Most of the energy storage coverage by CleanTechnica is about utility-scale, residential, or business solutions and this is all reasonable and beneficial. At the same time, energy storage can also be used during natural disasters to provide back-up electricity for various applications and organizations. In this particular case, the application is an essential one: telecommunications. Caban Systems CEO, Alexandra Rasch, answered some questions for CleanTechnica about the grant.

Why did Caban Systems receive the California Energy Commission (CEC) grant, and what was the application process?

Caban Systems received this grant in response to telecommunications disruptions during the 2017 and 2018 wildfires. The California Energy Commission is committed to applying innovative energy technology services that will prevent any disruption to telecommunications service during the event of a natural disaster or during public safety power shutoffs (PSPS).

The CEC issued a solicitation, GFO-18-302 “Prototype to Production: Modular Battery Platform Project for CA Critical Infrastructure. Caban Systems’ mission aligned perfectly with the grant description to scale production and promote clean jobs in the state.

What will the money be spent on?

This capital will be used to expand production of energy systems at the Caban System’s headquarters in Burlingame, California, to meet growing customer demand in California.

Many of our readers are familiar with energy storage hardware like battery systems, but what is software-enabled energy storage and why is it important?

A software-enable energy storage system is enabled by an algorithm-based approach to monitoring and managing a telecommunications provider entire system through their web platform. Our real-time dashboard breaks down the energy source and loads, allowing managers to take action before a breakdown in communication ever occurs. This is important because it allows multiple operators to manage each individual load through bi-directional communication, anticipate a disruption in service and prevent a disruption before it takes place.

Caban provides grid-independent solutions that support telecommunications, but what benefits do they provide to everyday phone users and businesses?

The most significant benefit that Caban offers to everyday phone users and businesses is reliability for the strength and dependability of the telecommunications to customers that live in vulnerable areas.

For customers, Caban partners with solar and wind manufacturers to offer integrated solutions, enabling customers further access to renewables, which often times empowers customers to meet emissions reduction goals.

The board of education at a California school district which found that it could use batteries to reduce energy bills at seven learning facilities by US$5.7 million has contracted ENGIE Storage to deliver 3.5MW / 7MWh of energy storage systems.

ENGIE Storage announced the lithium-ion battery projects for Downey Unified School District in Downey, Los Angeles – which will split the battery capacity across separate systems coordinated by the company’s GridSynergy software – last week.

Downey Unified School District Superintendent Dr John Garcia said the schools’ board is “always looking for creative ways to save money and energy storage will provide our district with utility cost savings” and said that energy storage would, starting with this year, reduce energy bills significantly “for years to come”.

The district was able to fund the projects through California’s Proposition 39 legislation, which assists with energy efficiency and clean energy generation and use by schools. It will save US$5.7 million for Downey Unified over the next decade or so that the batteries will be in use, by reducing the amount of energy drawn from the grid at times when the air conditioning is running or stadium lights are in use, for example.

The peak energy used by schools is billed for by the state’s Investor-Owned Utilities in the same way that it is for commercial entities – so-called Demand Charges are levied each month based on those peaks, seen from the utility side of the meter as spikes in grid usage. Demand Charges can constitute as much as 50% of energy bills and although energy storage cannot mitigate them entirely, these charges in California have, on average, grown 80% in the past 10 years and the savings are still considered significant.

In addition to saving the district millions of dollars, the energy storage projects will “help enhance the reliability of California’s electric grid by reducing the strain on overloaded utility distribution networks,” ENGIE Storage CEO Christopher Tilley said. The company, known as Green Charge prior to takeover by ENGIE, has already executed projects at 80 schools.

As far back as 2017, solar industry veteran Jigar Shah told Energy-Storage.news that energy storage was even then a compelling proposition for school districts in North America, as his company Generate Capital delivered Sharp SmartStorage units coupled with solar for Santa Rita Union School District (SRUSD), also in California.

At that time, Shah said that although the energy bill savings were one component of the value proposition, energy resiliency and in that particular case, the option to use the storage systems as backup power had really got the project over the line with decision makers.

Energy Toolbase hosted a webinar recently entitled “Modeling the Economics Residential Energy Storage Projects in California” where we shared our latest insights on the market. We’re constantly learning and adjusting our thinking as the market evolves. We’re fortunate to have a front row seat, working closely with many of the leading energy storage system (ESS) equipment vendors and project developers in California.

