Jeffrey Peck

iSun Inc., a solar energy and clean mobility infrastructure company, has won a $2.4 million contract to implement solar energy solutions in Wilton, Maine. The new award of 4 MW will add to iSun’s construction ready portfolio of 16.1 MW of projects in Maine.

“We are very pleased by our continued growth in the Maine market as the State tracks to meet its near-term Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements through 2026,” says Jeffrey Peck, chairman and CEO of iSun. “This demonstrates the continued strong customer demand for solar energy in our markets, and the success of our team in expanding our footprint in key states.”

“The transition to clean energy remains the most important initiative of our generation and we are proud to assist more communities in achieving alternative energy solutions,” adds Peck.

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Brendon Quinlivan

EDF Renewables North America has entered into an agreement with Luminace, a Brookfield Renewable company, by which Luminace will acquire a 21.6 MW DC portfolio of three community solar projects. The three Maine projects include Overlook Solar in Bristol, Tower Solar in Embden and Green Mile Solar in Woolwich.

EDF Renewables developed the projects and will continue to perform the role as EPC contractor throughout the construction phase. Luminace will be the long-term owner and operator of each project.

Discounted bill credits from the projects will be sold to a local collection of 18 separate municipalities, nonprofits and businesses under Central Maine Power’s Net Energy Billing Program. By establishing this local project, the consortium of buyers will, in some cases, go 100% renewable through the purchase of RECs bundled with the energy credits, all while realizing significant savings on their utility bill over a 20-year term.

“Luminace is pleased to partner with EDF Renewables in expanding our nationwide community solar footprint with the addition of these 21.6 MW Maine community solar projects,” says Brendon Quinlivan, Luminace’s senior vice president of distributed generation. “This latest acquisition is an important step in our growth strategy across the U.S. to bring clean energy solutions to our valued customers, as well as the evolving value propositions offered via community solar market expansion.”

“EDF Renewables is proud to bring additional clean renewable energy to Maine and contribute to the state’s economic growth,” states Peter Bay, vice president of project development for EDF Renewables’ Distribution-Scale Power division. “We look forward to future opportunities with Luminace to further our 14-year history of projects in Maine.”

The three projects are expected to generate 27,600 MWh of low-carbon energy annually.

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An Erthos project installed on gently sloping ground.

Erthos Inc., an energy technology company focused on utility-scale solar and the creator of Earth Mount Solar PV, has signed an agreement with renewable energy and storage developer Industrial Sun LLC for a new utility-scale solar project in Texas.

Erthos has revealed that the project exceeds 100 MW DC. The project has an expected interconnect capacity of 100 MW AC, all of which Industrial Sun is seeking to utilize. Facing an area with minimal lands suitable for development, they could not meet this target with conventional solar technologies, which typically require between five and six acres of land per MW AC. In contrast, Earth Mount Solar PV typically requires fewer than 2.5 acres per MW AC.

“Erthos technology allows us to maximize our project capacity, particularly in those areas where our projects are land-constrained,” says Wade Gungoll, managing director of Industrial Sun. “Erthos is a very welcome solution for our business, and for any developer needing to up-size the capacity of their projects.”

“There’s no question that our business is continuing to accelerate,” states Charles Pimentel, chief commercial officer of Erthos. “That’s in large part because of our ability to deliver improved energy density, higher wind ratings, and short build times – and to do so at a lower cost.”

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Rendering of a 4.3MWh Microvast ME-43000-UL ESS Container unit. Image: Microvast.

Microvast, a Texas-headquartered company manufacturing battery cells and battery storage systems, has won a 1.2GWh customer order to supply a battery storage project.

The order has come in from an undisclosed customer in the US with a utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) project.

It has been announced just weeks after Microvast launched a dedicated energy division to capitalise on growing demand in the stationary energy storage market. The company has an established presence supplying the electric vehicle (EV) market, and offers NMC-1/NMC-2, LTO and LFP battery cells. It also has its own battery management systems (BMS).

In October, the company launched its first containerised BESS solution. It has what Microvast claimed is an industry-leading capacity of 4.3MWh per container. For reference, a Tesla Megapack is 3MWh and a Saft Intensium Max about 2.5MWh, to name two examples from rival makers.

Microvast’s ME-43000-UL ESS Container is a 20ft, liquid cooled system, using the company’s 53.5Ah NMC cell technology. The cells have a claimed 235Wh/kg energy density and can achieve in excess of 10,000 cycles under normal operating conditions and are based on solutions proven in commercial vehicles.

