Currently, there are 177 projects in Massachusetts’ SMART queue that have a statement of qualification and energy storage as part of their design. These projects total 101 MW / 241 megawatt-hour (MWh). When adding in projects that are already operating, the total reaches 232 projects with 190 MW / 470 MWh deployed. The state also has an energy storage goal of approximately 1000 MWh by 2025.

Now, those resources will be paid a bit more of their fair share for the grid services they can provide.

Massachusetts has adjusted state regulations to give energy storage system owners participating in the SMART system the right to gain revenue from selling into the Forward Capacity Market, and has also approved solar+storage as part of the net metering programs. The ruling, DPU 17-146-A (pdf), was part of a broader compromise whose goal was to accelerate energy storage deployment by giving investors an additional source of revenue, but to also lower the costs of energy on the Massachusetts grid by fully making use of energy storage’s value.

Forward Capacity Markets allow power grid managers (ISO New England in this case) to pay electricity generation resources simply for staying available, even if they happen not to be used.

The DOER released an example payout schedule, and other simplified explanations of the rulings (PDF), to help those unfamiliar with these market functions (this pv magazine author) to understand the financials – and potential revenue for customers – surrounding an energy storage project.

In addition to the forward capacity market ruling, it was also ruled that energy storage systems associated with solar power systems, much like a recent ruling in California, can participate in net metering programs. The net metering rules allow for the energy storage system to export the electricity saved in the batteries, and gain revenue from the SMART program, if it can be proven that the system was charged with solar power within the SMART program via UL approved software within the energy storage inverters.

In early 2018, Google proclaimed that it had achieved its 100 percent renewable energy target. The global IT giant has the scale and resources to invest in novel power-purchase agreements for clean energy, tackle energy efficiency projects and leverage its assets in wholesale energy markets.

Within the same year, large corporate customers signed more than 5 gigawatts’ worth of power-purchase agreements (PPAs) for wind and solar in the U.S., nearly doubling the number of gigawatts signed in 2017, according to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.

And then there is everyone else.

Despite the headlines about bold renewable goals and organizations committing to deeper sustainability missions, comprehensive energy strategy continues to be a struggle even for large energy users.

According to a study by Centrica Business Solutions, one in three organizations are thinking about how energy can contribute to business growth, drive deeper efficiencies and reduce risk. And yet, the study found that more than half of businesses identified themselves in the “least advanced” category when it comes to energy strategy, while less than 10 percent considered themselves “most advanced.”

In other words, there’s a pretty sizable disconnect between businesses that would like to approach energy differently and those that actually do.

“It’s not that they don’t have the interest; it’s just that they don’t have the resources and time,” said Dan Svejnar, vice president, head of commercial North America for Centrica Business Solutions.

South Australia, the nation’s traditional renewable energy leader, could welcome two new projects featuring some of Australia’s largest utility-scale solar arrays alongside its largest energy storage facilities.

A new proposal for around 500 MW (AC) of solar PV co-located with 250 MW/1 GWh of battery storage has come from consultants Energy Projects Solar. The project, around 5 km northeast of Robertstown, would be built in stages and probably incorporate synchronous condensers to support security of electricity supply.

The second scheme planned for the same region is the Solar River Project, which received development approval in the middle of last year and is preparing to break ground.

As reported by Adelaide and South Australia newspaper The Advertiser, an “early contractor involvement” deal has been signed with Sydney-based infrastructure company Downer Group, which is already building Australia’s largest solar farm.

Joining the large-scale pipeline

The Solar River Project comprises 200 MW of solar PV generation capacity plus 120 MWh of battery storage, and is likely to add another 200 MW of solar and a further 150 MWh of battery storage in a second stage, provided a proposed high-voltage transmission line to Victoria goes ahead.

The project is notable for being 100% privately funded, with a 60/40 merchant-PPA structure. It is being developed by a company based at the University of Adelaide’s ThincLab accelerator and comes with a price tag of $450 million (US$326 million).

The two projects are among the largest in Australia’s development pipeline, alongside Innogy’s 349 MWp Limondale Solar Farm, Maoneng’s 255 MWp Sunraysia Solar Farm in New South Wales and Total Eren’s 256.5 MWp Kiamal Solar Farm, in Victoria.

The energy storage facilities will also be among the nation’s largest, along with the South Australian Tesla big battery (110 MW/129 MWh) at the Hornsdale Power Reserve, and a 120 MW/140 MWh facility proposed by SIMEC Zen Energy, as part of U.K. steel billionaire Sanjeev Gupta’s 1 GW dispatchable renewable energy program for the South Australian industrial town of Whyalla.

The Solar River project is scheduled to begin generation in the final three months of this year. Once approved, the Robertstown project is expected to be completed within six years.

Tesla will acquire Maxwell Technologies, it was announced this week, although it is not clear yet which of Maxwell’s product lines, including ultracapacitors, are of most interest to the Silicon Valley automaker and new energy company.

Tesla’s acquisition ‘target’, headquartered in the US with offices in Germany, China and South Korea, manufactures and markets solutions and products for energy storage and power delivery. These include ultracapacitors, which offer high power density and rapid charge and discharge functions. Tesla’s Elon Musk has been quoted as having a personal fascination with ultracapacitors according to various interviews.

Maxwell is also developing dry battery electrode technology, which the company said “has the potential to be a revolutionary technology within the battery industry with a substantial market opportunity”, especially suitable for electric vehicles. The company claims it can “create significant performance and cost benefits” compared to wet electrode technology currently used by most manufacturers of lithium batteries.

