Its Germany VPP network has now reached 25,000 sonnenBatteries corresponding to an energy storage capacity of 250MWh. The company expects it to reach 1GWh in “the next few years”, though wasn’t more specific.

Oliver Koch, CEO of sonnen, said: “Almost any country that switches to clean energy will, sooner or later, reach the limits of its power grids by merely adding capacity. That’s why storage and digitalisation are key technologies, and that’s why we’re expanding our technology to more and more European markets, the US, and Australia. With our virtual power plant, we have an existing tool to integrate PV systems, electric vehicles, or heat pumps into our grids. Our power plant is already in people’s homes and does not require any additional space.”

sonnen also operates VPP networks in Australia and Italy and uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells for its batteries.

According to sonnen’s US CEO Blake Richetta, speaking to Energy-Storage.news at RE+ last year, the company has always focused on the VPP aggregation of its home batteries.

Home battery VPPs hold significant potential to help the grid manage supply and demand in the face of growing overall demand and increasing renewable intermittent generation. Belgium’s transmission system operator (TSO) Elia last year said that a home battery VPP network could provide 15% of its balancing needs.

See more Energy-Storage.news coverage of sonnen here.

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Only founded in 2019, the company claimed to have already shipped 10GWh of battery capacity to date, half of that in 2022 alone. It has an annual production capacity of 45GWh but is rapidly ramping that up to 70GWh of annual output by the end of this year and 135GWh by 2025.

In September last year, Hithium debuted a new 300Ah prismatic cell to the US market at the annual RE+ trade event. The lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell has a claimed 12,000 cycle lifetime and doesn’t experience capacity fade over the first three years of use.

In July, Hithium closed a Series C funding round worth more than US$620 million, with funding said to go towards manufacturing capacity expansion, equipment purchasing and R&D.

Last week, Hithium and TÜV Rheinland of mainland China signed their strategic partnership agreement at a meeting in Xiamen, southeast China.

The battery maker will leverage quality and safety assurances provider TÜV Rheinland’s experience and capabilities for testing and certification of large-scale energy storage systems (ESS). Meanwhile TÜV Rheinland can lean on Hithium’s experience of developing and designing products aimed at that market.

They will collaborate in areas including developing Hithium’s range of solutions, training workforce talent and will otherwise share resources and complementary advantages, the company claimed.

In December last year, a 200MW/400MWh BESS in Ningxia, China, went online equipped with Hithium’s LFP cells and claimed at the time to be the country’s largest standalone lithium-ion electrochemical energy storage project.

On that project, Hithium was supplying battery cells only, not the complete BESS solution. Another China project the company recently announced marks the first-ever deployment of Hithium’s ‘immersion’ liquid-cooled BESS technology at scale.

In a demonstration project claimed to have been delivered in just four months from the start of construction to trial operation, Hithium’s liquid-cooled BESS was supplied for a 140MWh project by China Southern Power Grid Company (CSG).

Along with State Grid Corporation of China, CSG is one of China’s two major state-owned power system enterprises. The BESS asset, in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, has been deployed as a demonstration project for the city of four million people by CSG and the Guangdong Energy Department.

In a 2022 interview with this site, global battery supply chain expert Cormac O’Laire said BESS-specific cell manufacturing in China will exceed 200GWh of annual production capacity by 2025.

Hithium BESS compatible with global inverter makers’ PCS

Overseas, Hithium also launched into the European market this summer, making its debut at Intersolar Europe in June.

A few days ago, the company’s international options were boosted as a number of global inverter manufacturers said their products are compatible with Hithium battery storage systems.

SMA, Power Electronics, Gamesa, Delta Electronics, Ingeteam and Sineng Electric were among a number of inverter companies that have deemed their power conversion system (PCS) solutions suitable for use with Hithium liquid-cooled containerised BESS solutions up to 1,500V DC.

“Determining compatibility enables customers and investors to pre-select the right PCS for their projects,” Hithium Germany senior director of product management Winfried Wahl said.

“Of course, the projects have to be planned in detail and the communication between the energy management, the battery storage systems and the PCS has to be checked. However, this confirmation from the major suppliers is a crucial step after our European market entry in June to provide clear and transparent product information.”

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Phase One of the Solar Array next to Kansas City International Airport (KCI) in Missouri has moved closer to becoming a reality. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and City Manager Brian Platt recently announced the Solar Array Selection Committee recommended the city enter negotiations with the 816 Consortium for Phase One of the project.

The 816 Consortium was one of five submissions and three finalists from the request for proposals. The Consortium is made up of four local companies:

Evergy, a utility provider that, if approved, would operate the array.

