Yumin Liu

Emeren Group Ltd., a global solar project developer, owner and operator, recently sold an 11.5 MWp PV project to the energy company MET Group, headquartered in Switzerland. The project was sold at the ready-to-build (RTB) stage and MET Group will complete the construction and operate the power plant. This is the first project developed to RTB stage by Emeren Germany GmbH, the Berlin-based subsidiary of Emeren Group, since its entry into the market in early 2021. Capcora, a German consulting company, acted as the exclusive sell-side M&A advisor to Emeren.

The new PV power plant will be located in Kentzlin nestled in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Commercial operations are expected to start in the second half of 2024.

Yumin Liu, CEO of Emeren Group, commented, “This project is an important milestone for our business in Germany and represents our commitment to developing renewable energy infrastructure in the region.”

Adds Bernd Wollwerth-Carl, director of Emeren Germany GmbH: “Starting from scratch in 2021, we managed to grow quickly in a competitive German PV market, establishing partnerships and building a pipeline of medium- and large-scale ground-mounted PV plants. With MET, we found a reliable and competent partner and we look forward to further expanding our cooperation.”

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In late July, DMEGC Solar and TUV SUD signed a strategic cooperation agreement to pursue carbon-neutralization and zero-carbon factories. The two sides will leverage their respective advantages in the construction of zero-carbon factories, carbon-neutralization and other aspects of in-depth cooperation, striving to obtain the certification of DMEGC Solar’s first zero-carbon factory in October 2023, and complete carbon inspections of all DMEGC Solar modules factories in early 2024.

As a manufacturer of high-efficiency PV modules, DMEGC Solar has consistently incorporated green and low-carbon principles into its production processes. In 2013, the company built a 20.7 MW distributed PV project at its Hengdian factory, which can generate about 20 million KWh of energy per year. DMEGC Solar was one of the first manufacturers to obtain the French low-carbon certification, and the company has received a number of international professional certifications, such as ISO14001 and ISO50001.

Recently, DMEGC Solar introduced a 100% green electricity initiative across all of its module production lines. By leveraging local clean energy resources and utilizing electricity generated from renewable sources, the company has taken significant steps toward green and low-carbon manufacturing. The collaborative launch of the zero-carbon venture with TUV SUD is expected to drive further progress in the efficient utilization of renewable resources, energy efficiency management, optimized energy structure and advancement in photovoltaic (PV) technology R&D.

TUV SUD will collaborate with DMEGC Solar throughout the entire process of factory planning and design, production equipment upgrades, process optimization and more,” says Hailiang Xu, vice president of TUV SUD Greater China Smart Energy. “Our aim is to jointly develop a model of carbon-neutralization and zero-carbon factory in the PV industry that will inject new impetus into the green transformation of the industry.”

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Infineon Technologies AG, a company headquartered in Germany and specializing in power semiconductors, and SolarEdge Technologies Inc., a smart energy technology company based in Israel, have expanded their current strategic partnership by signing a multi-year capacity reservation agreement (CRA).

Infineon will supply SolarEdge with critical components for a variety of SolarEdge products. In addition to the CRA, the companies will collaborate on the development of future technologies and cutting-edge solar products based on wide bandgap materials that are key for global green energy supplies.

“Our long-lasting partnership with SolarEdge is an enormous asset for both companies that paves the way for breakthrough-innovation and accelerated growth, as we combine our expertise and resources,” says Andreas Urschitz, CMO at Infineon. “With the latest investments in silicon carbide and gallium nitride manufacturing capacity, Infineon underlines its commitment to be a leading partner in climate technologies such as solar power.”

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Jeff Tolnar

Shoals Technologies Group Inc., a provider of electrical balance of systems solutions for solar, storage, and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, has introduced its patent pending Snapshot I-V solar PV health monitoring solutions.

Shoals’ Snapshot I-V is an ecosystem of products created to integrate seamlessly into a solar asset management system. The solution remotely monitors the health and performance of their PV modules over the life of the system. PV modules represent the largest single investment in a solar system, and accurate and timely performance monitoring is essential to take action in case of PV module underperformance.

