Closeup of battery modules at Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility. Image: Vistra Energy.

An incident which caused batteries to short has taken offline Phase II of Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in Monterey County, California, the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) project.

Project owner Vistra Energy said yesterday that the 100MW/400MWh expansion phase of the facility now joins the 300MW/1,200MWh Phase I in being out of action, after the incident late on Sunday (13 February). 

In what appears to be a repeat of what happened in September to Phase I, a sprinkler system released water onto battery racks. 

As before, no one was harmed, but after Phase II’s early detection safety system kicked in, local fire crews were called to the scene, in line with protocols and out of what Vistra described in a brief statement as an abundance of caution. 

The latest incident comes only a couple of weeks after integrated utility and power generation company Vistra issued a report into the situation at Phase I and said it was preparing to bring it back online soon. Vistra has now decided to pause those restart activities. 

In the January report, the cause of overheating of batteries was attributed to a sprinkler system that became active in response to smoke coming from an air handling unit in which a bearing had failed, rather than battery cells going into a thermal incident through internal faults or damage.

The onsite smoke detection apparatus had triggered water to be sprayed at a threshold below what it should have, leading Vistra to conclude there had been an error made in the equipment’s programming. 

A course of corrective actions was being implemented at Phase I, including sealing gaps between the floor levels containing battery racks to prevent water leaking from one down onto the other, testing all the heat suppression equipment thoroughly and reviewing the programming of the Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA).

The early signs are that something similar happened again at Phase II, with leaking hoses having caused the suppression system to release water onto battery racks, which then produced smoke as damage was done to batteries. The suppression system did however contain the event.

Another investigation is now underway to find out what caused the detection system to activate and trigger the chain of events at Phase II, which came online in August 2021. 

Vistra Energy is preparing to expand the facility even further to 750MW/3,000MWh, after signing off-take agreement contracts with California investor-owned utility (IOU) Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for the next 350MW/1,400MWh phase which should come online by June next year if the agreement is approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). 

In a recent interview for our quarterly journal PV Tech Power, Paul Rogers, a former firefighter-turned-subject matter expert in battery energy storage said that for fire crews, fire and explosion incidents will be extremely rare, but could be high risk events when they do occur.

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The accelerated scenario forecasts 260GWh of demand annually by 2030 across numerous sectors. Image: RMI / RMI India / NITI Aayog.

Demand for batteries in India will rise to between 106GWh and 260GWh by 2030 across sectors including transport, consumer electronics and stationary energy storage, with the country racing to build up a localised value chain. 

The forecast is offered in a new report published by Indian government think tank NITI Aayog and the global and India offices of non-profit research group Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). 

It comes while a process of evaluation is underway to support the creation of 50GWh of domestic production capacity across up to 10 new facilities making so-called Advanced Chemistry Cells (ACC), through a scheme called the Production Linked Incentive (PLI).

With the nation committing over US$2 billion of financial assistance to India or overseas-headquartered companies that build cell gigafactories, each with at least 5GWh annual production capacity, the report explains the drivers behind this urgent need. 

In addition to a targeted 500GW of new renewable energy capacity to come online by 2030 — a target which the country looks on track to achieve given that it has already reached about 175GW of solar PV and wind — 30% of new vehicles sales should be electric by that time, according to Union Government policies.

Globally, the report’s authors cite BloombergNEF figures that forecast demand for energy storage at US$150 billion annually by the end of this decade. With a high penetration of EVs and stationary energy storage, India alone could represent 13% of that total demand, according to RMI and NITI Aayog.

Growth in the renewable energy market will lead naturally to a big market opportunity for stationary energy storage systems (ESS), given the wide variety of services they can provide and their declining costs mean that ESS are becoming competitive with incumbent technologies.

Broad range of value streams for broad range of stakeholders

Six major drivers are identified for the need to accelerate battery manufacturing within India:

-The centrality of batteries to taking action on climate, in line with India’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) of achieving net zero by 2070 and the meeting of 50% of energy use from non-fossil fuels by 2030.

