New and improved grid-scale energy storage technologies are gaining popularity. Pumped hydro storage is efficient, but installations are expensive and time-consuming to build. Lithium-ion batteries are common in small applications, but building large-scale lithium-ions remains prohibitively expensive. Ultracapacitors and flow batteries have their niche uses. And some cutting-edge solutions aggregate many small amounts of storage, whether from electric vehicle batters, uninterruptible power supplies, or the thermal storage embodied in water heaters. Scroll down for insight into this important sector.
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While energy storage at the distribution substation level isn't big news (or big business) in the smart grid investment environment now, IMS Research predicts revenues will show impressive growth in the sector over the next several years – to the tune of an annual average rate of 50%. Read the story to find out why.
Brian Warshay of Lux Research outlines the highlights of a California Public Utilities Commission proposal for an energy storage policy that lays out the barriers to storage adoption – and a roadmap to deal with them. Get the lowdown on why stakeholders should be keeping an eye on this one.
Industry heavyweights ABB and Nissan and others are partnering to test retired lithium-ion battery packs from Nissan Leaf EVs for commercial and residential energy storage applications. Click to read how the companies hope to get a second bang for the buck out of the batteries.
Want to see the future of smart grid storage? Look to China, which just completed a project that uses a 36 MWh energy storage system to integrate 140 MW of wind and solar, making it the country's largest smart grid storage facility and, as SGN Analyst Jesse Berst suggests, a potential template for smart grid storage efforts in the U.S. Click to learn why.
Earlier this year FERC approved a request by the PJM Interconnection to allow for small-scale assets down to 100 kW to participate in frequency regulation applications. The move opened the door for Viridity Energy and Enbala Power Networks to initiate demand-side regulation projects that could respond to grid signals on a second-by-second basis. What does it mean for traditional DR and energy storage? Brian Warshay of Lux Research offers a perspective.
A California solar company with agreements to supply power to Southern California Edison is adding thermal energy storage technology to several of its CSP plants. The storage units will store solar power during the evening when the sun is no longer shining but demand is up. Politicians and engineers alike are welcoming the move. Find out why.
If Congress approves the STORAGE Act introduced earlier this month, Lux Research analyst Brian Warshay says it would not only encourage more large-scale grid storage projects, but do wonders to promote grid storage initiatives paired with intermittent renewable energy generation systems. But will lawmakers go for the investment tax credits the legislation allows?
What is the only form of energy that's price has remained relatively stable for the past 40 years? According to the CEO of thermal energy storage company CALMAC, the answer is off-peak electricity. With its 4,000 installations in 35 countries, Mark MacCracken says CALMAC is scooping up the low-hanging fruit.
Brian Warshay of Lux Research recaps a miserable month for energy storage – a battery company fire, a Nasdaq delisting and a flywheel manufacturer's bankruptcy. But it's not a big black mark for grid storage; it's part of growing up for new markets. Click inside for more of his insights.
Massachusetts-based flywheel maker Beacon Power is the latest DOE Recovery Act loan recipient to file for bankruptcy. This comes just days after the White House announced it has ordered an independent probe of DOE's loan portfolio. Click inside for details.
The outlook has been skeptical around energy storage for mass adoption on the electric grid due to poor balances of cost and benefits. As a result, Lux Research analyst Steve Minnihan says many stakeholders are looking toward regulatory action to alter the market landscape and make room for storage. He's got details inside.
It's almost a given that energy storage is critical for wringing the most value out of intermittent renewables like wind and solar energy. But is it absolutely necessary? A panel discussion at the Smart Energy International conference this week yielded some very different answers to the question. Click inside for some interesting takes on the issue.
A promising venture is underway in West Virginia with the commercial operation of AES Laurel Mountain – a 98 MW wind farm co-located with grid-scale energy storage that is supplying renewable energy and reserve capacity to the PJM Interconnection. Click inside for more on that plus a look at how wind projects are providing some really big benefits.
The Cleantech Group announced its top 100 clean technology innovators earlier this month, but this week at the Smart Energy International conference in San Francisco they zeroed in on the top three startups they believe have the potential to disrupt smart energy in the years to come. We were there, and have details on all three.
The folks at Innovation Observatory have compiled a list of the top 14 companies supplying lithium-ion batteries for grid-scale storage. Click inside to see their overview and the annotated list.
CODA, the LA-based electric vehicle and battery company, has made a series of moves to prepare for a major foray into grid storage. They include a new round of financing ($147 million!), the purchase of a battery software company and the hiring of a big-name industry veteran to run the division. Click to read the details along with Jesse Berst's thoughts about the company's prospects and challenges.
The country's first solar energy storage plant that is fully integrated into the electric grid has just gone online in New Mexico. The plant can produce 500 kilowatts of power and its battery storage system can even out electrical supply to compensate during times when clouds block sunlight from its solar array. There's more on the story inside.
Who doesn't like to take a peek at what someone else is doing to make their piece of the grid smarter? Click inside to learn about six smart grid projects that are tackling some tough issues – from outage management to EV range anxiety to storing renewable energy.
Discovery Showcase is our opportunity to share some of the emerging, let's say "edgier," technologies emerging as the smart grid evolves. For instance, a lot of incredibly smart researchers and scientists are very excited about graphene, a material that many are saying can revolutionize smart grid technologies. Read the story and let us know if you think they're onto something.
ABB will use International Battery's lithium-ion batteries as part of a distributed energy storage system it is developing for a Swedish utility. Click inside for more on the smart grid storage system and SGN Chief Analyst Jesse Berst's take on this application of lithium-ion technology.
If energy could be cached at home, in the utility and in the cloud it would benefit from the ability to tie into the social network. Carl Ford explores this idea in an excerpt from TMCnet.com.
Lux Research analyst Steve Minnihan sheds some light on the current maneuvering in the lithium-ion battery arena – and yes, it's heating up. Read the story and his insights on why strategic partnerships are so important for companies that want to be winners in a growing field of competitors.
If renewables are our energy future, energy storage is going to play a leading role. But which of the multiple flavors of storage technologies will emerge as most reliable, most scalable and most cost-efficient? Click inside for a look at six intriguing contenders and three fresh research reports.
In this Smart Grid Insights report, Zpryme details how demand-side management, energy storage, distributed generation, and even customer-sited generation is effecting the deployment of the smart grid.
Acknowledging the variety of technologies available on the market and increasing demand, the Texas Institute has put together a breakdown of storage technologies that fall under two categories – uninterruptible power supply (UPS) applications, and energy grid applications.
We're getting mixed signals about the vitality of the smart grid market. On the one hand, the recent DistribuTECH conference was one of the most successful ever. On the other, a well-known Wall Street analyst recently told his clients that the smart metering sector is "facing several headwinds," including weak regulatory support in the U.S. and delays in European adoption. Taking the pulse of the smart grid industry is this week's Tuesday Topic.
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