Luna, a California battery storage project that went online during Q3. Image: Leonardo Moreno via LinkedIn.

The US industry deployed more than 5GWh of energy storage in the third quarter of 2022, the highest Q3 figure on record and close to half the entire amount of storage installed in the country in 2021.

That’s according to the latest edition of analysis and research group Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables’ US Energy Storage Monitor, which recorded that 1,444MW/5,189MWh of storage was deployed in Q3 2022.

Of that, a big majority was once again in the grid-scale market segment, 1,257MW/4,733MWh of the total. That was the highest grid-scale deployment figure Wood Mackenzie has observed, smashing out Q1 2021’s record 4,598MWh of grid-scale installations.

Of those grid-scale projects, the leaders California and Texas – or perhaps more accurately the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) market and Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) markets, accounted for more than 96%.   

Looking back, during 2021, a total 10.5GWh of storage including 9.2GWh of grid-scale was installed, which itself was a massive jump from 3,487MWh of new storage across all market segments in 2020, as recorded by the analysis group and reported by this site at the time.

Although grid-scale continues to dominate the numbers, the residential segment has also seen strong growth.

A total 161MW/400MWh of residential battery systems, equivalent to more than 23,000 installs deployed in Q3 surpasses that segment’s record of 375MWh, which was attained just three months prior in Q2 2022.

California and Texas were also among the leaders in the residential segment, joined by Puerto Rico and Hawaii, both of which are booming markets due to their island grids and reliance on imported fuels for power generation.

Wood Mackenzie also said that the non-residential segment it reports on, comprising commercial and industrial (C&I) and community energy storage, is set for growth in the coming years, like its grid-scale and residential counterparts.

However, it continues to lag versus the other segments significantly, with only 26.6MW/56.2MWh of new installations on record in the quarter from June to September.

That made it one of the least active quarters on record, following similarly low figures in Q2, and in fact was the first time Wood Mac reported less than 26.6MW of new installations in a quarter since Q1 2021’s 26.3MW.

65GW/194GWh of cumulative installs expected within four-year period

Wood Mackenzie anticipated Q4 2022 being another busy three months in grid-scale. Already by mid-November the firm had tracked 600MW of deployments in the segment since the end of September.

Well-documented market headwinds, such as supply chain issues caused by soaring demand for key materials like lithium carbonate and commensurate price rises, and logistics issues caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, had been expected to cause a dip in installs as projects were delayed.

Another cause of delays, which is not limited to the energy storage market but more broadly across the energy sector is the lengthy queues for interconnection to the grid. That does continue to persist, although efforts are being made by groups including the US Department of Energy (DOE) to rectify an often complex and ad hoc process.

However, the good news is that the delays haven’t caused capacity growth to slow at grid-scale, Wood Mac said. Projects have been delayed rather than cancelled, although it remains to be seen if a recent news story that California utility PG&E requested – and got – permission from regulators to increase the price of contracts signed for BESS procurements might send a cautionary signal to the market.

One other cause of delays that market observers might have expected is the oncoming introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act’s various measures to support clean energy, including an investment tax credit (ITC) incentive for energy storage projects.

Wood Mackenzie senior analyst Vanessa Witte said that this tactic was likely being applied by only a very narrow band of developers within the market. Meanwhile, those other headwinds will remain more prominent.

“Some developers have considered delaying projects into 2023 to receive tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act, but this only applies to a very niche segment of projects. In general, supply chain challenges and interconnection queue backlogs will push capacity to later in the forecast, with 2024-2026 seeing increases of 9-13% per year due to this,” Witte said.

Wood Mackenzie has forecasted 64.6GW/194GWh of cumulative installs across all segments on the US market between 2022 and 2026. While grid-scale will remain largely dominant, its market share will be around 84%, down from the high watermark of Q3’s figures.

Energy storage’s close relationship with solar PV will continue to be in evidence in a couple of telling ways. One is that ongoing trade tariff rows that have impacted the solar industry continue to slow down execution of solar-plus-storage projects, albeit to a lesser extent now that a two-year freeze has been put on anti-dumping / countervailing duties (AD/CVD).

The other is California’s anticipated introduction of a new net metering regime, dubbed NEM 3.0. If brought in as proposed, it would reduce dramatically the value of residential solar PV, which many have speculated will be an incentiviser for energy storage.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 5th Energy Storage Summit USA, 28-29 March 2023 in Austin, Texas. Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.

