Energy-Storage.news proudly presents our webinar with IHI Terrasun, where we hear ‘What experts think you should know about UL9540 codes and standards for battery storage’.

With the growth of energy storage, standards for testing of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) have been evolving also.

The presentation will feature experts in the field who perform testing and certification work at different stages, including in the design of technical standards for testing and in the lab to verify testing.

The webinar covers:

The latest changes to the UL9540 Codes and Standards and how those changes apply to large-scale and distributed generation energy storage projects in the design phase, in testing and for field certification.

How to safeguard battery energy storage systems to ensure they meet the requirements for fire and explosion protection. 

An overview of UL9540A testing.

A discussion on how test results are utilised.

Common issues related to the design of energy storage safety systems.

Speakers in this webinar:

Larry Kane, VP of engineering and projects, IHI Terrasun

Carrie Kaplan, energy storage safety practice lead, DNV

Mark Kellenberger, senior engineer, DNV

Steve Douglas, senior technical codes specialist, QPS

Moderator:

Andy Colthorpe, Editor, Energy-Storage.news

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You can also access the recording for ‘What experts think you should know about UL9540 codes and standards for battery storage’ on-demand on the site and receive presentation slide deck (registration required), at the link here.

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Donkin coal mine, Nova Scotia, which closed in 2020. Image: Morien Resources.

The government of Nova Scotia, Canada, has made amendments to the province’s Electricity Act with the view to accelerating the deployment of energy storage.

The amendments were introduced on Wednesday (22 March) and announced by Nova Scotia’s minister of natural resources and renewables, Tory Rushton. Under the changes, Rushton’s department will be able to direct utilities to hold competitive procurements for energy storage resources.

“We need to accelerate the use of battery storage in Nova Scotia to help us get off coal and meet our renewable electricity targets. These amendments encourage innovation and early adoption of battery technology in the province,” Rushton said.

The province still relies heavily on coal, with about half of its electricity coming from the fossil fuel, and is its single biggest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Its renewable electricity policy target meanwhile is 80% by 2030.

Vertically integrated energy company Nova Scotia Power, which is government-owned, is currently the sole entity permitted to own energy storage solutions like large-scale battery storage, with the amendments to the act enabling the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables to open up requests for proposals (RfPs) to others.

Elsewhere, the provincial government has also changed the Act to allow the department to directly issue contracts for energy storage projects that can be implemented quickly, using those projects to further identify the optimal role for energy storage in Nova Scotia’s electricity system.

Rushton’s amendment, Bill 264, can be viewed here.

Industry groups quick to welcome changes

Trade association Energy Storage Canada said the changes would bring “new momentum” for storage projects, noting that the day after minister Rushton announced them, funding for various clean energy initiatives including the development of a strategy around energy storage procurement and contracting were included in the province’s budget for the fiscal year 2023-2024 as tabled in Legislature.

Energy Storage Canada executive director Justin Rangooni said Nova Scotia’s renewable energy targets and coal phase-out are achievable, “but only if the right amount of energy storage is in place well in advance of this deadline”.

“This new legislation and funding sends the right signal to industry to accelerate investment in their projects and partnerships, and to prepare them for commercial operation,” Rangooni said in a statement sent to Energy-Storage.news.

The energy storage group commissioned a report last year which set out a trajectory for Canada to achieve its target of having a net zero electricity grid by 2035 through leveraging between 8GW and 12GW of energy storage resources. Justin Rangooni blogged for this site about the report a few months ago.

Meanwhile, Canada is expected to soon introduce a tax credit similar to the US’ investment tax credit (ITC) scheme to incentivise investments in energy storage.

The Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) also welcomed the Nova Scotia legislative changes this week, after having “long advocated for the deployment of energy storage in Nova Scotia to help achieve the province’s net zero targets,” CanREA director for Atlantic Canada, Jean Habel said.

“I am pleased to see the positive steps Nova Scotia is taking toward enacting policies that will attract renewable energy investment to Canada,” Habel said.

“This move will encourage innovation and the early adoption of battery technology in the province and bolster the energy-storage sector, creating job opportunities for Nova Scotians.”

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Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash

Recently, CHINT Astronergy won the bid for a 902 MW Vista Alegre photovoltaic power plant project of Atlas Renewable Energy in Brazil, and will supply 454 MW of ASTRO N modules. 

