| From: Eric | 4/29/2024 11:43:46 AM | | | | | | New big battery trumps solar farms to become top earner for Genex as it cashes in on market volatility
Bouldercombe big battery. Source: Genex.
Sophie Vorrath
Apr 29, 2024
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Genex Power’s brand new Bouldercombe battery has quickly become the company’s biggest earner, with the 50 MW, two hour battery easily trumping the revenue earned by the company’s two operating 50 MW solar projects.
The company announced on Monday that the Bouldercombe battery earned $4.2 million of net revenue in its first full quarter of operations, after dispatching 7,152MWh of energy to the Queensland grid for an average price of $385 per megawatt-hour.
The battery, which only switched on in December last year, is the star of what Genex describes as a “very solid” quarter of revenue, totalling $9.6 million.
Another $2 million was contributed by the 50 MW Kidston solar farm in Queensland (which enjoyed a boost in its average price received of $80/MWh) and $3.4 million from the Jemalong solar farm in NSW (average price $97/MWh).
That brings the company’s total revenue for the 2024 financial year to $20 million, which is above the prior corresponding period of $19.6 million.
Genex CEO Craig Francis says the company has been “delighted” with the start made by the battery in Rockhampton, in central Queensland, which he says captured the “significant volatility” observed in wholesale electricity markets.
Francis says the Boudlercombe battery has a 20 year warranty and operations and maintenance contracts with Tesla, which means if it breaks – or catches fire – they fix it. It has also got a Tesla offtake over a term of eight years, which Francis describes as “quite an innovative, fixed and floating off-take structure.”
“Tesla is operating the plant at the moment using their autobidder algorithmic bidding technology to operate in the … control ancillary services markets and every five minutes optimising the dispatch of the plan to maximise revenue,” he said.
“They also provide us with a revenue floor guarantee and in exchange for operating the plant and providing that guarantee we share a portion of the upside.”
Source: Genex Power
Genex CFO Patrick McCarthy told an investor briefing on Monday that, while it’s difficult to predict future revenue from batteries – given the “lumpy” nature of the markets they operate in – the company had settled on a guidance of $12-$15 million a year from Bouldercombe.
“Going forward, we’re looking towards more the energy arbitrage revenue streams rather than the frequency events – and that’s just the way the market has moved as of late,” McCarthy told the webcast.
“The summer period from January to March is much higher revenues… [due to] higher volatility and higher demand for energy, you get those peak events,” he said.
“That comes off quite a bit in the in the autumn periods, but then in winter, again, we expect more volatility as higher demand picks up.
“So it is a bit lumpy – it’s a month-by-month forecast of revenues. But I think if we can kind of continue along that path, as we have been doing this last quarter, or a bit softer, we would be happy with that.”
The performance of Bouldercombe augurs well for Genex’s plans for the 400MW/1600MWh Bulli Creek big battery, which it is developing as part of a massive solar and storage hub in Queensland’s Toowoomba region.
Francis says the plan for the Bulli project is to start with the development of the first stage 775MW solar farm, including locking in a off-take deal for its output. He says the company is continuing offtake discussions with Fortescue and is confident of underpinning the solar farm.
“Those discussions are nearing conclusion which will enable us to commence the financing process imminently,” he told the webcast.
“If we were to kick that off with the battery – batteries having a much shorter procurement time – it’s likely we’d have a battery ready to plug in but no transmission infrastructure there.
“So it all works quite neatly, to focus on the solar first – to have that committed with the transmission infrastructure and the construction – and then the battery to follow in 2025 so that all all three projects… will be ready to connect into that infrastructure at about the same time.”
Meanwhile, energisation of the company’s flagship project, the 250MW/2,000MWh Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (K2-Hydro), has been pushed out from the end of this year to the first quarter of 2025.
Francis says this delay is due to a minor setback in non-critical works and the company doesn’t expect it to affect the contractual completion date, which is still set for the first half of calendar 2025.
“We’ve got a $1.1 billion fully funded portfolio of 400MW and growing, and focused on a pretty large pipeline – 2.3GW of wind, solar and battery opportunities, over a gigawatt of which we’re looking to take to a final investment decision this year,” he said.
