In 2015, Eric Clifton envisioned a home energy storage appliance that simply plugged into the wall. He founded Orison Inc and in 2016, launched a Kickstarter campaign to let customers lock in an order for the 2.2 kWh wall-mounted appliance.

Fast forward a few years, and Orison has perfected the design of the product. The company has secured a contract with Octillion Power Systems to supply batteries for the devices and the self-installable home battery he envisioned is now on the cusp of becoming a reality. “This is an ideal energy-storage solution for homeowners or small businesses, because the system is simple to install, lightweight and scalable to optimize your energy and to ensure power is where you need it during an outage,” said Eric Clifton, founder and CEO of Orison.

To make the systems capable of being a plug and play device, installable by homeowners, Orison broke the unit down into smaller subassemblies. The batteries supplied by Octillion, for example, are cut into 1.1 kWh modules weighing in at 22 pounds. The result is a modular home energy storage system that not only makes installation a breeze, it makes building a system sized exactly to the needs of the home practical. These 1.1 kWh battery modules were the result of a joint effort between Orison and Octillion. They had to develop a custom battery pack that not only met their performance needs, but fit in their slim form factor.

“Octillion was our vendor of choice because of their ability to provide customizable solutions based on our needs, while still being able to scale to meet our mass-production throughput and pricing requirements,” Clifton said. “This unique battery design, while challenging to develop and certify, is compact enough that it allows for home or business owners to do their own installations, a first for the industry.”

The intelligent energy storage system harvests and stores excess generation from an on site renewable resource for later use. Stored power can be used to stretch daytime solar generation to cover the home’s evening energy consumption or serve as a backup power source for critical loads in the event of a grid failure. The slick 2.2 kWh Orison Panel comes with a starting price tag of $2,200 and boasts a maximum power output of 1.8 kW.

Researchers have developed a battery for storing energy for the electrical grid that they think could beat lithium-ion batteries in cost by a large margin (Matter 2020, DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2020.08.022). The new system costs $16 per kilowatt-hour of energy stored, which is one-eighth the rate for standard lithium-ion batteries. “This is a completely new battery chemistry with promising performance and cost,” says Yi Cui, a materials scientist and engineer at Stanford University.

Storing the intermittent energy produced by solar and wind farms is becoming ever more important as the share of renewable energy grows across the globe. But cost is the biggest hurdle in finding the right battery for the grid. An affordable grid battery should cost $100/kWh, according to the US Department of Energy. Lithium-ion batteries, which lead the charge for grid storage, cost $175/kWh.

To develop a less costly option, Cui, Hui Wu of Tsinghua University, and Yang Jin of Zhengzhou University decided to tweak another battery considered promising for grid storage: the Zebra battery. This is a type of molten-salt battery that uses molten sodium as the anode, and a cathode made of nickel along with a molten sodium chloride salt. Nickel is expensive, so this battery technology has been used only for a few small grid installations.

In their new battery, the researchers chose molten lithium as the anode, and replaced nickel with low-cost zinc and combined it with a lithium chloride salt to make the cathode. Past attempts to use zinc at the cathode have brought challenges. When those batteries discharge, zinc chloride turns into metallic zinc, Cui explains, and the metal forms zinc particles that grow uncontrollably, making the electrode unstable.

So instead of using pure zinc, the researchers used particles of brass, a copper-zinc alloy. The brass releases zinc during battery charging, and when the metallic zinc forms during discharge, it alloys with the copper and stabilizes.

The new battery chemistry works at a lower temperature than traditional Zebra batteries, Wu says. Keeping those batteries’ sodium melted requires temperatures of 350 °C, while the new chemistry works at 215 °C, which means researchers can use less-expensive materials to seal and package the battery. The battery cell that the researchers made has a theoretical energy density of 700 Wh/kg. Cui expects the energy density to drop when they scale up the battery in size, but he says, “If we can even get half of that energy density, it would still be as good as lithium-ion or maybe even slightly better.”

Energy storage is one of the foremost enablers of the energy transition – many would argue it is the primary enabler.

It allows stakeholders in the energy markets – from corporations to consumers – to take a level of ownership of their energy consumption.

And there is consensus that there is still vast untapped potential for the many variations of storage, including thermal, chemical, mechanical and electrical.

But where in the energy value chain will we see storage being most deployed?

