Solar-plus-storage accounted for the majority of hybrid resources. Image: PG&E.

Utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) installations in the US grew 196% to 2.6GW in 2021 but overall clean power installations fell 3%, according to the latest annual figures from the trade body American Clean Power Association (ACP). 

Measured in energy, utility-scale BESS capacity quadrupled to 10.8 GWh over the course of the year. It now accounts for 2% of the country’s total clean power capacity of 200GW, about double 2020’s proportion.

Over 1GW of large-scale BESS was brought online in that last quarter alone, the first time that landmark has been reached in a single three-month period according to the ACP.

Note that Wood & Mackenzie Power & Renewables said that a gigawatt of deployements were achieved in Q3, as reported by Energy-storage.news, but Wood Mackenzie’s market research spans all scales from front-of-the-meter utility-scale storage to residential, commercial & industrial (C&I) and community storage while ACP focuses on utility-scale segments of the clean energy market.

Overall, ACP data shows the year and particularly fourth quarter may be seen as disappointing for the clean power sector’s progress with BESS outperforming the other technologies by some distance. Annual clean power installations fell 3% to 27.7GW and Q4 was down 34%, to 10.5GW. 

Some 11.4GW of capacity expected to come online in 2021 had completion dates pushed back beyond the year. The main cause of this was wind, for which installations fell 25% while solar increased 19%. 

“Supply chain constraints continue to impede project timelines, rising costs pressure project economics, and long, slow interconnection queues slow progress. For solar, a so far elusive resolution to the Withhold Release Order (WRO) threatens to further delay projects or even lead to their cancellation,” the ACP commented. 

In reference to the poor Q4, it added: “Several projects simply pushed timelines and are expected online in early 2022. Others continue to battle supply chain constraints, trade barriers, rising costs, and other challenges”.

The ACP notes 187 projects in the 12.5GW pipeline for battery storage – of which 48 are stand-alone with 139 hybrid (paired with a renewable power source).

It says the capacity weighted average duration for installations reached 3 hours in 2021, trending consistently upwards since 2016 when it was around 1.5 hours. (Duration varied wildly from 2008 to 2015, a period which saw far fewer projects).

Hybrid resources led by solar-plus-storage, states led by California

Total operating hybrid capacity (defined as a combination of at least two types of clean power together) more than doubled last year to 8.7GW. Of this, 96% is storage paired with a renewable power source – solar-plus-storage the largest at 68% – with only the 4% that is solar-plus-wind not involving storage. 

Hybrid capacity growth of 132% last year is impressive considering it only grew by an average CAGR of 26% from 2009-2020 and a CAGR of just 11% in 2019 and 2020. 

The leading states for clean power capacity are Texas with 45.1GW, California with 22.9GW followed by Iowa with 12.3GW. Texas and California also rank number one and two for clean power capacity pipeline with 11.5GW and 3.4GW respectively, while Wyoming is third with 3GW. 

The proportion of Texas’ pipeline which is BESS mirrors the national figure of c10%, while for California storage it is a massive 35-40% of its pipeline. Its 5.1GW storage pipeline is much higher than the next-nearest, Nevada with 1.6GW, followed by Arizona and Hawaii with 1.2GW and 0.6GW respectively. 

Of today’s 200GW capacity, land-based wind is the bulk at 67% while solar is 30%. BESS’ proportion of 2% is likely to double again over time as it makes up 9% of the 7GW pipeline that started construction in Q4 and 10% of the total 120GW pipeline.

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Schneider Electric has purchased a controlling stake in EnergySage. In addition to rapidly growing its rooftop solar and community solar marketplace solutions for residential and commercial customers, EnergySage will build new solutions for high-efficiency HVAC, smart home devices, and other clean energy products and services, and will scale its business globally.

“This is an enormous milestone in EnergySage’s history and a huge testament to our team, platform, and all of our industry partners,” says Vikram Aggarwal, founder and CEO of EnergySage. “We’re thrilled to have the support and resources of a company that has been recognized as one of the most sustainable companies on the planet, while maintaining the entrepreneurial, consumer-first spirit that’s propelled us as industry leaders.”

“The future of energy is decarbonized, decentralized and digital” comments Nadege Petit, chief innovation officer at Schneider Electric. “We are excited to accelerate EnergySage’s growth and enable more energy consumers to make the transition to renewable energy”.