“We’ve got …what I think is a very attractive revenue profile, highly contracted – 83% of the 400MW contracted out to 2055 with strategic exposure to merchant scenarios, including large-scale generation certificates and, importantly, with Bouldercombe, market volatility.
“How we’re looking to model the portfolio going forward is to have a highly contracted portfolio but to take discrete exposure to merchant pricing where we think it’s, it’s attractive and that’s how we’ve been operating in the past as well with with our merchant exposure.”
reneweconomy.com.au
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| From: Eric | 4/30/2024 5:21:38 PM | | | | | | Akaysha fast tracks 710 MWh of battery projects with new financing
Akaysha Energy has secured $250 million in new financing that will accelerate the development of two large-scale battery projects in Queensland set to add a combined 710 MWh of energy storage capacity to the National Electricity Market.
April 30, 2024 David Carroll
Image: Akaysha Energy
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American investment powerhouse BlackRock’s portfolio company Akaysha Energy announced the close of a $250 million (USD 163.9 million) debt raise that provides funding for the Ulinda Park and Brendale battery energy storage projects being developed in Queensland.
Construction has already commenced on the 155 MW / 300 MWh Ulinda Park battery system being built at Hopeland near Chinchilla in Queensland’s Western Downs region.
The 205 MW / 410 MWh Brendale battery is being developed in Brisbane’s northern suburbs. The site, owned by Unitywater, is next to the South Pine substation, the central node of Queensland’s electricity grid.
Melbourne-based Akaysha, acquired by investment giant Blackrock in 2022, said construction of the Brendale project, which will feature Tesla Megapack technology, is expected to start “imminently.”
U.S.-based equipment manufacturer Powin is supplying the battery technology for the Ulinda Park project while balance of plant for both projects is being delivered by Adelaide-headquartered Consolidated Power Projects (CPP).
Akaysha said the projects are expected to commence commercial operations in 2025.
The projects will provide ancillary services, such as energy arbitrage, contingency and regulation frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) to support the National Electricity Market (NEM) and its rapid expansion of solar and wind projects.
Charlie Reid, BlackRock’s co-head of climate infrastructure for Asia-Pacific, said the Ulinda Park and Brendale battery projects will significantly bolster the delivery of a stable supply of energy across the national grid.
“BlackRock has identified the transition to a low-carbon economy as one of the key mega forces driving investments around the world,” he said.
“It will likely require an investment of around USD 200 trillion in capital, presenting a substantial investment challenge.”
“This capital raise represents a significant step towards accelerating that transition, positioning Australia to establish itself as a global renewable superpower.”
Akaysha Managing Director of finance and investments Andrew Wegman said the financing will be pivotal “to supporting the energy transition and improving grid stability” as the company enters the construction phase of more than 4 GWh of energy storage projects.
“This financing unlocks capital to be recycled into the construction and development of Akaysha’s extensive pipeline of BESS projects in Australia and internationally,” he said.
Akaysha has a portfolio of nine projects proposed across the NEM, including the 850 MW / 1,680 MWh Waratah Super Battery being built at Lake Munmorah in New South Wales.
It is also developing the 415 MW / 1,660 MWh Orana battery near Wellington in central-west NSW, the 200 MW/800 MWh Elaine big battery in Victoria, the 100 MW/200 MWh Palmerston battery energy storage system in Tasmania, and the 200 MW/800 MWh Mobilong big battery in South Australia. The company has also announced plans to develop a 300 MW/1,200 MWh battery and 200 MWp solar farm near Brinkworth in South Australia’s mid-north region.
The new $250 million finance package, supported by a group of seven banks including the CBA, has a tenor of three years. The portfolio financing also provides more than $100 million of Letters of Credit to support the Ulinda Park and Brendale battery projects’ security obligations.
pv-magazine-australia.com |
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| From: Eric | 5/1/2024 9:27:09 AM | | | | | | Bowen says first battery storage tender is “massively oversubscribed” with 19,000 MW of projects
Image: Victoria Big Battery. Credit: Neoen
Giles Parkinson
Apr 30, 2024
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The first large scale auction of dispatchable capacity in Australia’s new Capacity Investment Scheme has been 32 times oversubscribed by a massive pipeline of battery storage projects.
