The US Energy Storage Association (ESA) has adopted a target of 100GW of energy storage capacity in the country by 2030, a capacity it said would help facilitate greater penetration of renewables.

The figure, which serves as an upgrade on a previous target of 35GW by 2025, was unveiled during the trade body’s annual conference and described by chief executive Kelly Speakes-Backman as “entirely reasonable and attainable”.

But, Speakes-Backman added, reaching such a goal would require the “right policies and regulatory frameworks” to be in place. That policy environment has been described in detail within a ‘vision paper’ – dubbed ‘100 x 30: Enabling the clean power transformation’ – also released yesterday.

Also speaking on the opening day of the event was US Department of Energy deputy secretary Mark Menezes, who said in a keynote address that his department recognised the importance of energy storage and reiterated its commitment to a technology that would support deeper penetration of renewable energy on US grids.

While storage deployment has slightly lagged behind the original 35GW by 2025 vision crafted by ESA with help from Navigant Research (now known as Guidehouse Insights), with BloombergNEF predicting around 32GW by then and Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables about 28GW, analysis all points to an accelerating rate of deployment.

Indeed the three analysis and research firms between them predict around 85GW to 95GW by 2030. ESA argues that with policies to further stimulate higher shares of renewables on the grid, the 100GW figure is achievable. 100GW would support an aim of 50% renewables by 2030 across the country – an aim shared by ESA together with other prominent renewable and clean energy trade associations including groups representing the wind, solar and hydropower industries. The latter, incidentally, includes 16GW of new pumped storage in its 2030 vision, which ESA also backs.

The U.S. Energy Storage Association  (ESA) today issued an expanded vision for energy storage: 100×30: Enabling the Clean Power Transformation. Informed by developments in the energy storage and clean energy markets and extrapolating upon ESA’s 2017 vision document (35×25: A Vision for Energy Storage), this white paper charts a path for the industry to deploy 100 GW of new storage across the United States in the next decade.

“The U.S. power sector is in the midst of transformation to a cleaner, more modern infrastructure,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA. “With the right policies and regulatory frameworks in place, we believe that achieving 100 GW of new storage installations by 2030 is entirely reasonable and attainable. Current market projections indicate remarkable growth for energy storage over the next decade, and its role is expanding to maintain and enhance the reliability, resilience, stability and affordability of electricity over the coming decade.”

The 100×30 paper depicts a path to 100 GW of new energy storage in the next decade, based on an extrapolation of the original 35×25 report, experts’ projections, and the impact of the accelerating clean energy transformation of the U.S. electricity grid. Technologies in the 100 GW of new energy storage include batteries, thermal, mechanical and pumped storage hydro. ESA estimates that 100 GW of storage deployment by 2030 would produce 200,000 jobs, roughly a threefold increase from current levels.

To reach the goal of 100 GW of new energy storage by 2030, the report outlines a combination of strengthened policy support, such as the investment tax credit (ITC) for stand-alone storage facilities, as well as the continuation of emerging policies that remove barriers to market participation. The combination of a supportive policy framework and a vibrant clean energy economy will drive energy storage growth and set a trajectory for 100 GW of new storage, keeping the power system reliable, resilient and affordable.

Swiss asset manager Capital Dynamics quickly compiled one of the most ambitious energy storage pipelines in the U.S.

The firm is teaming up with Tenaska to develop and operate nine battery projects totaling nearly 2 gigawatts and up to 7.8 gigawatt-hours of grid storage in California. They will target the coastal hubs of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego to provide the dispatchable capacity that is sorely missing right now as the state struggles with days of critical electricity scarcity.

The portfolio joins Capital Dynamics’ earlier acquisition of the Eland solar-storage project, which 8Minute Solar Energy contracted to the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. CapDyn also acquired Strata Solar’s 100-megawatt/400-megawatt-hour battery near Oxnard in June, Greentech Media has learned. That system is under construction, expected online in the first quarter of 2021.

“It’s obvious to us that the energy transition will require a combination of hybrid plants — solar-plus-storage, wind-plus-storage — as well as standalone storage,” said Benoit Allehaut, managing director for clean energy infrastructure at Capital Dynamics. But, he added, “there’s still plenty to be built before it starts to make a dent.”

California has shut down nuclear- and gas-fired capacity without building enough new firm capacity to meet demand after the sun goes down. Capital Dynamics’ investment thesis appears tailor-made to tackle the root causes of the grid drama unfolding this week.

The partners identified the densely populated coastal areas as places where emissions-free capacity would be most valuable. Those areas consume the most power but are losing local capacity as gas plants shut down. Permitting new gas plants has already become a challenge, and the state’s 2045 deadline to eliminate fossil fuels from power production limits the payback period for new gas projects.