The ASTRO N series modules are the latest products of CHINT Astronergy’s focus on the development trend of N-type TOPCon cell technology. Since its release in April 2022, the product has left footprints across the globe. The Vista Alegre photovoltaic project is located in the state of Minas Geras in southeastern Brazil, which has the most cities in Brazil and a high energy consumption.

Brazil has an average annual sunshine duration of over 3,000 hours, and 80% of its territory is in tropical regions. The hot climate is highly compatible with the ASTRO N series photovoltaic modules.

The ASTRO N series modules are based on N-type TOPCon cell technology, combining multiple technologies such as N-type large silicon wafers, high-reliability packaging, super non-destructive laser cutting, multi-busbar and half-cell design, and optimized frames and double-layer high-transparency glass with a module efficiency of up to 22%.

In addition to higher efficiency and power, the ASTRO N series modules also have a lower temperature coefficient than other modules. This means that for every degree increase in temperature, compared with conventional PERC modules, the power loss of ASTRO N decreases by 0.06%, which will bring higher power generation efficiency in high-temperature environments.

The Vista Alegre project is the tenth large-scale power station project that CHINT Astronergy has collaborated on with Atlas.

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EDF’s Desert Harvest solar projects, also in Riverside County, started commercial operations in December 2020. Image: EDF Renewables North America.

EDF Renewables North America has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) for its 117MW solar PV project in Riverside County.

The Sapphire Solar project is set to come online by the end of 2026 and will supply power to the cities of Anaheim, Pasadena and Vernon through their participation in SCPPA. The agreement also contains an option for SCPPA to access a 236MWh battery energy storage system.

“Sapphire Solar will supply 117 MWac of solar capacity and a 59MWac/236 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to our growing renewable and energy storage resource mix,” said Michael Webster, executive director of SCPPA. “This project will help our Participating SCPPA Members meet and exceed renewable energy and resource adequacy requirements, while at the same time minimising costs and maintaining reliability.”

EDF renewables – a subsidiary of France’s state-owned EDF Group – has developed over 16GW of solar, storage and wind projects in the US. It recently signed a virtual PPA with McDonald’s for its 332MW Texas solar facility.

In California, the company connected a 475MW solar-plus-storage project to the grid last August, located on public land. The Sapphire Solar project will be situated on private land.

Riverside County also hosts EDF Renewables’ Desert Harvest I solar project which became operational in 2020. Solar plays a big role in California’s energy generation and transition framework, and will have to continue being installed at record rates if the state is to meet its targets over the next quarter-century.

This story first appeared on PV Tech.

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Nicola Lanzetta

The Malvezzi Solar Park is now operational in Poggio Renatico, Italy, in the province of Ferrara (Emilia-Romagna), thanks to the online crowdfunding initiative Scelta Rinnovabile (Renewable Choice) promoted by Enel Green Power.

The opening ceremony of the new plant, which will support the country’s energy transition with a capacity of around 17 MW, was attended by Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government, Nicola Lanzetta, director of Italy at Enel Group, and Daniele Garuti, mayor of Poggio Renatico.

The solar farm consists of more than 30,000 modules. It will produce approximately 25 GWh each year, making it possible to avoid the annual emissions of 11,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere and the consumption of 5.4 million cubic meters of gas, replacing it with locally produced renewable energy. 

The system is made up of four contiguous sections and features bifacial modules that absorb energy from both sides of the solar panel, which are mounted on solar trackers that follow the movement of the sun, thereby optimizing energy production.

Launched in October 2021 and aimed at getting local communities involved in developing green energy in the areas where new renewable energy plants are being built, the Scelta Rinnovabile program has attracted massive support, with a large number of residents of Poggio Renatico taking part in the online fundraising campaign. 

Those who participated were initially asked to freely choose how much they wanted to invest, according to their preferences, and benefited from a rate of return on financing plus repayment of invested capital. The fundraising campaign to build the photovoltaic power plant in this municipality in the Emilia-Romagna region was later extended to all citizens across the country and ended successfully as the target was met within just a few hours.

“The increasing use of renewables is a strategic lever for Italy’s independence and energy security, in addition to benefiting the environment and the local areas,” says Nicola Lanzetta, director of Italy at Enel Group. “We have a tangible example of this here in Poggio Renatico, through the Scelta Rinnovabile initiative, citizens had the opportunity to actively contribute to the construction of the new plant and to play a part in the energy transition.”

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Illustration of a solar-plus-storage power plant with LG ES BESS equipment. Image: LG Energy Solution.

