Alternate energy has this one major flaw. It is very weather dependent. It depends so much on whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. If either reduces in intensity or stops so does its respective energy output.

Since this form of energy conversion has an element of randomness it needs a backup system. Like harvest days of old, you had to store your grain if you were to get through the winter. So while the sun shines and the wind is blowing, these key alternate energy devices must make hay, metaphorically speaking. To make the most of the sun or wind, the unused energy must be converted and stored. To date the best means of storage is over 100 years old, the lead acid battery.

Permit me, s’il vous plait, and divert for a moment to point out that there are many other forms of storage. For example, there is electrolysis that can produce hydrogen; there is water storage where power plants during their idling time, pump water into a reservoir, which in turn runs a turbine during peak times; and heat storage in salt beds where thermal mass is needed, for example, to heat a space at night. These means are less productive and not used on a grand scale.

As for batteries the diversity is just too numerous and complex for this article. I would not even scratch the surface in the space here. Battery research is omnipresent; some new material or chemistry comes out nearly everyday. However, I would like to ask you to keep graphene in mind. I believe it will be the ubiquitous atomic structure of the future. Even though it’s “just” another form of carbon, it will be these technologies that will someday make electrical energy storage fast, lightweight, and sustainable both in structure and output.

The most readily used means of electrical energy storage today is the battery. There are many types of batteries. In general the main problem with these storage systems is their lack of capacity. Additionally, battery systems are very bulky, they need maintenance and they can be a fire hazard. They also require a relatively long time to charge. The Carter administration proposed multifuel vehicles, this when Elon Musk was in grade school. One of these multifuels considered were batteries.

However, politics got in the way of advancing battery technology. Ronald Reagan stopped the funding for Carter’s energy projects and increased funding for fossil fuel and nuclear research. If it weren’t for Elon Musk and the advent of portable devices in proliferation today, battery advancement would still be stuck where it was 10 years ago. It should be noted that Edison’s iron nickel battery is still the most durable design to date. Some of his batteries are still in use today, 100 years later. I am considering them for my own solar power backup. However they are quite expensive. Lead acid batteries are by far the safest, most affordable, and most reliable electrical energy storage system to date. This technology’s origins are arguably over 200 years old. Batteries were discovered in Baghdad, possibly as far back as 2,000 years. It is believed they were used for electroplating. How they came into being is yet to be discovered. Even more mysterious is why did they disappear?

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Powervault and Renault are placing 50 home storage units into UK households already fitted with solar arrays. The trials will incorporate second-life EV batteries provided by the carmaker to reduce the cost of the unit by 30%.

Renaults programme director for EV batteries and infrastructures Nicolas Schottey said: “Thanks to this home energy storage partnership with Powervault, Renault is adding a new element into its global strategy for second life batteries, which already covers a large number of usages from industrial to residential building and districts. 

“The second life use not only gives additional life to electric vehicle batteries before they are recycled, but also allow consumers to save money. It’s a win-win-win: for EV owners, home-owners and the planet.”

The units will be provided to homes of M&S Energy customers, a community-tariff arm of the retailer, Hyde residents, social housing tenants and in schools in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. M&S Energy, which has been supplying 100% green electricity since 2015, will reach out to consumers to discuss their interest in participating.

Aimed at creating the “tipping point” for a mass-market roll-out of energy storage in the UK, the partnership explores the technical performance of second-life batteries and customer reactions to the concept.

Renault EV batteries typically have a lifetime of eight to 10 years. Through the trials, these batteries are removed from vehicles, unpacked and then graded before being integrated into smaller battery packs. Through the Powervault system, the batteries are given an estimated 10 years of additional life use.

Storage scores

Powervault believes that the smart meter rollout will make all of the 26m UK homes eligible for the system, regardless of whether they have solar arrays equipped. The company has launched a crowd-funding page on CrowdCube to raise equity for the systems.

Renault is the latest established car manufacturer to venture into this field. In April 2017, Daimler attempted to replicate Tesla’s energy storage plans through the Mercedes-Benz brand, which wants to introduce a “private energy revolution” to UK.

Elsewhere, BMW is using energy storage as a crux for its new operating model, which focuses heavily on the circular economy.

