Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

Some more grid scale storage news.

A large PV farm (4.2MWp) plus a 3MWh battery:

LG Chem supplies 7 MW battery to Ohio community

The PV+storage system will provide a range of services, thus accessing four distinct revenue streams.

Electricity network frequency regulation, grid expansion deferral, power quality improvements and peak demand shaving will all be delivered by the system, demonstrating how large scale storage can fulfill various grid needs and therefore make financial sense in certain parts of the electricity network.

“This project is a key example of how energy storage can generate tangible revenue streams while providing critical grid services,”

And looking at future rollout:

Navigant makes ‘21.6GW by 2025’ annual grid-scale storage market prediction

The power capacity of global installed front of the meter energy storage is expected to reach 21.6GW in 2015 (sic), according to a new report by Navigant Research, with one of the firm's analysts calling this exponential growth prediction "dramatic", but also realistic.

Considering current installed capacity for grid-scale energy storage is at 1.1GW, “21.6 GW of new capacity annually in 2025 represents a dramatic increase in the grid-scale storage industry," Alex Eller, Navigant Research analyst, told Energy-Storage.News.

"However, given industry expectations and other studies that have been published on the technology’s potential, these are not aggressive forecasts.”

Edit: Oh, what the hell, buy two, get one free:

On the smaller side, here's an article on SMA and Tesla for an AC side battery:

SMA launches Tesla PowerWall compatible inverter for the UK

“The Sunny Boy Storage is both a sensible extension for homeowners currently benefitting from the older/higher Feed-in Tariffs and also customers wishing to invest in new PV systems where self-consumption will be as important as the income from the current FiT,” the company states.

Mart.

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

... On the smaller side, here's an article on SMA and Tesla for an AC side battery:

SMA launches Tesla PowerWall compatible inverter for the UK

Hi

That's good ... it's the same unit I posted on when SMA were pushing out press releases a couple of months ago ....

zeupater wrote: »

.... I find this to be, by far, the most significant recent announcement related to pv & storage (also contains links to other interesting recent storage articles) ....

http://cleantechnica.com/2016/03/19/tesla-powerwall-compatible-storage-inverter-unveiled-sma/

Spec Sheet here .... http://www.sma.de/fileadmin/user_upload/SBS25-DEN1604-V10web.pdf

Good to see that country specific systems are being released already ... certainly opens up serious possibilities ...

HTH
Z

legoman62

Martyn1981 wrote: »

On the smaller side, here's an article on SMA and Tesla for an AC side battery:

SMA launches Tesla PowerWall compatible inverter for the UK



Mart.

My SMA inverter warranty ends in 5 months and I'm probably going to extend it.:D

Might ask them if I can (for a fee) upgrade to one of these if/when mine goes bang.;)

zeupater

legoman62 wrote: »

My SMA inverter warranty ends in 5 months and I'm probably going to extend it.:D

Might ask them if I can (for a fee) upgrade to one of these if/when mine goes bang.;)

Hi

Although SMA have inverters which combine pv & storage, this one is effectively a unit which sits besides your existing solar setup and offers a degree of flexibility & independence from the various battery technologies .....

HTH
Z

Martyn1981

Solar to account for 30% of all generation capacity investment until 2040

The New Energy Outlook 2016 by the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has presented an optimistic outlook for the solar PV industry, as the energy source that will have the most invested in it and the one whose costs will drop the lowest. The extensive report, which looks at all sources of energy, also forecasted drops in prices for fossil fuels, but that renewable energies will lead a fundamental transformation of the world electricity system.

Although the report highlights the falling costs of gas and coal, it is renewables which will experience the steepest drops in costs, especially solar PV. In fact, the New Energy Outlook forecasts that costs of solar PV generation per MWh will fall an incredible 60% by 2040, which will make it the cheapest way of producing electricity in most of the world by the 2030s.

With the plummeting costs of renewable energies, these technologies are expected to play a particularly important role in Europe’s energy mix by 2040, accounting for 70% of the continent’s power, according to the report. They will also make a large indent into the U.S. energy mix, going from just 14% in 2015, to 44% by 2040.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Further to a recent article on storage to 2025, here's an article looking towards 2040:

Energy storage market to grow to USD250 billion by 2040

Energy storage is being touted by many energy industry analysts as the key to achieving a global transition to clean energy, by incorporating storage technology and flexibility into future smart grids and into homes. The latest report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the New Energy Outlook 2016, has backed up this believe with forecasts that the global battery market will skyrocket over the coming years, as demand will force the prices down.