“Renewables like solar and wind are now cheaper than conventional electricity sources,” adds Aggarwal. “Policy decisions aimed at curbing climate change are being made across all levels of government, and consumers are increasingly turning to clean energy as a way to not only reduce their carbon footprint, but to increase their resilience to climate change and, of course, save money. EnergySage is uniquely positioned within the industry, and we look forward to working with Schneider to accelerate our mission of making renewable energy accessible and affordable for all.”

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President Biden succeeded in passing the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, but has had less success so far with Build Back Better. Image: @POTUS via Twitter.

Energy storage industry executives have urged US legislators to swiftly reach a consensus on the Build Back Better Act, with a strong emphasis on introducing the investment tax credit (ITC) for standalone storage. 

Two letters have been sent, one addressed to the White House and the other to Congressional leaders, from a long list of CEOs, presidents and other executives representing manufacturers, developers, financiers and system integrators. 

They described the legislation as being “essential for growing American manufacturing jobs, ensuring the health and well-being of American families, strengthening our nation’s infrastructure and transportation systems, and for meeting our energy and climate goals”.

The reconciliation bill that Congress is currently shaping offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address issues like consumer affordability, access to energy and the security and reliability of energy, the letters argued.

The ITC has supercharged the US solar PV market in the past few years, lowering the cost of capital by around a third and making it a significantly more investable technology. For energy storage however, the ITC only applies if solar and storage are installed together simultaneously and the storage system is charged directly from the solar generation onsite. This has been a powerful imperative for solar-plus-storage in the US, but could lead to a distortive impact on the country’s grid getting the right resources where it needs them.

A standalone energy storage ITC has long been advocated for. Analysis from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables has forecast it could lead to a 20% uplift in deployments. It has been included in Build Back Better, along with a direct-pay option which makes it quicker and easier to realise the tax benefits.

However, as has long been documented, despite the legislation enjoying rare bipartisan support among US politicians, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, has refused to give it his approval and the bill’s progress has stalled.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) which was passed last year with bipartisan support, was warmly welcomed by the industry for the way it could advance manufacturing and stimulate the supply side, but in doing so many pointed out that from the demand side, there would be few better stimulus policies than the direct-pay ITC.

The letter’s signees urged for the continued advancement of energy tax provisions and the associated direct pay provisions including in both the House and Senate versions of the Act. 

“The direct pay provisions are a crucial part of creating a level playing field for companies of all sizes to compete and they address capital constraints that currently exist in the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) market,” the letters said.

“Availability of these provisions directly contributes to the ability of the renewable energy sector to continue to grow, scale and meet demand.”

Executives from 70 companies including technology providers Fluence, Sungrow, Stem, Enphase, Powin Energy and Form Energy, developers, independent power producers (IPPs) and investors Arevon, 8minute Solar Energy, CleanCapital, Key Capture Energy, Lightsource bp, consultancies and other service providers signed the letters. 

Energy storage technologies are a pivotal part of the US’ “grid resiliency, grid security and net-zero goals,” they wrote, arguing that certainty in tax provisions allows companies to keep developing energy and climate solutions “at scale and to build a diverse and reliable energy portfolio to support residential, commercial, and public sector entities…”.

“…That’s why it is imperative to pass these provisions now so developers and manufacturers can scale in time to contribute to sound grid infrastructure and to help meet US climate goals for 2035 and beyond.” 

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KORE Power’s gigafactory under development in Buckeye, Arizona is a rare example of capacity buildout by a US player. Image: KORE Power.

A US government pledge of US$2.9 billion support for the country’s battery manufacturing and recycling value chain is more like a band-aid than the “major surgery” required to fix the problem. 

That’s the view of Adam Walters, a specialist renewable energy industry lawyer at Stoel Rives LLP. Energy-Storage.news reported earlier this week that the US Department of Energy (DOE) has unlocked the funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), aka the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. 

The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will support battery materials refining and production facilities, as well as battery cell and pack manufacturing and recycling. 

The administration has correctly identified the problems facing US industries, which currently import nearly all of their battery materials, components and often finished products too from abroad, and largely from China, Walters said.

However according to the lawyer, the funding, in the form of loans, doesn’t solve those problems by addressing their root causes, nor is it enough in dollar terms. 