LG Energy Solution will build a new battery cell factory in the US with 43GWh annual manufacturing capacity, including 16GWh dedicated to the stationary energy storage market.

The South Korea-headquartered company said this morning that it will invest KRW7.2 trillion (US$5.5 billion) into the production plant in Queen Creek, Arizona.

Scheduled to break ground this year, the complex will feature twin production facilities, one for cylindrical 2170 battery cells targeting the electric vehicle (EV) sector with 27GWh annual production capacity, the other making lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pouch cells for energy storage systems (ESS).

According to LG Energy Solution (LG ES), the LFP production line would be the “first ESS-exclusive battery production facility in the world” and is expected to begin production in 2026, a year after the expected in-service date of the EV battery-making portion of the Arizona factory.

However, at the beginning of this week, another manufacturer, Pomega Energy Storage Technologies broke ground on what it said will be the US’ first dedicated factory for ESS-specific LFP cells, in South Carolina.

Given that that plant is expected to come online next year, it will be ahead of LG ES’ plan in that respect, albeit the Pomega plant’s annual production capacity will be much smaller at 3GWh.

Pomega was established late last year as a subsidiary of Turkish company Kontrolmatik Technologies, a vertically integrated manufacturer of battery cells and battery energy storage system (BESS) solutions.

At the time of its establishment last November, Kontrolmatik said that Pomega expected to receive more than US$900 million in incentives linked to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). While the plant had been planned even before the IRA was passed, when the legislation became law it prompted an increase in the planned annual output by 50% from 2GWh.

What is certainly not disputed is that the IRA appears to have put the rocket boosters onto the US’ ambitions to establish a domestic battery value chain, particularly in battery cell manufacturing.

While not perhaps purely dedicated to the ESS sector, other large-scale production plants that will make LFP cells for battery storage as well as EVs are on the way, with US startups Our Next Energy and American Battery Factory among those with ambitions in that regard, as well as KORE Power, which is a little further ahead in its plans for a 12GWh plant. In fact, KORE and American Battery Factory’s chosen sites are also in Arizona.

LG ES too said that the Inflation Reduction Act was a key factor in its own Arizona plant’s business case, as well as allowing the company to bring production much closer to the expected demand for batteries for mobility and stationary applications and allow it to build closer relationships with end-customers. The ESS portion of the plant represents KRW3 trillion of its planned investment there.

The company also has its own BESS solutions company, LG ES Vertech, and is thought to be pursuing a vertical integration strategy since its acquisition of energy storage system integrator NEC Energy Solutions a while back.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 5th Energy Storage Summit USA, 28-29 March 2023 in Austin, Texas. Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.

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Bob Mitchell

The Global Electronics Council (GEC), a non-profit organization founded to promote sustainable electronics, has added criteria within its EPEAT ecolabel system focused on decarbonizing the supply chain for solar panel production. 

These criteria are the first by a global ecolabel to set thresholds on the embodied carbon in photovoltaics and will be a requirement for achieving the EPEAT ecolabel designation for PV modules.

“While renewable energy is essential in the transition to the green economy, we must also consider the underlying infrastructure’s contribution to climate change,” says Bob Mitchell, CEO of GEC. “The market needs a trusted methodology to evaluate the carbon emissions of solar panels during production in order to make informed purchasing decisions.”

Solar installations are designed to have a net zero impact in their generation of electricity; however, the embodied carbon in solar panels may vary greatly depending on the supply chain used to manufacture them. 

“Reducing the embodied carbon in solar farm equipment can bring the emissions payback period for solar assets from one to three years, depending on local energy mix, to under one year in many locations, accelerating the positive impact that solar energy development has on climate change,” says Nastassja Hagan, Lightsource bp’s vice president, sustainability.

The EPEAT criteria focus on measuring and reducing what is known as Scope 3 carbon emissions or the carbon generated in the design, material sourcing and manufacture of these products. 

GEC expects to launch its public registry of solar panels that meet the new criteria in late September. Solar panel manufacturers interested in registering their products against the new criteria, which includes an independent, third-party product review, should begin the process as soon as possible.

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Salvatore Bernabei

Enel Green Power has begun construction of an Italian photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of around 170 MW that is fully integrated with the agricultural sector in the area, namely Tarquinia, in the province of Viterbo, Latium. 

Once fully operational, the plant is expected to generate around 280 GWh per year on average – the start of construction also marks the beginning of a project which, once complete, will allow the company to avoid the annual emission of around 130,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere as well as saving approximately 26 million cubic meters of gas per year.