In generation/hybrid settings? As grid support? In the commercial and industrial sectors? In the home? Or as part of eMobility infrastructure?

Go on: Take a minute to think of your answer.

I posed the above question this week to the several hundred people who joined a webinar hosted by PEi and Enlit Europe on Innovation in Energy Storage. The results were fascinating and provoked a great in-depth discussion with my panellists, who were from EASE (European Association for Storage of Energy), Aggreko, Enel Foundation, and IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency).

What were those results? Well, I’m going to recommend you download our on-demand recording to find out: you won’t be disappointed by the depth of discussion that the panellists provided.

They highlighted the storage success stories worldwide, where the new frontiers of opportunities will be, and also flagged the challenges that remain, including, as one panellist put it, “the missing money gap”.

And once you’ve tuned-in to the recording, why not share your views with your peers on PEi’s LinkedIn community.

HAYWARD, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 – Octillion Power Systems, a leading provider of advanced lithium-ion storage systems, worked with Orison Inc, an energy storage company based in Wyoming, to offer the first-of-its-kind self-installation home-battery system.

The new energy storage system allows the home owner to harvest energy from renewables or from the grid and to be stored for later use as needed during an unexpected power interruption. It is smaller-scale and modular so that consumers can install the system themselves, and is affordable and accessible to serve all homes.

Octillion Power Systems of Hayward, California worked with Orison to develop a compact, customized battery pack that allows for the storage system to be ultra slim for ease of handling and installation. Octillion supplied 1.1kWh batteries for the new system, each of which uses two batteries. A single battery is 2.5 inches thick and weighs only 22 pounds.

“This is an ideal energy-storage solution for homeowners or small businesses, because the system is simple to install, lightweight and scalable to optimize your energy and to ensure power is where you need it during an outage,” said Eric Clifton, founder and CEO of Orison. “We’d like to thank Octillion for their work in helping us to design this first-of-its-kind battery.

“Octillion was our vendor of choice because of their ability to provide customizable solutions based on our needs, while still being able to scale to meet our mass-production throughput and pricing requirements,” Clifton said. “This unique battery design, while challenging to develop and certify, is compact enough that it allows for home or business owners to do their own installations, a first for the industry.”

Selling a $15,000 to $40,000 storage system add-on isn’t easy, but with the right approach you can build it into your solar sale and satisfy your homeowner at the same time. Homeowners tend to shy away from the addition of storage due to price, but they also miss the true value of what storage can do for their existing or soon-to-be purchased solar system and their long-term billing cycle. Though the need for energy storage can change geographically, the basic sales approach can work anywhere in the United States.

Selling a $15,000 to $40,000 storage system add-on isn’t easy, but with the right approach you can build it into your solar sale and satisfy your homeowner at the same time. Homeowners tend to shy away from the addition of storage due to price, but they also miss the true value of what storage can do for their existing or soon-to-be purchased solar system and their long-term billing cycle. Though the need for energy storage can change geographically, the basic sales approach can work anywhere in the United States.

There are three key drivers of the value proposition to walk a homeowner through that supports and drives the decision to purchase storage: the economics, the security and the technology.

1. The Economics

The economics of storage-only does not always have a payback profile. That said, the economics of a solar + storage system does have a positive payback almost everywhere in the United States. Most homeowners would pay for a solution that gave peace of mind during blackouts, natural disasters or severe weather; so the ability to have an investment pay itself off is a great selling point for something that also offers security and resiliency while not always necessary for the rest of the solar system to work. A history of U.S. generator sales demonstrates payback is not always the most critical factor. There is little economic return to a prestigious automobile, swimming pool or even a fancy roof, but these are decisions that homeowners feel strongly about every day. That said, there is a payback with solar + storage.

2. The Security

Homeowners treasure having a safe space, independence and something that is theirs. Rolling blackouts, fires and utility rate increases put their security at risk. If a homeowner has medical needs, is aging or has young children, then consistent power can be very important. Buying energy storage is an opportunity to support the safety and resilience of homeowners. It is a reality that without the electrical utility, a home cannot fully function. Moreover, with families working from home more regularly now in the age of COVID-19, there is an economic argument to protect employment by assuring a family has consistent power to do their jobs. Storage offers independence, security, certainty and safety for the whole family.