From starting out working with utility-scale solar companies in 2008, Walters has increasingly focused on the battery energy storage space. Last year he contributed to an article for our quarterly journal, PV Tech Power, on the inherent financial risks that battery storage companies face in their supply chains. 

“While the administration has identified the right problems when it comes to the need to spur both battery supply chain manufacturing and raw materials mining in the US, the problem with US manufacturing has always been, and still is, high labour costs relative to Asia,” Walters said in comments sent to Energy-Storage.news yesterday. 

“Under US$3 billion in short-term government loans is not going to change that either, when in industry terms, this is a small amount of money — basically enough to build two or three moderate sized manufacturing facilities.”

‘Proper solution remains to be realised’

In his PV Tech Power article, published last August, Walters had said that in the solar PV industry, Chinese government subsidies had blown European and American manufacturers “out of the water” from around 2011 onwards, with “very few survivors of that”.

The dynamics aren’t quite the same for batteries, he said, but US competitiveness versus the Chinese battery value chain is nonetheless facing an uphill battle.

“Unfair Chinese subsidies play a role, as they did with the solar PV industry a decade ago, but it isn’t to the same magnitude and tariffs aren’t the solution either; the proper solution remains to be realised,” he said yesterday. 

In the shorter term, the COVID-19 pandemic is creating current high shipping costs and delays for internationally sourced products, which would make US-made products more competitive. However, Walters said, this is unlikely to have more than a couple more years’ impact. 

“By the time new government-subsidised plants are up and running, global shipping costs will be back down to near pre-pandemic levels.”

In the rush to bring battery manufacturing, materials processing and recycling onshore, the lawyer also said there is a possibility that companies applying for loans might be affiliates of Chinese, South Korean and Japanese top tier players seeking to add manufacturing in the US, rather than US companies. 

While in Europe, literally hundreds of gigawatt-hours of battery manufacturing capacity have been committed to — from a combination of domestically and overseas-headquartered companies — the majority of new large-scale manufacturing plants in the US are in construction by the likes of South Korea’s SK Innovation and LG Energy Solution, although US startup KORE Power is building a gigafactory in Buckeye, Arizona. 

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The Victorian Big Battery which recently went online is a good example of how battery storage is playing its part in “reshaping” Australia’s energy sector. Image: Victoria State government.

Australian energy retailer Origin Energy intends to build a 700MW battery storage system on the site of a coal power plant for which it has brought forward a planned retirement date by seven years. 

The economics of operating coal generation are rapidly diminishing as solar, wind and storage are outcompeting the fossil fuel in the National Electricity Market (NEM) and company intends to exit coal entirely with the retirement of its 2,880MW Eraring coal plant in New South Wales (NSW). 

Origin Energy has submitted notice to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) that it wants to close Eraring down by August 2025, not 2032 as originally planned. Three and a half years’ notice are required and the company has triggered that process.

The exit from coal-fired generation is a reflection of the “continuing, rapid transition of the NEM as we move to cleaner sources of energy,” Origin CEO Frank Calabria said yesterday. 

“Australia’s energy market today is very different to the one when Eraring was brought online in the early 1980s, and the reality is the economics of coal-fired power stations are being put under increasing, unsustainable pressure by cleaner and lower cost generation, including solar, wind and batteries,” Calabria said. 

Wholesale energy pricing is being impacted by the growth of wind and solar, as renewables and batteries become more competitive. This is making Origin’s cost of energy likely to be more economical through a combination of renewables, battery storage and peaker power plants. 

Battery energy storage system (BESS) assets are earning increasing revenues in the NEM from a combination of streams. According to market data estimates from the AEMO, battery storage earned AU$14 million (US$10.08 million) from delivering frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) in Q4 2021, up AU$4 million from the same quarter in the previous year. This was equivalent to about 68% of total NEM revenues for battery storage. 

In the wholesale market, battery storage, along with natural gas and liquid-fuelled generation were called up to manage rapid changes in net supply requirements in response to increased spot price volatility cause by a range of factors. 

At one point in mid-November 2021, large-scale wind and solar, hydro, biomass, distributed PV and battery storage discharges made up a combined 61.8% of total generation in the NEM, a record high. 

