The projects will help stabilise the electricity grid, reduce interventions and reduce system costs. The Grid Booster initiative was launched three-and-a-half years ago in Germany and could see the country’s TSOs, of which there are four major ones, deploy as much as 1,300MW to help replace the function of additional transmission infrastructure, and do it more cost-effectively.

“We are pleased to have received confirmation from the BNetzA for this innovative technology. The decentralized grid booster will help Amprion and E.ON to keep the electricity grid stable and at the same time reduce the costs for grid interventions and thus the grid fees in Germany,” says Amprion CEO Hans-Jürgen Brick.

Amprion claimed it would be the world’s first decentralised Grid Booster, with the first to be deployed in the area of LEW Verteilnetz (LVN), a regional network operator of E.ON, in Bavarian Swabia. That first project is expected to come online in 2026.

The projects will help to counteract grid overloads when faults occur in the transmission network to ensure consequential damage is prevented. Battery storage technology’s near-instantaneous reaction time also means the system operators do not need to reduce equipment utilisation through preventive re-dispatch before the fault occurs.

The companies said the project will be the first time the Grid Booster concept has been done using several smaller battery storage projects at the distribution level. It did not reveal the technology provider that would deploy the battery storage systems.

“This structure reduces connection costs, increases the availability of the entire storage system and improves flexibility in the distribution network. The modular components can also be implemented faster and have less impact on the environment. The grid booster also reduces the need for interventions in the grid,” Amprion’s announcement read.

The TSO is the third in Germany to make a firm announcement of its portion of the Grid Booster projects.

TenneT has announced plans to deploy two 100MW systems for 2025 while TransnetBW last year enlisted global battery storage system integrator and operator Fluence to deploy a 250MW project, also for 2025. Energy-Storage.news is not aware of firm announcements being made yet by 50Hertz Transmission, the fourth.

Fluence has made the non-wires alternative Grid Booster transmission sector a priority target segment for its future energy storage projects. It recently revealed it has secured a third order within the space, following on from the Germany project with TransnetBW and one in Lithuania.

Amprion is responsible for the transmission network in the western part of Germany.

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It will pair up to 20MW of solar PV and a 25MW battery energy storage system (BESS) although the companies have not revealed the energy storage capacity (MWh).

The payment from Axpo to SENS will be distributed across various milestones up until the project reaches reached ready-to-build status, with the first happening yesterday (15 May).

The companies didn’t say when they expected the project to come online but SENS said in January this year that it expected construction to start in the second half of 2023.

Frank Amend, Head of Batteries & Hybrid Systems, Axpo Group, said: “We are acquiring two important projects from SENS, which we will be able to co-develop from here. Battery storage systems and solar energy will become increasingly important in the power mix in the future. We look forward to further cooperation with our colleagues from SENS in Sweden.”

SENS said the “the total deal value substantially exceeds the deemed amount of SENS’ annual operating costs, provided SENS’ burn rate as of today”, and would help the firm push forward the development of its pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) projects. SENS’ ‘operating expenses’ in 2022 were around 42 million SEK (U$4 million or €3.7 million).

It is Axpo’s second project in Sweden, after it acquired a 20MW/20MWh project in March this year, set to come online in 2024.

The country’s grid-scale market is seeing a swathe of new projects come online as its need for grid balancing grows and its hydropower portfolio, which has historically provided that balancing, begins to be displaced by batteries.

Developer Ingrid Capacity recently secured a US$100 million investment commitment from the battery storage subsidiary of maritime company BW Group for its 400MWh pipeline of projects. Ingrid’s chief strategy officer discussed the Swedish market in an interview with Energy-Storage.news at the Energy Storage Summit in London in February.

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The battery energy storage asset, which is situated in the coastal city of Dundee and has an output of 50MW, is set to play a role in the UK energy system by providing a balancing service to National Grid allowing the greater integration of renewable generation.

SUSI-Eelpower selected EDF as the trading and optimisation partner with the firm set to provide market access and optimise operations via their market trading platform across all available revenue streams including balancing mechanism, trading and ancillary services.

Battery storage sites will play a role in storing the intermittent renewable energy generated from Scotland’s vast wind assets. With the country set to deploy 11GW of offshore wind by 2030, there is a necessity to scale the battery energy storage market to support the renewable generation.

By George Heynes.

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

Tesla Megapacks go live at TagEnergy 49.5MW/99MWh project

TagEnergy’s largest capacity battery storage facility in the UK – a 49.5MW/99MWh site near Luton in southern England – has gone live.

Located at Chapel Farm the £30 million (US$37.64 million) development is a joint venture with Harmony Energy, following TagEnergy acquiring a 60% stake in the project in November 2021.