3. The Technology

Buying a battery today is not the same as buying a battery 20 years ago. These relatively small units can power a homeowner’s critical needs with ease and safety. They have sophisticated capabilities that allow homeowners to be their own power supply and not depend on the utility. Solar without storage puts power back onto the electrical grid, but most solar does not give a homeowner access to their own solar production in a critical situation when they need it most. Storage changes that with a simple app-based interface that allows a homeowner to choose how and when to use their power – a choice solar does not routinely present.

Intermittency is one of the largest issues impeding increased reliance on energy from utility-scale renewable energy generation sources such as wind and solar. Battery energy storage systems (“BESSs”) can alleviate concerns related to intermittency and will play a vital role in transitioning to primarily renewable energy sources. However, BESSs has not received the same tax incentives as wind and solar facilities. Rather, BESS deployment has benefited from tax incentives only when incorporated as part of a solar facility.

Federal Investment Tax Credit

The energy investment tax credit (ITC) has been vital to the growth of solar industry and has also aided in the deployment of energy storage in limited cases. The ITC available under Internal Revenue Code section 48 provides a deduction of a certain percentage of the costs of installing a solar energy system from an owner’s / investor’s federal taxes. The ITC generally applies to “solar energy property”, which is defined as including equipment that directly generates electricity from solar energy (i.e., “generation property”). The regulations clarify that solar energy property includes storage devices; however, the regulations also limit the availability of the ITC for storage devices under certain circumstances.

For utility scale projects, the ITC is available when a solar facility and a storage device such as a battery system have the same owner, are located on the same site, are installed at the same time, are placed in service on the same date, and are subject to the same off-take agreement. However, to the extent the facts and circumstance of a specific project do not meet the above criteria, the ITC may be curtailed with respect to the storage device. For example, the following factors may impact the availability of the ITC:

1. Location of Storage – Installation of storage on the transmission side of the meter may not qualify for the ITC as the storage property may not be considered “generation property”.
2. Charging – If storage is charged more than 25% from the grid or a utility other than a solar facility, then the ITC is not available. If 75% or more is charged by a solar facility, the energy storage will be treated as dual-use property and allowed a reduced ITC.
3. Timing of Installation – A storage device installed one year after the original solar system qualifies for the ITC. However, it hasn’t been confirmed by the IRS if storage can be added to older solar arrays and still receive the ITC. This may limit the feasibility of adding energy storage to older facilities.
4. Ownership of Solar and Energy Property – Identical owners for the solar facility and storage device weighs in favor of the ITC’s availability.

Broad Reach Power, an independent power producer (IPP) based in Houston, Texas, has begun construction on two 100-MW battery projects.

“The grid in Texas is continuing to transform rapidly with the addition of more wind and solar generation. While these resources are desirable because they reduce costs and emissions, they add more variation and risk to an already challenging real-time balancing goal,” said Broad Reach Power Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer Steve Vavrik, whose company owns utility-scale solar and energy storage power projects. “This problem will compound as both renewable penetration and power demand increase. Deploying more energy storage systems like our units operating in Odessa and the Houston area will strengthen the grid’s reliability.”

Broad Reach plans to invest more than $100 million in the two recently acquired projects located in Mason and Williamson counties in Texas. Once online in 2021, the plants will operate alongside Broad Reach’s expanding portfolio of utility-scale energy storage plants in Texas near Houston and Odessa.

Broad Reach has additional plans to expand its storage portfolio in Texas, including several more large endeavors. The company is also replicating its successful dual greenfield and acquisition approach in California, Montana and other western markets where the company has over 700 MW of projects with signed interconnection agreements.

“Broad Reach’s tremendous and rapid growth since we backed them in September of 2019 is a testament to what a seasoned team can do with the support of highly experienced renewable energy investors like EnCap and Yorktown, and the compelling opportunity set we see in this rapidly evolving marketplace,” said EnCap Energy Transition Managing Partner Shawn Cumberland.

With the recognition that “battery technology holds the key” to a future of cleaner transport and flexible, resilient electricity grids, four key US government departments have jointly established a Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB).

The US is the global leader in stationary battery storage deployments for the grid, with Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables recently finding that despite the COVID-19 downturn, the country just saw its second-highest quarterly figures for new installations.

