Enverus, an energy-dedicated SaaS company, has acquired CRCL Solutions, a provider of cloud-based algorithms and modeling for wind and solar generation forecasts. CRCL Solutions provides a wide range of advanced forecasting data to help power traders make informed decisions and reduce trading risk.

“Accurate predictions of wind and solar production have become a necessary building block for everyone involved in the power industry,” says Jeff Hughes, CEO of Enverus. “To meet the needs of our customers we must forecast this production, and we must do it well.”

As renewable energy capacity continues to grow to meet the requirements of a changing U.S. energy market, power traders and plant operators are increasingly reliant upon accurate, granular wind and solar forecasting data to identify arbitrage opportunities, reduce trading risk and optimize asset deployments.

Thomas Sherman and Daniel Vassallo founded CRCL Solutions in 2021. Their recent work has spanned developing a novel algorithmic suite to improve weather forecasting, and creating a technological pipeline that transforms raw weather forecast data into wind and solar generation forecasts at the plant level.

“By combining CRCL’s core technology with Enverus’ data resources, CRCL can improve its current product offerings and create entirely new energy forecasting products that were previously not possible. We believe Enverus is a perfect partner to develop the next generation of wind and solar forecasting,” Sherman said.

Bernadette Johnson, general manager of Power and Renewables at Enverus, who will oversee CRCL Solution’s integration, adds: “CRCL Solutions’ offerings are complementary to what we’ve been building for years, and together, we will create more useful and granular forecasts that enhance solutions and diversification amid an ever-changing energy transition.”

Image by Lynn Greyling from Pixabay.

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SolarEdge Technologies Inc., a smart energy technology company, is unveiling the latest version of its SolarEdge Home Hub and Wave inverters in the U.S.

The new SolarEdge inverters will be integrated with power control system (PCS) technology, enabling the installation of PV systems that are more than 50% larger without requiring costly and time-consuming main panel upgrades (MPU).

With the new embedded PCS technology, the SolarEdge inverters can now monitor, balance and control the currents on the main panel busbar, resulting in the ability to install larger PV systems than allowed today by the National Electrical Code 120% rule. This means that a typical home with a 200 Amp main panel would be able to install up to three 11.4 kW SolarEdge inverters without going through a main panel upgrade.

Furthermore, the SolarEdge DC-coupled architecture enables up to 200% DC oversizing and storage of excess PV in the SolarEdge Home DC-coupled battery.

The PCS technology will be embedded in the new SolarEdge Home Hub and Wave inverters requiring only the current transformers to be installed on the main panel, with no additional external connector boxes, further simplifying installation and commissioning.

Other improvements in the inverter include software innovations for faster commissioning, and automotive-grade critical components for enhanced inverter reliability.

The new embedded PCS technology is expected to be available for order by the end of the year.

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FTC Solar Inc., a provider of solar tracker systems, software and engineering services, and Cat Creek Energy LLC, a renewable energy independent power producer, made a multi-year, 1-GW tracker supply agreement to supply the PV solar portion of CCE’s multi-technology renewable energy and water storage project, which is under development in southwest Idaho.

Beginning in the fall of 2023, FTC Solar will provide solar tracker equipment and services for the broader $1.5 billion new solar and battery infrastructure CCE will build to fulfill its recent agreement with Bayer, a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. The long-term structured renewable energy credit purchase agreement between Bayer and Cat Creek Energy supplies 1,400 GWh of energy annually – one of the largest long-term corporate renewable energy agreements in the U.S.

Says Sean Hunkler, CEO of FTC Solar: “Our technology will support multiple Idaho solar and battery facilities that allow one of the world’s oldest and most respected companies to reduce its carbon footprint and continues the development of CCE’s centerpiece energy and water storage project.”

Tracker delivery in support of the projects is expected to begin in late 2023 and be completed by the end of 2025.