-India currently imports not only large amounts of fossil fuels but also equipment and materials needed for renewable energy projects like solar PV modules and lithium-ion batteries. Domestic manufacturing would have a positive impact on national energy security. 

-India has 22 out of the 30 most polluted cities in the world for air quality according to an IQAir index. Clean energy and electric transport offer a way to reverse this trend.      

-EV adoption goals will undoubtedly drive greater demand for batteries. 

-Greater involvement in battery manufacturing presents a great opportunity to grow Indian industry.

-Falling battery costs are making their use in a growing number of applications viable. 

The report indexes the attractiveness of market opportunities for batteries in a range of those applications out to 2030: in stationary energy storage, grid support ancillary services, renewables integration, transmission and distribution (T&D) upgrade deferral and commercial behind-the-meter (BTM) will all be highly attractive markets by 2030.

In the case of grid services, it does depend on the ability of battery storage to be enabled by regulations to participate in wholesale markets for ancillary services, which looks increasingly likely to happen. 

There are many different value streams for energy storage for India’s power grid transmission utilities and distribution companies (discoms) that can be tapped, supporting the network’s reliability and efficiency. 

Energy storage can be among assets used to meet demand for electricity at peak hours of consumption, which has until now largely driven investment into peaking capacity from natural gas combustion turbines. 

As is starting to be seen in other markets like the US, utilities can defer the need to invest in distribution system upgrades in areas of the grid that are seeing, or expecting to see, rapid rise in demand for electricity. Similarly, the need to make costly transmission system upgrades could be alleviated using strategically sited energy storage capacity. 

Again, as seen already in many parts of the world, the direct benefit to power sector companies includes smoothing and firming renewable energy output, votage support and frequency regulation ancillary services, black starting generation and the grid after outages or incidents and much more.

US$15 billion annual demand by 2030

According to the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), only around 85MWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) are in construction or already online in the country, but there is a pipeline of 4.6GWh already (3.3GWh tendered for and 1.2GWh announced).

For the report, two scenarios were produced, one conservative, the other accelerated adoption for batteries: RMI and NITI Aayog said in the accelerated scenario (260GWh) that equates to US$15 billion of demand by 2030, US$3 billion from pack assembly and integration and US$12 billion from cells. 

Even in the conservative scenario (106GWh) the annual market would be worth more than US$6 billion a year. Localising parts of the supply chain could enable the country to capture “significant value”, the report said. 

It is worth noting that although electric vehicles get a lot more media attention, they will only comprise about 40% of that total demand, including freight applications, and grid-scale stationary storage will be about equal, if not more. 

The report is the first of three being produced in a series, with the next two looking at aspects of directly supporting domestic production.  

Part 1 of the report, ‘The Need for Advanced Chemistry Energy Storage Cells in India’ is available from RMI’s website, here.

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Carl Rapp

The Timken Co. is providing high-precision drives for what will be the world’s largest single-site solar power plant. Timken’s solar-tracking technology, developed by its Cone Drive subsidiary, will be used to precisely position solar panels in line with the sun for the Al Dhafra PV2 site in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“We partner with leading manufacturers to develop customized solutions that are essential to some of the most significant solar energy projects in the world,” says Carl Rapp, Timken’s group vice president. “Our application engineering expertise is critical to advancing the use of renewable energy around the globe.”

The Al Dhafra facility is expected to become fully operational in 2022. When complete, its 4 million solar panels – controlled by 83,000 Cone Drive high-precision drives – are projected to power as many 160,000 homes across the UAE and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2.4 million metric tons annually.

Timken entered the solar energy market with the acquisition of Cone Drive in 2018. Cone Drive’s high-precision drives provide tracking and positioning capabilities for photovoltaic (PV) applications, such as the Al Dhafra site, as well as concentrated solar power (CSP) applications.