Tesla: ‘always looking for potential acquisitions’
Maxwell said yesterday in a statement that with shares valued at US$4.75 in the upcoming offer, the company had entered a definitive merger agreement with Tesla, Inc. Tesla will make an all stock exchange offer for all issued and outstanding shares, with Maxwell to become a merged and wholly-owned subsidiary of Tesla. The deal is thought to value Maxwell at around US$218 million.

A Tesla representative did not deny the news when asked by Energy-Storage.news last night. By way of confirmation, the spokesperson issued a fairly nondescript company statement as follows:

“We are always looking for potential acquisitions that make sense for the business and support Tesla’s mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Energy-Storage.news asked whether access to the ultracapacitor technology or to the dry electrode technologies would be of primary interest to Tesla. However, the Tesla representative said the company would not be “sharing further comment at this time”. Similarly, a Maxwell Technologies representative told Energy-Storage.news that the company “will not be conducting interviews or providing additional commentary…at this time”.

Energy storage is poised for rapid growth.

The past 18 months have witnessed an unprecedented number of announcements, many of them in the US.

In 2018 the state of New York announced a 1.5GW energy-storage target by 2025, New Jersey opted for 2GW by 2030, while Arizona expects 3GW is feasible by that date.

BloombergNEF links the fortunes of an energy market with high renewables penetration to cheaper energy storage.

In its 2018 New Energy Outlook, it projects that wind and solar will grow to almost 50% of world generation by 2050, on the back of “precipitous reductions in cost”, but also the “advent of cheaper and cheaper batteries that will enable electricity to be stored and discharged to meet shifts in demand and supply”.

According to European trade association Eurobat, costs of $273/kWh for lithium ion batteries are being reported by some manufacturers.

Focusing on the $/kWh for the battery alone is only helpful to a point, as these costs are just one component of a system that comprises inverter hardware, electronics and software.

Detailed cost breakdowns for battery energy-storage systems are scarce or difficult to nail down as this type of information is confidentially held among suppliers and integrators.

Differences in system design or technology, depending on the application, as well as system sizing and cost boundaries, can all vary, making comparison difficult, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).

System and capital costs
Some system integrators, which typically buy in batteries and converters and incorporate them to work out the design and size of storage systems depending on their application, will be able to apply healthy margins for their proprietary software, which deploys advanced data analytics to exploit the dynamic functionality of energy storage within grids.

The contribution of cell costs to the total cost of an energy-storage system varies, depending on system size. In larger systems, power electronics and other costs become more relevant, according to Irena.

The systems built for Consumers Energy will be located within Circuit West, a 13-block district on the west side of Grand Rapids. It includes two independent 280-kW/340-kWh DSS energy storage systems and NEC’s AEROS controls software.

“Today, there is very little storage on the grid, so electricity is generated just moments before you use it,” said Garrick Rochow, Consumers Energy’s senior vice president of operations. “With large batteries like NEC’s energy storage solution, we will make our grid more efficient, effective and sustainable. It’s a critical part of Michigan’s energy future and it’s happening here at Circuit West.”

Consumers has committed to installing new electricity generation and distribution technology in a neighborhood where new building construction is going up. The storage system was design with the flexibility to be increased to 1MWh capacity or more.

“As the market for energy storage continues to grow, more customers are entering the market to test the viability of energy storage in their own applications. We know the many benefits of energy storage having been in the business for more than 12 years but it’s also common for customers new to storage to initially take a pilot approach,” said Steve Fludder, CEO for NEC Energy Solutions. “We are happy to be working with Consumers Energy on test projects like this and we anticipate this will lead to greater deployment of valuable storage across their service territory.”

NEC has been awarded several major energy storage projects in the past six months. In November, The company was picked to install two battery projects totaling 19 MW in the United Kingdom, including London’s Port of Tilbury and Lower Road in Brentwood, Essex.

Two months earlier, NEC announced a joint venture with Key Capture Energy to work on a 20-MW battery storage project in Saratoga County, New York.

Consumers Energy provides natural gas and electricity to 6.6 million Michigan customers.

Feb 03, 2019 (Heraldkeeper via COMTEX) — New York, February 04, 2019: The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include CALMAC, EVAPCO, Inc., Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I), and Goss Engineering, Inc. ,Abengoa Solar, S.A., Baltimore Aircoil Company, BrightSource Energy, Inc., Burns & McDonnell, Caldwell Energy, FAFCO Thermal Storage Systems, Ice Lings, Steffes Corporation, and TAS Energy.. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.

Thermal energy storage technology is used for storage and transferring energy such as heat energy, energy from cold or ice water or air. This is very different technology need in many areas. In this it stores or collect the thermal energy for later use in many areas such as in town, district or at multi user building or individual building. Thermal energy storage technologies help to decrease utilization of energy and raise energy supply by proficiently utilizing re-new able energy sources. Many of renewable energy sources will not exist all over day, so that time thermal energy storage technology will be the best solution for use. Thermal energy storage technologies are also used for moving peak energy which is used into off peak hours.

The Thermal energy storage market is expected to exceed more than USD 6.50 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 11% from 2018 to 2024.

The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for various types of coatings with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.

The major driving factors of thermal energy storage market are as follows:

• Development in variable energy sources drives acceptance of thermal energy storage technologies
• Deferral of distribution and transmission rise through the use of thermal energy storage technologies
• Increasing need for access to reliable, efficient, cost competitive electricity propels increase in the market