Savion, a solar and battery storage developer.

Herzog, a rail and construction solutions company.

Burns & McDonnell, an engineering, procurement and construction firm.

In 2022, the city manager directed the Kansas City Aviation Department to commission a feasibility study that would help determine the potential size of a solar energy project on undeveloped city-owned land near KCI. The study determined more than 3,100 acres of that vacant land would be suitable for a solar panel installation.

The project could produce up to 500 MW of electricity, enough to power the equivalent of up to 70,000 average size homes. A solar array of this size would be one of the largest in the United States.

The study recommends a phased approach as the fastest and more cost-effective way to expedite construction of the solar facilities so they can begin providing energy quickly.

Phase One would include installation of solar panels on 136 acres that will produce 35 MW of energy, which is enough to power 4,500 homes.

The Phase Two development proposal envisions generation of nearly 246 MW on approximately 1,800 acres of the land.

Developing this source of renewable energy aligns with the City Council’s resiliency and sustainability goals.

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Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC, a climate-focused investment manager and independent power producer, has closed on a new warehouse financing facility in an initial aggregate principal amount of $75 million, with the potential to increase up to $250 million. Greenbacker will use the proceeds of the facility to support the construction and operation of its renewable power generation and energy storage portfolios.

Wells Fargo serves as sole lead arranger, bookrunner, sustainability structuring agent and administrative agent for the facility. Wilmington Trust, National Association serves as the collateral agent.

The three-year revolving credit facility provides enhanced flexibility for Greenbacker’s sustainability investments. The facility is structured to provide commitments to extend revolving loans for eligible projects in an aggregate amount not to exceed $75 million, which may be increased to an aggregate amount of up to $250 million, and includes an up to $50 million sublimit for issuances of letters of credit. Greenbacker is currently in market to upsize the facility through incremental commitments from other key lending relationships.

Greenbacker will deploy borrowings from the warehouse facility into investments across its solar, solar-plus-storage and standalone energy storage portfolios, expanding its ability to generate and deliver cheaper clean energy to consumers, communities and corporations around the country.

Today, Greenbacker’s clean energy fleet encompasses 457 assets of clean power production capacity and storage in 32 states, plus Canada, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC. Greenbacker’s fleet of clean energy projects comprises nearly 3.4 GW of generating and storage capacity.

Since 2016, Greenbacker’s real assets have produced over 7.4 million MWh of clean energy. Today these projects support more than 6,000 green jobs.

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Form has developed a battery chemistry based around the oxidisation, or rust, of iron that can store electrical energy and discharge it at 100+ hours cost-effectively, the company has claimed.

The company is already in the process of deploying two systems of the same size for utility Xcel Energy in Minnesota and Colorado, and started building its gigafactory in West Virginia earlier this year.

The US$15 million funding will be administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and will see smaller amounts go to the three other companies.

Ecolectro Inc will get just over US$1 million to build prototype electrolyser units using its polymer chemistry and materials that are expected to reduce the cost of producing hydrogen via electrolysis and create a drop-in replacement for current designs. The units will be built in a pilot project with Liberty Utilities in Massena, New York.

PolyJoule Inc also got a nudge over US$1 million to install 167kW/2MWh modular LDES battery energy storage system (BESS) in partnership with Eastern Generation at its Astoria Generating Station located in Queens, New York. The project aims to prove out its PolyJoule Conductive Polymer BESS technology.

Meanwhile, zinc alkaline battery company Urban Electric Power (UEP) will get around US$700,000 to deploy a 100kW/1MWh BESS in Pearl River, which will provide power resilience to end users, peak shaving and demand response services.

On top of the US$15 million, NYSERDA will administer another US$8.15 million programme to support technologies which have yet to be commercialised. Project submissions should ‘advance, develop or field-test hydrogen, electric, chemical, mechanical or thermal-electric storage technologies that will address renewable integration challenges, such as grid congestion, hosting capacity constraints and siting in New York City’, the annoucement said.

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“Origis is in an unprecedented growth cycle fuelled by customer demand and the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Guy Vanderhaegen, Origis president and CEO.

The company operates more than 4GW of solar and storage facilities across the US, and is working to expand its portfolio further. 

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

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Origis Energy, a renewable energy platform headquartered in Miami, has closed on a $750 million construction warehouse credit facility. The facility will fund large-scale solar and energy storage project construction totaling approximately 2 gigawatts (GW) across 15 states over the next three years.

Construction of solar, storage and co-located solar plus storage projects have expected completion dates up to 2026. Power purchase agreements, serving a variety of utility and corporate clients, have been secured on all assets. Origis is developing a clean energy pipeline that currently stands at 18 GW of solar and 36 GWh of storage capacity. The company is active in 31 states to date.