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Eric Lammers

Swift Current Energy has closed project financing for its 800 MW DC / 593 MW AC Double Black Diamond Solar project. Once operational, Double Black Diamond is expected to be the second largest single-phase solar project in the United States and the largest solar project in MISO, producing enough energy yearly to power the equivalent of more than 100,000 homes.

Located 30 miles west of Springfield, Ill., Double Black Diamond is currently being built and employs approximately 450 construction workers. Swift Current selected McCarthy Building Companies Inc. as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner. The project utilizes First Solar modules, a majority of which are being manufactured in the U.S., as well as solar trackers from U.S.-based Nextracker.

Constellation will purchase a portion of the energy and RECs generated by Double Black Diamond Solar to serve several customers. The City of Chicago will source renewable energy produced by the project to power several energy-intensive facilities, including Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport. Additionally, Cook County Illinois, CVS Health, Loyola University of Chicago, PPG, State Farm and TransUnion have agreements to purchase power from the project via Constellation.

Double Black Diamond is scheduled to be energized in 2024. During its operational life, the project is expected to provide $100 million in tax revenue to Sangamon and Morgan counties in central Illinois, where it is located.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Societe Generale, and Truist served as the coordinating lead arrangers, with MUFG and Societe Generale acting as Joint Bookrunners, for the landmark project financing, which includes $695 million in construction and tax equity bridge loans and an $84 million letter of credit facility, making it one of the largest project financings ever for a U.S. solar project. ING acted as the Green Loan Structuring Agent and Wilmington Trust acted as the Collateral Agent and Depositary Agent.

Swift Current Energy, which is owned by BAES Infrastructure, IFM Net Zero Infrastructure Fund and Lookout Ridge Energy Partners, is the project developer and will be the long-term owner and operator.

Eric Lammers, CEO and co-founder of Swift Current, comments: “Double Black Diamond is a transformative project, not only for our team, but also the American workers it is employing, the massive amount of emissions-free energy it will produce and the stable revenue it will provide for the communities in Sangamon and Morgan Counties. We are pleased to work again with MUFG, Societe Generale, ING and Wilmington Trust and are excited to add Truist as a new partner.”

Vinson & Elkins LLP and Husch Blackwell LLP represented Swift Current in the transaction. Paul Hastings LLP advised MUFG, Societe Generale, Truist, and the other lenders party to the financing agreements.

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Last week, MGA Thermal said it raised AU$8.5 million (US$5.54 million) from assorted VC investors, while Shell is one of the existing backers of the company.

Both companies make storage systems based on blocks of composite material that can be heated to very high temperatures – the synthetic pellets made of recycled material in Kraftblock’s storage tech can be heated to over 1,300°C (2,500 °F) – which can retain heat for later use.

This could be particularly suited for helping decarbonise heavy industrial processes that require high temperature or high quality heat and are considered hard to abate emissions from – a report prepared by McKinsey for the Long Duration Energy Storage Council (LDES Council) highlighted that nearly half of global emissions come from heat and cooling processes.

They could also be useful for storing the excess output of power generation from renewable energy sources for time shifting to later use. Kraftblock claims its material can store heat for two weeks.

While the funds raised are relatively modest, the companies, and the wider sector, may well take comfort from the development, especially given the recent demise of fellow thermal storage startup Azelio.

Yesterday, Energy-Storage.news reported that Nostromo, another thermal energy storage startup, has been invited into term sheet negotiations with the US Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) for a loan guarantee worth up to US$176 million.

However, Nostromo is focused on a different area of thermal storage: cooling for commercial buildings via replacing roof-mounted chillers in air conditioning units with a patented ‘IceBrick’. Meanwhile, Azelio has a fairly complex technology for time shifting renewables based on storing heat in a recycled steel alloy, and then outputting it via a Stirling engine to generate electricity.

Which speaks to the nascency of the thermal storage market: various very different technologies with different applications and specific target markets are frequently grouped together, making it difficult for investors and customers to judge a technology or provider’s potential.

Stacking up value proposition of thermal blocks

Kraftblock CFO and co-founder Susanne König said the company was proud to have closed its funding round “at a time when there are very limited funding opportunities for start-ups”.