Traditionally, auditing and troubleshooting of PV modules with currently available I-V curve tracing equipment requires a labor-intensive, on-site process. Electrical test equipment must be carried to the solar field and manually set up at each location while disconnecting the inverter and losing energy production.

The Snapshot I-V PV health monitoring solution allows remote performance monitoring of the PV modules at a string level, without shutting down the inverter. In addition to the PV module monitoring, Shoals’ solution also collects historical and peripheral site data, helping customers understand their efficiency levels and module utilization, both in real time and via time comparison reports.

The first commercially available solutions in the Snapshot I-V family will be Snapshot I-V Wireless Meter and Snapshot I-V Wireless Gateway.

The Snapshot I-V Wireless Meter is a module-level performance-monitoring device intended to collect and provide detailed information regarding efficiency and performance vs. manufacturers’ predicted module performance over the life of the project. Sealed in its own weather-tight enclosure, the device installs on the back of the solar module that powers it. Together with the Snapshot I-V Wireless Gateway, these devices make up a flexible system for comprehensive power plant monitoring in installations with or without combiner boxes.

The Snapshot I-V Wireless Gateway is an embedded computer with a local area network (LAN) connection and creates a powerful 2.4 GHz wireless mesh network for solar PV monitoring. The Gateway acts as the hub for the Snapshot I-V health monitoring system, collecting data from the external irradiance meter, Snapshot I-V Wireless Meters, and serves as the integration point for third-party API. The Gateway can communicate with up to 250 Snapshot I-V Wireless Meters.

“With Snapshot I-V, our customers now have the ability to ensure that their system is performing to the specifications of the PV manufacturer and benefit from warranty claims if modules are not performing up to specifications,” says Jeff Tolnar, president of Shoals. “We look forward to partnering with our customers to deploy this innovative ecosystem of PV monitoring and health solutions, enabling highly effective long-term asset management to optimize utility-scale systems.”

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825MW of the portfolio is in the ERCOT, Texas market, while the remaining 55MW is in California, where CAISO runs the grid. California is currently the largest US BESS market with over 5.6GW online although Texas is seeing massive deployments this year and may reach 8GW by the end of 2023.

Projects in CAISO are capitalising on long-term revenue opportunities providing energy to utilities through CAISO’s Resource Adequacy framework, while those in ERCOT mainly derive revenues from ancillary services and energy trading, with ERCOT being the more wind-heavy market and California predominantly solar.

The financed BESS projects have expected commercial operation dates (COD) ranging from late 2023 through to the first quarter of 2024. Although their energy storage capacity (MWh) wasn’t revealed in the announcement, CAISO projects are typically 4-hour systems while the market standard in ERCOT is 2-hours.

The financing was led by Deutsch Bank AG, New York Branch, while Coordinating Lead Arrangers and Co-Syndication Agents alongside it were were MUFG Bank Ltd and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, New York Branch. The Joint Lead Arranger was First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company with Depositary Bank, Collateral and Administrative Agent Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas.

Stacey Peterson, CEO of Broad Reach said: “Broad Reach Power is proud to be on the forefront of financing this new asset class, highlighting our portfolio of projects that have been meticulously developed by the team over the last several years as well as the confidence in our team’s ability to construct and operate quality BESS projects.”

“We look forward to constructing the rest of our development portfolio economically, allowing further renewables integration and providing relief to the country’s often strained transmission systems.”

The ERCOT market has accelerated at a dizzying pace in the last few years, but Broad Reach Power was among the early movers bringing large-scale projects online in 2021, as reported by Energy-Storage.news at the time. As of the start of this year, it was the second-largest operator of BESS projects in the ERCOT market with 349MW online, second to Jupiter Power’s 432MW (figures from market intelligence platform Modo Energy).

Broad Reach is owned by investors EnCap Investments, Apollo Global Management, Yorktown Partners and Mercuria Energy.