“Origis is in an unprecedented growth cycle fueled by customer demand and the Inflation Reduction Act,” says Guy Vanderhaegen, CEO & president, Origis Energy. “Advancing construction of our renewable energy pipeline is a top priority, one served by this new financing. The arrangement also demonstrates the continued trust of the financial community in our team.”

Santander Corporate and Investment Banking was the structuring agent, green loan coordinator and coordinating lead arranger. Rabobank and Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking served as coordinating lead arrangers, hedge providers and letter of credit issuers.

Origis Energy is majority-owned by funds that are managed by Antin Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm.

Latham and Watkins represented Origis Energy in the transaction. Norton Rose Fulbright acted as lenders’ counsel. 

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Leeward Renewable Energy LLC (LRE) has completed construction of its 100-MW Oak Trail Solar project near Moyock, N.C., and the facility has reached commercial operation. Verizon Communications has supported the development of Oak Trail Solar through a long-term virtual power purchase agreement.

LRE hosted a ceremonial ribbon-cutting event, in partnership with the American Clean Power Association (ACP), at the project site to celebrate the start of operations and the benefits Oak Trail Solar will bring to the local community. LRE officials as well as guests from ACP, Verizon and Currituck County attended

Jason Allen, LRE’s CEO, comments: “Oak Trail Solar is another example of how LRE seeks to meaningfully contribute to the communities where we live and operate. Our engagement goes well beyond job creation, economic investment and the generation of clean, renewable energy. We strive to build lasting partnerships with civic leaders, property owners and community members while preserving and protecting the environment.”

Oak Trail Solar created approximately 300 jobs at peak construction. It will provide long-term renewable energy jobs and significant property tax contributions to Currituck County. As part of LRE’s commitment to land stewardship, 30% of the project acreage will be filled with native vegetation and wildflowers that will be utilized for a pollinator habitat, screening and other ecological benefits.  

LRE projects are managed across the full project lifecycle with environmental, social and cultural considerations foremost in mind. The company prioritizes U.S.-made products and looks to partner with companies that share its vision of establishing a resilient domestic renewable energy industry.

Oak Trail Solar utilizes First Solar photovoltaic solar modules, which use less energy, water and semiconductor material in their manufacturing and are designed to have a longer lifespan than other alternatives. The project also employs Nextracker’s solar tracker and software technology, which optimizes energy capture and reliability features to protect solar panels and mitigate the adverse effects of extreme weather.

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A week prior to that, vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) manufacturer Stryten Energy was visited at its offices and factory in Georgia by US Representative for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, Rich McCormick.

In both cases, the companies involved manufacture their products within the US: ESS Inc’s factory in Wilsonville, Oregon, already has an annual production capacity of 800MWh, while Stryten Energy – which also makes advanced lead acid and lithium devices – has just cut the ribbon on a project featuring the first-ever VRFB made at its Georgia site.

“What I saw here at ESS only reinforced the importance of the clean energy provisions that I fought to get passed in the Inflation Reduction Act — strengthening domestic supply chains and supporting clean technology innovation,” Wyden said during his visit to ESS Inc.

Regular readers will recall the rocky road to finally getting the IRA across Joe Biden’s desk for the president to sign it into law. Once it passed, one of the more celebrated aspects, as far as energy storage is concerned, was the introduction of investment tax credit (ITC) incentives for standalone storage facilities.

However the legislation was also aimed at stimulating domestic manufacturing and development of those technologies as well as downstream deployment, including higher rates of ITC and other tax credits for energy storage projects that utilise domestically produced components.

According to the American Clean Power Association (ACP), a total of US$270 billion in clean energy projects and manufacturing have been announced, and 85GW of planned manufacturing facilities, in the year since the IRA passed.

As reported by Energy-Storage.news yesterday, research by the national trade group found that 14 manufacturing facilities relevant to utility-scale storage, from lithium hydroxide and battery cell production to complete system integration, are included among those investments.

While naturally the most activity is to be found around lithium-ion, the main incumbent technology for both energy storage and electric vehicles (EVs), the US Department of Energy (DOE) and by extension the government have long talked about the need for cost-effective long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies.

Flow batteries are among those technologies, and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm has previously talked up the potential of flow batteries for grid storage, and in fact has previously also visited ESS Inc’s headquarters.

“Expanding the domestic manufacturing and global deployment of innovative new clean energy technologies, such as iron flow batteries, were key goals of the Inflation Reduction Act. American clean technology manufacturers are already delivering against these goals, creating jobs and secure supply chains here in the US to build the global clean energy future,” Dr Christopher Saldaña, director of the DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO), who also visited ESS Inc, said.

