Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has begun Public Safety Power Shutdowns, with the first phase affecting just over 500,000 households, the second phase affecting 234,000, and the third phase affecting 4,000. Between 110,000 and 130,000 households have had their power turned back on. The below map, found on this address search website provided by PG&E, shows the regions affected. The company’s Twitter account shows available Community Resource Centers that will remain open during daylight hours with restrooms, bottled water, electronic-device charging, and a/c seating for up to 100.

This article will outline some potential solutions to keep electricity on while Public Safety Power Shutdowns are ongoing.

First, a warning – only a small, single digit percentage of the nation’s over 2 million solar power plants are designed to stay on when the broader power grid shuts down. This feature – called “anti-islanding” – was put in place to protect line workers from electrocution due to solar power systems feeding the grid during power outage events.

AC coupled energy storage

For those of you with a currently installed solar power system of the standard nature, it might be best to consider an AC-coupled energy storage solution. Solutions like this can be found by sonnen, Tesla, Sunrun and others. These solutions, when sized and installed appropriately, can run your home when the grid shuts down.

The sonnenbatterie by Sonnen – probably the most advanced energy storage management solution we have available to residential customers – offers 3 to 8 kW of instant power, and 5 to 15 kWh of energy storage in various products. The hardware has intelligence to predict when power outages might be coming, and manages itself to maximize available electricity. As well, you can program the system to shut down all plugs that aren’t considered mission critical.

The Tesla Powerwall is also in this class of products with its single offering that peaks at 5 kW power output, and 13.5 kWh of energy storage. Tesla recommends two units to meet daily consumption needs. This is because an average American home uses 30 kWh/day – so any of these units will have to be used judiciously. If a homeowner does in fact have solar power (and it isn’t needed for these units to run), then potentially, they can power themselves perpetually.

While the utility has more in store to upgrade the island’s electrical infrastructure, National Grid has started exploring the possibility of using “that battery for something else during the times it’s not used for contingency,” Wynter told Utility Dive.

The utility partnered with the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to model and think through other applications for the storage, such as potentially bidding it into the ISO-New England markets. The lab is doing an “extensive amount of research on large scale transmission and battery networks,” Wynter said.

“They model things for us like the battery’s performance on the island … and how well we think we’re going to improve customer uptime because of this battery in place … and how can we model the use of this battery in providing frequency response and other services.”

Tesla declined a request for comment about the long-lasting battery’s applications.

There are two subsea cables bringing power from the mainland to Nantucket. A third cable would have meant close to a $200 million investment, Wynter said, compared to the $81 million hybrid solution.

“It’s not a long run [from mainland Massachusetts to Nantucket] but it is complex doing subsea cable,” Wynter said. “There’s substantial savings for customers.”

National Grid also replaced an older diesel generator on Nantucket with a 15 MW unit for a hybrid resilience solution.

“The whole system can operate almost in tandem,” to extend the eight-hour duration in case of subsea cable failures, Wynter said.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has begun Public Safety Power Shutdowns, with the first phase affecting just over 500,000 households, the second phase affecting 234,000, and the third phase affecting 4,000. Between 110,000 and 130,000 households have had their power turned back on. The below map, found on this address search website provided by PG&E, shows the regions affected. The company’s Twitter account shows available Community Resource Centers that will remain open during daylight hours with restrooms, bottled water, electronic-device charging, and a/c seating for up to 100.

This article will outline some potential solutions to keep electricity on while Public Safety Power Shutdowns are ongoing.

First, a warning – only a small, single digit percentage of the nation’s over 2 million solar power plants are designed to stay on when the broader power grid shuts down. This feature – called “anti-islanding” – was put in place to protect line workers from electrocution due to solar power systems feeding the grid during power outage events.

AC coupled energy storage

For those of you with a currently installed solar power system of the standard nature, it might be best to consider an AC-coupled energy storage solution. Solutions like this can be found by sonnen, Tesla, Sunrun and others. These solutions, when sized and installed appropriately, can run your home when the grid shuts down.