Taking the AEMO report as a snapshot of things to come, the energy arbitrage value of battery storage also drove increased net revenues from the energy market in South Australia. In that state the volume-weighted energy arbitrage value of battery storage jumped from AU$39/MWh in Q4 2020 to AU$138/MWh in Q4 2021. 

The 300MW/450MWh Victorian Big Battery also came online last year in Victoria, capturing a combined AU$1.3 million in revenues from FCAS and energy markets in Q4 2021 alone, as well as benefiting from a service contract to protect the state’s network from outages, called the System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS). 

Another factor that Origin Energy said was decimating the competitiveness of coal was the ability of battery storage to respond much more quickly to signals from the grid to provide power, in a way that coal could not. 

In October last year the AEMO introduced five-minute settlement (5MS) into the NEM, calculating energy and cap prices on a 5-minute basis, rather than every 30 minutes as before. 

While it is still early to conclusively say what the impact of 5MS will be, many had said this would be a massive boon for batteries. AEMO said that in Q4 2021 it had already stopped dispatch prices falling to its floor of -AU$1,000/MWh after high dispatch intervals. 

This had become a regular occurrence prior to 5MS’ introduction, as under 30-minute settlement loads and generation units were financially incentivised to rebid early in 30 minute intervals following price spikes. 

Battery systems in South Australia had taken AU$400,000 higher revenues under 5MS than would have happened under the 30-minute regime. 

Going forwards, AEMO recently introduced new regulations to incentivise investment in battery storage, and is also preparing to launch an ancillary services market for fast frequency response, which again, would favour the almost-instantaneous response times of batteries.

700MW BESS project would get underway in advance of closure

Origin Energy’s original 2032 retirement date for Eraring had been based on the expected technical end-of-life of the plant. That now comes forward significantly and the company said it will help it remove a significant portion of its Scope 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in line Origin’s commitment to getting in line with the multi-lateral Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C pathway. 

“We acknowledge this news will be challenging for many of our colleagues, suppliers and the local community,” Origin CEO Frank Calabria said.

“This is only the start of the process, and we commit to consulting with our people, and supporting them, through any potential closure.”

The cost of Eraring’s closure had originally been stated at AU$240 million by the company, which said this will now be revised in light of the new proposals. The prospective 700MW BESS asset would likely be built in stages, starting well before the coal plant’s final shutdown of its four generating units. 

The influx of renewables “has changed the nature of demand for baseload power,” the CEO said. 

Calabria said Origin’s decision-making had been taken after careful consideration including “extensive consultation” with the NSW government. This includes an assessment of how the retailer’s investment can meet the aims of the state government’s Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap. 

The roadmap will likely guide the company’s investments into renewables and storage, including a possible expansion of its pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) facility at Shoalhaven.  

Our sister site PV Tech has reported over the past couple of weeks that plans by the government of NSW to create large Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) sites in the state have been met with dozens of gigawatts of proposals from clean energy developers, including wind, solar, battery storage and pumped hydro.  

It’s likely that next on the agenda after coal in Australia’s energy transition industries will be demonstrating that energy storage can effectively deliver peaking capacity in place of gas peaker plants.

There was dismay recently as plans progressed in New South Wales to build a 660MW diesel and gas peaker plant. Academics, environmental and clean energy industry groups have all stated emphatically that battery storage can be a more viable option than the polluting and often underused thermal power assets. 

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First Citizens Bank division CIT’s Power and Energy business has served as coordinating lead arranger on a $71.4 million in financing for a portfolio of solar projects.

The borrower, Arches Solar LLC, a subsidiary of CleanCapital, owns a portfolio of distributed generation solar projects being developed in Howard County, Md. Electricity generated by the projects is fully contracted under a master purchase power agreement.

“We are delighted to support the municipality of Howard County, Maryland, in its efforts to supply clean solar electricity to its buildings and facilities,” says Melinda Baglio, chief investment officer and general counsel at CleanCapital. “We appreciated CIT’s agility and expertise in serving as coordinating lead arranger for this financing.”

“We are pleased to work again with CleanCapital, an industry leader in solar and energy storage,” comments Mike Lorusso, managing director and group head for CIT’s Power and Energy business. “This transaction is another example of our market-leading position in arranging financing for renewable power assets.”