ESS Inc is among a number of energy storage-focused companies to have listed its shares publicly following a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger in the last couple of years. Like some of the others, it has seen its share price plummet since going public, as noted in a special report from Energy-Storage.news today (Premium access required).

However, the company said in reporting its most recent financial results that it has sufficient funding to stay in business, and that it has dramatically improved its revenue recognition ability as orders and deliveries start to stack up. It also claimed the IP it holds for the iron flow battery will be safe “for years to come”.

Stryten’s first Georgia-made VRFB

On Representative Rich McCormick’s visit to Stryten Energy’s HQ in Alpharetta, Georgia, the politician made similar remarks commending the company’s battery development being “100% domestic” and for being a “large employer of hard-working men and women right here in Georgia’s 6th district”.

A few days before McCormick’s visit on 9 August, Stryten Energy and utility company Snapping Shoals EMC cut the ribbon to inaugurate a VRFB energy storage demonstration project. The project was announced at the beginning of this year.

It is relatively small, at 20kW/120kWh. It was designed that way specifically to fit the needs of the utility so that the pair can conduct testing of the VRFB to deliver applications requiring more than 6-hour durations of storage, a Stryten Energy representative told Energy-Storage.news.

Ribbon-cutting for the Stryten Energy-Snapping Shoals EMC demonstration project. Image: Stryten Energy.

The system can simulate “almost any operating schedule,” to be gauged for its compatibility to meet DOE National Laboratory definitions of the tech’s compatibility with renewable energy integration and front-of-the-meter (FTM) and behind-the-meter (BTM) applications alike.

“The project at Snapping Shoals EMC is testing a wide range of applications such as energy cost control, peak shaving, avoiding curtailment and renewable integration,” the spokesperson said, adding that although the experimental nature of the demonstration means the VRFB will be tested for both FTM and BTM applications, “future batteries of this scale would be mostly applied behind-the-meter”.

Stryten Energy, one of the few vanadium flow battery providers in the US market – Invinity Energy Systems is probably the most high profile other, with a range of companies such as ESS Inc or Redflow providing flow batteries with different electrolyte chemistries.

“The Department of Energy has indicated that flow batteries particularly match up to the needs of long-duration energy storage because the discharge times from a few hours to a few days can be achieved simply by adjusting the electrolyte volume to meet the application’s needs,” the spokesperson said.

“VRFB systems support a near-infinite cycle life with proper maintenance and high-capacity stability, lasting more than 20 years without the electrolyte losing energy storage capacity. With such a long lifespan, these battery systems can match the lifetime of the renewables they are paired with, thus providing a sustainable energy storage solution for on-demand power needs.”

Last August, a few days after the IRA’s passing, Energy-Storage.news posed the question ‘Will the US Inflation Reduction Act boost demand for flow batteries?’ in an Editor’s Blog.  

Our publisher Solar Media is hosting the 10th Solar and Storage Finance USA conference, 7-8 November 2023 at the New Yorker Hotel, New York. Topics ranging from the Inflation Reduction Act to optimising asset revenues, the financing landscape in 2023 and much more will be discussed. See the official site for more details.

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The national laboratory defined hybrid plants as those combining two or more resource types, whether multiple types of generation or generation and storage, using a single point of interconnection. They don’t necessarily need to feature coordinated operations of the hybrid/co-located resources, i.e. the storage charging from the solar.

Solar PV plus storage is the most popular type of hybrid project, LBNL said, show the distribution between different combinations below.

The organisation added that by GW capacity, PV-co-located and standalone storage capacity are roughly at par, around 4GW, while PV-co-located projects are larger by GWh capacity – 12.5GWh versus 10.4GWh.

It also said that its research showed that storage assets co-located with PV are mainly providing capacity firming services and energy arbitrage while those co-located with wind resources are primarily targeting the ancillary service markets.

LBNL added that it the figures in its analysis do not include the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act’s investment tax credit (ITC) for standalone energy storage, but it expected a continuing trend towards co-located projects for other reasons.

Major US co-located projects Energy-Storage.news has reported on in the last few weeks include an offshore wind proposal containing a 253MW storage option in New Jersey, a solar-plus-storage project acquisition with a 50MW battery in New Mexico, and the start of construction on another in the state with 100MW of energy storage.

Our publisher Solar Media is hosting the 10th Solar and Storage Finance USA conference, 7-8 November 2023 at the New Yorker Hotel, New York. Topics ranging from the Inflation Reduction Act to optimising asset revenues, the financing landscape in 2023 and much more will be discussed. See the official site for more details.

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