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A few days later (28 July), network operator and energy solutions provider Bayernwerk and utility and network operator Lechwerke together announced the commercial operation of a 7MW/7.4MWh BESS in Bavaria.

Lechwerke and Bayernwerk utilise existing reserve grid connection

Lechwerke and Bayernwerk’s project will be monetised through participating in the electricity markets as well as providing grid support services. Bayernwerk is providing technical leadership on the project while Lechwerke will manage the BESS’ trading activity. Ownership of the project is being split evenly between the two companies.

A ‘reserve’ grid connection for the project was provided by SGL Carbon, a manufacturer of carbon-based products. The connection is a secondary one for SGL alongside its main grid connection, and it will continue to be able to use it if ever needed. This method of getting onto the grid was cited as an important locational advantage for the project, the companies said.

The BESS is comprised of two containerised BESS units with a precise storage capacity of 7,442kWh and the grid connection capacity is up to 7,560kWh. Although the announcement didn’t say it, pictures provided showed it was provided by system integrator Intilion (the company which recently pulled IPO plans), which is also based in Germany.

Bayernwerk said that Bavaria will need 1GW of battery storage to achieve net zero by 2040, corresponding to roughly 10MW per district.

“The conversion of the energy system to regenerative generation systems with fluctuating feed-in requires the possibility of chronologically synchronising consumption and generation. Battery storage systems like the project in Meitingen make an important contribution to the success of the energy transition,” says Dr. Sabine Jarothe, head of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, attending the opening ceremony.

Lechwerke, or LEW, will also be involved in the first pilot project of transmission system operator (TSO) Amprion’s ‘distributed’ Grid Booster BESS rollout, it said.

RheinEnergie building its first BESS in Germany

RheinEnergie’s solar-plus-storage project will be its largest solar PV project at 32MWp and its first to use energy storage technology, with the 7MWh BESS.

The company won state subsidies through ‘Innovation Tenders‘ launched by Germany in the last few years, which pays an additional premium per kWh of solar energy discharged by co-located projects. However, the award only covers part of the solar project, totalling 20MWp.

“With the battery storage system, we are creating the necessary flexibility to generate electricity to market even when the sun is not shining. The fact that we were successful in the demanding environment of an innovation tender shows that RheinEnergie has the know-how to develop the best solutions for the energy transition,” said Achim Südmeier, sales director for the company.

Construction has now started with posts being driven into the ground by piling machines. Installation of the solar modules will start in October this year and the solar park will be commissioned at the start of 2024.

Goldbeck Solar will build the solar PV plant while RheinEnergie did not specify who would build or provide the BESS.

The utility currently operates a portfolio of 57MWp of solar PV and 172MW of wind power across Germany.

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The working group will immediately begin making safety inspections of energy storage sites, while its longer term remit includes creating best practices and addressing risks, as well as putting in place training and plans so that emergency responders know what to do in a fire incident.   

“Following multiple fire safety incidents across New York, I’ve directed State agencies to immediately form the Inter-Agency Fire Safety Working Group to mobilise the personnel and resources necessary to keep New Yorkers safe,” Hochul said.

“The Working Group will collaborate with first responders and local leaders to identify best practices, address potential risks to public safety, and ensure energy storage sites across New York are safe and effective.”

According to the Governor, the group will call on the expertise of industry and national laboratories for root cause and emergency response analyses, seeking to assess and identify common causes of incidents and look at impacts of BESS fires on air monitoring results.

With New York targeting the installation of 6GW of energy storage by 2030 as it pursues decarbonisation of the electricity sector by 2040, the state has a lot to lose if its buildout of energy storage – already considered lagging behind both its own ambitions and the markets of other leading US states such as California and Texas – is halted further.

A statement acknowledged that fires at energy storage facilities are “exceedingly rare,” but New York has been subjected to three such incidents in the past few months: East Hampton Energy Storage Center (EHESC) on Long Island suffered an “isolated fire” in May, followed in late June by a fire at a site in Warwick, Orange County.