From that webinar and our experience in the industry, here are the top 6 big-picture thoughts on the current state of the residential storage market in California from Energy Toolbase:

Demand is strong and projected to continue growing rapidly
Market data definitively shows that residential storage deployments in California are growing rapidly. The Smart Electric Power Alliance recently published the “2019 Energy Storage Market Snapshot” report, which reported 175.5 MWh of residential storage capacity added in 2018, which was an increase of 500% compared to 2017 levels. In California alone, the report counted 99.9 MWh of residential storage interconnected in 2018, an increase of 629% vs. 2017 levels.

Wood Mackenzie’s “Q2 2019 U.S. Energy Storage Monitor” report also ranked California as the top state for residential storage deployments for 2018 and also Q1 of 2019. The report forecasts strong continued growth in the residential segment over the next five years, with annual megawatt storage deployments expected to more than double in 2020 vs. 2019. Looking out over the next five years, WoodMac forecasts residential deployments to grow by over five-times in 2024 vss 2019 projections.

The current allotment of residential Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) dollars is virtually gone. SDG&E exhausted its residential budget over a year ago, PG&E recently opened step 5 of 5 in early July and reserved all funds in less than three weeks. SCE is currently in step 5 of 5. Meanwhile, on the commercial side, SDG&E, PG&E and SCE are still in step 2 or 3 of 5 for SGIP. The good news for residential storage developers is that the SGIP budget is scheduled to get a huge replenishment soon thanks to Senate Bill 700 which passed the California legislature last year.

California has the best TOU rates for residential ESS economics in the country
We’ve evaluated residential time-of-use (TOU) rates in every state and California’s are the most advantageous for energy storage economics in the country. This is especially relevant given that all new solar customers in the big three investor owned utility (IOU) territories in California are now required to take service on a TOU rate after going solar, which was mandated in the big NEM 2.0 ruling in 2016.

Make no mistake – the top headlines in the mainstream press this week around Australia, climate change and energy are not positive. What has been described from many quarters both within the country and from the international community speak of a dereliction of responsibility at the top level in favour of short term economic gain and the politics of coal.

That said, here’s a quick snapshot of some of the things happening at ground level across Australia. Perhaps in common with the US, enthusiasm at state level, where arguably politicians have closer relationships with their constituents, appears to run counter to apathy or obstructionism from the top.

Australian citizens, too, are still enthusiastic about installing their own renewable power plants and high electricity prices versus falling feed-in tariffs (FiTs) are building the economic case further. So while the grid is adjusting gradually, with a handful of large-scale installations, feasibility studies and pilots, behind-the-meter energy storage paired with solar in particular is racing ahead in some, though not all, states. Here are some recent developments in the space and a look ahead to what might come next.

Queensland: According to Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) figures, the state with the highest penetration of rooftop solar. Around a third of all households have installed solar: 2.GW across around 600,000 properties.

This week, our sister site PV Tech reported that the national Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will co-fund a new financing programme run by the Bank of Queensland, investing from an AU$100 million (US$67 million) pot to support solar and (mainly EV) battery purchases. Rooftop solar installations and storage batteries for EVs will be granted annual discounts of 0.7% on their financing rates through the Bank’s Energy Efficient Equipment Finance programme.

CEFC also remains the sole financier of an AU$160 million (US$108 million) scheme, also in Queensland, that integrates solar with wind and energy storage batteries, Jose Rojo Martin wrote for the site.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund is investing $110 million in the Swiss startup Energy Vault, which stores energy in stacked concrete blocks. Quartz was the first to report on the startup when it came out of stealth mode last year.

Two things make this investment unprecedented. First, it’s an unusually large sum for a company that hasn’t even existed for two years or built a full-scale prototype. Second, by making an energy storage bet, the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund—which has invested in startups like Uber, Slack, WeWork, and Paytm—is signaling to the wider market that this area of technology is ripe for large investments.

So far, most investments in energy storage have gone to companies building lithium-ion batteries. They’re an attractive bet, because carmakers are willing to pay a premium for batteries that will help electric cars compete with their gas-powered cousins.

But the technology to store electricity doesn’t need to be as powerful as lithium-ion batteries. While companies like Tesla and Sonnen sell lithium-ion batteries for homes and, in larger packages, for the grid, Energy Vault’s bet is that its technology will prove to be cheaper. That’s because it uses low cost materials: cement and sand to make blocks, cranes to lift and drop the blocks, and reversible motors to convert electricity into potential energy and vice versa.

Energy Vault was founded in 2017, and it built its first energy-storage prototype in only nine months with less than $2 million. Now Akshay Naheta, a managing partner of SoftBank’s Vision Fund, believes the startup is ready for an injection of a large sum to deploy its technology around the world.

One of the most heated and interesting debates in the energy world today has to do with how far the US can get on carbon-free renewable energy alone.

One faction believes that renewables can supply 100 percent of US energy, with sufficient help from cheap energy storage and savvy management of demand.