At the forefront of the EV transition is Japanese carmaker Nissan, which is trialling vehicle-to-grid energy systems in the UK, through a partnership with the National Grid.

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Prioritising behind-the-meter value

The US state of California’s Senate has approved a bill that would provide rebates to customers for the purchase of energy storage systems, bringing the legislation a step closer to introduction.

The bill, SB 700, was introduced by Democratic Senator Scott Wiener, along with SB 71, which is a mandate for new buildings to include rooftop solar in their construction. Both passed the Senate by a 23-13 vote and are now to be passed over to the State Assembly for consideration.

SB 700 is designed to encourage the use of energy storage to load shift solar, particularly for use at night. It should help the state mitigate its famous “duck curve”, the graphical representation of solar overproduction in the morning until early afternoon and lack of solar to meet demand in the evening peak. Smoothing and shifting solar generation loads into the late afternoon and early evening would cut into that difficult peak of demand, when normally solar would not be able to cover it.

“By supporting and incentivizing the development of better and more efficient energy storage technologies, SB 700 will reduce the costs for energy storage just as previous rebate programs did for solar power,” a statement from Scott Wiener’s office said.

Also known as the Energy Storage Initiative, SB 700 would take money authorised for the state’s existing SGIP (Self-Generation Incentive Programme), which is due to expire in 2019, and add a separate energy storage programme, which would be in place until 2027. Securing funding for a whole decade would add stability to an energy storage market and help bring down costs. The bill also stipulates that 30% of the rebate is reserved for low income residential and disadvantaged communities and for job training and workforce development.

“California can continue to lead the clean energy revolution that is cleaning our air and staving off the worst impacts of climate change. We can’t continue to use fossil fuels when we have better options.  SB 700 allows solar power to work at night,” Dan Jacobson, state director of non-profit Environment California said.

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Updates in the compressed air energy storage (CAES) market are hard to come by. Although the technology was proven viable years ago, actual utilization hasn’t occurred for a number of reasons. Geology, however, is the biggest culprit.

Traditional designs for compressed air energy storage have air sealed inside pressurized salt caverns. Finding a large enough cavern that can also withstand the pressure without leaking is difficult. As Julian Spector, Staff Writer at Greentech Media said, “It’s not exactly a buyer’s market.”

This doesn’t mean several organizations haven’t tried pursuing the technology. The reality is, however, that lithium-ion batteries have a majority of the energy storage market on lockdown.

But Hydrostor, the advanced compressed air energy storage company based in Canada, is putting its money on a proprietary solution to shake up the market: it’s called Terra.

While a small industrial building is the only visible footprint Terra leaves, the underground grid-scale, long-duration storage asset could have a huge impact on the market in the relatively near future.

The President and CEO of Hydrostor, Curtis VanWalleghem, wants Terra to be used to offer cheap grid electricity and discharge when needed, and perform transmission decongestion and renewables integration roles.

Is all of this a little over your head? No worries. Here are six aspects of the Terra tech that you need to understand.

The New System is Already Bankable

With $10 million in equity, around $10 million in government grants, and revenue from its first project in Ontario running another $10 million, Hydrostor has laid a strong business foundation before officially launching Terra.

But this on its own is not enough to attract the big-ticket clients away from reliable lithium-ion storage. To prove they not only had the resources but the reliability, Hydrostor partnered with a couple industry leaders.

AECOM joined forces with the company after an extensive review of operational data from the pilot project and market analysis. What’s more, this multi-billion dollar company has guaranteed Terra’s projects for over 30 years. The lifetime of a lithium-ion battery is a fraction of that.

Canoe Financial, a privately owned investment manager, has committed to project financing. The backing from both firms makes the Terra projects financially bankable.

That’s crucial for the kinds of customers the firm is courting: primarily large, traditional utilities.

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Stem

May 31, 2017, Sacramento – The California Senate passed a bill that would give consumers more access to clean energy and provide the next critical piece for California to achieve its aggressive greenhouse gas and renewable energy goals. SB 700, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would increase availability of local, customer-sited energy storage for schools, farms, businesses and homes.

