators in Texas passed a new law that forbids public pension funds from doing business with financial firms that are found to discriminate against fossil energy companies, as determined by the state Comptroller.
The anti-ESG movement is currently focusing attention on the top asset management firm BlackRock, but other companies are already next on the woke watchlist, including Goldman Sachs.
On its part, Goldman does not seem to have gotten the memo. When the EPC deal was announced, Alexander Mass, managing director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, emphasized Goldman’s ongoing interest in the clean tech field.
“EPC Power is uniquely positioned to play a critical role in the evolution of the U.S. solar and energy storage value chains and is now well capitalized to continue its trajectory of rapid growth,” said Mass. “As the only scaled supplier of smart inverters that are designed, engineered and 100% manufactured in the U.S., EPC Power is a natural continuation of our thematic investment activity in this space, in partnership with Cleanhill Partners and EPC management.”
“GSAM [Goldman Sachs Asset Management] has over 40 individuals focused full time on ESG and impact investing, including a centralized ESG strategy team and dedicated investment professionals within portfolio management teams,” Goldman also explains on its website.
Then there’s this missive from GSAM, issued last February:
“Goldman Sachs Asset Management today announced the launch of the Goldman Sachs Bloomberg Clean Energy Equity ETF (“GCLN” or the “Fund”). The new Fund offers access to the $100 Trillion+, multi-decade clean energy investment opportunity1 by seeking to track the Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Global Clean Energy Index (the “Index”), an equity index designed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Bloomberg energy sector specialists.”
Woke, indeed. Game on.
cleantechnica.com |
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| From: Eric | 9/17/2022 2:23:55 PM | | | | | | Business Environment International Trade Local Business Local News Nation Nation & World News Northwest Science Technology
WA will be a launch pad for silicon technology to boost EV batteries
Sep. 17, 2022 at 6:00 am
Rick Luebbe, CEO and co-founder of Group14 Technologies, on the production floor of the Maltby plant outside of Woodinville this month. Group14 has gotten $441 million in investment from Porsche AG and other investors to develop lithium-ion silicon battery technology. Luebbe says that silicon can enable electric cars to travel farther between charges. It can also replace graphite now used in lithium-ion batteries. Most of the graphite comes from China. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
By
Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
MALTBY, Snohomish County — Just across the road from a cafe boasting the world’s largest cinnamon rolls is a small manufacturing plant carved out of the woods of what was once rural Western Washington.
Inside this building, carbon is infused with a silicon gas to produce a black powdery substance that high-profile investors hope will be a key component of the next generation of electric car batteries enabling them to travel farther between plug-ins, recharge more quickly and cost less.
“It’s transformational,” said Rick Luebbe, chief executive officer of Group14 Technologies, which opened the Maltby facility in 2021 and has raised $441 million in funding. The company now employs nearly 100 people, and the industrial workplace north of Woodinville has the excitement of a startup company. A research laboratory is under construction in one corner of the building even as production is underway elsewhere.
Group14 is one of more than 20 companies launched in a global quest to improve the lithium-ion battery — mainstay of the fledgling electric car industry — by including more silicon. In the United States, this effort also has been supported through taxpayer-funded federal research laboratories, including Richland-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, to help overcome technical challenges that have long limited how much silicon could be included in a battery.
Within the next decade, two companies plan to make Washington state a hub of this emerging technology. Group14, which has drawn Porsche AG as a lead investor, and Sila, an Alameda, California, company that is partnering with Mercedes-Benz, both have announced plans to open large-scale plants east of the Cascades in Moses Lake.
The two plants will draw on Grant County Public Utility District hydroelectricity as a power source and produce silicon for use in electric car batteries.
“There’s a lot of reasons why Washington state makes sense for making battery components,” Luebbe said. “The power is a huge component. It’s green and it’s inexpensive.”
The Moses Lake plants will benefit from federal tax credits signed into law by President Joe Biden this summer to bring more of the electric battery supply chain — now dominated by China — to the United States.
Automotive companies are turning to silicon as part of a broader effort to engineer lighter, more affordable, more durable and more powerful batteries as they phase out internal combustion engines fueled by fossil fuels that are spurring climate change.