Timken has invested heavily in research and development for the solar energy market, and the company has built manufacturing, engineering and testing capabilities in both the United States and China. In 2021, Timken consolidated multiple sites into a new, larger campus in Jiangyin, China, to increase production capacity, broaden the product range and improve productivity for precision drives used in the solar energy market.

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Aurora Solar, a software platform for solar sales and design, and Mosaic, a financing platform for U.S. residential solar and energy-efficient home improvements, are partnering to further accelerate solar adoption at scale. With this integration, solar installers can seamlessly access their Mosaic account in Aurora to provide homeowners competitive financing options and near instant loan pre-approval for their solar and storage projects.

“We’re always looking for innovative ways to help installers sell faster, with more ease and accuracy,” says Samuel Adeyemo, co-founder of Aurora Solar. “This partnership with Mosaic, combined with Aurora’s Sell suite, will enable installers to instantly quote, sell and provide financing options to homeowners.”

The integration will eliminate more steps to speed up the process for homeowners going solar. Homeowners will now be able to get simple and affordable financing options along with their sales proposal, creating a smoother and more comprehensive solar buying experience.

“The Mosaic platform seamlessly integrates into the tools that solar professionals use every day, so they can quickly and easily offer their homeowners some of the most competitive financing options in the market,” comments Billy Parish, founder and CEO of Mosaic. “Together, we’ll help even more families adopt clean energy solutions, which is a win for homeowners, our industry and the planet.”

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American Clean Power Association’s (ACP) The Clean Power Quarterly 2021 Q4 Market Report shows the U.S. surpassed more than 200 GW of total operating utility-scale clean power capacity in 2021, but significant policy issues continue to hold back growth for the industry and threaten the country’s ability to meet emissions goals.

“Surpassing over 200 gigawatts of clean energy is a significant milestone for the United States and shows that we can achieve even more with strong public policy support for the industry,” says Heather Zichal, ACP’s CEO. “Although the U.S. has reached this incredible achievement, more needs to be done, at a faster pace, to reach the climate goals and targets our country needs to achieve. We urge Congress to take action to create a clean energy future that will help create more good-paying American jobs and combat the climate crisis.”

During 2021, there was a 3% decline for clean energy installations compared to 2020’s record year. Over 11.4 GW of projects, originally expected to come online in 2021, slipped to 2022 or 2023 due to a variety of issues. For the solar sector this was due to trade policies and lack of regulatory certainty impacting the availability of solar panels coming into the country. The wind sector faced policy uncertainty, including the expiration of tax credits for wind projects.

The pace of installations fell significantly short of what is required to achieve a net-zero emissions goal. While 27.7 GW is the second largest year on record for combined wind, solar and energy storage installations, it is only 45% of what’s required to stay on track for an emissions-free power sector.

Throughout 2021, the renewable energy sector installed 27.7 GW of new utility-scale wind, solar and energy storage capacity, with 10,520 MW being installed in the fourth quarter. These clean power projects represent $39 billion in investments across the sector. Wind power capacity installations for 2021 totaled 12,747 MW for the year, with 5,409 MW brought online in the fourth quarter. The solar sector overall installed 12,364 MW for the year, including 3,937 MW added in the fourth quarter. Battery storage installations totaled 2,599 MW in 2021, outpacing 2020 by over 1,500 MW. During the fourth quarter, 1,173 MW of battery storage projects were brought online, the first quarter ever to pass 1 GW of new installations.

There are now over 1,000 clean energy projects under development across the country, totaling 120,171 MW of new capacity in the development pipeline. This includes 37,802 MW under construction and 82,369 MW in advanced development.

Despite unclear policy headwinds, U.S. project owners commissioned 606 new project phases across 43 states during 2021, including 168 projects in the fourth quarter. The top five states for new installation additions in 2021 include Texas (7,352 MW), California (2,697 MW), Oklahoma (1,543 MW), Florida (1,382 MW) and New Mexico (1,374 MW).