Another faction believes that renewables will ultimately fall short and need assistance from nuclear power and natural gas or biomass with carbon capture and storage.

This war is largely being waged behind the scenes in competing academic papers, but it is highly relevant to current events as a whole host of states and cities are passing laws targeting “100 percent clean energy.” Some, like Hawaii, specifically target 100 percent renewables. Some, like Washington state, target 100 percent “clean,” allowing room for non-renewable sources.

Which target is more realistic and prudent? Just how far can renewables get?

At the heart of the debate is the simple fact that the two biggest sources of renewable energy — wind and solar power — are “variable.” They come and go with the weather and time of day. They are not “dispatchable,” which means they cannot be turned on and off, or up and down, according to the grid’s needs. They don’t adjust to the grid; the grid adjusts to them.

That means a grid with lots of renewables needs lots of flexibility, lots of different ways of smoothing and balancing out the fluctuations in wind and solar. When people predict that renewables will fall short of 100 percent, what they are predicting is that we won’t be able to find enough flexibility to accommodate them (at least not fast enough). They will require “firming” by dispatchable, nonrenewable sources.

There are many sources of grid flexibility, but the one that seems to have the most potential and is laden with the highest hopes is energy storage. To a first approximation, the question of whether renewables will be able to get to 100 percent reduces to the question of whether storage will get cheap enough. With cheap-enough storage, we can add a ton of it to the grid and absorb just about any fluctuations.

But how cheap is cheap enough?

Texas is a unique place. Within a land that celebrates great individualism, they came together to build a multi-billion dollar power grid that now allows free market capitalism to batter down the price of electricity. An interesting mix of socialism and capitalism.

In a few weeks, municipal utilities and electric cooperatives in the state of Texas will have legal confirmation on their right to own energy storage facilities that sell energy or ancillary services, while not having to register as an energy generator. Current policy in the state, Sec. 35.152, defines energy storage as a generation asset, which requires owners to register as power generators.

The act, 86(R) SB 1012, adds the below language to the above Sec.35.152:

(d) Subsection (b) does not require a municipally owned utility or an electric cooperative that owns or operates electric energy storage equipment or facilities described by Subsection (a) to register as a power generation company under Section 39.351(a).

The amendment is applicable on September 1, 2019.

In Texas’ ERCOT region (which covers 90% of the electricity demand in the state), the investor-owned companies that own the power lines aren’t allowed to own generation assets, and electricity users can contract directly with generators. However, per Texas expert Joshua Rhodes, municipality owned electric utilities and energy cooperatives are allowed to own generation assets if they choose to, and some in fact do. Which means this legislation merely reminds, and codifies what was already known.

This is a reminder of how the State of Florida and residential solar lease companies also didn’t change the law in 2018 when state regulators ruled that Sunrun’s 20-year solar equipment lease not a retail sale of electricity.

Very recently, the first co-op owned energy storage project was begun, with Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) signing a deal with Aggreko for a 2.25 MW/4.5 MWh battery. The system will provide grid services, as well time-shifting solar from a nearby facility.

As solar power becomes increasingly popular, more homeowners are exploring how they can store more of the energy their solar panels generate with battery storage. In fact, the U.S. was the second biggest energy storage market last year and residential homes played a large role.

Dan Glaser, a senior sales engineer for Panasonic, says that a desire by homeowners to be more self-sufficient is driving the demand for energy storage.

“Some of the interest is from homeowners who want access to backup power during grid outages,” he says. “In other cases, people are interested in strategically using stored power, especially if they live in areas where they can’t put it back on the grid.”

An energy storage system, which is an on-site unit for storing energy generated by your solar panels, makes this possible. Glaser says that asking these key questions before you buy ensures you find the right system for your home and budget.

What components do you need for a proper battery storage system?

A standard battery storage system (also referred to as energy storage or solar storage systems) comprises batteries for storing the power and at least one inverter for converting the energy into a usable form. In some instances, there’s also a software component for monitoring energy usage remotely. Glaser notes that you can purchase one unit that includes all these components, often in conjunction with your solar panel purchase. Or you can buy a standalone system to retrofit an existing photovoltaic (PV) setup.

Whichever you decide, Glaser says this is not a DIY project. “The technology is complex enough that you want a professional installer who is familiar with how it works, and aware of local codes and regulations.”

AC or DC battery storage?

These terms — alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) — refer to the direction the power flows. Solar panels produce DC electricity and that’s what most batteries store. However, your house and most of the appliances in it require AC power.

The system that works best for your home depends on whether you already have an existing solar power system. While an AC-coupled system requires two inverters and is often less efficient, if you have a pre-existing solar setup, then it’s the only option available.