A future where 100% of the world’s electricity comes from clean energy sources isn’t just wishful thinking – it’s mandated by the hard realities of climate change. Getting energy from fossil fuels is a hard habit for humanity to break, but the good news is that momentum finally is on the side of renewable energy and energy storage. Renewables targets at every level of government, new capacity market rules being implemented by grid operators, and the availability and cost-effectiveness of long-duration energy storage resources are all helping create a major paradigm shift in the energy industry.

Across the United States, several states and more than 100 cities have adopted ambitious 100% clean energy goals. Xcel Energy made a landmark announcement in late 2018 as the first US utility to commit to fully providing clean energy with a pledge to supply 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050 across its service area in eight US states.

Europe has made even greater progress. Most European countries have set similar renewables targets, and some have made significant headway. Germany gets 36% of its electricity from renewable sources, Denmark gets over 50% and Iceland generates the most clean electric-ity per person on earth, with almost 100% of its energy coming from renewables.

The quantum leaps we’re seeing in the market are also possible because the cost of renewable energy is on par with fossil-fuel generation. The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale solar fell 85% from US$350/MWh in 2009 to US$50/MWh in 2017, and according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is expected to drop to US$37/MWh by 2050. The wind industry saw similar price drops, with the mean wind energy LCOE dropping to US$45/MWh in 2017.

Competitive prices are helping to spur unprecedented levels of renewables deployments. The U.S. Energy Informa-tion Administration projects that from 2020 to 2050 utility-scale wind capacity will grow by 20GW and utility-scale solar photovoltaic capacity will grow by 127GW in the United States alone. With these market drivers making renewables smart business, it’s clear that the march toward 100% clean energy is much more than a political movement.

A booming market for home solar energy systems is bringing battery storage into the spotlight, but households are being urged to crunch the numbers first.

While solar panel prices have dropped sharply and can now pay for themselves in less than four years, battery systems — which store solar energy for use at night — don’t deliver the same financial benefits yet.

Batteries alone can still take 10-15 years to recover their cost, but solar specialists say there are other reasons tempting buyers, including environmental benefits and protection from blackouts.

Home solar system numbers surged 12 per cent nationally last year to 2.02 million, costing as little as $5000 for a large system. But a typical battery costs about $15,000.

ZEN Energy founder Richard Turner said new players were coming into the battery supply market, which would bring down costs.

“The market I think will get very competitive in the next 12 months and pricing will continue to tumble, like solar has,” he said.

Not all batteries deliver blackout back-up, but households wanting to go green are still signing up, with help from energy incentives in some states.

“Instead of 30-40 per cent of energy from solar you are getting 70-80-90 per cent of your energy from the sun — that’s driving a lot of people,” Mr Turner said.

Home battery customer Jim Young said he had cut power bills by 50-60 per cent since having his battery installed. “The battery makes it possible to spread the efficiency of the system into the evening hours when there’s no sun being generated,” he said.

Tesla has built another Powerpack system in record time, this time at Osaka train station in Japan, where it will be used as emergency backup and to reduce peak energy demand. According to the company on Twitter, the 42 Powerpack units will provide enough energy to safely move a train and its passengers for up to 30 minutes to the nearest station in the event of a power failure.

Tesla says the 7MWh project makes this one its biggest energy storage development in Asia, and like its giant Australian Powerpack system, it was completed with eye-watering speed — the hardware was apparently installed in just two days.

Osaka’s trains are some of the busiest in Japan, transporting millions of people every day, so Tesla’s Powerpack will undoubtedly prove a blessing during power interruptions. While the company’s energy division tends to take a backseat to its EV work, its 2018 figures show it’s playing an increasingly prominent role not only within the Tesla empire, but across the energy storage landscape in general. Last year the company deployed 1.04Gwh of energy storage, nearly triple the 358MWh rolled out in 2017.

Update (3/27 7 PM): This post has been updated to reflect that Osaka Powerpack is Tesla’s largest energy storage system in Asia, not the largest one in all of Asia.

Energy storage product developer Dynapower has introduced a new line of utility-scale energy storage inverters.

The air-cooled CPS-1500 and CPS-3000 are available in both indoor and outdoor configurations and work with all battery chemistries. Each feature a high-efficiency, three-level topology designed for both grid-tied and microgrid applications.

The Gen 4 CPS inverters also feature Dynapower’s proprietary Dynamic Transfer technology, which allows for the seamless transfer from grid-tied to microgrid mode, and industry-leading Black Start capabilities (in the event of a complete system power outage, Black Start restores power to the facility without the need for external power). Multiple CPS units can be paralleled together to meet the sizing and power needs of any energy storage installation.

Outdoor rated CPS inverters are enclosed in NEMA 3R containers that can be moved with a forklift and allow for placement on gravel or concrete pylons, creating installation savings.

Dynapower’s CPS inverters are an integrated solution containing all required protective features, as well as an AC output breaker and DC disconnect switch. This creates cost savings for end-users and integrators when compared with other inverters that require additional add-on items needed for battery integration. CPS inverters can be supplied with MV transformers to easily integrate customer supplied battery systems into any network.

Spain’s largest oil and gas company, Repsol, has invested in Spanish battery startup Ampere Energy, in a move to emulate industry peers taking positions in clean energy technologies.

Madrid-based Repsol this month put an unspecified amount into Ampere, a residential energy storage player from Valencia with a presence in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Benelux and the U.K.

The deal gives Repsol a seat on Ampere’s board and provides Ampere with access to Repsol’s Technology Lab research and development center. Ampere Energy CEO Ignacio Osorio said Repsol’s backing would help the company “undertake ambitious growth plans.”

Ampere has developed a virtual power plant technology called Amperia that it said could be used to tie together distributed energy storage assets. It is unclear if this aggregation capability extends to third-party batteries or is limited to Ampere’s own battery systems, which the company says use artificial intelligence to adapt to user requirements.

The investment comes as Repsol undergoes a major corporate repositioning. In common with other European oil and gas majors, the Spanish giant is keen to reinvent itself as a diversified energy company.

Last November it paid €733 million ($826 million) for almost 2.4 gigawatts of low-emission generation capacity plus a portfolio of 750,000 residential grid customers from the Cantabria-based electricity supplier Viesgo.

Thermal energy storage is gaining ground in refrigeration applications, providing demand management for one of utilities’ most energy-intensive industries.

Industrial refrigeration consumes more energy per cubic foot than any other utility load, said Collin Coker, vice president, sales and marketing, Viking Cold Solutions.

Thermal energy storage generally involves salt water-based solutions that can absorb heat and supplement refrigeration. In these applications, thermal storage offers cost advantages over lithium ion batteries, he said.

“From the utility’s perspective, refrigeration is a very intense load and these commercial and industrial sites are located all over the place,” he said. The grocery stores and other cold storage operators often pay high demand charges in areas like California and New England, he added.

“We can shift the load from peak daytime usage to night time usage, and also reduce overall consumption by running refrigerators at night, when they run more efficiently,” he said.

Who’s using thermal storage
Viking Cold Solutions and Axiom Energy are participating in demand management programs to provide thermal energy storage in refrigeration applications.

Viking Cold Solutions partnered with Eversource to install a thermal energy storage system to reduce the Greater Boston Food Bank’s peak demand, realizing a 75 percent reduction in consumption during the program period, the company said. The partnership is part of Eversource’s Demand Reduction Demonstration in Massachusetts.