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ERCOT manages the electricity grid serving 90% of the state of Texas. Image: Power lines near Smithers Lake, courtesy of Roy Luck / Flickr.

Battery storage developer Spearmint Energy has started building a 150MW/300MWh unit in the ERCOT, Texas market, its first project.

The company announced the start of construction of the two-hour duration ‘Revolution’ energy storage project in West Texas last week (15 December). The new developer acquired the project, which will be next to a 279MW wind farm, in July.

Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) specialist Mortensen is delivering the project through the construction of the battery storage facility, substation and transmission line for connection to the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) grid.

It will be one of the largest battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the US when it is commissioned in mid-2023, Spearmint claimed, and will help the Texas grid transition away from fossil fuels.

CEO Andrew Waranch, who recently wrote a guest blog for Energy-Storage.news about why the Texas grid needs battery storage added:

“Revolution will provide critical grid resiliency and reliability services to enable the continued deployment of low-cost renewable energy in ERCOT at a time when our nation is grappling with challenges brought by a changing climate, rising oil and natural gas prices, increasing demand for electricity, and the impacts of supply chain constraints, inflation, and tariffs on the construction of new generation facilities.”

The vast majority of Texas’ renewable energy comes from wind farms, which is in contrast to sunnier states like California which mostly get theirs from solar PV. Wind is a more intermittent resource than solar PV and so batteries have a key role to play in smoothing out the peaks and troughs in generation.

As of July 2022, ERCOT had 1,639MW of BESS projects connected and synchronised to its grid. According to the grid operator’s own data, it has around another 1,800MW of BESS projects expected to enter commercial operation before the end of the year, bringing the total to around 3,400MW online.

Miami-headquartered Spearmint also recently hired four executives to its team, including new senior VP of project technology Chris Wright, formerly of utility Nextera Energy Resources; new senior VP of project execution Jeff Jackson, formerly of Mortensen; new VP of project finance Nicolas Cottely, formerly of solar and storage developer Origis Energy; and a new data scientist Allen Yu from energy trading and risk management firm XO Energy.

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Brian Whitlatch, AEP Energy Partners’ vice president of asset development and origination

AEP Energy Partners (AEPEP), a wholly owned subsidiary of American Electric Power, is seeking proposals for off-take from new and existing solar and wind facilities located in the PJM service region and new solar facilities located in ERCOT to support the company’s growing retail and wholesale loads in Texas and Ohio, including the city of Columbus community choice aggregation program.

AEPEP is seeking renewable energy purchase agreements of 10, 12 or 15 years for new solar or wind projects and 5 to 15 years for existing projects (including incremental power from re-powering wind sites) in PJM. AEPEP is also seeking renewable energy purchase agreements of 12 years or fewer for new solar projects in ERCOT. View full details about the Request for Proposal.

Notice of intent to bid must be received by AEPEP on or before Dec. 30, 2022. Proposal packages are due no later than 5 p.m. EST, Jan. 13, 2023. Complete details about the Requests for Proposals are available here.

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EASE welcomed the policy developments, but noted that much more remains to be done to craft the right energy storage market conditions for the EU. Image: Manz AG.

In the past few days, policymakers at the European Union (EU) have made decisions on a couple of key aspects of legislation relating to energy storage that have been welcomed by industry group EASE.

One was the provisional agreement reached relating to battery regulations on 9 December by the European Parliament and Council, which have decided the framework of rules that should be applied to the battery value chain.

That includes things like carbon footprint labelling and recycled content requirements, set to come into effect in the next couple of years and gradually become stricter, as reported by Energy-Storage.news.

The other was the 14 December European Parliament vote on amendments to REPowerEU, the bloc’s strategy to decrease dependency on imported Russian gas, partly by accelerating the transition to renewable energy.

As reported by this site, the amendments included measures to speed up permitting of clean energy projects in the EU, and in particular, the newest form of the REPowerEU strategy includes proposals to allow for expedited permitting of energy storage system (ESS) projects.

Previous versions had only called for faster permitting times for ESS co-located with generation. As noted in last week’s coverage, EASE offered a comment at the time to the effect that the measures would make energy storage more attractive to investors and would accelerate deployment.

EASE – which stands for the European Association for Storage of Energy – said that permitting can take years and the process can vary greatly from country to country and is in short, “often a problem” for developers.

Only including co-located ESS would have been a missed opportunity to support standalone storage systems in selected areas of the EU where deploying new renewable energy is determined to be highest priority, the group said.