Support was also offered in the form of a £12.5 million funding package from Santander.

The Chapel Farm large-scale battery project uses a system of Tesla Megapack lithium-ion batteries alongside Tesla’s Autobidder AI software to be used for real-time trading and control.

Independent renewable company, RES will oversee operations of the site as asset manager.   

Chape Farm is the company’s second UK site to go live following the 20MW/40MWh large-scale battery site in Hawkers Hill Energy Park in Dorset which went live in September 2022. TagEnergy currently has a portfolio it said is close to 4GW across the UK, Portugal, Spain, France and Australia.

By Lena Dias Martins.

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

SSE to go ahead with 150MW BESS project in northern England

SSE Renewables is set to proceed with and enter into contracts to deliver a 150MW battery energy storage system (BESS) project in West Yorkshire.

The renewable energy arm of SSE confirmed that it had taken a final investment decision to proceed with and has entered into contracts to deliver the project situated at SSE’s former Ferrybridge coal-fired power station. Ferrybridge had been a staple of SSE’s power stations until it was decommissioned in 2016.

The project has a grid connection already confirmed and scheduled for June 2024 with the project expected to be fully operational by late 2024. It is being developed in conjunction with battery technology supplier Sungrow Power Supply and construction partner OCU Services.

The Ferrybridge project will become SSE Renewables’ second battery storage project in delivery with the company already constructing a 50MW project in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

SSE Renewables recently added SSE’s Solar and Battery team to its own arm to advance the delivery of a nearly 2GW project pipeline in the UK and Ireland and its expansion into Europe, as reported by Solar Power Portal.

The SSE Solar and Battery’s 100-person team was previously incubated in SSE plc’s Enterprise division.

By George Heynes.

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

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That includes a large portfolio of delivered commercial and industrial (C&I) solar PV projects in Thailand, mostly under 1MW generation capacity each, as well as large-scale ground mounted PV plants in Japan and China.

Banpu NEXT acquired a majority stake in Singapore-headquartered battery manufacturer and battery systems solutions provider Durapower in March this year, taking its holding in the company from 47.68% to 65.1% through an investment valued at US$70 million.

At the time, Banpu NEXT said the acquisition would enable the renewables company to leverage its new subsidiary to gain a foothold to scale up its energy storage business. The investment would enable Durapower meanwhile to scale up its operations: scaling up production capacity in China, accelerating the setup of new assembly plants in Thailand and in Poland.

Aiming to create localised supply chains and a diversified manufacturing base, Durapower’s goal is to reach about 4GWh annual production capacity by 2025. While that’s obviously fairly small compared to established giants like CATL or LG, it tallies with a recent trend of companies setting up battery and BESS solutions production facilities in Southeast Asia.

Recent announcements include Gotion Hi-Tech planning production in Thailand and Vietnam, the latter being that country’s first lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell factory, and state-owned Indonesia Battery Corporation exploring opportunities to build manufacturing and integration plants, among others.

This morning, Banpu NEXT said Durapower’s liquid-cooled lithium-ion containerised battery energy storage system (BESS) technology has been successfully implemented at a solar PV-battery hybrid power plant at a mining site in Indonesia.

Called Bunyut Solar PV Hybrid, the 1MWh BESS paired with the site’s solar array, is helping to increase the self-sufficiency of the site, which is owned and operated by another Banpu Group company, Indo Tambangraya Megah (ITMG).

Claiming it marked an important step in the creation of a vertically integrated energy storage solutions offering, Banpu NEXT said Durapower’s localised supply chain enabled on-time delivery of the project, which will reduce emissions and increase the use of renewable energy at the Indonesia mine.

As a project, it appears similar in scope to another Indonesian coal mine project for ITMG by Hitachi Energy (then known as Hitachi ABB Power Grids) that Energy-Storage.news reported on in February 2021 shortly after it was completed. That project was slightly larger, pairing 12MWp of PV with a 2MW/2MWh BESS.

The two companies were partnered on various different projects and business prior to the Banpu NEXT majority takeover, such as electric cars, ferries and small passenger vehicles like tuk-tuks. Production capacity was increased at Durapower’s facilities to enable a greater push into the energy storage system (ESS) space.

The next step, Banpu NEXT said yesterday, will be to roll out the BESS offering to other Banpu Group companies.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 1st Energy Storage Summit Asia, 11-12 July 2023 in Singapore. The event will help give clarity on this nascent, yet quickly growing market, bringing together a community of credible independent generators, policymakers, banks, funds, off-takers and technology providers. For more information, go to the website.