Then, last week battery energy storage system (BESS) equipment at a solar-plus-storage project near the small town of Lyme in the New York village of Chaumont caught fire, leading to a “shelter-in-place” order being issued to residents living within a mile of the site.

One developer, Convergent Energy and Power, was behind two of those three projects, the fire in Warwick, as well as in Chaumont. After the Warwick incident, Convergent Energy and Power highlighted that that installation featured the developer’s first use of the Centipede modular BESS solution made by Powin Energy. After Chaumont, a statement from Convergent Energy and Power carried by local news outlets pointed out that the BESS in that installation came from a different provider, General Electric (GE).

The New York Inter-Agency Fire Safety Working Group’s remit includes thoroughly investigating those recent fires and conducting a comprehensive safety review, including the response of emergency service, to any battery fire involving cells going into thermal runaway.

The Working Group will create recommendations on energy storage equipment and installations, including reviewing how on-site fire suppression systems are verified and putting adequate plans in place for helping fire crews deal with incidents.

Agencies leading the group alongside NYSERDA are: the New York Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) Office of Fire Prevention and Control, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Public Service (DPS) and Department of State (DOS).

Its findings and recommendations will be shared with agencies including the New York City Fire Department, National Fire Protection Association, International Code Council, the New York State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council, and Underwriters Laboratories.

New York City (NYC) already has some of the strictest rules about fire safety for energy storage anywhere in the US, given the city’s densely packed and largely urban population. Recent fire incidents have occurred in more rural areas outside NYC.

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Recognising the potential of the project, which could be operational by 2030, the Scottish government formally approved the plans earlier this week. The expansion will also require an updated financial stabilisation mechanism from the UK government.

The new 600MW plant at Cruachan is part of a wider £7 billion strategic investment plan by Drax in clean energy technologies between 2024 and 2030.

Drax has highlighted that there is a lack of an existing government framework to support long-duration electricity storage and flexibility technologies. This means private investment cannot be secured for new pumped storage hydro projects, with no new plants having been built in the UK since Dinorwig in North Wales in 1984.

A final investment decision on the expansion of Cruachan remains dependent on the creation of such a framework.

This had been highlighted by Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf who called on the government during a tour of the Cruachan facility on 25 July to “provide an appropriate market mechanism” for projects like this.

To read the full version of this story visit Solar Power Portal.

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Putting together webinars is one of our favourite tasks. It’s an opportunity for Energy-Storage.news to work with some of the leading companies in the industry to shed light on topics of importance to our readers.

Over the past three years or so, that’s included numerous sessions covering strategies for managing and operating battery storage systems, ultracapacitors, emerging or maturing markets in Israel, Greece and India, tracking battery cost curves, readying the electricity grid for net zero and much, much more.

This year so far, our four excellent webinars have focused on how to manage the market participation of utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) assets, things you should know about UL9540A codes and standards for energy storage system safety, and two very different looks at the role of battery analytics.

Managing utility-scale batteries in the energy transition

2 March 2023

Our webinar with optimisation and trading specialist GridBeyond looked at managing utility-scale battery storage assets and their role in the energy transition, in leading markets including ERCOT in Texas, the UK, and Ireland.

In this webinar, experts from GridBeyond explore:

The role of batteries in the energy sector’s transition to net zero

Commercial perspectives around operating and optimising battery storage assets

Key considerations for securing financing for assets

The importance of market forecasting, revenue stacking, dispatch optimisation, and auction strategies in ensuring that battery storage assets achieve their full value potential

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Register to view on-demand and received presentation slides as well as access to the full recording here.

What experts think you should know about UL9540 codes and standards for battery storage

9 March 2023

Our webinar with global system integrator IHI Terrasun looked at the evolution of standards for the testing and certification of BESS technology. The presentation features 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.

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Register to view on-demand and received presentation slides as well as access to the full recording here.