The sonnenbatterie by Sonnen – probably the most advanced energy storage management solution we have available to residential customers – offers 3 to 8 kW of instant power, and 5 to 15 kWh of energy storage in various products. The hardware has intelligence to predict when power outages might be coming, and manages itself to maximize available electricity. As well, you can program the system to shut down all plugs that aren’t considered mission critical.

The Tesla Powerwall is also in this class of products with its single offering that peaks at 5 kW power output, and 13.5 kWh of energy storage. Tesla recommends two units to meet daily consumption needs. This is because an average American home uses 30 kWh/day – so any of these units will have to be used judiciously. If a homeowner does in fact have solar power (and it isn’t needed for these units to run), then potentially, they can power themselves perpetually.

SimpliPhi offers their battery solutions coupled with inverters from off-grid manufacturers – but these would have to be installed at the time of original install. However, they can be added in relatively simply as they come in a clean package.

The UK government has confirmed that energy storage systems will be eligible under the UK’s newly unveiled successor policy aimed at supporting the deployment of residential solar in the wake of feed-in tariff (FiT) cuts, but only if co-located with a participating renewable energy generator.

Draft guidance on the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), long-awaited successor to the FiT as a means of paying customers for generating clean electricity, has been published by the regulator, Ofgem. Ofgem’s draft gave requirements for suppliers as well as the information generators will be required to provide in order to receive the SEG payments.

Energy suppliers are tasked with designing tariffs. By point of reference, a supplier that pre-emptively launched an export tariff plan earlier this year, Octopus Energy, has been offering two tariffs; a flat rate offering 5.5p (US$0.069) per kWh of exported electricity and a variable rate dubbed Agile Octopus.

Suppliers must take “all reasonable steps” to ensure information given to generators – that is, those with a solar, wind or hydro asset under 5MW – is accurate, capable of being easily understood, is not misleading and is fair, transparent, appropriate and delivered in “a professional manner”.

Written confirmation must also be provided to generators with details of the export tariff, as soon as reasonably practicable.

Suppliers must communicate the risks to a generator of failing to adhere to any terms of its contract, for example failing to provide the required data in a timely fashion, and as regards suspension or recoupment of SEG payments.

Suppliers must also outline the generator’s obligations for providing information, declarations and evidence to the supplier and authority as well as any consents required and a term requiring the generator to inform the supplier as soon as reasonable possible if there is a change of ownership or any extensions to an installation.

Reports of Eos’ aqueous zinc battery being paired with small modular nuclear reactors (SMNRs) in a joint venture (JV) with Holtec appear to have been greatly exaggerated, according to an Eos representative.

Eos formed the joint venture, called HI-POWER, with Holtec International and officially launched it in September. Using Eos’ proprietary battery manufacturing design automation and leveraging Holtec’s scale and three decades of manufacturing experience, a “state-of-the-art manufacturing facility” has been promised in Pittsburgh. An Eos press release referred to a “multi-gigawatt” JV being created.

As previously reported by Energy-Storage.news, Eos’ novel zinc hybrid cathode battery technology is priced into a system at US$160 per kWh for a 1MW / 4MWh grid-scale modular unit. Various test facilities have been deployed, including a 30kW / 120kWh DC-coupled system at utility Duke Energy’s McAlpine test facility in North Carolina.

“We are very much an energy battery, a longer duration, 4-6 hours is kind of our sweet spot, but we have flexibility to do higher power and we can always derate the power to do longer run-time,” Eos VP of sales, Phillipe Bouchard, told us at Solar Power International / Energy Storage International in Salt Lake City. The company also attracted former First Solar CEO Jim Hughes onto the board of directors in 2016.

“We started this partnership with Holtec over a year ago. We actually manufactured our 2.0 products out of their facility in Camden, New Jersey. So we were taking the dry battery, filling it with electrolyte, integrating it into a system, then shipping it out to our customers.