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Dr. Shawn Qu

Recurrent Energy LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc., has signed an aggregated virtual power purchase agreement with EMD Electronics, Biogen Inc., Wayfair Inc., Autodesk Inc. and a large healthcare company for 100% of the production capacity of the Liberty Solar project.

Recurrent Energy is currently developing the 100 MW AC solar project in Liberty County, Texas, around 50 miles from Houston. The project is expected to be operational in 2024.

Liberty Solar will expand solar energy capacity in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region, which includes most of Liberty County. Solar energy currently makes up only 1% of the resource mix in MISO territory. Liberty’s project will produce enough energy to power approximately 15,000 homes annually.   

“Recurrent Energy is pleased to advance one of the largest peer-buyer organized corporate virtual power purchase agreements with this consortium of customers, says Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar. “This agreement will serve as a model for corporate procurement, further expanding the number of companies with robust credit ratings to make more renewable energy projects possible.”

EMD Electronics will serve as the anchor buyer of the project, purchasing renewable energy generated by a 40 MW portion of Liberty Solar. Biogen Inc. is assuming a 20 MW portion; Wayfair, 15 MW; and Autodesk, 10 MW. A large healthcare company will purchase the remaining 15 MW portion.

The five companies were organized and supported by Sustainability Roundtable Inc.’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers.

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Indji Systems, a California-based software company, has introduced its Indji Watch platform to the solar market. Indji Watch is a hail detection technology that equips the industry with the capability to anticipate hail events, implement effective defensive measures and safeguard their investments.

With the solar industry experiencing a significant surge in utility-scale sites built in hail-prone areas, insurers are now requiring stakeholders to demonstrate effective mitigation strategies and protocols to tackle hail events that could result in considerable damage to solar facilities. 

Indji Watch automatically detects early environmental threats and delivers real-time notifications through intuitive, intelligent dashboards. Updates on potential hail threats are delivered up to the moment of storm impacts, allowing companies time to prepare. Its customizable thresholds also allow for targeted alerts tailored to the specific panel technology deployed at each site, enabling customers to safeguard their assets with greater precision.

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Mark Widmar

First Solar Inc. has acquired Evolar AB, a Swedish company specializing in perovskite technology, adding to its advances in thin-film photovoltaics. The purchase price is approximately $38 million paid at closing and up to an additional $42 million to be paid subject to certain technical milestones being achieved in the future. 

The acquisition is expected to accelerate the development of next-generation PV technology, including high-efficiency tandem devices, by integrating Evolar’s know-how with First Solar’s existing research and development streams, intellectual property portfolio, and expertise in developing and commercially scaling thin-film PV.

“With this acquisition, along with our new innovation center in the United States and longstanding commitment to R&D, we are investing not just in First Solar’s future, but the future of solar energy,” says Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar. “We anticipate that high-efficiency tandem PV modules will define the future, speeding up decarbonization by allowing us to convert sunlight into clean electricity more efficiently.” 

Under the agreement, the terms of which were not disclosed, Evolar’s laboratory in Uppsala, Sweden, will continue to conduct research, marking the first time that First Solar will have an R&D facility in Europe. Approximately 30 of Evolar’s R&D staff will transition to First Solar, working with the company’s team of about 60 scientists at its advanced research technology center in Santa Clara, Calif., and the development teams in Perrysburg, Ohio.

“By connecting our advanced research lab in California with Europe and building the Western Hemisphere’s largest PV R&D innovation center in Ohio, we are effectively establishing and leading a uniquely transatlantic effort to develop and commercialize the next generation of photovoltaics,” Widmar adds. 

Founded in 2019 by veterans of the copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) industry, Evolar focuses on developing solutions, including manufacturing equipment, for commercializing a tandem solar technology utilizing perovskite thin films. Made up of some of Europe’s foremost experts in thin film PV, Evolar has produced several thin-film efficiency records.

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Several sources at Energy Storage Summit USA in March said that the new investment tax credit (ITC) for standalone battery storage meant an increasing trend towards spending capex now to overbuild projects rather than augment further down the line.

However, more recent conversations have provided a reminder that optionality above all is key for some project developers when thinking beyond year one.

Speaking to Energy-Storage.news, New England-focused solar and storage developer BlueWave’s MD storage development Michael Zimmer said that there are “competing viewpoints” on how to oversize when you build a project.

“Given the IRA and the ITC, there’s some value in oversizing beyond just the 10% degradation of year one (of a project) to allow for the capacity you need in years 5-10. So this now requires an advanced analysis of how to augment and take advantage of ITC but also be mindful of capex.”

Nonetheless, he said Bluewave’s approach is to oversize its battery storage projects to overcome the year one degradation but augment every two to five years thereafter to meet interconnection capacity.