Tenaska chose the greenfield locations based on substation capacity and value for resource adequacy at both the system level and the local level, Allehaut said.

Lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) will become increasingly popular for stationary energy storage applications, overtaking lithium-manganese-cobalt-oxide (NMC) within a decade, Wood Mackenzie forecast in a new report.

As demand from electric vehicles and the stationary storage market both skyrocket in this decade, evolving performance priorities will create a divergence between the types of batteries used for storage and those used for EV applications.

It started with a supply crunch

Historically, the energy storage market has mostly deployed NMC batteries. In late 2018 and early 2019, demand for NMC batteries to be used for energy storage applications grew swiftly, outstripping the available supply.

The rapid rise in demand for EVs since 2010 had driven down the cost of lithium-ion batteries by more than 85 percent. As lead times for NMC availability grew and prices remained flat, LFP vendors began tapping into NMC-constrained markets at competitive prices, thus making LFP an attractive option for both power and energy applications.

Now, it looks like LFP has attained sufficient momentum to overtake NMC as the leading stationary storage chemistry by 2030.

LFP will grow its market share from 10 percent of the stationary storage market in 2015 to more than 30 percent by the end of the decade.

Two markets, two sets of priorities
Even as the stationary energy storage market takes off, EVs will continue to account for the lion’s share of global lithium-ion battery demand over the next 10 years.

The global energy storage systems market size surpassed $340 billion in 2018 and is set to achieve over 6% CAGR up to 2025, according to a report released by Global Market Insights.

Increasing demand for continuous electricity supply along with growing focus toward renewable energy power generation will drive the global energy storage systems industry growth.

The rapid growth pace of energy storage systems market is rather evident from recent agreement between Taiwan Power Company and Delta Electronics.

This pact entails the development of the former’s largest energy storage system which would act as a part of a smart grid project on Kinmen Island.

For realisation of the same, Delta is expected to deliver a 1MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system, an energy management platform, a 2MW capacity power conditioning system, and environment management systems for deployment at Kinmen’s Xia Xing Power station.

Apparently, the solution would support Taiwan Power Company to stabilise the grid by supplying backup power within a radius of 200 ms in no time post an unplanned generator outage takes place. This move, indeed, is indicative of the fact that the demand for energy storage systems is gradually soaring over time.

Robust properties like high reliability and boosting system resilience at every level has enabled the energy storage systems to erase minor instabilities in the energy output for small as well as large electricity sources.

Energy storage systems serve as a vital cog in the operation of power systems while ensuring the continuity of the energy supply and improving the reliability of the system. On these grounds, the energy storage finds high-end applications across myriad segments spanning transport, manufacturing, and other industrial sectors.

The largest single-site energy storage project in the country was today unveiled in San Diego County, California. Project developer LS Power claims that the 250-MW Gateway Energy Storage project is also the largest battery system in the world.

The project enhances reliability on the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) grid and reduces customer energy costs. In doing so, Gateway provides a valuable resource for energy consumers, utilities and other load servers across California.

“For more than three decades, LS Power has been at the leading edge of our nation’s transition to cleaner, more innovative energy solutions, and we are powering up Gateway Energy Storage as one more component of this vision,” said LS Power CEO Paul Segal. “Through our investments in multiple sectors of the renewables and energy infrastructure space, LS Power is reducing carbon emissions and improving reliability in the markets we serve.”

Gateway Energy Storage, currently at 230 MW and on track to reach 250 MW by the end of the month, follows another LS Power battery project, Vista Energy Storage in Vista, California, which has been operating since 2018 and was previously the largest battery storage project in the United States at 40 MW. LS Power has additional projects in development or construction in both California and New York, including Diablo Energy Storage (200 MW) in Pittsburg, California; LeConte Energy Storage (125 MW) in Calexico, California; and Ravenswood Energy Storage (316 MW) in Queens, New York.

“Gateway and LS Power’s other California-based energy projects will support the state in its clean energy and storage goals,” said LS Power Head of Renewables John King. “LS Power is a first mover in commercializing new technologies and developing new markets. By charging during solar production or off-peak hours and delivering energy to the grid during times of peak demand for power, our battery storage projects improve electric reliability, reduce costs and help our state meet its climate objectives.”

Key Capture Energy (KCE) has selected Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas (MHPS) and Powin Energy Corporation to build three utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects totaling 200 MW in Texas. MHPS will provide turnkey engineering, procurement and construction, as well as long-term service support for all DC equipment, power conversion systems, and high voltage substations. Powin will provide a fully integrated battery, battery management system and long-term service.