The auction, launched last December, is seeking 600 megawatts of new dispatchable capacity, with the equivalent of four hours of storage, or 2,400 MWh, in Victoria and South Australia.
But federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen says that more than 19,000 MW of capacity was bid into the first stage of the auction process, or 32 times more than is being sought.
“The market response for this was huge. Massively oversubscribed,” Bowen said in comments released by his office ahead of a speech due to be delivered in Melbourne on Wednesday.
The result augers well for the federal government’s newly enlarged Capacity Investment Scheme, agreed by state and federal ministers last year, which will now seek 32 GW of new capacity, comprising 23 GW of wind and solar and 9 GW (and 36 GWh) of dispatchable capacity, or storage.
It is the key policy mechanism to get the country close to its target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030, which Bowen insists, as he told Renew Economy’s Energy Insiders podcast last week, is ambitious and achievable.
Bowen says that AEMO Services, which is conducting the CIS tenders across the country, has drawn up a list of shortlisted projects, which will be invited to submit financial offers before the end of May.
It is understood that the bulk, if not all, of the projects put forward in the auction are battery storage projects, as gas generators are excluded and winning projects must be operational by the end of 2027, making other storage technologies less able to compete.
It is the first, apart from an earlier expanded tender kicked off initially by the NSW government last year, of the newly enlarged CIS, and will be followed by an auction for six gigawatts of wind and solar capacity that will be launched in May, and then twice-yearly auctions of both renewable and dispatchable capacity.
The first auction focuses on Victoria and South Australia, with 200 MW and 800 MWh of capacity reserved for each state, and the remaining 200 MW and 800 MWh to go to the next best projects, in whichever state they are located.
South Australia is keen for more storage capacity as it seeks to move from its current level of 75 per cent wind and solar to its newly accelerated target of net 100 per cent renewables by 2027.
It currently hosts four operating big battery projects, with three under construction of commissioning, and needs more to replace the ageing gas plants that were built decades ago to back up coal.
Victoria has its own target of 95 per cent renewables by 2035, which will require finding the capacity to replace its three remaining coal fired power stations, Yallourn, Loy Yang A and Loy Yang B. Yallourn is due to close in 2028, and Loy Yang A by 2035.
The auction for dispatchable capacity is to be extended to Western Australian later this year, with about 500 MW to be on offer.
However, that state is already contracting more big battery projects – indeed the biggest in the country – to do a more specific task of time shifting the output of rooftop solar from the middle of the day to the evening peaks.
The success of that strategy of time shifting solar is already being seen in California, where battery storage has newly emerged as the often the biggest supplier of power in the evening peaks for periods of two and a half hours or more, with peak battery outputs of more than 6.6 GW being recorded in recent days.
Bowen says the short-listed projects in Victoria and South Australia have been chosen under “merit criteria” that focuses on the ability to provide significant system benefits, strengthen local supply chains, and promoting an efficient energysystem.
“We expect that projects will demonstrate benefits for local industry, communities, jobs and First Nations, as well as for the broader energy system and users,” he says in the speech.
“As well as delivering these benefits, it is worth noting the Capacity Investment Scheme is specifically designed to provide enough support to allow projects to operate sustainably in an environment of low energy prices.”
Bowen said more details will be released in a market brief for the tender that the department of climate change and energy will release in the coming week.
reneweconomy.com.au |
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| From: Eric | 5/1/2024 4:56:21 PM | | | | | | Sakuu’s dry-printed Cypress Li-metal batteries achieve 1,000 cycles
01 May 2024
Sakuu, a provider of commercial-scale equipment and technologies to the battery manufacturing industry, has manufactured its high-energy, high-power Li-Metal Cypress battery cell using a fully dry manufacturing process.