“In California, we are pushing aggressive renewable energy goals because we know that fighting climate change means taking action now,” said Senator Wiener. “This bill will push us down the path to 100% renewable energy. To meet our goals, we need solar, storage, and other renewable energy resources in every city and neighborhood in California, not just those that can afford it. This bill will transform energy storage so that all can reap the benefits of clean, renewable energy.”

SB 700 would create a 10-year rebate program designed to grow the California local storage market and make storage more affordable for consumers. The rebates would step down as more storage systems are installed and economies of scale are achieved, thereby driving down the installed cost of the systems. Local energy storage enables the integration of large amounts of renewable energy, creates value for consumers by helping them save money on energy bills, and increases grid reliability.

“Thanks to the leadership of Sen. Scott Wiener, Californians are one step closer to taking control of their clean energy future,” said Laura Gray, energy storage policy advisor with the California Solar Energy Industries Association. “This bill would allow homes, businesses, schools and public buildings to use solar and renewable energy at all hours of the day and night. Using a combination of solar and storage, consumers will make the sun shine at night.”

“Energy storage is an essential tool to enable Californians to participate in achieving the Golden State’s critical renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals and to curb our reliance on natural gas peaker plants,” said Michelle Kinman, clean energy advocate with Environment California, the sponsor of SB 700. “With uncertainty on climate action at the federal level, it is even more important that California is now one step closer to demonstrating its clean energy leadership by transforming the energy storage market.”

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Many organisations have to manage critical power supplies with technology that can provide full UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) functionality, due to the increasing number of brownouts and blackouts the electricity network is experiencing.

Alongside resilience, rising energy prices are also a cause for concern for many businesses.

Meanwhile, peak network charges for both the transmission system (Triad) and the distribution network (DUoS) are increasingly significant costs.

Battery-based energy storage systems can help mitigate network costs while providing UPS – and are already doing so for many businesses. They enable electricity storage from either the National Grid at times of low demand, or directly from renewable sources, for use at peak times or when required.

VIRTUE, Powerstar’s energy storage system, is one such solution. It can provide full UPS capabilities, alongside greater control and flexibility of electricity usage, and the potential to access grid incentives such as Demand Side Response (DSR) schemes. The award-winning solution can be integrated with renewable generation, allowing companies to save and store electricity generated locally; reducing demand on the National Grid, the strain on the network and lowering carbon emissions.

The adoption of energy management solutions such as VIRTUE can act as a safeguard and offer a ‘future proof’ UPS solution for sites with critical power supplies such as data centres or medical facilities, which have an ever-growing amount of vital electrical equipment.

Correctly designed to the specifications of a facility’s needs, VIRTUE can easily be scaled to match growing demand, with capacity increased by simply installing additional batteries.

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Advances in energy storage technology will lead to a huge transformation of the Middle East and Africa’s energy market in the next decade.

Battery technology has the potential to give countries their own self-sufficient, 24-hour electricity generation systems. That in turn will have a huge impact on the price of energy and the region’s economy in a wider context.

Between 2011 and 2015 China’s capacity of solar module production increased by six times. It was a huge contributor in the decline of the cost of solar. That same type of increase is occuring in lithium-ion batteries today. Between 2016 and 2020 we’re looking at a six-fold increase in lithium-ion battery capacity.

We’re seeing massive declines in the cost of solar-plus-storage and that means we’re moving towards a renewable baseload energy system.

Currently in the Middle East and North Africa we have a grid which relies on multiple energy elements, like solar, gas, oil and coal.

In the next 10 years we’re going to be at the point where, for about US$0.05/kWh we’ll be producing 24-hour electricity, very consistently and eliminating the need to import things like coal from other countries to balance the grid.

That becomes a huge value proposition with countries producing their own energy without having to depend on foreign sources. The benefits of countries producing their own energy without having to depend on foreign sources is huge and that’s not even touching on the environmental impact.

The advancement of storage technologies, particularly in the context of use with solar, is going to lead to a huge transformation of the way we approach energy in the next 10 years.

However, there are other factors to consider. For example, the cost and value of oil is likely to be affected if countries can create consistent energy from solar and batteries. As a region that is dependent on the revenues of oil – we need to understand the implications of this.

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