Some of the equipment Group14 uses to produce a carbon-silicon product that can be used to boost the performance of a lithium-ion battery. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
The silicon technology also has applications for many other battery-powered products ranging from cellphones that could last longer between charges to drones and aircraft that could stay aloft for more hours of flight.
Group14 Maltby plant product is shipped to more than 50 customers, many of whom are evaluating the silicon for inclusion in batteries for consumer electronics, according to Luebbe. And Sila has a customer that use its silicon in batteries for a fitness monitoring device now on the market.
“Our company already has 350 people at its [Alameda] headquarters. We’re much further along, much bigger than some of these other companies,” said Gene Berdichevsky, Sila’s chief executive. “You know, the battery world is full of kind of boisterous claims that never come to pass.”
The Group14 Technologies plant in Maltby, outside of Woodinville, makes 120 metric tons annually of a silicon product for use in lithium-ion batteries. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
Why silicon?
Silicon is one of Earth’s most abundant chemical elements, found in rock and sand all over the world.
When melted and cooled in a highly purified form, it can be used in computer chips or solar panels.
For years, scientists have known that silicon also has the ability to greatly enhance the performance of lithium-ion batteries, which were first put into commercial use in 1991.
Here’s how these batteries work:
As they are charged, lithium ions flow from the positive area of the battery — know as the cathode — to the negative area known as the anode. Graphite is typically packed into the anode area to enable the storage of lithium.
Group14 infuses silicon into carbon, shown here, to create a product to improve performance of lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars and many consumer electronics. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
The lithium ions release their current — powering a vehicle — as they move back through electrolyte liquids to the positively-charged cathode.
Silicon, when packed into that same space as the graphite, can hold a lot more lithium, and that can increase the amount of energy stored in the battery.
Silicon also has drawbacks.
It swells, and that can cause the anode to crack and destroy the battery.
In a June 22 presentation, federal Energy Department researchers noted another challenge. A silicon anode is less stable than graphite.
It swells, and that can cause the anode to crack and destroy the battery.
“That’s the problem. This is something that companies and government labs and academic institutions intensely work on right now,” said Robert Kostecki, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who is involved in battery research.
Big-name companies invest
Company officials at Group14 and Sila say they have developed silicon products that can be blended with graphite — or replace it entirely — without unduly compromising battery life.
Luebbe said Group14’s proprietary technology involves building a scaffold of carbon material that keeps the silicon in a format that makes degradation a “moot point.”
“Generally, every customer we’re working with is getting the cycling they need for commercial deployment,” Luebbe said.
Dan Simms, a process operator, works on the production floor of Group14 Technologies. He has been employed at Group14 for six months; before that he worked in oil refineries and chemical plants. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
Berdichevsky said Sila’s technology, also proprietary, “achieves and exceeds” automotive industry specification even when silicon entirely replaces graphite.
Some automotive companies are betting that silicon does have an important role to play in the next generation of batteries.
Porsche AG is the lead investor in a Group14 offering that raised $400 million this year. It also has a majority stake in CellForce, a company that will use silicon to develop battery anodes.
Mercedes-Benz AG, which this year announced it’s opening a new battery plant in Alabama, invested in Sila in 2019. Then, last May, the company announced it would use the Sila silicon technology for electric G-Class vehicles that will start production in the middle of this decade.
Uwe Keller, directory of battery development at Mercedes-Benz AG, said his company is involved in extensive research with Sila’s silicon product to determine how it best can be incorporated into a next generation of batteries. But he expects Sila’s technology will boost electric car battery range by 15 to 20%.
“We have to test it by ourselves. That’s what we’re doing,” Keller said. “And that’s what counts at the end of the day.”
Berdichevsky, who worked at Tesla in its early years and co-founded Sila in 2011, said his company plans to start producing silicon product from Moses Lake to send to Mercedes-Benz in the second half of 2024.
An industry forms in Moses Lake
Silane gas — produced from metallurgical grade silicon — is a key feedstock used by Group14 Technologies. It is infused into carbon to form a product that can boost performance of lithium-ion batterie
In back of the Group14 plant at Maltby, a stack of long narrow cylinders are securely stored behind a tall chain-link fence. They contain silane, a gas formed from silicon, that is used by both Group14 and Sila to produce their next generation products for batteries.
Silane is a global commodity, shipped around the world in seagoing vessels.
