Over the last two decades, the energy industry has been in a constant state of transformation, catalyzed by dramatic increases in clean energy and a multitude of technology innovations. In California, the spotlight has been on maximizing the use and storage of renewable energy to meet climate goals. As an early adopter of clean energy innovations, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has been a key partner in California’s efforts to fight climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Today, SDG&E supplies around 45% renewable energy to every family and business in the San Diego-Southern Orange County, California, U.S. region, up 1% from nearly two decades ago. The national average is about 10%. SDG&E’s mission to become America’s cleanest energy infrastructure utility is complemented by its relentless efforts to enhance the safety and reliability of energy delivery.

California has been racing against the climate change clock, creating policies, incentives and programs to achieve higher levels of clean energy for powering homes, businesses, goods movement and transportation. As more solar and wind energy come on-line and plug into the power grid, investments are needed to maintain reliability, harness the value of excess electrons and keep costs low for customers. With an abundance of solar and wind energy now flooding the grid, curtailment is an unfortunate, harsh reality. This challenge has led to an emerging market and increasingly important energy resource in California: the rise of energy storage. Excited about the many potential uses for energy storage, SDG&E currently is pursuing multiple projects on this front.

The Emerging Market

In the last decade, interest in energy storage—both utility scale as well as residential and commercial—has increased dramatically as a result of climate policy goals, such as California’s Senate Bill (SB) 100, which mandates the state’s grid be 100% carbon free by 2045, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order 841, which directs system operators to enable utility-scale batteries so they can engage in the wholesale energy, capacity and ancillary services markets.

As demand increases, the market has responded with a variety of energy storage technologies and applications. Whether a large-scale Lithium-ion battery for grid use or a behind-the-meter (BTM) battery for a photovoltaic (PV) system, batteries are becoming commonplace for energy consumers. Electric vehicles with longer-duration batteries are coming down in price, creating more choices for consumers. New technology also is emerging to enable bidirectional flow of electricity between the grid and vehicles. In the future, imagine consumers plugging electric vehicles into their houses to help power some of their electricity needs during peak hours.

Wood Mackenzie Renewables & Power and the Energy Storage Association have released their US Energy Storage Monitor, which showed that in 100.7 MW / 264 MWh were deployed across the country in Q3’19. The quarter was the highest Q3 so far, and outside of massive months where utility scale projects dominated, is at the end of consistent growth (red line added by pv magazine USA) when combining the various ups and downs of markets.

For battery power, it was the fifth highest volume deployed while battery capacity was the third highest month.

The research group noted 32% growth in megawatts deployed over Q2’19 in the above image, while below they show 59% growth over the prior quarter in terms of megawatt-hours deployed. The 59% was driven by longer duration in front of the meter installations by utilities. Future projects have already signed much longer hourly ratios, with certain developers seeking 24 hour solar – so expect that battery capacity may outgrow battery power.

The document saw the various markets grow in their own patterns. Residential energy storage has consistently grown since a late last year slump due to supply challenges. More growth is projected to come from California due to the power safety shutdowns. The commercial sector has seen two straight months of pull back after a big Q4-Q1’19, no reason was noted. Of course, the wild card is the utility scale sector – whose peaks historically set the record months.

State wise, the Massachusetts SMART program was the quarter’s clear leader for front of the meter deployments at 58 MWh, with Vermont (always smart with storage) and, surprisingly to this author, Arkansas tied for second place at 24 MWh each. California, Hawaii led the residential energy and commercial energy storage markets with with roughly similar volumes each deployed. Considering California is over 25 greater than Hawaii, but only outpacing by 4-5X, its pretty obvious Hawaii is making some serious moves.

Our use of battery-operated devices and appliances has been increasing steadily, bringing with it the need for safe, efficient, and high-performing power sources. To this end, a type of electrical energy storage device called the supercapacitor has recently begun to be considered as a feasible, and sometimes even better, alternative to conventional widely used energy-storage devices such as Li-ion batteries. Supercapacitors can charge and discharge much more rapidly than conventional batteries and also continue to do so for much longer. This makes them suitable for a range of applications such as regenerative braking in vehicles, wearable electronic devices, and so on. “If a high-performance supercapacitor using a non-flammable, non-toxic, and safe aqueous electrolyte can be created, it can be incorporated into wearable devices and other devices, contributing to a boom in the Internet of Things,” Dr. Takeshi Kondo, who is the lead scientist in a recent breakthrough study in the field, says.