Sakuu has overcome the industry known challenges of Li-Metal anode chemistries in both wet and dry electrode manufacturing, as shown by its commercial-grade battery cells delivering:
- 1,000 cycles at 100% DoD to 80% SOH @ 0.3C/1C
- 800+ Wh/l Energy Density of active cell area
- 3C Sustained Discharge, 10C Peak, with full recovery
- 8C Pulse Discharge
Sakuu is reshaping the landscape of battery manufacturing through comprehensive process and product disruption. A recent analyst report from S&P Global indicated that Sakuu’s targeted energy density is expected to set a new standard in the industry for battery-cell energy density. Cypress has also recently achieved UN38.3 certification.
The biggest challenge in battery manufacturing today is producing next generation batteries cost-effectively at scale to meet demand. Manufacturing Cypress in a fully dry process with the Kavian platform is a key step in enabling high-quality solid-state batteries to be produced in high volume in the future. Leveraging dry printing will enable battery technology innovation to accelerate the adoption of EVs while eliminating range anxiety.
—Robert Bagheri, CEO and Founder of Sakuu
Printing batteries on the Kavian platform with dry-process electrode technologies:
- Eliminates all toxic solvents and materials, including NMP and PTFEs
- Eliminates all toxic solvents and materials, including NMP and PTFEs
- Cuts factory floor space requirements up to 33%
- Reduces utility costs up to 40%
- Improves factory carbon footprints up to 40%
Posted on 01 May 2024 in Batteries, Manufacturing, Market Background, Solid-state |
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| From: Eric | 5/1/2024 4:58:12 PM | | | | | | Natron begins commercial-scale operations at sodium-ion battery plant in Michigan
01 May 2024
Natron Energy has begun commercial-scale operations at its sodium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Holland, Michigan. Natron’s milestone marks the first commercial-scale production of sodium-ion batteries in the US.
These batteries offer higher power density, higher cycles, a domestic US supply chain, and unique safety characteristics over other battery technologies, and are the only UL-listed sodium-ion batteries on the market today.
Natron has invested more than $40 million to upgrade the $300-million facility and convert existing lithium-ion battery manufacturing lines to sodium-ion battery production. Contributing to this investment, ARPA-E provided $19.8 million through the Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program. ( Earlier post.)
The Holland facility will accelerate Natron’s technology commercialization while supporting more than 100 local jobs by the end of 2025 and strengthening the region’s rapidly growing clean energy manufacturing sector.
At full capacity, the Holland facility is projected to produce 600 megawatts of sodium-ion batteries annually and will serve as a blueprint for future Natron giga-scale facilities. Natron will begin battery shipments in June with an initial focus on data center customers to address the energy storage needs and 24/7 power required to support the explosive growth of Artificial Intelligence. Beyond data centers, Natron aims to transform the way businesses use industrial power across a wide range of end markets, including industrial mobility, EV fast charging, and telecom, among others.
Natron’s patented Prussian blue electrodes store and transfer sodium-ions faster, more often, and with lower internal resistance than any other commercial battery on the market today, the company says. The battery chemistry presents zero strain during charging and discharge, 10x faster cycling than traditional lithium-ion batteries, and a more than 50,000-cycle life.
Natron’s supply chain requires zero lithium, cobalt, nickel, or other difficult-to-obtain minerals.
The company has received investments from strategic customers, including Chevron and Nabors Industries.
Posted on 01 May 2024 in Batteries, Manufacturing, Market Background, Na-ion
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| From: Eric | 5/2/2024 8:15:15 AM | | | | | | Contract awarded for works on new 2,000 MWh battery in coal centre
Giles Parkinson
May 2, 2024
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The Western Australian government has announced that a $160 million has been awarded to the listed SCEE Electrical for works at on the Collie big battery being built by the state owned electricity company Synergy.
The 500 MW, four hour (2000MWh) battery will be one of the biggest in Australia, and the world, when completed before the end of 2025, although it will pipped for the title by another battery being built by Neoen just a few kilometres down the road.
Both batteries, along with big batteries being built at Kwinana and Wagerup, are being contracted with the specific task of time shifting the output of rooftop solar into the evening peak, and helping manage the transition from coal to a grid with a majority share of wind and solar.
Collie has been the centre of the state’s coal generation for decades, providing up to half the state’s electricity needs. But this has fallen to around 30 per cent now and will reduce to zero with the closure of the remaining state-owned coal units by 2029, and the likely closure of the last privately owned generator expected within a few years.