In the United States, a major producer of silane gas has been REC, a company that operates a Moses Lake plant — constructed in 1984 — to produce silicon products for the solar industry.
The plant closed in 2019 amid a tumultuous market that dampened demand as China placed tariffs on the polysilicon produced at the plant. But in June, REC announced the plant would reopen in 2023 as part of a broader effort, working with the South Korean-based Hanwha Group, to produce solar panels in the U.S.
The plant takes silicon sand, and through a distillation process converts it to silane gas, which then is converted to a granular product used in making solar panels.
Most of the plant’s silane output will be dedicated to making those panels, according to a REC official. But some gas produced at Moses Lake, as well as some from another REC plant in Montana, could be made available for making the silicon battery products.
At the Maltby plant, the silane gas is injected into a carbon product that on the plant floor resembles blocks of charcoal. After quality control, the final powder ends up packed in foil bags, then stowed in big cardboard boxes for shipment.
The Maltby plant has the annual capacity to produce up to 120 metric tons of product. Group14’s Luebbe is planning for the Moses Lake plant to eventually produce up to 100 times that amount.
“Transportation is going to electrify much faster than people realize,” Luebbe said.
Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @hbernton.
seattletimes.com
My comments:
Grant County PUD and Chelan County PUD right next door have the cheapest electrical power in the United States, less than 3 cents per kWh. They own their own hydropower dams on the Columbia River.
Eric |
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| From: Eric | 9/26/2022 9:27:02 PM | | | | | | Super-fast, long-life aqueous rechargeable zinc battery
An international group of researchers has demonstrated an aqueous zinc battery with excellent performance in terms of capacity, rate capability, specific energy, and output voltage. The supercapacitor-battery hybrid device has also shown unprecedented cycling stability 99.2% capacity retention after 17,000 cycles at 100% depth of discharge.
September 26, 2022 Marija Maisch
Technology
Technology and R&D
Iran
World
Image: Tarbiat Modares University
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As demand for battery energy storage systems grows, so does the realization that not everything can hinge on single chemistry. Concerns around raw material cost and availability but also environmental footprint and safety of ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries are making room for alternative chemistries to be considered and advanced to commercialization.
Aqueous rechargeable zinc-based batteries have been explored as a promising alternative due to their low cost, safety, environmental friendliness, and intrinsic non-flammable nature. However, their widespread adoption has been held back by their low Coulombic efficiency and the notorious dendritic growth at the zinc-based anodes, along with the fast capacity fading of the cathodes.
Now, an international group of researchers led by scientists from Tarbiat Modares University (TMU) in Iran have reported a high-performance and super-long-life rechargeable zinc battery. Their device features a mixed ZnCO3 and MnCO3 grafted onto a graphene aerogel (ZMG) negative electrode and a nanotubular sulfidated Ni-Co-Fe layered double hydroxide (LDHS) positive electrode.
“The input energy required to charge the battery can be provided by renewable energy sources. Note that the voltage of the solar panel should exceed 20-30% of the working voltage of the battery for efficient charging,” Abolhassan Noori, assistant professor at the TMU Department of Analytical Chemistry, told pv magazine.
By virtue of the improved conductivity and boosted electroactivity of the developed electrode active materials, the alkaline ZMG||LDHS supercapacitor-battery hybrid device has displayed excellent performance on a variety of criteria.
It delivered excellent capacity (356 mA h g-1 cathode at 12 A g-1) and rate capability (108 mA h g-1 cathode at 300 A g-1), extremely high specific energy (568 W h kg-1 cathode), and specific power (429 kW kg-1 cathode), along with a high output voltage (1.8 V).
In addition, the device exhibited what is termed as “unprecedented cycling stability” with 99.2% capacity retention after 17,000 cycles at 100% depth of discharge, thanks to an electrochemical pulse-driven regenerative mechanism.
The outstanding high energy and high-power performances are attributed to the favorable structural features of the electrode active materials and the synergistic effects among the constituent elements as well as the pseudocapacitive character of the negative electrode, resulting in an energy storage device that “outperforms most previously reported Zn-based energy storage devices,” the researchers said in “ Super-Fast and Super-Long-Life Rechargeable Zinc Battery,”which was recently published in Advanced Energy Materials.
pv-magazine.com |
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| From: Eric | 10/13/2022 8:34:05 PM | | | | | | Global energy storage market to grow 15-fold by 2030, says BNEF
Joshua S Hill 14 October 2022 0
Powin's 72MW, 4.5 hour California 6 battery.