Image: Photo by Jadon Kelly on Unsplash

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Maxeon Solar Technologies Ltd. has signed a new supply agreement with SunPower Corp. governing the supply of Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar panels from Maxeon to SunPower for use in SunPower’s residential channels in the U.S. and Canada. This new supply agreement replaces the previous agreement, which had been in place since the spin-out of Maxeon from SunPower in August of 2020.

“In the U.S. residential market, Maxeon products have been the gold standard for over 17 years and have established a well-known reputation for industry leading performance, quality and reliability,” says Jeff Waters, CEO of Maxeon Solar Technologies. “SunPower has a very well-established channel to market with a sales network and customer base who appreciate the benefits of our products.”

Under the new supply agreement, Maxeon will sell certain volumes of its Maxeon 6 panels (marketed in the U.S. and Canada under the SunPower brand as M-series) to SunPower on an exclusive basis for the residential market through the end of 2022, and, if certain trigger conditions are met, will extend such exclusive supply until October of 2023.

“This agreement is also an important step in Maxeon’s strategy of progressively increasing direct engagement in the U.S. market,” continues Waters. “Our engagement in the power plant segment is going well, with over 1.4 GW of backlog and a number of opportunities in advanced stages of negotiation. Our recently announced collaboration with Omnidian is an example of our increased focus on the U.S. Commercial and Industrial market segment.”

Maxeon also will sell certain volumes of its Maxeon 3 panels (marketed in the U.S. and Canada under the SunPower brand as X-series) to SunPower on an exclusive basis for the residential market through the end of 2022. The new supply agreement includes pricing consistent with current market trends.

“Starting in 2023, Maxeon will be in a position to directly address the residential market as well, initially with our Maxeon 3 IBC product line,” adds Waters. “We are excited to be expanding our U.S. footprint and engaging with a much broader and more diversified set of market intermediaries, many of whom have never had access to Maxeon technology.”

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Mark Birk

Ameren Missouri, a subsidiary of Ameren Corp., announced an agreement with Invenergy, a developer, owner and operator of sustainable energy solutions, to acquire a 150 MW solar facility project being developed in southeastern Illinois. The deal is subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

“We’re entering the next phase of our clean energy transition while continuing to serve our customers with reliable, affordable energy,” says Mark Birk, chairman and president of Ameren Missouri.

With timely regulatory approvals, the project could begin generating clean energy as soon as 2024.

“This is another important step in demonstrating the company’s commitment to clean energy and achieving our net-zero carbon emissions goal,” comments Ajay Arora, chief renewable development

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FlexGen commercial and industrial BESS in Puerto Rico. Image: FlexGen.

FlexGen Power Systems has launched an electric vehicle charging solution combining its energy management system (EMS) platform and battery energy storage. 

The North Carolina-based energy storage system integrator firm yesterday (16 February) announced the launch of Plug & Play FlexGen Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Services. 

It utilises its HybridOS 9.3 EMS platform and a containerised energy storage system (ESS) to optimise energy consumption for the charging network operator, and the platform integrates with on-site energy resources. 

Benefits includes reducing peak demand to avoid charge rates from utilities by optimising usage. It also allows the user to by participate in regional power markets to get the best value for their energy. 

Flexgen also claims to have expanded the EMS’ microgrid capabilities to allow it to continue supplying charging power regardless of what is happening on the power grid, like an outage, for example. 

“EV’s are the future, and flexible, advanced, available EV charging is the most important step to realising that future. With Hybrid OS, FlexGen is perfectly positioned to meet the Biden Administration’s plan to provide onsite charging along the national highway system,” said Kelcy Pegler, CEO of FlexGen. 

It comes six months after the firm secured US$150 million investment from asset manager Apollo Global Management. FlexGen started life over a decade ago specialising in microgrids for customers including the US Military, but has more recently become known for grid-connected energy storage systems. It has deployed numerous systems in Texas and started exploring niches in Midwestern US states.

Late last year it was awarded a 2.1GWh supply contract by smart energy developer Ameresco for battery projects in California and in January this year began the deployment of 40MWh of BESS at substations in North Carolina for electric cooperatives.

Hitachi Energy recently launched similar updates to its EV charging EMS-BESS combined platform which it said would provide similar beneficial functions, as covered by Energy-storage.news. Energy storage provider and software group Stem Inc, which publicly listed through a SPAC merger last year, said the convergence of EV charging infrastructure and solar/battery storage is increasingly gaining momentum.

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