Photos taken during the 2012 Hurricane Sandy disaster almost literally turned the spotlight onto microgrids.

Images posted on social media and in the news during the storm showed swaths of Manhattan plunged into darkness as power outages cut off electricity to large parts of America’s biggest city.

Just as striking, however, were blossoms of light visible against the otherwise black skyline.

Many of these lighted outposts had separated from the grid and were now generating electricity on their own. These microgrids were islands of light in a sea of darkness. Facilities such as hospitals were able to provide critical services both during and after the storm because of microgrids.

Now, Ameren Corp. has completed a $5 million microgrid at its Technology Applications Center adjacent to the University of Illinois campus in Champaign, Ill. The facility is one of the only utility-scale microgrids in the United States that serves live customer loads on an actual utility distribution feeder.

If the grid-connected electric distribution line fails or is knocked out by a storm, the Ameren microgrid is intended to seamlessly transition to island mode and provide 180 residences and 12 commercial buildings with power from dedicated wind, solar, and natural gas resources, backed up by a bank of lithium-ion batteries.

The microgrid, which has already been show to work as intended, will now be tested in order to learn how it can improve electric reliability, says Ron Pate, Ameren Illinois senior vice president of Operations and Technical Services. It also will be tested to receive and respond to market price signals, potentially adding value to still wider microgrid deployment.

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The DOE’s SHINES program is part of the agency’s Grid Modernization Initiative that aims to improve the resiliency, reliability and security of the nation’s power grid. SHINES itself is the first DOE funding program that looks exclusively at connecting renewable power to storage.

Austin Energy’s $4.3 million SHINES grant is the largest of six projects that have won a total of $18 million of awards the DOE program. The utility must also meet its renewable energy target of 55% by 2025.  

Younicos, working with the Austin project’s prime contractor, Doosan GridTech, is deploying its Y.Q software platform, which will communicate with Doosan’s Intelligent Controller using the Modular Energy Storage Architecture (MESA) open standard. Younicos says the seven Y.Cubes and Y.Converters represent being deployed on the project represent the company’s largest Y.Cube deployment in the U.S. to date.

The battery system will be sited in an east Austin neighborhood near both residential and commercial buildings and has been designed with multiple thermal management subsystems for maximum safety.

“Integrating energy storage with solar is becoming essential as we achieve our utility’s goal of 55% renewable energy by 2025,” Karl Popham, Austin SHINES principal investigator and manager of emerging technologies at Austin Energy, said in a statement. “The Austin SHINES program is more than a technical pilot; it is phase one of a larger rollout to maximize the value of distributed energy resources for our customers and the utility.”

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Called SkelGrid, the system is based on the firm’s curved graphene ultracapacitor technology, which is designed to provide high power and energy density.

Taavi Madiberk, CEO of Skeleton Technologies, writes:

“In the semiconductor and electronics industries power quality is of utmost importance. A power outage lasting for under a second can damage all the products on the production line, and the losses are compounded by the unavoidable downtime of clearing the backlog and setting everything up again. On average, our customers face one such event per year.”

The SkelRack power storage modules can be installed in industry standard 19-inch deep cabinets, and in 20 or 40 ft. containers to provide short-term power at the megawatt level.

The system has maximum power ratings ranging from 520 kW up to 1500 kW.

“In diesel generators, SkelGrid is ideally suited for starting and to bridging power until the gensets are online and synchronized with the grid,” said Madiberk.

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Many of the innovations happening in the energy sector involve solving intermittency issues brought to the table by renewable energy darlings like photovoltaic solar and wind generation.

With photovoltaic solar providing the bulk of its energy during off peak hours and wind turbines unable to generate anything on a windless day, the energy sector has its work cut out for it to improve the reliability of a new generation of energy producers.

Energy storage — which has been called the secret sauce to solar — could be the answer to those problems. But energy storage needs to be coupled with smart and micro-grid implementations and, of course, a diverse energy portfolio.

“I think now is the time to be investing in alternative technologies that have the ability to deliver what is actually required, as opposed to just deliver based on a mandate or a feel-good exercise,” says Chris Davey, president at EnviroMission, a solar tower developer, and co-executive director of the Arizona Energy Consortium.

Unique places, unique deals

It’s not as sexy as new ways to power your home, but new types of deal structures and ways of financing projects make energy projects unique and challenging prospects.

Not only that, but these new ways to generate power can tie in with the idea of a smart city, where energy generation is implemented into various parts of the community.

Lynne L’Esperance, associate vice president of power and utilities at Arcadis North America, works with clients on how to convert a distressed or under-utilized property into an income (energy) producing asset.

Recently, Arcadis worked with a town, developers and a utility to turn a 15-acre landfill into a 2.36-megawatt solar plant, L’Esperance says.

The strategic alliance turned the closed landfill into something from which everyone could benefit, as the city leased the land to the solar developers while the utility purchased the power to serve the town.

These types of partnerships can turn sites of blight into community assets. At the same time, developers can create assets with dual uses. A simple parking lot can be turned into a solar generator with the implementation of solar shade sites (look no further than ASU’s Tempe campus to see these in action).

“Arcadis has been working with clients across the world in this smart city phase where we look at how you can make the most out of assets or potential liabilities that you have,” L’Esperance says.

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Intersolar Europe opens its doors this week in Munich, Germany, and with it comes ees Europe, an accompanying exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems.

Our team, along with sister publication PV Tech, will be at the show this week from Wednesday to Friday and we’re looking forward to meetings with established contacts and new faces alike.

Each successive show around the world brings us bigger and better things it seems, and with Intersolar Europe now running for more than 26 years, there will be a lot to look forward to.

The ees Forum, taking place in hall B1, will see startups, experts and a range of exhibitors offering their insights into the energy storage industry. EuPD Research, which is behind the joint host of ees Europe, the International Battery and Energy Storage Alliance (IBESA), will present its findings on the status quo and future of the energy storage market on the first day.

Tomorrow (31 May) will also see the prestigious ees AWARD presented, with finalists to show off their nominated entries onstage at 1pm. This year’s finalists are: BYD, Energy Depot Deutschland, IRIS Energy, KOSTAL Industry Elektrik, LG Chem, NIDEC, Skeleton Technologies, SolarEdge and Solarwatt.

On 1 June, the ees show’s focus is on small-scale and commercial energy storage systems, from startups and innovations to the connection with e-mobility and HVAC. The next day then sees the focus turn to large-scale energy storage systems, including both the significant challenges and opportunities facing industrial or “neighbourhood-scale” distributed energy storage systems. Presentations will come from groups including Germany’s main solar energy industry association BSW-Solar and from ZVEH (German Central Association of Electrical and Information Technology Contractors).

Familiar names from our coverage at Energy-Storage.News, from Younicos to Mercedes-Benz Energy, will be showcasing their products and services, and we will be bringing you our thoughts and commentaries on the show as it happens.

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