This means that fossil fuel will be fully replaced by locally produced renewable energy that can meet the energy needs of roughly 111,000 households in a sustainable way. 

The plant will leverage on bifacial photovoltaic modules – with technology enabling solar energy to be absorbed on both the front and rear surfaces – which will be mounted on sun-tracking structures in order to maximize the production of renewable energy.

This agrivoltaic solar farm will be built in an area owned by a local company that will be working with Enel Green Power on integrating agricultural activities at the plant. Specifically, fodder and borage will be grown in vacant areas between the rows of solar panels and in the buffer zones of overhead power lines, while olive trees will be planted around the perimeter.

“The solar plant we are building in Tarquinia shows that an increase in the use of renewable energy can be harmoniously combined with agricultural activities,” says Salvatore Bernabei, CEO of Enel Green Power. “In fact, this plant will seamlessly integrate with the local area and will host crops, resulting in a positive impact on the environment, the economy and the local area, as well as helping to reduce Italy’s energy dependency.”  

The companies involved in the construction are from Latium, with most based in the province of Viterbo. Upwards of 330 people will be employed over an estimated construction period of 13 months. 

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TotalEnergies’ BESS project at its Dunkirk refinery is currently France’s largest battery storage project, delivered by subsidiary Saft. Image: TotalEnergies.

French energy major TotalEnergies has partnered with building solutions company Holcim to deploy a solar PV and battery storage project at the latter’s cement plant in Colorado.

A power purchase agreement (PPA) and energy storage agreement have been signed with minimum 15-year terms, for the power plant, pairing a 33MWdc solar PV array and 38.5MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).

TotalEnergies will be responsible for installation and operations and maintenance (O&M), with the system expected to be commissioned in 2025, Holcim said earlier this week.

It is expected to cover around 40% of energy demand at Holcim’s Portland Cement plant in the Colorado city of Florence. The plant produces 1.8 million tonnes per year of various grades of cement, opened in 1996.

Portland Cement already has various environmental technologies installed, such as a desulfurization scrubber that removes over 90% of sulfur dioxide emissions and dust collection systems that reduce its nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, according to a Holcim factsheet.

Cement production, like steel or various chemicals, is considered a difficult industry sector to decarbonise fully, partly due to the requirement for quality high-temperature heat in addition to power.

As a company, Holcim is targeting the powering of all its US operations with renewable energy by 2050.

The battery storage system will reduce Portland Cement’s draw of power from the grid, which should help Holcim manage its own costs of electricity through peak shaving – commercial and industrial (C&I) electricity customers in most of the US are charged a higher cost of electricity drawn from the grid during coincident peaks.

This can account for a significant portion of costs, while the reduction of the site’s demand will help the local grid.

Energy-Storage.news has asked TotalEnergies for a few more details on the BESS, such as whether Saft, the France-headquartered battery manufacturer and BESS manufacturer/integrator that TotalEnergies owns will be the technology provider. This story will be updated in due course on receipt of answers for that and a couple of other enquiries.

The solar PV array meanwhile will feature bifacial modules on a single-axis tracking system. Through the PPA and energy storage agreement, Holcim will receive roughly 71,000MWh of power per year.

TotalEnergies is one of the very few legacy energy companies with its business based around fossil fuels that has implemented a net zero target, for 2050, in line with many national economies’ policy targets.

The company wants to reach 100GW of renewable generation by 2030, with an interim 2025 target of 35GW, around double the 17GW installed renewable energy capacity it had in its portfolio as of the end of 2022.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 5th Energy Storage Summit USA, 28-29 March 2023 in Austin, Texas. Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.

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Max Johnson

GameChange Solar (GCS) says it will supply its Genius Tracker for Arava Power Company and Paz Oil’s Sunray, a 272 MW DC project located on an 1,800-acre site in Uvalde County, Texas.

Once complete, GCS’ Genius Tracker paired with over 500,000 545 W bifacial panels will produce energy for ERCOT’S South Zone, powering approximately 47,000 homes in the greater San Antonio area with zero-carbon electricity. 

WHC Energy Services, a company in the energy construction industry, is leading the engineering, procurement and construction for the solar power plant.

“We’re on a mission to repower the planet and modernize infrastructures with our Genius Tracker,” says Max Johnson, director of business development at GCS. “GCS is a respected leader in the energy transition and committed to bringing reliable power to demanding areas such as San Antonio.”

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