EASE had been vocal in lobbying for energy storage to have a prominent place in REPowerEU. After early iterations of the strategy document – including a draft leaked to Energy-Storage.news in May – showed storage to be conspicuous by its absence, later versions gradually included more mention, although it is worth noting that other terms like hydrogen appear much more prominently still.

However, EASE noted that the EU has accepted that growing energy storage capability is in the “overriding public interest,” given its role in enabling the increase and integration of renewable energy capacity on the continent’s grids.

“The new Renewable Energy Directive draft is bound to positively impact the energy storage industry as a whole by unlocking several projects and speeding up facilities’ development all across the EU,” EASE said in a statement sent to media including Energy-Storage.news.

“If the European Union follows this path, the decarbonisation of the energy system can be successfully achieved.”

‘Still much work to be done’

Similarly, the EU’s Batteries Regulation, if introduced and enforced well, could create impetus for investment into energy storage, EASE said in a separate statement on that topic.

The regulation could ensure sustainable, safe and durable batteries are used and sold in the EU and transform the energy storage sector, EASE said, with the trade group’s secretary general Patrick Clerens calling it a “great opportunity” for the industry.

“Battery energy storage systems deployment rates are incredibly high in Europe,” Clerens said.

“Battery energy storage systems can replace polluting gas peakers (peaking power plants), contributing to reducing the need for gas imports and therefore ensuring energy security and a green transition. And this is just one of many applications.”

However, with the regulations set to apply to different types of batteries including those used in consumer electronics, in electric vehicles (EVs) and other segments as well as stationary battery energy storage systems (BESS), getting the regulations right will be key, Clerens said.

Secondary legislation that treats the different battery types differently will “play a key role in the context of” the Batteries Regulation, according to Clerens. Rules need to be designed taking the “unique characteristics and applications” of energy storage in mind.

“Otherwise, we risk creating barriers and hinder the energy storage sector, ultimately hurting consumers.”

Clerens said also that while the EU has every chance of becoming a leader in legislation, R&D and developing industrial competitiveness in the energy storage space, there also needs to be more done directly to ensure downstream deployment is where it needs to be.

Groups advocate for deployment targets, inclusion of flow batteries in Batteries Regulation

EASE has suggested previously that Europe should have deployment targets for storage by 2030 and 2050 as it and its Member States pursue decarbonisation goals, a call that Clerens repeated in last week’s statement sent to Energy-Storage.news.

In related commentary on the Batteries Regulation, another trade group, Flow Batteries Europe, said the legislation was welcome, but reiterated its previously asserted position that the inclusion only of battery technologies with internal storage – such as lithium-ion – and therefore exclusion of flow batteries, is a mistake.

“For the energy system to become carbon neutral, we need not only more energy coming from renewable sources, but also adequate long-term energy storage technologies,” Flow Batteries Europe (FBE) secretary general Anthony Price said.

Price recently blogged for this site on that topic, arguing that decarbonisation targets will be impossible to achieve without energy storage technologies beyond lithium, which tends to be used for applications requiring up to about 6-8 hours of storage duration, and typically far less than that.

“Excluding flow batteries from the key obligations of the Batteries Regulation in the long term will endanger the competitiveness of the battery value chain, and the achievement of the decarbonisation goals set for 2050,” Price said in a statement last week.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 8th annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 22-23 February 2023. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place. Visit the official site for more info.

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Michał Kopyś, country director Poland, Claritas Investments, and Piotr Czembor, CEO of Hynfra Energy Storage marking the framework agreement. Image: Claritas Investments / Hynfra Energy Storage.

Investor Claritas and system integrator Hynfra Energy Storage (HES) have signed a framework agreement to deploy half a gigawatt of utility-scale battery energy storage in Poland.

The two firms, based in the Netherlands and Poland respectively, signed the agreement last week (13 December). The battery energy storage systems deployed will participate in electricity wholesale markets and provide grid support services to help Poland decarbonise its energy system.

Claritas described itself as an energy transition investor while HES is the utility-scale energy storage systems developer arm of Hynfra, a firm which provides a range of renewable energy solutions with a big emphasis on green hydrogen. It also has an office in Japan.

“Hynfra Energy Storage’s mission is to make the transition to the renewable energy as soon as possible. And the creation of a platform of utility-scale electricity storage assets is our first move towards achieving this goal. We are delighted to team up with CLARITAS as a partner and convinced that our Framework Development Agreement will lead the battery storage market in Poland in terms of scale, quality of assets and speed of deployment,” said Piotr Czembor, CEO of Hynfra Energy Storage.