The company is currently building a large-scale commercial and industrial (C&I) project with PepsiCo and utility company Eneco in the Netherlands.

Friers at a PepsiCo factory making potato chips will be switched to run on electricity and stored heat, instead of gas. After decarbonising the frying units, the plan is to decarbonise the rest of the factory step-by-step.

The Kraftblock storage system is 9MW output, with 70MWh energy storage capacity, with plans to expand to 150MWh. The system is due for completion in December this year, with Eneco to operate it.

The startup is targeting industries including food, paper, ceramics and steel production, with Shell Ventures investment director Jermaine Saaltink saying its technology could be “pivotal” in the decarbonisation of hard to abate industrial sectors, by “unlocking a renewable electrification pathway and the increased use of waste heat”.

CEO Dr Martin Schichtel said Kraftblock chose a cohort of investors with roots in industries the technology provider wanted to target.

MGA Thermal on the other hand is at a slightly earlier stage in its journey to commercialisation. The Australia company is currently building its first demonstration project, a 500kW/5MWh showcase of its Miscibility Gap Alloy (MGA) technology from which the company gets its name.

The project, helped with funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), and Shell, will trial a variety of end-use applications, including providing dispatchable power, process heat and use in green hydrogen production.

Incidentally, both MGA Thermal and Kraftblock were shortlisted by ARENA in October last year for a 12-month feasibility study to replace fossil fuel generation at a power plant in South Australia.

Basically, the MGA Block the company makes contains two key materials: metal alloy particles that are dispersed into a matrix material. When the blocks are heated, the metal alloy particles melt and retain heat, kept in place by the matrix material. As the blocks cool with the system’s discharging, the particles become solid again.

Brenmiller Energy launches newest iteration of thermal tech

In somewhat related news, fellow thermal storage player Brenmiller Energy has just launched the latest iteration of its technology and signed an agreement with Indian solar power manufacturer Waaree.

Brenmiller has a solution, called bGen, which uses electricity from sources like wind and solar to heat up the storage material, in this case, rocks. They are heated to up to 750°C, and when discharging the heat can also create steam.

The company recently inaugurated what it claimed is the world’s first thermal storage gigafactory. From a site in Dimona, Israel, Brenmiller Energy will be making up to 4GWh of bGen modules annually.

Last year, as reported by Energy-Storage.news in November, Brenmiller and European utility Enel brought online a 24MWh thermal energy storage (TES) system in Tuscany, Italy, which will improve efficiency at a thermal power plant. The system reduces the generator’s start-up times and enables greater speed in handling variations in load.

This week, Brenmiller launched the new bGEN ZERO product, which it claimed has higher energy density and discharge power capability than its previous models, 99% charging efficiency and 97% power-to-heat cycle efficiency.

A few days prior, the company announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PV module producer Waaree to potentially deploy its thermal storage in utility and industrial markets in India.

“In India, steam and other high-temperature processes for industrials are primarily powered by coal, accounting for roughly 25% of India’s carbon emissions. We are focused on helping large industrial corporations, including beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, paper manufacturers, and more, to help them meet ambitious ESG goals,” Waaree chairman Hitech Doshi said.

This week, our colleagues at PV Tech reported that Waaree has just completed an equity fund raise worth around US$121 million, enabling it to add 6GW of annual ingot, wafer, cell and module production capacity to 12GW of existing lines.

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Scott Gubbles

GRNE Solar, a solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm, has transitioned to the Nelnet Renewable Energy brand. In 2022, the company was acquired by Nelnet Inc., a diversified financial services and technology concern.

Since 2012, GRNE Solar has installed commercial and residential solar energy solutions and utility-scale solar systems across 13 states. While GRNE Solar’s name and brand will no longer be used, its offerings remain unchanged.