Construction on KCE TX 11 (50 MW), KCE TX 12 (100 MW), and KCE TX 23 (50 MW) will begin in the fall of 2020, and the projects will be online before the summer of 2021. KCE has been a first mover in Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) standalone storage. The company’s first-half 2021 operating capacity of 229.7 MW of battery projects is enhanced by 199 MW of offtake contracts with investment grade counterparties.

MHPS and Powin both have extensive lithium-ion energy storage experience and together developed a custom solution to meet KCE’s technical requirements. It uses lithium-iron phosphate battery chemistry (LiFePO4) combined with fast acting controls and power conversion systems selected from key suppliers.

The BESS projects expand all three companies’ presence in ERCOT. KCE is currently the second largest operator of stand-alone battery storage projects in Texas, with three operating projects totaling 29.7 MW — all of which Powin contributed to as the battery system integrator. KCE also has a growing pipeline of stand-alone energy storage projects under development in Texas. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group Companies have been leading the investment in lower carbon intensive energy technology in Texas, which includes 2 GW of on-shore wind generation, 1.3 GW of natural gas generation, and the world’s largest post-combustion carbon dioxide capture project. The BESS projects continue Mitsubishi’s history of technology-driven partnerships and solutions in the region.

Jeff Bishop, Chief Executive Officer of Key Capture Energy, stated, “As an industry-leading energy storage solution provider, MHPS has a strong history of technological innovation, a proven track record in large-scale project management, and strong financial positioning. We are pleased to partner with MHPS to supply full turnkey solutions for this round of Texas projects. Texas is the epicenter of the global energy market, and with a growing Houston office, we look forward to providing best-in-class energy storage solutions in the Lone Star state for decades to come.”

Swedish aluminum energy storage start-up Azelio will install a ‘verification project’ showcasing its thermal storage technology by the end of next month in Masdar City in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

A press release issued by the Swedish company today revealed the project is on track for completion this quarter after Azelio recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the ALEC Energy solar business owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai sovereign wealth fund for the emirate.

Azelio’s technology consists of using electricity – from solar in Masdar City – to heat recycled aluminum to 600 degrees Celsius. The energy stored in the aluminum is transferred to a Stirling engine – which generates mechanical motion from the heat-driven compression and expansion of a gas such as air – using a heat transfer fluid to meet demand.

The Swedish company said the Masdar City project follows the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between the partners relating to the development of 49 MW of Azelio’s thermal storage tech up to 2025.

Masdar City has been developed by the state-owned renewable energy company of the emirate of Abu Dhabi and Masdar will be part of the pilot project along with Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa University, according to Azelio.

Yousef Baselaib, executive director of sustainable real estate at Masdar said: “As Abu Dhabi’s home of innovation and R&D, Masdar City is proud to be the location for this pilot project that has the potential to improve battery storage capability for renewable energy projects. The success of this project could help aid a sustainable recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic and advance the energy transition around the world.”

The aluminum storage system developed by Azelio has already featured at the Noor Ouarzazate solar field in Morocco, which features 70 MW of PV capacity alongside a 510 MW concentrating solar power facility.

The energy storage industry didn’t wait for the outcome of Arizona Public Service’s year-long investigation into the battery fire that injured four firefighters in April 2019 to start improving the safety of grid batteries.

The McMicken fire set off a series of shadow investigations, as battery suppliers, developers and customers pieced together evidence to identify the risks posed by their own systems. New looks at potential failures prompted product redesigns, along with hardware and software updates to existing systems.

“Because of our own research into the causes of the APS event, we were aware of what the report was basically going to say,” said Danny Lu, senior vice president at storage integrator Powin Energy, in an email. “We had immediately started working on solutions to those problems about a year ago.”

By the time the APS battery report came out last month, leading energy storage providers, including Fluence, which supplied the McMicken energy storage system, had already adopted key safety improvements. They engineered systems to detect and remove dangerous gases so they cannot build up and explode. They also addressed the layout of battery cells so that if one heats up, the problem does not spread.

A high-profile failure like the McMicken fire might be expected to hold back construction of more grid batteries. Numerous startups hawk alternative storage technologies on the basis of being safer than lithium-ion.

But the U.S. energy storage market did not stop expanding as a result of safety concerns. Instead, the industry has experienced meteoric growth, with record procurements announced almost weekly this summer. An unprecedented number of utilities and power producers are investing in batteries as a pillar of a cleaner electric grid.

The recent changes to top-tier battery offerings have reduced the odds of a repeat of the destructive event at the APS facility, which came online in 2017. APS now applies stricter criteria to the batteries it buys, and other utilities may follow suit.

“Overall fire safety is without a doubt a key priority, and we are satisfied by the progress around standardization of safety features,” said Benoit Allehaut, managing director for clean energy infrastructure at Swiss asset manager Capital Dynamics, which is currently constructing 1.9 gigawatt-hours of storage.