This may sound like a skipping record. (For those of you who remember what a record is anyway.) I’ve said it over and over. Intermittent renewable energies need energy storage. Badly. To compete with 24/7 fossil fuel and nuclear power, wind, solar, tidal or wave energies need to be linked energy storage devices or facilities Continue reading →
energy storage
The construction of a chief battery energy storage station has been achieved by State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) and the BYD. Located in Zhangbei, Hebei Province, this large utility-scale project integrates 140 MW of renewable energy generation including solar and wind, a smart power transmission system as well as a 36 MWh of energy Continue reading →
The Federal Regulatory Energy Commission recently passed a mandate to support energy storage technologies that can provide quick bursts of power to the grid to help it run more smoothly. This new rule could play a crucial role in nurturing the growth of the young energy storage market, though energy storage companies won’t be the only beneficiaries Continue reading →
Axion Power International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: AXPW), the developer of advanced leadcarbon PbC® batteries and energy storage systems, announced today that its PowerCube™ battery energy storage and battery system is being integrated as a power resource for the PJM Regulation Market, which serves 58 million people in all or parts of 13 states and Continue reading →
I was among those who reviewed the California Energy Commission’s recently released “2020 Strategic Analysis of Energy Storage in California” report, referenced in Phil Carson’s column last week, “Energy Storage, EVs and Collaboration.” I was listed as an “advisor” to the CEC process that produced the report. In his column, Carson lamented that dissenting views Continue reading →
East Penn Manufacturing Co., Inc., and its subsidiary Ecoult, announces the launch of Public Service Co. of New Mexico’s (PNM) Prosperity Energy Storage Project in Albuquerque, NM. This project integrates an Advanced VRLA (Valve-Regulated Lead-Acid) and UltraBattery energy storage solution with a separately installed 500 kW solar plant. Its purpose is to provide simultaneous voltage Continue reading →
I READ BILL GATES’ OBSERVATION about batteries in a book review of Daniel Yergin’s new opus, The Quest. Gates has pointed out that all the batteries in the world can store no more than 10 minutes of the world’s energy needs. Increase that capacity exponentially and renewables will become pervasive – and a source of Continue reading →
ZBB Energy Corp. and its South Korean partner have shipped the joint venture’s first energy storage and power control system to Jeju Island in South Korea, the proving ground for a national smart-grid initiative in that country. The system from ZBB and Honam Petrochemical will be used in testing the distribution of electricity generated by Continue reading →
Energy storage is a critical piece of the clean energy. While some think widespread adoption of EVs and smart grid technology are more important, energy storage is clearly going to play a bigger role in the future of our energy infrastructure. Here’s the intro to a great piece on energy storage over on Grist. via Continue reading →
I had the pleasure this week of attending two conferences, the ESAT conference on energy storage systems in San Diego and the Great Lakes Symposium on Smart Grid in Chicago. Both conferences were excellent. But I finished the week with an uneasy feeling that while smart grid advocates and storage advocates are both trying to Continue reading →
Ontario’s Hydrogenics has won a contract to supply a hydrogen production, storage and fuel cell system to the German city of Herten, the Mississauga-based company announced today. Developing the means to manage intermittent electricity generation from wind power farms has been a key challenge for grid operators, one that Herten city officials decided was best Continue reading →
The city of Rome, Italy is poised to welcome electric cars to its streets, according to Toshiba. The electronics giant announced this week that its Italian subsidiary Ansaldo Transmissione & Distribuzione S.p.A (Ansaldo T&D) won a contract to supply a smart grid distribution system to ACEA Distribuzione S.p.A (Gruppo ACEA), one of Italy’s leading public Continue reading →
A predicted boom in the use of smart grids is set to drive massive demand for lithium ion batteries. While the batteries are already present in many consumer electric devices, IHS reckons that lithium ion storage systems will become commonplace. via Smart grid boom swells Lithium ion demand 80 fold – Here be billions | Continue reading →
S&C Electric’s lithium-ion-based community energy storage system (CES) will be installed at customers’ homes in an AEP Ohio test project for the technology. The storage systems will provide CES-equipped customers up to several hours of backup power during outages. And eMeter, in collaboration with utility CPS Energy, announced that it has successfully integrated its EnergyIP® Continue reading →
Aquion Energy, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of revolutionary batteries and energy storage systems, today announced it has closed a $30 million round of venture financing. Foundation Capital led the round with participation from returning investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as well as new investors Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) and TriplePoint Capital. Coincident with Continue reading →
Powergetics has called itself an “intelligent energy storage system.” The firm just had its first close on a round A of $10.2 million from the The Angeleno Group and Greener Capital. (Here’s a link to the SEC document.) via Stealthy Powergetics Wins $10.2M in VC for Energy Storage : Greentech Media.
Wouldn’t it be great if the solution to integrating renewable energy technologies into the smart grid was as simple as a magic black box that had the ability to deliver 60-Hz AC power in a constant, perfect sine wave, no matter we put into it? That magic box looks like it might be real, and Continue reading →
The 2011 NAATBatt Annual Meeting and Conference concluded last Thursday in Louisville. The program was a great success. A wide range of speakers and panels touched on issues of great importance for the industry, including secondary use of EV batteries, distributed energy storage, battery recycling, new technologies in traction batteries and distributed energy storage systems, Continue reading →
Hi-tech battery supplier Saft will supply renewable energy storage for California’s very first micro-grid, distributed energy community housing project. Named 2500 R Street, the advanced houses will use state of the art technologies in smart grid, solar generation, and energy storage so that each and every house generates as significantly clean energy as it uses. Continue reading →
Large-scale batteries have an increasing role to play in smoothing out the integration of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy into power grids, according to battery-maker Saft. The company is displaying a number of its latest battery innovations at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference in Hamburg. via Large-scale batteries can boost solar’s role: Saft | Energy.