The companies said the battery storage projects will value stack revenues from market trading and grid support services.

Like other EU countries, Poland has increased its renewable energy mix target in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is targetting around half of electricity from renewable sources by 2040, and energy storage will be needed to balance out new intermittent generation, Czembor said in an interview with local media.

Poland’s energy storage market has been relatively slow to pick up compared to its Western and Central European peers but the firms’ announcement is the second large-scale project announced in the last few months.

In July, Energy-Storage.news reported on state-owned power company PGE Group’s regulatory green light to deploy a 200MW/820MWh battery storage unit integrated with an existing pumped hydro plant in Żarnowiec. The two technologies will together firm the power from up to 3.5GW of wind capacity being developed by PGE nearby.

It is Claritas’ first investment in energy storage in Poland, a solar PV market in which it has been active since 2018 with a gigawatt-scale portfolio today.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the eighth annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 22-23 February 2023. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place. Visit the official site for more info.

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300MW/450MWh Victorian Big Battery’s advanced inverter retrofit will be supported through the Round. Image: Victoria State government.

Eight large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in various parts of Australia have been selected to receive funding support worth AU$176 million (US$118.07 million).

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced last week that the eight projects, which will add up to 2GW/4.2GWh in total, have been chosen from a shortlist of 12, which in turn had been whittled down from 54 expressions of interest received.

The competitive selection process was held as part of ARENA’s Large Scale Battery Storage Funding Round. The government agency had launched the round at the start of this year intending to commit up to AU$100 million funding.

However, ARENA said in a press release that, given the high quality of applications received, it had decided to pledge the extra AU$76 million. AU$60 million of that extra funding will come from money set aside in the federal government’s October budget to enhance energy security and reliability.

The BESS projects must be equipped with advanced inverter technology that makes them so-called “grid-forming” battery assets, capable of delivering inertia as a system stability service. Historically, this crucial aspect of balancing the grid has been delivered from the rotating mass of thermal power generators.

As the transition to renewable energy gathers pace, the Australian government naturally wants to rely less and less on those conventional power assets. ARENA has to date already supported several advanced inverter battery projects – one prominent example is the Tesla-Neoen Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia which got an advanced inverter upgrade earlier this year.

In fact, five out of eight BESS projects ARENA has supported with AU$81 million prior to the latest announcement are grid-forming, with the 150MW/194MWh Hornsdale BESS the largest of those so far. As the table below shows, the eight selected projects announced last week are on a much bigger scale.

Aside from the retrofit of advanced inverters at the existing 300MW/450MWh Victorian Big Battery – Australia’s biggest BESS – all of the selected projects will have two-hour storage duration or more.  

As reported by Energy-Storage.news in July, the 12 shortlisted projects represented a total investment value of almost AU$4 billion, and 3,050MW/7,000MWh of output and capacity. According to ARENA, the eight projects selected represent a total project value of AU$2.7 billion.

Projects selected in ARENA funding round:

DeveloperBESS Output/Capacity (MW/MWh)StatusLocationStateAGL250MW/500MWhNew-buildLiddellNSWFotowatio Renewable Ventures250MW/550MWhNew-buildGnarwarreVICNeoen300MW/450MWhRetrofit MooraboolVICNeoen200MW/400MWhNew-buildHopelandQLDNeoen200MW/400MWhNew-buildBlythSAOrigin Energy 300MW/900MWhNew-buildMortlakeVICRisen Energy 200MW/400MWhNew-build BungamaSATagEnergy300MW/600MWhNew-buildMount Fox QLD

Energy storage looks set to get policy support on a much grander scale soon, with Australia’s federal energy minister Chris Bowen and state energy ministers making a recent agreement to launch tenders for dispatchable, energy storage-backed renewable energy.

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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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued a decision that modernizes the Net Energy Metering (NEM) solar tariff to promote grid reliability, incentivizes solar and battery storage, and controls electricity costs for all Californians. The decision has no impact on existing rooftop solar customers, maintaining their current compensation rates, according to CPUC.

“We are launching the solar and storage industry into the future so that it can support the modern grid,” says Alice Reynolds, CPUC’s president. “The new tariff promotes solar systems and battery storage with a focus on equity and advances the new clean energy technologies we need to meet our climate goals and help ensure grid reliability.”