In addition to offering expert residential, commercial and small utility-scale installation services and greenfield development, Nelnet Renewable Energy, as part of Nelnet Inc., is a leading solar tax equity investor. The organization offers a unique solar tax equity co-investment platform, a first-of-its-kind sustainability literacy platform for educational institutions and a venture capital investment team focused on supporting renewable energy innovation.

“This transition supports a focus on operational excellence by optimizing people, systems, processes and workflows to ensure we maximize value for all our stakeholders,” says Scott Gubbels, president Nelnet Renewable Energy. “This name reflects our company’s unwavering commitment to the solar industry.”

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First Solar Inc. has chosen the Acadiana Regional Airport in Iberia Parish, La., as the location for its previously announced fifth fully vertically integrated manufacturing facility in the United States. The facility, believed to be the single largest capital infusion in the area’s history, represents an investment of up to $1.1 billion in expanding America’s capacity to produce its own photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. Expected to be completed in the first half of 2026, the plant is forecast to grow the company’s nameplate manufacturing capacity by 3.5 GW to reach approximately 14 GW in the U.S. in 2026.

First Solar’s investment in Louisiana is expected to create over 700 new direct manufacturing jobs in the state. The company, already believed to be the largest employer in America’s solar manufacturing sector with more than 2,500 employees across the country, expects to have over 4,000 direct employees in the country by 2026.

“This massive investment and the jobs it will create are a huge win for the people of Acadiana and the entire state,” says Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards. “It is proof positive that Louisiana’s ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to energy is growing and diversifying our economy.”

First Solar is unique among the world’s ten largest solar manufacturers for being the only U.S.-headquartered company and not manufacturing in China. The company’s tellurium-based semiconductor, which allows it to avoid any dependence on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chains, is the second most common photovoltaic technology available today.

Says Mark Widmar, CEO, First Solar: “Louisiana’s ability to deliver the talent we need stood out, thanks to its extensive workforce development initiatives and the presence of academic institutions such as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette which now features a world-class solar energy lab.”

Widmar added, “In bringing our unique, fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing model to Louisiana, we expect the plant to mirror the commitment to Responsible Solar evident at every First Solar manufacturing facility, which are among the cleanest, safest, and most diverse in the industry”

Since the beginning of this decade, First Solar has embarked on a $4.1 billion manufacturing expansion strategy that has seen it grow from approximately 6 GW of global nameplate capacity in 2020 to 13 GW operational today.

The new Louisiana facility will produce First Solar’s Series 7 modules, which are expected to be manufactured with 100% U.S.-made components. First Solar anticipates that once the new factory is completed and ramped, Series 7 modules will account for over two thirds of its annual domestic nameplate capacity. Series 7 modules currently produced at the company’s Ohio facility are already manufactured with U.S.-made glass and steel.

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Greenbacker Capital Management (GCM), a renewable energy asset manager, through an affiliated investment vehicle, has completed a $148 million tax equity financing commitment with RBC Community Investments. The commitment – one of the very first tax equity deals to utilize the solar production tax credit (PTC) – is helping finance one of the largest solar projects in GCM’s fleet.

To date, only a handful of solar PTC deals have been completed in the renewable energy industry. Although the PTC has been available for wind energy projects for decades, it wasn’t until the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that the tax credit was extended to solar power.

GCM has placed RBC Community Investments’ $148 million investment with the overall financing for GCM’s largest renewable energy project: the 240 MW DC Appaloosa Solar 1. The utility-scale solar plant broke ground last year in Iron County, Utah, where it generates revenue for the area, supports construction-related clean energy jobs and funds a scholarship for students who plan to remain local while pursuing their career goals.

The Greenbacker organization has a years-long track record of successfully executing on tax equity investments, bringing dozens of tax equity–financed renewables projects online and utilizing the federal investment tax credit (ITC) for its solar projects. However, this is its first deal involving the new solar PTC.

“Partnering with RBC Community Investments to complete one of the first ever solar PTC deals and finance our largest project to date is more than an important milestone for GCM, it’s an essential step forward for the energy transition,” says Charles Wheeler, president of GCM. “This is proof positive that the landmark IRA legislation is accelerating a clean energy future.”