Looking at the entire global energy industry, BNEF’s report sees encouraging signs in the energy storage market, which inspired expectations of a market valued at $250 billion or more by 2040. In the shorter term, BNEF expects 25 GW of storage devices to have been deployed over the next 12 years, which, the BNEF analysts pointed out, is about the same size as today’s rooftop PV industry.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Another article on a big battery in Rwanda, but this time it's designed to maintain supply to a mini grid as the mains leccy supply there suffers several power cuts every day.

World’s largest off-grid battery system headed to Rwanda

The 2.68 MWh storage system will be supplied by German commercial system manufacturer Tesvolt, and will be connected to a 3.3 MW PV plant as part of an agricultural project.

With energy storage looking like it will be able to solve a lot of electricity headaches, German company Tesvolt has raised the bar for off-grid systems, by agreeing to supply the world’s largest off-grid battery system to Rwanda. It will be used as a mini-grid during power cuts, which are common in Rwanda.

Mart.

Martyn1981

It seems storage systems of all shapes and sizes are being rolled out around the world to test their suitability.

Here's one in New York that will use domestic PV and storage, based across 300 properties:-

SunPower, Sunverge collaborate on 4 MWh solar+storage project in New York

Virtual power plant plan will see 300 New York homes fitted with solar panels and battery to create system designed to feed stored energy to grid managed by utility, Con Edison.

This pilot program will be available to more than 300 residential customers in New York’s Brooklyn and Queens boroughs, with Con Edison targeting owner-occupied, single-family homes. Participants that sign up to lease SunPower’s solar systems (ranging from 7 kW to 9 kW) will receive a suitably sized battery from Sunverge – the company is offering its 6 kWh and 19.4 kWh storage systems.

The storage systems will be initially owned by Con Edison, enabling the utility to test real-time applications in the field and toy with peak shaving, frequency regulation and further technical capabilities.

Mart.

Martyn1981

Huge PV and battery rollout proposed for County Durham:-

North Star Solar to deliver solar plus storage to up to 22,000 homes

A huge solar plus storage project is set for the town of Stanley in County Durham, where up to 22,000 homes will have a combination of PV panels, battery storage units and LED lighting installed at no cost to residents.

The project will be delivered by North Star Solar after Joan Nicholson, chair of Stanley Town Council, came forward to take up the company’s offer on behalf of local residents. It will see the package of solutions delivered to the benefit of up to 35,000 local residents, with these costs paid pack over a 23 year period through the savings made on energy bills.

The project is still at the early stages, with the council preparing to hold a series of community meetings to find out how many of the 22,000 homes being offered the package want it. If all homes in the area are positive about the offer, North Star Solar estimates the project will cost around £140 million to deliver – an average of £6,363 per home.

[Edit/Update - This article has more details, particularly on the batteries. This is a truly huge scheme if it comes to pass:

Leclanch! and Sonnen look to deploy at scale with residential storage project

Speaking to Solar Power Portal this morning, UK country director Martin Allman said: “The size of this scheme is fairly unprecedented really as far as residential energy storage schemes go. Sonnen is a market leader for residential energy storage and it’s installed about 11,000 systems globally and most of those are in Germany.

“This kind of scheme blows that out of the water in some respects in terms of the volumes we're talking about. So to put it in to context, having a large volume scheme like this is really exciting.”

End of edit. M.]

Mart.

Martyn1981

And another surprising article on storage. Don't worry I'm starting to get bored of em all, too. Just shocked at the speed and momentum that rollout has already achieved.

Electrovaya to supply EUR199 million worth of battery modules for residential energy storage

Big things are expected from the residential energy storage market, as it positions itself to take advantage of a shift towards residential solar and a rise in demand for electric cars. Canadian energy storage company, Electrovaya, is making a name for itself as a high-quality manufacturer of lithium-ion battery modules, beating off stiff competition to secure the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) for an estimated EUR199 million (USD223 million) of its modules.

The deal is for a period of three years, with an Original Equipment Manufacturer, which Electrovaya describes as “one of the largest and fastest growing Residential Energy Storage companies in the world.” The delivery is due to begin in the fourth quarter of 2016 or for early in the first quarter of 2017.

Mart.