The top five states for clean power development (by percent of projects under construction or advanced development) include Texas (17%), California (11%), New York (7%), Indiana (5%) and Virginia (5%).

Last year was a record year for clean energy procurement, with 28 GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed in 2021. For perspective, 28 GW of clean energy exceeds the electricity demand of the entire U.S. federal government.

Growth for clean energy is due to several factors, including strong continued demand from consumers. Corporate buyers surpassed utilities in clean energy procurement for the first time, announcing deals totaling over 14 GW in 2021. Utilities signed contracts for over 10 GW of wind, solar and battery storage.

During the fourth quarter, corporate customers signed onto 1,871 MW of power purchase agreements. Pfizer was the top corporate offtaker during the quarter with 310 MW announced, followed by Meta Platforms (Facebook) with 285 MW and PepsiCo announcing 72.5 MW.

Utilities made up 35% of the announced PPA capacity during the quarter, with 19 utilities signing contracts representing a total capacity of 1,994 MW. The 2021 fourth quarter utility PPA announcements were led by Public Service Company of Colorado (350 MW), Entergy Louisiana (250 MW) and Consumers Energy (225 MW).

Solar was the dominant technology for utility PPA announcements, accounting for over 70% of the new capacity announced. Despite record demand, power purchase agreement prices for future projects increased nearly 6% in the quarter, with supply chain constraints, commodity price increases, expiring tax credits and trade barriers all weighing on project economics. Solar PPA prices increased 5.7%, while wind prices increased 6.1%. According to market data year-over-year, the average overall PPA price increased by 15.7%.

Despite some of these increases, renewable energy is one of the most affordable ways to generate electricity and reduce carbon pollution. Clean energy technology has improved dramatically over the past decade with solar costs down 90% since 2009 and wind costs down 70%.

Read the full report here.

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Q CELLS is releasing its more powerful Q.PEAK DUO-G10 solar module series in Europe. The new module offers more power than its predecessor, the Q.PEAK DUO-G9, with larger M6 wafers. For ground-mounted solutions, the 156 half-cell Q.PEAK DUO XL-G10 module delivers up to 495 Wp, which is up to 20% more module power than a standard 156 half-cell module.

For residential installations, the smaller 132 half-cell Q.PEAK DUO ML-G10 version can deliver power output up to 415 Wp. This module has also been awarded the TÜV Rheinland Quality Controlled PV certification, which is one of the most thorough testing programs for solar module quality in the industry.

Both the 132 half-cell and 156-half-cell versions of the Q.PEAK DUO-G10 provide efficiencies of 20.9% and 21.6%, respectively, thanks to Q.ANTUM DUO Z Technology, which arranges the module in a zero-gap cell layout. With higher yield per surface area, the Q.PEAK DUO-G10 series helps to further lower BOS costs for the customer.

“There is a definite trend in the solar industry towards larger cells using M6 – and more recently – M10 wafers, and so Q CELLS has developed the Q.PEAK DUO-G10 series to meet this demand,” says Daniel Jeong, Q CELLS’ CTO. “The larger dimensions mean that each individual module boasts a very high power output, which complements the zero gap cell layout to ensure peak efficiency and performance.” 

The black version of the G10 series – the Q.PEAK DUO BLK-G10 – is expected to be available across Europe in the second half of this year.

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A 100MW solar PV plant in Andra Pradesh, one of the regions where Greenko is building large-scale energy storage paired with renewables. Image: Tata Power Solar.

Independent power producers (IPPs) Greenko and Ayana Renewable Power will leverage large-scale energy storage to give industrial customers in India ‘round-the-clock’ renewable power supply.

The pair said this week that they are teaming up to offer industrial entities and distribution companies (discoms) decarbonisation solutions with up to 1GW of dispatchable renewable energy.

The two companies said the business model they are creating — with green energy supply underpinned by standalone energy storage capacity — could offer a template for such transactions in the country.

Ayana Renewable Power is owned by Indian sovereign wealth investment instrument National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and develops utility-scale solar, wind and hybrid renewable energy projects across India. 