The $160 million contract awarded to SCEE Electrical is for civil, electrical and major equipment installation works for the Collie battery.
The works will include installing and commissioning about 640 battery container units, 160 inverters and 220 kilometres of high-voltage cabling, as well as managing a laydown facility at the Port of Bunbury.
The project is expected to create up to 500 jobs at the peak of construction.
“Synergy’s Collie battery will be a major piece of infrastructure when complete and will play a critical role in Western Australia achieving net zero emissions by 2050,” state energy minister Reece Whitby said in a statement.
Jodie Hanns, the local MLA representing the electorate of Collie-Preston, said Collie has played an important role in the energy sector over the past century, and will “continue to be at the heart of the energy system well into the future.”
reneweconomy.com.au
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| From: Eric | 5/10/2024 5:48:14 PM | | | | | | Concrete slab awaits 444 Tesla Megapacks at Melbourne’s giant battery project
Artist impression of Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub battery. Image: Equis.
Sophie Vorrath
May 10, 2024
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Storage>Batter
The concrete is poured and ready for the delivery of the 444 Tesla Megapack modules that will make up one of the biggest grid-scale batteries in Australia, at the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub in Victoria....
The rest of the story:
reneweconomy.com.au
My comments:
This looks to be Tesla's largest Megapack installation to date in Australia!
Projects are getting bigger and bigger.
Eric |
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| From: Eric | 5/14/2024 5:28:47 PM | | | | | | Spain’s storage deployments hit 495 MWh in 2023
According to new data from trade body UNEF, Spain reached 1.823 MWh of cumulative storage capacity at the end of December 2023.
May 14, 2024 Pilar Sánchez Molina
Image: Suministros Orduña
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From pv magazine Spain
According to data from Spanish solar energy association UNEF, around 495 MWh of behind-the-meter storage capacity was installed in Spain in 2023, with residential installations accounting for around three-quarters of the total.
With these new additions, the country reached 1.823 MWh of cumulative storage capacity at the end of December
These figures, according to UNEF, show that the storage business is gaining traction in the Spanish renewable energy market.
“At UNEF we consider it essential to continue working hand in hand with companies and public institutions to draw up an adequate strategy that will allow us the definitive boost that behind-the-meter storage needs,” said José Donoso, general director of UNEF. “We have to continue working on the creation of schemes of financing that allow this type of facilities to be made more competitive, such as VAT exemption or tax deductions.”
Donoso added that in the coming years, batteries could have the same importance as solar panels themselves.
UNEF said that the bankability of battery storage projects has been affected by a significant decline in electricity prices on the Spanish spot market, which also slowed down the distributed-generation solar business across the country.
“Batteries are usually installed with rooftop PV systems,” the association said.
Spain's cumulative installed PV capacity reached 25.54 GW at the end of December 2023. Last year, the nation deployed 5.59 GW of new solar power.
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| From: Eric | 5/15/2024 7:37:09 PM | | | | | | China switches on first large-scale sodium-ion battery
China Southern Power Grid has deployed a 10 MWh sodium-ion battery in China’s Guangxi Zhuang region. It is the first phase of a 100 MWh project.
May 15, 2024 Pilar Sánchez Molina
Image: China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage
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China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage, the energy storage division of China Southern Power Grid, has commissioned a 10 MWh sodium-ion battery storage station in Nanning, southwestern China.
The company said the facility is the first large-scale project of its kind in China, and the first phase of a 100 MWh global project.
“China has put into operation the first large-scale storage station with sodium-ion batteries, marking a new era for low-cost batteries for large-scale use,” said China Southern Power Grid in a statement.
The 10 MWh sodium ion battery energy storage station features 210 Ah sodium ion battery cells that can be charged to 90% in 12 minutes, according to the company. The system consists of 22,000 cells.
“Compared with lithium-ion batteries, the raw material reserves of sodium-ion batteries are abundant, easy to extract, low cost and have better performance at low temperatures, so they have obvious advantages for large scale energy storage,” the company stated. “With these batteries, storage cost can be reduced by 20% to 30%, and the cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity may be reduced to CNY 0.2 ($0.0276).”
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