Yet, despite their potential, supercapacitors, at present, have certain drawbacks that are preventing their widespread use. One major issue is that they have low energy density—that is, they store insufficient energy per unit area of their space. Scientists first attempted to solve this problem by using organic solvents as the electrolyte—the conducting medium—inside supercapacitors to raise the generated voltage (note that the square of the voltage is directly proportional to energy density in energy storage devices). But organic solvents are costly and have low conductivity. So, perhaps, an aqueous electrolyte would be better, the scientists thought. Thus, the development of supercapacitor components that would be effective with aqueous electrolytes became a central research topic in the field.

In the aforementioned recent study, published in Scientific Reports, Dr. Kondo and group from the Tokyo University of Science and Daicel Corporation in Japan explored the possibility of using a novel material, the boron-doped nanodiamond, as electrode in the supercapacitors—electrodes are the conducting materials in a battery or capacitor that connect the electrolyte with external wires, to transport current out of the system. This research group’s choice of electrode material was based on the knowledge that boron-doped diamonds have a wide potential window, a feature that enables a high-energy storage device to remain stable over time. “We thought that water-based supercapacitors producing a large voltage could be realized if conductive diamond is used as an electrode material,” Dr. Kondo says.

Northvolt, the start-up aiming to manufacture lithium-ion batteries on a massive scale in Europe sustainably, has signed a contract to deliver its own first commercial energy storage system (ESS) project and revealed news on a second planned ‘gigafactory’ in Germany.

The company emailed Energy-Storage.news to draw attention to the fact that, while there has been much discussion of Northvolt’s Masterplan, which includes the capacity to make 32GWh of battery packs each year including cells in Sweden, it’s perhaps less well known that the company intends to use those battery cells and racks to assemble systems.

“Many people imagine Northvolt simply to be a cell manufacturer, but with an in-house battery system [of our own], we’re actually positioning to deliver complete solutions,” Northvolt media representative William Steel told Energy-Storage.news.

A contract has been signed to deliver an ESS which will “support peak shaving at an EV charging station,” Steel said, in the city of Vasteras, Sweden, for Mälarenergi, a municipally-owned electricity and heating company. The system initially deployed will be relatively small, at 220kW peak power output and 330kWh of storage capacity. It will use Northvolt’s branded battery rack, called Voltrack.

A company press release said the system will reduce the charging solution’s draw from the grid at peak times – the most expensive and often most polluting energy on the grid – by as much as 80%, lessening the impact of EV charging on the local grid. The project is expected to go into operation in summer 2020.

Further gigafactory announced for Germany
Initiated by a former Tesla executive who then went through an extensive headhunting process to source talent from Asia’s battery industry and Silicon Valley’s tech and software space, Northvolt has attracted investment from partners that include Goldman Sachs and a number of big automakers.

Northvolt will begin with Northvolt Ett in Skeleftea, Sweden, ‘Ett’ being ‘One’ in the Swedish language. Just announced today: a Northvolt-Volkswagen joint venture (JV) is to establish another vast production facility in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, Germany. Called Northvolt Zwei, the 50-50 JV between VW and Northvolt intend to begin construction in 2021.

When production begins, sometime in late 2023 or early the following year, the facility will produce 16GWh of batteries, primarily aimed at the electric vehicle and mobility market. Northvolt touts its ambition to make batteries with minimal environmental impact, including carbon footprint at each of its gigafactories.

Over 10,500MW of battery storage planning applications have been made in the UK, compared with 6900MW a year ago, according to new research from RenewableUK (R-UK).

The trade body’s latest Project Intelligence report said that the number of companies involved in the sector is now more than 450, up from about 300 this time last year.

R-UK said that average project rose slightly in the last 12 months to 28MW from 27MW previously.
“The pipeline of storage projects is expected to continue growing and an increasing number of grid-scale battery projects of over 50MWs are expected, after BEIS agreed earlier this year to change planning rules which have, up to now, deterred development at this scale,” it added.

The report said that renewables developers are at the forefront of the market.

It said the UK also has a pipeline of over 600MW of compressed air or liquid air storage projects in development.

Gravitricity is developing gravity-based storage and OXTO Energy is pioneering the use of flywheels in energy storage, while RheEnergised is developing dense liquids as an alternative to pumped storage, R-UK said.

R-UK director of future electricity systems Barnaby Wharton said: “As we build the net-zero energy system of the future based on renewables, we’re changing the way we manage the entire network, using a wide variety of extraordinarily innovative storage technologies. The pace of change in the industry is hugely exciting.