“With the gen 2.0 design, we deployed nine systems on four continents, anywhere from 1MWh-scale project and in that size range, including one in Brazil with ENGIE, which is a solar-storage-wind project with 1MWh of battery [storage].”

From here on in, Bouchard said, the JV is about “testing the product in our target use cases and in our target markets, generating really valuable data and kind of setting the stage for scale-up into much larger commercial projects.”

National Grid has issued an energy storage solicitation for 10 MW of bulk, front-of-the-meter storage and power marketer services that maximize the value of the storage in key locations in upstate New York.

The request for proposals (RFP) seeks distribution rights to energy storage that enhances grid reliability and resilience and contributes to achieving the state’s distributed, zero-carbon, renewable energy and climate change goals, according to the investor-owned utility.

Projects need to be able to reinforce distribution grid reliability during periods of peak demand. They also must participate in the New York Independent Systems Operator’s (NYISO) wholesale power market, or yield other revenue streams that offset costs. The goal is to reduce customers’ bills.

Four locations within National Grid territory

National Grid seek projects in four locations within the territory served by its subsidiary Niagara Mohawk Power: Old Forge, North Lakeville, Menands and the New York Independent System Operator – Zone F area.

Pre-qualification eligibility documents are due by October 31. Fully completed proposals are due by 5 p.m. December 20 and the projects need to be operational by Dec. 31, 2022.

The utility is carrying out the energy storage solicitation in accordance with the New York Public Service Commission order that requires investor-owned utilities to procure at least 10 MW of energy storage capacity so long as costs don’t exceed a ceiling defined by the utility (PSC Case 18-E-0130).

Winning projects may qualify for financial incentives and support that runs as long as seven years via the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) Bulk Storage Rights Contract program. Projects receive a fixed revenue stream, as well NYSERDA’s help maximizing distribution and wholesale system benefits for utility customers.

The U.S. energy storage market is growing tremendously. Indeed, IHS Markit projects that over 40 GW of energy storage capacity will be installed by 2022, starting from a base of only 0.34 GW installed in 2012 and 2013. This growth of the U.S. energy storage market is driven by several commercial and regulatory factors, including an increase in recent utility-scale power purchase agreements, declining costs of lithium-ion batteries, the availability of state and, to a certain extent, federal incentives for solar + storage projects. Here are the five main factors guiding the market heading into 2020.

Utility interest

This has been the year of utilities embracing large-scale storage. In February, Arizona Public Service announced that it would add 850 MW of battery storage by 2025. In June, NV Energy announced procurement of 1,200 MW of solar paired with battery energy storage systems from three major solar projects. Following that, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced plans to procure an approximately 300-MW battery energy storage system paired with up to 400 MW of solar electricity under a 25-year power purchase agreement. In late June, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) announced plans to procure approximately 567 MW from three energy storage projects. Large-scale deployment of energy storage systems will only continue to grow as more and more electricity providers embrace the technology.

LCOE case

The declining cost of lithium-ion batteries has been the subject of much interest in the energy storage market. According to research conducted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) — the cost of a technology delivering energy over its lifespan — for lithium-ion batteries has fallen by 35 percent since the first half of 2018, which is an even steeper decline than the continuing decline in LCOE for solar and wind generation resources. This decline in the long-term cost of supplying electricity from lithium-ion batteries is making battery storage systems increasingly cost-competitive with natural gas-fired and coal-fired power plants.

The RPS piece

State-level programs have encouraged the expansion of the energy storage market. For instance, states like California, Massachusetts and New York have issued renewable portfolio standards (RPS) with strong mandates for utilities to comply with annual target thresholds for procurement from renewables and energy storage. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, at least 29 states currently have binding RPS policies. Additionally, some states have begun to offer tax breaks related to energy storage systems. For instance, in 2017, the Maryland Energy Administration announced new legislation establishing an income tax credit for energy storage systems, making Maryland the first state to do so. Furthermore, regulated utilities have been encouraged by their respective state public utilities commissions to include greater renewable and energy storage resources in their resource plans. Consistent with this, Georgia Power recently submitted a 2019 Integrated Resource Plan that proposes procurement of energy from an additional 1,000 MW of renewable resources and deployment of battery storage technologies.