However, the US is heavily reliant on imported lithium-ion batteries and raw materials, mainly from China, as well as from, to a lesser extent, South Korea and Japan. While the European Union has sought to turn this situation around by supporting its domestic value chain through the establishment of the European Battery Alliance, pumping in billions of Euros of investment into companies developing gigafactories across the continent, the picture in the US has been limited to a handful of efforts by private actors. At the beginning of this month, the European Commission also put lithium alongside other battery raw materials onto a list of Critical Raw Materials that the EU’s Member States should ensure access to the supply of.

In April, as supply chain disruptions effected by the coronavirus hit multiple US industries, one battery industry veteran and expert, Francis Wang, CEO of battery materials startup Nanograf, said the crisis put the US’ dependency on importing goods, particularly batteries for advanced energy storage and electric vehicles, firmly in the public eye.

Tesla’s Nevada gigafactory is the only major facility already up and running from a US-headquartered company, while startup KORE Power is seeking to establish a 10GWh battery and energy storage system for the grid and industrial markets but is yet to pinpoint a location and site. There is a gigafactory for EV batteries under construction by South Korean company SK Innovation in the US state of Georgia and another on the way with the company investing about US$1.67 billion in the state overall to create an annual production capacity of just over 20GWh, while German company AKASOL is planning a similar but much smaller EV battery production facility in Greater Detroit, Michigan.

The energy service unit of Italian-based global utility Enel is partnering on development and management of energy storage projects in Canada.

Enel X and private investment firm Ardian are entering into a joint venture to manage Enel X’s battery storage projects in Canada and support the acceleration on developing new ones there. The company—which will be 80 percent owned by Ardian Infrastructure—will manage the 30 MW in battery capacity spread among 10 projects through Ontario.

Those include two different 10 MW/20MWh scheduled to reach commercial operation next year. Through the partnership, Enel X will continue to construct, operate, and maintain these projects and will be responsible for the development of future projects.

“Battery storage systems represent a key element in the transition towards a decarbonized energy system as they facilitate the flexibility and stability of grids, and we are committed to empowering customers to help drive the shift towards these technologies,” said Francesco Venturini, CEO of Enel X.

Enel X manages more than 35,000 sites across North America representing close to 4.7 GW in demand response capacity and more than 70 behind-the-meter storage projects either in operation or under contract.

“This investment bolsters Ardian’s position as a leading player in the sustainable energy sector across the Americas,” said Stefano Mion, Senior Managing Director and co-head of Ardian Infrastructure US. “This latest partnership, our first in Canada, marks an important step forward as we diversify our sustainable energy portfolio into the rapidly growing battery storage sector. Behind-the-meter battery storage is a compelling component of the sustainable energy ecosystem as it allows users to store electricity when it is least expensive and consume it when costs from the grid are most expensive.”

If COVID-19 has taught us anything about the future of the energy system, it’s that we’re in for a bumpy ride. With record high balancing costs, the rapid introduction of new services like Optional Downward Flexibility Management (ODFM) – which offers commercial-scale renewables generators remuneration for switching off – and problems with voltage, inertia and frequency, the UK’s electricity system operator National Grid ESO (NGESO) has faced many challenges over the summer that foreshadow the low carbon world of tomorrow.

As the electricity system transitions into a low carbon system, with renewables replacing large thermal generation, system inertia is set to fall. Lower system inertia causes system frequency to deviate from its usual 50Hz much quicker than before, (sometimes called ROCOF or rate of change of frequency) and NGESO needs new tools to operate effectively, and ultimately keep the lights on.

As part of this transition, existing services (such as Firm Frequency Response – FFR) will be replaced by newer, faster acting products, the latest of which is Dynamic Containment (DC). DC is the flagship product of a new suite of ancillary services (see Table 1) and is the first that NGESO plan to release, launching October 2020.

This piece intends to explore:

• The new Dynamic Containment (DC) product
• How the service will launch
• The impact on battery energy storage assets

DC provides frequency response ‘post-fault’ i.e. after frequency breaches specific upper/lower limits, however a small response is also required inside those limits. Comparing DC to the existing FFR product, the response profile for DC effectively extends the existing FFR boundaries for which (little or) no response is required, whilst decreasing the response time required from assets. (see Figure 1 for a comparison of response profiles).

Launch brings new 500MW capacity auction and closer to real time procurement

Having initially been delayed in the face of COVID 19, Dynamic Containment will commence on October 1st, 2020 as part of a ‘soft launch’, with the full rollout of the service expected in 2021. So, what can we expect on 1st October and beyond?