California will soon release an updated evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions from storage systems participating in the Self-Generation Incentive Program. Unfortunately, due to incomplete policies and methodology, the state may again reinforce the erroneous narrative that customer-sited storage drives up emissions.

There’s a better approach for customer-sited storage designs and applications to be applied to the greatest benefit of the state, and to prevent storage from being artificially constrained from helping California reach its GHG goals. As it has done with programs, tariffs and incentives to encourage customers to reduce energy consumption or peak demand, or to shift consumption to better utilize resources and reduce costs, the state should apply the same approach to enable storage to maximize GHG emissions reductions.

Customer-sited or behind-the-meter (BTM) storage, sited anywhere on the grid, can enable higher penetrations of renewables, and in doing so, reduce systemwide GHG emissions. Furthermore, when energy storage is charging during the duck belly, it absorbs and shifts power to the ramp “neck,” helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding fossil ramping assets. These benefits should be recognized.

California must develop an accurate methodology based on a GHG signal

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a Decision in 2015 on Self-Generation Incentive Program GHG evaluation approaches (D.15-11-027) that acknowledged the need to improve the storage GHG methodology. Others agree: A Carnegie Mellon December 2016 study criticized the SGIP methodology’s operating assumptions and inattention to retail tariffs and load profiles, and suggested a shift to production cost modeling.  

The CPUC methodology mistakenly assumes all BTM storage charging is done “off-peak,” that 100 percent of off-peak electrons are generated from combined-cycle gas turbines, and that all discharging is “on-peak” to offset combustion turbine peaker plants. Like most related studies, these assumptions are flawed in their failure to understand the economic market signals that determine storage behavior.

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Solar Global develops and services solar photovoltaic (PV) farms and rooftop PV installations, and currently has some 100 MW capacity under service. As Solar Global wants to play an important role at the forefront of the energy transition, it is investing in an innovative energy storage solution that initially will be used for energy trading. As the local market further develops, the system is also ready for other applications, such as providing grid stability services. This project is supported by EU Regional Development Fund.

František Smolka, CEO of Solar Global comments: “Energy storage will play a crucial role in the large scale roll-out of renewable energy. With this project we prepare ourselves for the future, and I expect to implement many more of these systems in the region.”

Andreas Plenk, global sales director energy storage at Alfen, adds: “In close cooperation with Solar Global we assessed the most optimal configuration of the system for the local situation. Our modular and standardized storage system makes it possible to deliver and implement our solution in the Czech Republic within a short timeframe.”

Implementing innovative solutions 

Smolka explains why Solar Global selected Alfen for this project: “Alfen’s proven technology and multiyear experience with utilities throughout Europe ensures that we are implementing the most innovative and reliable system in the market. We look forward to leverage Alfen´s vast experience with state-of-the-art applications for our business.”

Plenk adds: “We have experience with many types of storage applications, ranging from smoothening large scale renewable energy sources to load balancing for the charging of electric vehicles. Combining renewables with energy storage is gaining momentum throughout Europe. Parties such as Solar Global are realizing that storage will enhance the return-of-investment of solar PV and wind farms. And we’re only at the beginning of this trend.”

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US energy storage designer and manufacturer SimpliPhi Energy has installed a combination of solar PV and batteries to power air-conditioning units at a school in Hawaii, with a further 1.4MWh of such projects in the pipeline.

In May 2016, Hawaii State’s Department of Education (HIDOE) brought into legislature a commitment to add air-conditioning to 1,000 classrooms across Hawaii, with the US$100 million Heat Abatement Program for public schools created to fast-track projects. The 1,000 classroom goal was reached in August, but the programme continues to add new units.

According to HIDOE, many of its schools are more than 50 years old and were never designed with the kind of electrical load needed to run air-conditioning in mind. A HIDOE fact sheet on the Heat Abatement Program says that the department annually spends US$48 million on electricity and cited the example of one school’s new AC-unit and said that it doubled power costs at Pohakea Elementary School.

Solar-plus-storage has now been put forward as an economical solution to power those air-conditioning units, allowing schools to control the long-term costs of their energy. Waialua High and Intermediate School, on the island of Oahu, is now being fitted with a system designed by Ameresco Solar, a developer and designer of PV systems headquartered in Arizona. Ameresco and SimpliPhi worked with local solar system integrator Haleakala Solar to execute the project.

“Bringing sustainable cooling relief to students in Hawaii was a problem we knew required innovation on several levels, including how to manage the up front and long-term costs of these systems and how to work with the limited electrical infrastructure on these campuses,” Ameresco senior account executive Richard Dean said.

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Tesla Inc. has partnered with Vestas Wind Systems A/S to figure out how to combine wind turbines and batteries, socking away power during breezy times to use when the air is still.

This partnership is part of a wider global program run by Vestas, the world’s biggest wind-turbine maker. It’s seeking to add energy storage to its wind farms and is working with a number of other battery makers on about 10 projects in total.

Vestas announced its new focus on storage at its latest annual general meeting in April, and the partnership with Tesla was first reported by Denmark’s Borsen newspaper. Chairman Bert Nordberg has said Vestas is seeking a new competitive edge amid consolidation in the industry and after it surpassed General Electric Co. last year to take the biggest market share in the U.S.