Inverter supplier Sungrow has signed a contract to supply its fully integrated energy storage system (ESS) ST4200KWh-2000 to a 15-MW/32-MWh solar-plus-storage project in Massachusetts.

The project will participate in ISO-New England wholesale markets after completion and is one of the first solar-plus-storage offerings to contribute to the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program, setting the benchmark for Massachusetts’ solar-plus-storage projects.

The future-proof Sungrow ESS solution ST4200KWh-2000, which integrates separate PCS and lithium-ion battery, energy management system, local controller, HVAC and FSS in a 40-ft container, will bring together the plant’s production processes within a one-stop-shop to allow flexible transportation and on-site installation, as well as ensure unified communication, system safety and optimal system efficiency.

The combined solar and storage portfolio is operated by Stem and owned by Syncarpha Capital. “We are happy to partner with Sungrow which has a trusted 20-plus-year track record in this industry for the first batch of SMART projects and many more in the future. We felt strongly about Sungrow Samsung SDI’s product offering, especially with the fully integrated concept, which really helped us reduce the LCOE and operational costs,” said John Carrington CEO of Stem.

“As a technical leader in power conversion, Sungrow offers innovative solar-plus-storage solutions that are future-focused. We have already completed prestigious projects in the U.S. and across the globe, connecting renewables to the grid to bring sustainable and reliable power to people,” said Hank Wang, President of Sungrow Americas.

The project, which is deployed across five distribution grid-connected sites, is planned for commissioning in Q2 2020. Sungrow’s announcement differs from Stem’s original announcement in June.

Enthusiasm about solar energy and battery storage projects is reaching celestial heights. And for good reason. Thanks to the falling costs of lithium-ion batteries and new government policies designed to promote clean energy, deployment of utility-scale solar-plus-storage is growing rapidly.

But as developers and utilities approach this technology in contract negotiations, they should ground themselves in reality with a clear and shared understanding of what batteries can and cannot do (and for what price). If they fail to do so, parties risk talking past each other, resulting in cost miscalculations, missed opportunities and unmet goals.

As batteries become more mainstream, this concern is no longer theoretical. After utility-scale battery capacity in the United States quadrupled between the end of 2014 through March 2019, it is projected to more than double by 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Record solar-plus-storage projects have been announced this year in California, Nevada and Arizona.

Still, integrated battery storage projects represent a tiny share of the overall market in the United States, and it’s still very early in the development of the technology. Its nascency may help explain why some fundamental aspects of it are lost in translation and not fully appreciated.

I’ve seen it happen. Developers and utilities can spend months negotiating the terms of a power purchase agreement for a combined solar and battery project and still not realize that they have mismatched expectations and assumptions about what the battery needs to do, the battery’s operating parameters (and its limitations) and who controls its use. Too often, a battery is seen as simply another line item in a budget that can be priced like another piece of equipment added to a generating facility. But it’s much more than that.

Adding a battery to a solar project can appear deceptively simple. And it’s true that for developers, adding a battery (especially to a utility-scale development) is not a particularly burdensome step in a greenfield solar project. Solar site selection, resource assessments, environmental reviews, engineering studies/economic modeling and interconnection studies can all require more time, planning and due diligence.

By contrast, adding a battery to a solar project usually does not require additional permitting. And because they have a relatively small footprint, additional land acquisition is usually not required, nor is an additional environmental impact review required.

To be sure, there are some important operational questions that must be addressed around where to connect a battery to the electrical system. Should the solar energy be transmitted to the battery and then to the grid? Or, should the solar energy be allowed to flow directly to the grid or to the battery? Answers to these questions can have a significant impact on the cost of the project as well as significant tax implications that go beyond the scope of this article.