Energy storage installations are expected to accelerate through the remainder of the decade, reaching 411GW/1194GWh by 2030, 15 times the 27GW/56GWh of storage that had been brought online by the end of 2021.
These are the headlines from the most recent Energy Storage Market Outlook report from analysts BloombergNEF (BNEF), which increases its outlook for storage deployment by 13% by 2030.
The good news for the energy storage sector stems from recent policy changes in the United States and Europe which BNEF has calculated equates to an extra 46GW/145GWh by the end of the decade.
Prime amongst the recent policy shifts was the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the United States which, despite its name, is primarily a climate and clean energy bill that provides in excess of $US369 billion in funding for clean technologies.
The IRA and the REPowerEU
Specifically, BNEF expects the IRA to drive approximately 30GW/111GWh of energy storage through the remainder of the decade. Unfortunately, while the long-term growth is almost guaranteed, ongoing supply chain constraints leave the short-term confused.
Bolstering the long-term growth for the global storage sector was passage of the European Union’s REPowerEU plan, part of the EU’s efforts to squeeze out from continued reliance on gas from Russia.
All told, between 2022 and 2030, an estimated 387GW/1,143GWh will be added around the globe, with the United States and China set to remain the two largest markets. Together, the US and China will represent over half of global storage installations by decade’s end, though Europe will significantly ramp up its own capacity, spurred as it has been by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Just as in the US, though, short-term supply chain constraints – stemming from long-tail effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the more recent invasion of Ukraine – have pushed storage prices sky-high.
“The energy storage industry is facing growing pains,” said Helen Kou, an energy storage associate at BNEF and lead author of the report.
“Yet, despite higher battery system prices, demand is clear. There will be over 1 terawatt-hour of energy capacity by 2030. The largest power markets in the world, like China, the US, India and the EU, have all passed legislation that incentivises energy storage deployments.”
Storage focus on energy shifting
One of the key components of energy storage growth over the remainder of the decade will be so-called energy shifting projects. BNEF expects that around 61% of storage megawatts will be dedicated to energy shifting – advancing or delaying the time of electricity dispatch.
Unsurprisingly, then, co-located storage projects with renewable energy projects will become more commonplace, according to BNEF, particularly solar + storage projects.
However, customer-sited batteries will continue to grow through the decade, led by Germany and Australia, who are currently the leaders in this space. BNEF expects that, by 2030, energy storage located in homes and businesses will account for around a quarter of global installations.
reneweconomy.com.au |
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| From: Eric | 10/17/2022 6:55:51 PM | | | | | | BlackRock’s Akaysha scores coup with contract to build “world’s most powerful” battery
Giles Parkinson 18 October 2022 0
Battery storage start-up Akaysha Energy – newly purchased by US investment giant BlackRock and with big plans but no completed projects – has scored a major coup by landing the contract to built the NSW Waratah “super battery”.
The battery will be one of the biggest in the country, and the biggest “network” battery in the southern hemisphere, and will play a key role in the NSW plans to replace the country’s biggest coal generator, Eraring, when it closes in late 2025.
The Energy Corporation of NSW described the Waratah project as the “most powerful battery in the world” although it was not immediately clear how it defined that title.
Akaysha emerged as a major player several months ago with news of its purchase by a fund managed by BlackRock Alternatives’ Climate Infrastructure team and a commitment to to spend more than $1 billion of capital to help Akaysha develop up to nine advanced battery storage assets in Australia.
The Waratah Super Battery – which is to be built at the site of the demolished Lake Munmorah coal generator – will act as a “shock absorber” for the power system and it will allow for more electricity to flow through the State’s network.
EnergyNSW said Akaysha will be responsible for the construction of a battery that will be sized at least 700MW of capacity and 1400MWh of usable storage. The actual size of the battery will be 850MW and 1680MWh, to allow additional capacity to be traded on the market, including at off-peak times of the day.
“By operating as part of a System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS) to increase the transmission capacity of the existing network, the BESS will allow more power to flow from existing generators to meet the needs of the families and businesses of NSW,” the statement said.
“Some capacity will also be released at off-peak times of the day for trading. These features will place further downward pressure on the cost to electricity users in NSW.”