De-risk and protect your battery storage asset from the very start with Digital Commissioning and In-Life Analytics

30 May 2023

In this webinar with cloud-based battery analytics specialist TWAICE, we look at the role of cloud-based battery analytics in ensuring battery storage assets get the right commissioning and in-life management.

This webinar is tailored for asset owners, operators, and individuals interested in BESS deployment and operations.

Featuring short presentations from TWAICE followed by a 15 minute Q&A session, the webinar explores:

How Digital Commissioning can help asset owners ensure maximum availability of their BESS during the critical initial years of operation, laying the groundwork for a successful, reliable and profitable business.

The benefits of in-life analytics, which enable continuous monitoring and optimisation of BESS performance throughout an asset’s entire lifetime.

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Register to view on-demand and received presentation slides as well as access to the full recording here.

The economic benefits of cloud-based battery analytics for energy storage assets

8 June 2023

Energy-Storage.news partnered with analytics provider PowerUp for this look at the economic benefits cloud-based battery analytics can deliver for battery energy storage systems. In today’s dynamic energy landscape, optimising the performance of battery assets is crucial to ensure the competitiveness and financial success of assets’ operators. These challenges include successfully optimising asset performance, minimising costs, and ensuring the safety of the system.

To overcome these challenges, battery storage operators must stay ahead of the curve and implement innovative technologies.

In this webinar PowerUp expert speakers showcase real-world examples of how this innovative technology can boost your bottom line and provide a competitive edge in today’s dynamic energy market.

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Register to view on-demand and received presentation slides as well as access to the full recording here.

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The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has released its Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule, a proposed rule that includes streamlining of permitting and environmental reviews for solar and transmission projects on federal lands under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Sean Gallagher, senior vice president of policy for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) comments: “This is an important step in our national effort to decarbonize the economy while ensuring reliable, low-cost power, and we look forward to further collaboration with the administration to achieve our shared clean energy vision.”

Some of the proposed rule’s reforms will:

Accelerate the deployment of clean energy, transmission, broadband, clean water and other crucial infrastructure: In addition to coordinating environmental reviews and setting project schedules and milestones, the proposed rule clarifies that projects that only have significant, long-lasting positive impacts do not require environmental impact statements. It also encourages the use of programmatic environmental reviews that cover multiple projects or categories of projects.

Address climate change, protect public health and encourage better environmental outcomes: The proposed rule clarifies that agencies should consider climate change effects in environmental reviews and encourages identification of reasonable alternatives that will mitigate climate impacts. It requires environmental impact statements to include discussion of relevant risk reduction, resiliency or adaptation measures, as well as the potential for disproportionate adverse effects on the environment and public health.

Advance environmental justice and promote meaningful public engagement: The proposed rule encourages early interaction with communities, fostering community buy-in, reducing conflict and improving project design, which may reduce litigation. It will direct agencies to consider environmental justice in environmental reviews and – for the first time – encourage agencies to incorporate measures to avoid or reduce disproportionate effects on communities. It also requires agencies to consider the needs of affected communities when developing outreach and notification strategies.

Reverse provisions of the 2020 NEPA rule that created litigation risks and jeopardized community input: The proposed rule deletes certain changes instituted by the previous administration, such as onerous requirements for public comments to be considered by agencies; provisions that curtailed judicial review; and a provision that attempted to limit the ability of courts to provide injunctive relief when there are violations of NEPA – even if a proposed action could threaten public health or safety.

This proposal is Phase 2 of CEQ’s NEPA rulemaking. Last year, CEQ finalized a targeted regulation that restored three basic elements of its NEPA regulations, including a reaffirmation that federal agencies must evaluate all relevant environmental effects – including those associated with climate change – during environmental reviews..

For complete details on the proposed reforms, visit the Federal Register.

The proposed rule will be open for public comment through Friday, September 29, 2023 via Regulations.gov. CEQ will hold virtual public meetings on the proposal on Saturday, August 26; Wednesday, August 30; Monday, September 11; and Thursday, September 21. For information about joining these public meetings, visit CEQ/NEPA.

Image by Uwee Westphal from Pixabay.

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