Ayana’s other shareholders are UK government development finance institution CDC Power, which launched the IPP in 2018, and Green Growth Equity Fund, which is managed by EverSource Capital. It already has 1.19GWac of operating renewable energy projects and is developing or managing over 3.59GWac more. 

Greenko meanwhile is one of the country’s biggest developers, owners and operators of renewables, with an installed base of 7.3GW of solar, wind and hydro across 15 Indian states. 

In September 2020, an investment of nearly US$1 billion from Japan’s ORIX Corporation took Greenko’s valuation to about US$5.75 billion for its multi-gigawatt renewables development pipeline. 

It was awarded a contract for a hybrid pumped hydro, solar and wind project in Andra Pradesh by that state’s government earlier in 2020, which at the time was considered the lowest cost renewables-plus-storage project bid made in the world.

According to Greenko, it will offer capacity from the 1.5GWh of pumped storage at that site, from a total 6GWh of standalone energy storage it brings to the partnership with Ayana Renewable Power.

Energy-Storage.news asked for clarification from the two companies on the likely mix of energy storage technologies comprising that 6GWh figure, but had yet to receive a reply ahead of publication. 

Greenko said it is constructing a total 30GWh of energy storage capacity and targeting an eventual 100GWh.

The partnership follows on the heels of US-headquartered energy storage technology company Fluence announcing a forthcoming joint venture (JV) to target the Indian market with another Indian IPP, ReNew Power. One of the first projects that JV will work on will be a battery-backed round-the-clock renewable energy hybrid system.

GE Renewable Energy has also just opened a factory in Chennai, making equipment including solar inverters and integrated battery storage system technology.

India’s government keen to support energy storage market takeoff

Regular readers of this site will know that in light of India’s ambitions to deploy 500GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, the government as well as its industries are keen to support and foster the adoption of energy storage as an enabling technology.

Its Central Electricity Authority has modelled a need for about 29GW/108GWh of energy storage connected to the grid by that time.

“This transaction marks the first time two independent power producers have joined hands to facilitate the decarbonisation goals of industrial clients in India by developing storage infrastructure that will support India’s commitment to create 500GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 and reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 45% by 2030,” Ayana Renewable Power managing director and CEO Shivanand Nimbargi said. 

In the Union Budget announced a couple of weeks ago, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ruled that energy storage systems can be classified as infrastructure investments.

This would go a long way to unlocking financing for both the upstream and downstream industry sectors, expert industry commentators Dr Rahul Walawalkar of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) and Ulka Kelkar of research group WRI India told Energy-Storage.news. 

Only a few days before that, the Ministry of Power issued a clarification of energy storage’s role in the power sector, including its legal status, how it could be defined as generator, or as part of the grid or wider electricity network and what sort of ownership models could be applied. 

Government ministers have said that they are prepared to handhold and support the industry until it can stand on its own two feet, including through holding government tenders for both standalone energy storage and hybrid renewable energy projects with storage at strategic locations. 

There is also an ongoing government scheme to incentivise up to 50GWh of production facilities for advanced chemistry cell (ACC) batteries within the country’s borders. 

“This partnership between Ayana and Greenko is in line with the Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy mission to create a standalone storage market in India,” Greenko’s founder, joint managing director and president Mahesh Kolli said.

“Such integrated renewable energy and storage projects, offering solutions superior to conventional energy sources in terms of dispatchability and round-the-clock supply, reflect the growing maturity of the renewable sector in India.”

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Enphase AC battery storage setup. Image: Enphase Energy via Twitter.

Microinverter supplier Enphase Energy posted strong Q4 2021 results last week that saw strong revenue growth, following high demand for its IQ microinverters and a 53% jump in orders of its IQ batteries compared with Q3 2021, despite supply chain constraints.

In response to the surge in demand for batteries, it has added extra capacity to its facilities in Mexico and India.