The battery hardware will be provided by US-based Powin LLC and built by Consolidated Power Projects Australia (CPP). Powin will provide software using the Centipede BESS platform and Stack OS control system.
“This project will be the first in a wave of Gigawatt class BESS projects across the National Electricity Market (NEM) and will play a critical role in the energy transition by unlocking many GWs of new renewable capacity,” said Akaysha managing director Nick Carter.
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| From: Eric | 10/17/2022 7:03:09 PM | | | | | | EnergyAustralia shakes off coal blues with plan for one of Australia’s biggest batteries
Sophie Vorrath 13 October 2022 2
Mt Piper coal fired power station. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
EnergyAustralia says it is investigating the feasibility of installing a big battery at its Mount Piper coal-fired power station in central western New South Wales, with the energy storage capacity to power more than 200,000 homes for up to four hours.
The Hong Kong-owned gen-tailer says the proposed 500MW/2000MWh Mount Piper battery project is in its initial feasibility stage, before moving ahead to community consultation and planning approvals.
The battery, if it goes ahead, will rank among Australia’s biggest – up there with the proposed 800MW/2000MWh “Supernode” battery project being developed by Quinbrook near Brisbane.
Daniel Nugent, EnergyAustralia’s head of portfolio development, says that using company land adjacent to the 1400MW black coal plant, will allow for the use of existing infrastructure and avoid the cost and hassle of building new overhead powerlines.
“The project would support future energy security in New South Wales as coal generation retires and more renewables enter the system,” Nugent said on Thursday.
Coal troubles strike
The plans for the Mount Piper big battery come after EnergyAustralia’s parent company, CLP Group, posted a $1.6 billion loss for the gen-tailer for the first half of 2022, off the back of unplanned coal plant outages and coal supply shortages at Mount Piper.
These troubles led to a significant downgrade of EnergyAustralia by the international ratings agency S&P Global, based on concerns around liquidity, the reliability of its ageing Yallourn coal plant in Victoria, and the future course of coal supply and prices.
In February of this year, the big-three gentailer conceded it would need to come to market – mostly likely for debt – to help fund its planned investments in battery storage, pumped hydro and green hydrogen, as it moves to a future beyond coal.
EnergyAustralia is due to close its Yallourn brown coal generator in 2028, under a secretive deal with the state government, and Mt Piper is currently scheduled to close in 2040, although most analysts believe it could close well before then.
Originally the Mount Piper plant near Lithgow was slated to keep operating until at least 2043, but in a Climate Change Statement published just over a year ago, EnergyAustralia said it would aim to transition entirely out of its coal generation assets by 2040.
Reinventing the business
In an interview in February with RenewEconomy’s Energy Insiders podcast, EnergyAustraila CEO Mark Collette said a capital raising of some sort was inevitable, given the need to invest in new technologies and the reality that, by 2030, the business will look nothing like it does today.
“No one company – (Hong-Kong based owner) CLP or anyone else – is going to be able to fund all the activities that they would like to like to do to reinvent the businesses, the zero carbon business,” Collette told podcast.
In Victoria, the utility is already working up plans for a 350MW/1400MWh big battery at Wooreen, in the Latrobe Valley, to partially replace the Yallourn brown coal generator.
Further it has dispatch agreements over the Gannawarra (25MW/50MWh) and the Ballarat (30MW/30MWh) batteries in Victoria, and has signed similar agreements with two batteries totalling 90MW and 180MWh to be built by Edify Energy at Darlington Point in south west NSW.
Also in place is a long-term energy dispatch agreement with the 250MW, 2000MWh Kidston pumped hydro storage project in Queensland, which is being built by Genex Power and is due to come on line in 2025/26.
Long duration energy storage
In NSW, EnergyAustralia was pursuing other forms of energy storage, including a pumped hydro project at Lake Lyell, which currently provides water to Mt Piper. Plans for a battery there are new.
“The BESS would be a welcome addition to the state’s growing list of big clean energy storage projects,” said Nugent on Thursday.
“If approved, it will also provide an economic boost to the Central West region and help to transform it into a renewable energy hub.”
The project will undergo further assessments and community consultation as well as seeking approval through the New South Wales planning process. If approved, the battery could be operational by the end of 2026.
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