“The decision strikes the right balance between many competing priorities and advances our overarching goals of ensuring California meets its climate and clean energy goals equitably,” adds CPUC Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen.

The decision improves the pricing structure and credits to new rooftop solar customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric for the electricity they export based on its value to the grid, CPUC explains. The new tariff supplements and bolsters federal incentives provided by the Inflation Reduction Act for solar and battery storage. The new tariff also works together with an additional $630 million in state funding that the Legislature has dedicated to upfront incentives for low-income customers who install solar plus battery storage.

“This decision will bring rooftop solar into a new and more sustainable age. NEM has left an incredible legacy and brought solar to hundreds of thousands of Californians, but it is also profoundly expensive for non-solar customers and was overdue for reform,” comments Commissioner John Reynolds. “The future needs a solar program designed around the value of solar to the grid and one that encourages true carbon reductions at peak energy times, which is after the sun goes down, by creating better incentives for customers to pair solar with batteries. The Net Billing Tariff will sustain solar and reduce costs to non-solar customers while driving a new era of storage adoption.”

Under the new tariff, average residential customers who install solar are expected to save $100 a month on their electricity bill, and average residential customers who install solar paired with battery storage are expected to save at least $136 a month, CPUC continues. With these savings on their electricity bills, new solar and solar plus battery storage customers should fully pay off their systems in just 9 years or less on average.

To support the evolution and growth of the solar industry, the decision provides extra bill credits to residential customers who adopt solar over the next five years, allowing California businesses to gradually transition from solar-only sales to solar plus battery storage sales, fostering a stronger local economy. The decision also allows residential customers, small and large businesses, nonprofits, schools, and governments to lock in their export credits for 9 years to provide certainty and predictability of bill savings.

The tariff promotes equity by providing low-income customers, residents living in disadvantaged communities, and residents living in California Indian Country more than double the amount of extra bill credits to improve access to solar and storage, CPUC suggests. The new tariff applies new residential rates to encourage electricity use when it is most beneficial for grid reliability. These rates have significant differences between peak and off-peak prices to incent battery storage and load shifting from evening hours to overnight or midday hours. The rates incentivize adoption of technologies to replace the use of fossil fuels such as battery storage, electric vehicles, and heat pump water heaters, all of which are important for achieving carbon neutrality.

The move credits solar and solar plus battery storage customers for the electricity they export to the grid based on its value, as determined by the avoided cost to their utility of buying clean electricity elsewhere. This will promote solar exports during the late afternoon and early evening hours, particularly in the summer, when the grid is the most stressed.

The tariff provides extra electricity bill credits to residential customers who adopt solar or solar paired with battery storage in the next five years, which are paid on top of the avoided cost bill credits. Customers are guaranteed these extra bill credits for 9 years.

CPUC explains that the tariff expands access to solar and storage for low-income customers, residents living in disadvantaged communities, and residents living in California Indian Country by providing a larger amount of extra bill credits. It is expected to increase the allowable size of rooftop solar systems to cover 150% of a customer’s electricity usage to accommodate future electrification of appliances and vehicles. It does not include any charges specific to solar customers.

Assembly Bill 327 (Perea, 2013) requires the CPUC to reform the NEM program, as well as conduct rate reform and distribution planning activities. Since 1997, California has supported the rooftop solar market through its NEM tariffs, which have enabled 1.5 million customers to install more than 12,000 megawatts of renewable generation. Due to the success of California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard policies and the NEM tariff, California supplies a significant amount of its electricity needs during mid-day hours from renewable and zero-carbon energy resources.

In response, Environment America, which is part of The Public Interest Network, says the CPUC’s “revised decision” contained only minor changes from the commission’s November draft. Clean energy advocates warned that the proposal would discourage Californians from “going solar” at a time when the state is committed to more, not less, renewable energy to replace polluting fossil fuels.

History shows that when drastic cuts are made to NEM programs, people stop putting panels on their rooftops. Nevada’s January 2016 cut to NEM compensation led to a 47% reduction in residential solar installations year over year, Environment America explains. After Nevada restored net metering in September 2017, residential solar adoption returned to its earlier level after two years. California’s Imperial Irrigation District abandoned net metering in July 2016, causing residential solar installations to decline 88% over two years.

“It’s devastating to see California’s Utility Commission vote to dismantle solar incentives that have made California the nation’s leader in solar power,” says Environment California State Director Laura Deehan. “Rooftop solar is a critical part of our clean energy transition, and we need to accelerate deployment. Governor Newsom and the CPUC should be making clean energy more accessible and affordable so that rooftops across the state can catch the sun to power our lives. This misguided decision, which undervalues solar’s numerous benefits for all Californians, will dim the lights on the growth of solar in the Golden State.”