Enphase recorded US$412.7 million in revenue for the three months ending 31 December 2021, up from US$351.5 million in Q3 2021, according to its Q4 2021 financial results released 8 February. This was a 17% jump on the record revenue posted in Q3 2021.  

It said strong demand for its IQ microinverters and IQ Batteries in the US and international markets drove the increased revenue despite “supply chain constraints and logistical challenges”.

Enphase shipped roughly 3,033,891 microinverters totalling 1,082MWdc and 100MWh of Enphase IQ Batteries. In Q3, it shipped 2.6 million microinverters, equivalent to around 913MWdc, and 65MWh of storage systems.

The company has 180MWh of storage production capacity today, up from 120MWh in Q3, and is in discussions with additional storage suppliers to increase capacity further, it said.

“Our lead times for batteries are still long today at approximately 14 to 16 weeks primarily due to logistics challenges, which are global,” said Enphase CEO Badri Kothandaraman in discussing results with analysts.

“The lead times should come down once global shipping and port conditions improve.”

Enphase expects to ship between 110-120MWh of batteries in Q1 this year, said Kothandaraman, up 15% from Q4 last year. But expect prices for Enphase’s battery storage products to go up in March this year, Kothandaraman told analysts.

The company expects revenue of US$420-440 million in Q1 versus prior estimate of US$397 million, according to a ROTH Capital note that added the better-than-expected figures are “due in part to anticipated growth in storage as Enphase expects to ship 110-120MWh of storage in Q1 for implied sequential growth of 15% versus prior ROTH estimate of 105MWh.”

Analyst call transcription via The Motley Fool.

To read the full version of this story, visit PV Tech.

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Solar power plant in Hokkaido, northern Japan, invested in by Daiwa. Image: Daiwa.

Renewables developer Solariant Capital and energy investor Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure (DEI) are collaborating to develop a portfolio of US solar and energy storage projects.

The partnership will first focus on developing California-based Solariant’s existing portfolio, which comprises more than 1GWac of solar and 2.5GWh of battery energy storage systems across the US Southeast and Southwest. The companies will also look to acquire other development-stage projects.

DEI, which is part of Japanese financial service company Daiwa Securities Group, said it is committed to supporting Solariant’s development efforts with its financial resources. 

“With the current favourable environment for renewable energy in the U.S. driven by the recent administration’s aggressive climate goals and support from state and local governments, we believe this partnership is a great opportunity for DEI to expand our footprint into the US market,” said Morimasa Matsuda, CEO of DEI. 

Daiwa Securities previously set up a fund in 2018 to make investments in large-scale solar projects in Japan.

Solariant Capital managing director Daniel Kim said the partnership with DEI will help his company expand its operations into new markets.

This story first appeared on PV Tech.

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Image: Cambridge Power.

Ontario, Canada-headquartered renewable energy asset developer, owner and operator Brookfield Renewable Partners has signed a Framework Agreement with the UK’s Cambridge Power to develop a portfolio of battery storage and solar PV.

The two are to develop on an exclusive basis more than 800MW of full consented battery energy storage systems (BESS) and 185MW of co-located solar for investment over the next five years.

Brookfield will provide capital to construct the portfolio, while Cambridge Power will manage the construction and operation of the assets.

Projects are to commence construction this year, with energisation scheduled for 2023.

Richard Stanton, chairman of Cambridge Power said: “This partnership represents a terrific opportunity for Cambridge Power to develop and operate one of the UK’s leading BESS and solar PV portfolios.”

Brookfield Renewable, 60% owned by Brookfield Asset Management, currently has a portfolio of hydroelectric, wind, solar and storage facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. It totals over 21,000MW of installed capacity, with an approximately 62,000MW development pipeline.

At the beginning of this month, it tripled its US development pipeline to 31GW through the US$650 million (£479 million) acquisition of clean power developer Urban Grid, taking on its pipeline which includes 13GW of utility-scale solar and 7GW of energy storage across 12 US states.

This story first appeared on Solar Power Portal.

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