Prior to the IRA, solar projects were only eligible for the ITC. Today, solar projects can choose between either the ITC or the PTC, which currently offers a 2.75 cents per kWh credit for electricity produced by solar energy and other renewables.

GCM was advised on the deal by Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton; Allen & Overy represented RBC Capital Markets.

Image by vwalakte on Freepik.

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Energy Vault, which is known for its gravity-based long-duration energy storage solution but offers battery storage and green hydrogen too, will incorporate Kore Power’s batteries into its grid-scale battery storage solutions.

“Energy Vault sought a strategic domestic battery manufacturing partner that would provide an advantage to our grid-scale energy storage solution customers,” said Marco Terruzzin, Chief Commercial & Product Officer, Energy Vault. “Our detailed diligence of KORE Power revealed they could offer a tier-one quality product at attractive unit economics that will be made in Arizona and therefore qualify for certain IRA incentives to benefit our customers.”

Energy Vault invested in Kore Power with a minority stake acquisition earlier this year while also this week announcing new project awards in the US and Southeast Asia in its second quarter results.

Kevin Keough, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, Energy Vault said: “Our investment gains us significant time-to-market leverage as well as other important competitive advantages in the very large U.S. market segment for our energy storage solutions.”

Kore is considering expanding the future production capacity to 18GWh from its existing target of 12GW, and is exploring other US locations too. The firm has expanded downstream into integrate battery energy storage system (BESS) solutions with the acquisition of Northern Reliability last year.

Last week, mobile BESS provider Nomad, a company in which Kore holds a minority stake, secured a Department of Energy (DOE) grant to deploy its solution in rural Vermont. Kore itself is progressing with a US$850 million DOE loan for its gigafactory, receiving a conditional commitment in June.

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“The fund broadens our ability to sign tolling arrangements of various kinds with owners and operators of third party battery assets, including covering the collateral requirements associated with these contracts,” the company told Energy-Storage.news in response to a question asking specifically what the money would go towards.

The model de-risks the investment for the owner by guaranteeing a set income while allowing Gridmatic to capture more of the potential upside to the battery’s performance. It is different to a revenue-sharing model, where an optimiser and project owner share in the revenues of a project.

On the two models, the spokesperson added: “We offer both tolling agreements as well as revenue-sharing, depending on the needs of the client and their expectations for future returns from their battery asset. The fund supports us to backstop the tolling agreements and the guaranteed portion of a revenue-sharing agreement, if applicable.”

A ‘leading energy investor’ funded the first tranche totalling US$24.95 million, Gridmatic said. Gridmatic is already operating a 50MW/100MWh project using the fund.

‘By decoupling project development and active management of the batteries, this structure derisks the operational phase of a project for storage owners and supports the growth of the energy storage industry’, the announcement said.

“By participating in our fund, investors can capitalise on this volatility without the responsibility of managing an entire battery project or development platform,” VP business development David Miller added.

Energy-Storage.news has previously interviewed Miller in light of criticism from the developer community of AI-enabled optimisers’ perceived lack of transparency over their algorithms and trading decisions, a point to which Miller said “results will speak for themselves over time“.

A lot of battery storage projects in ERCOT are 9.9MW or under because of a faster interconnection processes that size, including a recent portfolio which secured tax equity financing this week.

“We are open to any size storage project, though in our experience the smaller projects are more commonly being aggregated in a portfolio for off-take contracting efficiency,” Gridmatic added.

“We currently operate a 50 MW system in ERCOT and are in negotiations to sign agreements with systems ranging from under 10 MW to over 100 MW.”

The ERCOT market for ancillary services is predicted to begin to saturate next year as the total installed battery storage capacity exceeds the MW of contracts available. This will necessitate a broadening of the revenue stack towards more energy-based activity like trading, which optimisers like Gridmatic say requires more sophisticated management enabled by AI in order to maintain competitiveness.

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