“Energy storage has reached a tipping point with major companies entering this new market, providing new services to guarantee the security our energy supplies and maximising the amount of power available, providing massive benefits to consumers.”

The new figures were unveiled at the Energy Systems Storage 2019 event in London organised by R-UK and the Solar Trade Association.

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NEOVOLTA INC. (OTCQB: NEOV) – During the third quarter of 2019, the U.S. residential energy storage market saw record growth. According to the Wood Mackenzie U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, residential storage set a quarterly record with 38.1 megawatts installed. That marks a 32% increase over the second quarter of 2019.

It was also the second consecutive quarter of record growth for the home energy storage sector. The second quarter saw a deployment of 35 megawatts, a 41% increase over the previous quarter. Wood Mackenzie expects the U.S. residential storage market to more than double between 2019 and 2020.

California continues to lead the country in residential storage, and state regulators have proposed $100 million in energy storage incentives for residents of areas at high risk of wildfire.

With demand for home energy storage expected to skyrocket over the next decade, one newcomer is positioning itself for growth: San Diego–based NeoVolta. With its NV14 system, NeoVolta has built a solar storage solution that combines safety, high performance, and a long cycle life, all at a competitive price point. This combination did not exist before NeoVolta filled the gap in the battery storage market.

The NV14’s lithium iron phosphate battery has superior thermal and chemical stability, making it safer than ordinary lithium ion batteries. Lithium iron phosphate chemistry also offers a longer life cycle. Energy generated during the daytime is stored in the NV14’s clean, cobalt-free battery and used during evening “peak demand” hours when utility rates are often twice as high. Homeowners can see significant savings on their monthly utility bills.

In the event of a power outage, the system will automatically disconnect from the grid and immediately start powering critical loads. With its high storage capacity of 14.4 kilowatt hours and 7.6 kW of continuous power, the NV14 can keep more household appliances running longer than competitors in its class.

The NV14 can connect with any residential solar installation—new or existing, AC or DC—to deliver maximum efficiency. The system is being installed in homes across Southern California and will be expanding to Northern California in the next six months.

“With growing consumer interest and financial incentives in California and other states, we are seeing real momentum for home solar energy storage,” said Brent Willson, CEO of NeoVolta. “For homeowners who want a safe, high-performance and long-lasting storage system, the NV14 is the perfect solution.”

As calls mount for an electricity future substantially reliant on renewable energy, how can we cope with the variability of solar and wind power? Households, businesses, and industries all want to access power in a timely way – not just when the sun is shining or the wind blowing.

Demand-response measures can modulate electricity consumption for uses as small as household appliances and as large as commercial heating and cooling. Time-of-use electric rates can provide a financial incentive for utility customers to shift key uses to non-peak hours. In addition, utilities can offer discounts to customers who grant them a degree of remote control over the operation of power-consuming functions such as air conditioning, electric vehicle charging, and commercial refrigeration.

Smartly timed use of electricity can play an important role in stabilizing a grid reliant on renewable energy, but a robust investment in energy storage will also be essential. Solar power today accounts for a modest 2.3% of U.S. electricity; wind provides about 6.5%. Making the leap from these modest numbers to a mid-21st century America powered primarily by renewable electricity will require development of safe and affordable ways to store vast amounts of power.

A brief overview of energy storage

Energy storage has been used for decades to accommodate fluctuations in electricity demand that baseload power plants – particularly those running on coal and nuclear – cannot ramp up quickly enough to address. Pumped storage is one technology that meets this need, taking water from a lower-elevation reservoir or a flowing water source and pumping it to an upper basin where it becomes a source of supplemental hydropower. Pumped storage plants total 22.9 gigawatts in capacity nationwide – more than any other energy storage resource. Yet most of these plants were built between 1960 and 1990, and no new ones are under development. Siting challenges are among the obstacles they face.

Far less commonly used are utility-scale flywheel systems, only three of which now operate in the U.S. Flywheels convert electricity to stored kinetic energy that can be released within milliseconds to ensure stable voltage on the grid. They cannot, however, deliver a sustained stream of energy over longer periods – multiple minutes, hours, or days. That constraint, along with the bankruptcy of one industry leader, has slowed flywheel deployment, currently yielding just a few tens of megawatts of storage capacity.

Pumping compressed air into underground cavities is another storage technology that has drawn some attention, but only one such facility has been built in the U.S. Molten salt is used as a storage medium for heat captured by sun-tracking mirrors at a small number of concentrating solar power plants in the Southwest. However, both of these storage technologies face high operating costs and technical hurdles that have dimmed their prospects for broader introduction.