“Given our urgent need to transition to clean energy it’s mind-boggling that America’s undisputed solar leader is cutting incentives for solar,” comments Johanna Neumann, senior director of the Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy at Environment America. “Without robust alternatives in place to make sure rooftop solar can thrive, this decision by the world’s fourth-largest economy puts the future of one of America’s best and most popular clean energy technologies at risk. Given what we know about all the clean air and climate benefits that come with rooftop solar, this decision in California flies in the face of the state’s climate and clean energy goals.”

Ken Cook, The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) president and a Bay Area resident, also speaks to the negative effects the tariff may have on solar energy is California.

“What the CPUC did today is a disgrace and a disservice not only to Californians, but to the nation,” states Cook. “The commission’s decision will hammer the residential solar market in California and undercut Gov. Newsom’s pledge to be the nation’s leader in building a 100 percent clean energy grid. By making residential solar economically untenable for millions of working families, the CPUC will crush the only competition the big utilities face.”

“Instead of California having a robust solar and storage market, the utilities’ plan could lead to more reliance on dirty fossil fuel plants to make up for electricity shortfalls caused by hobbling solar,” adds Cook. “It’s beyond a setback. It’s a complete retreat from California’s unrivaled position of leadership in the clean energy revolution. This debilitating precedent by the leading rooftop solar state will threaten rooftop solar programs across the country.”

Read the proposal to be voted on here and more information here.

Image: Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

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Dr. Christos Monokroussos

TÜV Rheinland and CFV Solar Test Laboratory are cooperating to provide testing, inspection and certification services, which cover the needs of the North American market in the fields of solar PV components and solar PV power plants.

The agreement aims to provide services to a larger audience related to mainstream certification such as IEC 61215, IEC 61730, IEC 61853 and IEC 63209, but also customized testing meeting supply chain and bankability needs. The cooperation will offer a range of performance, safety and reliability testing services for PV modules, PV components and power plants in the North American market.

This agreement was signed six months after the U.S. Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) decided to expand the scope for TÜV Rheinland’s testing laboratories to include solar-related standards as a U.S. NRTL (Nationally Recognized Test Laboratory).

“This partnership with CFV Solar Test Laboratory will allow us to offer a wide range of customized services for our customers in North America, but also cover our customer needs all around the globe in North America,” states Dr. Christos Monokroussos, global segment coordinator for solar at TÜV Rheinland. “So we are confident that this step is going to strengthen our companies in the following years.”

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Vincent Sorgi

PPL Corp. subsidiaries Louisville Gas and Electric Co. and Kentucky Utilities Co. are planning to replace 1,500 MW of aging coal-fired generation that is expected to be retired by 2028. The plan includes adding two new combined-cycle natural gas plants, nearly 1,000 MW of solar generation, 125 MW of battery storage and more than a dozen new energy efficiency programs.

In conjunction with the announcement, LG&E and KU is seeking approval from the Kentucky Public Service Commission (KPSC) for the replacement generation and new energy efficiency programs. LG&E and KU’s proposal focuses on meeting customers’ energy needs in the most reliable, least-cost fashion.

“This is about delivering on our mission to provide safe, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy to our customers,” says Vincent Sorgi, PPL’s president and CEO. “The plan we filed today is a balanced approach that will help ensure our ability to reliably serve our customers’ energy needs 24/7, while at the same time further diversifying our generation portfolio.”

The proposed replacement strategy, if approved by the KPSC, represents $2.1 billion of total capital investment in Kentucky. This includes building two 621 MW natural gas combined-cycle units, building a 120 MW solar array, acquiring another 120 MW array to be developed by a third-party and constructing 125 MW of battery storage. The LG&E and KU plan also includes securing power purchase agreements for more than 600 MW of additional solar generation and adding 14 new energy efficiency offerings to help reduce electricity demand in the state. The proposed energy efficiency program, developed in collaboration with community partners, would reduce LG&E and KU’s overall need for future generation by nearly 200 MW.

Sorgi said the plan is consistent with PPL’s goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The replacement strategy, if approved, would reduce the carbon intensity of LG&E and KU’s generation fleet and result in nearly a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions from existing levels.

LG&E and KU have requested approval from the KPSC by Oct. 1, 2023.

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