While the firm would develop an augmentation plan with the initial system integrator for the life of the asset, it would not contract for those batteries for, say, five years from now.

“The reason why I’m not committing to buying another 25% of my capacity in five years is that both parties are aware that the technology is changing so rapidly and advancing so quickly. It’d be a mistake to think it’s going to be the same piece of equipment, at the same capacity and the same price,” Zimmer said.

Speaking during its recent quarterly earnings call, global battery storage system integrator Fluence’s CEO Julian Nebreda also touched on augmentation, providing the perspective from the other side of the negotiating table.

“Years ago it was not an option for customers – they had to take our argumentation proposal. Now, the way the enterprise service agreements are, they have the option and they can decide to take or not take our augmentation proposal. But we believe that they’re generally going to take the proposal,” Nebreda said.

“Because it’s an option, we cannot put it down as backlogged value. But when we have looked at it, in most cases we think they will. It depends a little bit on what the customer needs are, what augmentation is needed etc.”

“From a product perspective, we have made some changes to our offering to ensure that we can provide an augmentation offering that is a lot wider. So we can provide permutations with different technology which will also make us a lot more competitive when the time comes.”

The president of competitor Powin Energy, Anthony Carroll, also indicated the firm has implemented optionality into its augmentation offering in a wide-ranging interview with Energy-Storage.news, published last week.

Zimmer added that in general an entire repowering – replacing all the battery cells – is being envisaged for year 20 of a project’s lifetime. However, some projects have recently done this much earlier, like an eight-year old project in Illinois which Kore Power recently agreed to repower for owner Cordelio Power.

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The MCHH is a “multi-billion-dollar” project to create a clean hydrogen ecosystem for the production, storage and delivery of dispatchable renewable energy, using underground salt dome storage networks.

The company said its hydrogen will serve business, industrial, transportation and utility sectors across the Eastern US. On-site hydrogen will be produced through electrolysis powered by renewable energy. It could break ground as early as this year, Hy Stor said.

Various reports peg the total investment needed at US$3 billion and a targeted storage capacity of 30,000 mt – Megatonnes – of green hydrogen.

It is one of several applying for the DOE funding to become a major hydrogen hub but claimed it is the only applicant which promises to only produce green hydrogen, i.e. only powered by renewable energy.

Green hydrogen technology is being heavily invested in around the world, with the primary use case being to replace certain feedstocks in industry. Some projects, like Aces Delta in Utah, are planning to use hydrogen in legacy gas plants as a replacement for natural gas.

The conversion of hydrogen back into electricity – sometimes referred to as power-to-x-to-power – has a round-trip efficiency (RTE) too low to generally be considered economical.

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With the start of testing announced by the state government yesterday (14 May) WA premier Mark McGowan described batteries as “critical to our energy future,” allowing the state to harness the abundant rooftop solar resources installed by its homes and businesses.

The system will perform renewable energy load shifting, storing surplus energy generated at off-peak times and discharging it into the local grid in late afternoon and evening peak periods. As a flagship project of the WA government, it is also aimed at providing learnings for other large-scale projects.

Installation of the Kwinana BESS began in the middle of last year, with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) duties contracted by Synergy to NHOA, the energy storage system integrator formerly known as Engie EPS and owned by Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC).

The 100MW lithium iron phosphate (LFP) system will be connected to the network of another state entity, Western Power Network.

It is now ready to start performing operational test cycles of charging and discharging into the network, and will start doing so under non-test conditions later this year as it enters commercial operation.

The Kwinana BESS will be superceded as WA’s biggest project of its type by two projects announced by the state government just a few days ago as it unveiled its budget for the 2023-2024 period.

As reported by Energy-Storage.news on Friday, WA is funding two large-scale BESS projects which Synergy will also deliver. Both with up to 4-hour duration, one is going to be 500MW/2,000MWh and built at the site of Collie, a coal-fired power plant, the other will be a 200MW project with up to 800MWh capacity, to also be built at the Kwinana site.  

Sungrow nets 500MWh Australia deal

In other Australian news, Sungrow recently signed a three-year energy storage system (ESS) supply deal with Solar Juice, an Australian wholesale and distributor of solar PV, inverters, storage and related equipment.

The Chinese PV inverter manufacturer and BESS manufacturer-integrator signed the deal at the beginning of this month at the Smart Energy conference and expo in Sydney. It is Sungrow’s biggest deal in Australia to date, company representatives said.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 1st Energy Storage Summit Asia, 11-12 July 2023 in Singapore. The event will help give clarity on this nascent, yet quickly growing market, bringing together a community of credible independent generators, policymakers, banks, funds, off-takers and technology providers. For more information, go to the website.

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