“Across a number of projects, Vestas is working with different energy storage technologies with specialised companies, including Tesla, to explore and test how wind turbines and energy storage can work together in sustainable energy solutions that can lower the cost of energy,” Vestas said in a statement on Friday. 

The broader program started in 2012 with a project in Lem-Kaer, Denmark, with atest project to combine wind turbines and batteries. Vestas said it plans to commission additional projects worldwide.

Tesla has recently begun to seek new applications for its batteries beyond its electric cars and Powerwall battery units. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk signed a deal with the South Australian government in July to built a giant energy storage facility to help balance the grid.

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The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released funding to the Argonne National Laboratory for a scaled-up round of independent testing of Terrafore Technologies’ innovative encapsulated thermal energy storage in phase change salts, designed to operate in temperatures to greater than 800°C in a single tank that acts as both storage and heat exchanger.

Argonne scientists approached CEO Anoop Mathur to submit an application when they heard of the potential awards under the SBV program.

“Earlier, at Southwest Research Institute we proved the reliability of capsules with salt melting at 370°C. Argonne tests will be showing the reliability of our capsules; that the special coating on these salt capsules will be able to withstand those temperatures and high pressure, using a test rig at the lab,” said Mathur.

“The capsules for high temperature are ready-to-scale and we expect the thermal storage using these will enable distributed scale CSP like mini-towers and dish collectors as well as next-generation CSP using Supercritical CO2,” he added.

The funding is one of 38 awards that had been funded by the outgoing Obama administration to support startup innovation through the “valley of death” phase of advanced innovative technologies. The results are expected by mid 2018.

Mathur designed the encapsulated salt capsules – what he now calls TerraCaps – to eliminate the need for the two tanks used in today’s sensible heat thermal energy storage systems, the hot and the cold tank. The idea is to be able to store 50% more energy per unit volume than the two tank molten salt thermal storage system used in current CSP projects.

The key to being able to heat and cool in a single tank operation is a space inside each marble-like capsule for salt to expand when it melts.

Mathur pointed out that some of the salts expand as much as 25%. Also, since salts have low thermal conductivity, they are not efficient at transferring heat and require a large heat transfer area; so encapsulating the salts in small capsules results in a large specific surface area that helps maintain the high heat transfer rate needed for power generation.

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Twenty years ago, the problem with rooftop solar was that customers needed a large collection of lead acid batteries to store their daytime energy and use this energy at night. But simple net metering rules made it possible for the electric grid to function as a 100 percent efficient storage device. Unfortunately, utilities are doing everything they can to eliminate net metering so they can maximize their profits. So the compelling need for battery storage linked with rooftop solar has re-emerged.

Although lead acid batteries are an inexpensive and mature technology, they are not well-suited for home energy storage applications. Fortunately, lithium-ion batteries have become much more reliable and inexpensive — primarily because of production volumes required by the automotive industry. That availability comes just in the nick of time as net metering is constrained in some states, and time-of-use electric rates shift towards late afternoons and evenings (limiting potential rooftop solar savings).

LG Chemical is one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world. They recently introduced a line of residential and commercial energy storage systems that are optimized for both residential and commercial solar applications. LG knows how to make reliable appliances — which is essentially what a home battery storage system will be in the home of the future.

My guest on this week’s Energy Show is Linh Tran, Western Regional Sales Manager for LG Chem Power. In addition to explaining the features and benefits of LG Chem’s battery storage products, Linh also explains the special handling requirements that are mandatory for installers of large battery storage systems (hint: DOT Hazmat training is required). For a quick education on the latest in home battery storage, please Listen Up to this week’s Energy Show on Renewable Energy World.

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Ever wonder why there are so few blackouts in the United States? It effectively boils down to this: power plants are always making more power than people are asking for.  

As soon as electricity is produced, the electrons flow through power lines to homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals—wherever it is demanded. More electricity is made than grid operators expect you to consume, so that when you flip a switch, a light turns on.

Regardless of whether you actually turn on the lights,  power plants keep their turbines spinning, ready to send power to the grid at a moment’s notice.

This problem of excess power-generating capacity is worse at night when demand is very low, and the disparity between the amount of power needed and available is even greater. This discourages the use of some renewables, specifically wind power, which runs mostly at night when winds are strongest (and when people are using less electricity).  In short, a lot of electricity, and importantly, clean electricity, is produced at the wrong time.

That’s where energy storage comes in. Storing energy when it’s made and releasing it when it’s needed helps keep the grid reliable and paves the way for introducing intermittent renewables like wind and solar to the mix.

Energy and technology companies have been working to tackle the supply/demand mismatch for years, and batteries have arisen as the top contender to store electricity. Tesla Inc., for example, invested over $600 million in its Gigafactory in Nevada to make mass amounts of lithium ion batteries.

But one Alabama power company has found a different place to put large amounts of excess energy – in salt caverns. Half a mile underground, a salt cavern that could fit the Statue of Liberty holds Power South Energy Cooperative’s most useful resource: air.

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