The 1.2GWh BESS will be co-located with a solar PV project. Shipments of the ME-4300 containers should start arriving at the project site next year, for commercial operation to begin during 2024.

With the US having passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the legislation including a US$369 billion package of support for clean energy and climate crisis mitigation measures, there’s a strong push to buy and use domestically produced equipment, which is incentivised through the act.

As noted earlier in the week on Energy-Storage.news, since the IRA was passed, there has been twice the level of investment committed to lithium battery gigafactories in the US as in Europe. According to battery market intelligence firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Europe remains on pace to lead the US in capacity, but the IRA, as well as high energy costs in Europe, appear to have closed the gap a little.

For instance, LFP manufacturing startup American Battery Factory (ABF) just announced the planned location of its first gigafactory, and another, Kontrolmatik, a few days ago said that it expects it could get around US$900 million in IRA incentives to build its own 3GWh LFP factory in the country.

Microvast said that its cells, made at a site in Clarksville, Tennessee, will qualify as domestic content, being eligible for full IRA tax incentives.

“The anticipated volume from this project will utilise a significant amount of capacity at our battery cell manufacturing facility in Clarksville, Tennessee and it is expected to be one of the first projects in a robust pipeline of grid-scale energy storage projects to incorporate battery cells manufactured in America,”  Microvast chief operating officer Shane Smith said.

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Flow battery demonstration plant in Hubei, China, where the world’s biggest VRFB system, at 100MW/400MWh, went online recently. Image: VRB Energy.

Enough money has been invested into long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies and projects over the past three years to result in 57GW of deployments.

That’s according to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, which added up investment figures into the technology class, finding US$58 billion of commitments have poured in since 2019. If all of those projects were to go ahead, it would result in the figure cited above, the analysis group said.

Along with those investment commitments, made by a mix of governments and private companies, US$30 billion of long-duration projects – defined broadly as those capable of storing and discharging energy for 8 to 100 hours – are in operation or under construction.

However, despite this evidence of growing interest in the sector, Wood Mackenzie thinks it unlikely developers of long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies will be able to scale cost-effectively before the end of this decade.

The company included its findings in a new report on the sector. One table shared from inside the contents compares eight different technologies across a range of different metrics, including the stage of commercialisation reached.

Among them, only pumped hydro energy storage (PHES), the legacy technology that still represents more than 90% of the world’s installed base of energy storage, is categorised as having reached large-scale deployment. Pumped hydro will continue to dominate the market until 2030, the firm predicts.

The majority of other technologies compared, including flow batteries with electrolytes made from vanadium and other materials like zinc-bromine and iron, are still at what Wood Mackenzie would classify as the pilot and demonstration phases.

Incidentally, Wood Mackenzie benchmarked the cost range of vanadium flow batteries between US$1,180 to US$4,000/kW and between US$295 to US$844/kWh.

Trade association Long Duration Energy Storage Council (LDES Council) launched in November last year at COP26. The CEO-led group comprises technology companies and other stakeholders including large corporate energy end users like Microsoft and Google.

The council aims to accelerate the development of a market for LDES that supports the deployment of between 85TWh to 140TWh of capacity by 2040 that it said will be needed to have hopes of keeping global warming limited to 1.5°C, in line with the Paris Agreement.

Policy support, innovative business models needed alongside innovation in long-duration energy storage tech

LDES Council said in a report published in June that the sector will likely need strong and committed policy support to help bridge the gap to commercial viability for LDES technologies until at least 2030 and possibly to 2035.

Perhaps the good news is that the majority of the world’s grids aren’t yet at the level of renewable energy penetration that means long-duration energy storage is a must to keep networks balanced and electricity supplies stable. As with another report from European storage association EASE, LDES Council highlighted that the need for long-duration becomes urgent as penetration of variable renewables like solar PV and wind exceeds the 60% – 70% mark.

Similarly, on the West Coast of the US, consultancy Strategen and the California Energy Storage Alliance modelled a tremendous need for LDES in the state, which starts to grow rapidly and enormously by the start of the 2030s.

But to achieve high levels of LDES deployments in the 2030s, investment, or investment decisions will need to be made soon, if not already.

Some governments, like China and the US, are more supportive of LDES than others. The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently launched a US$350 million competitive funding opportunity for LDES projects, while in China the world’s largest vanadium redox flow battery system (VRFB) was commissioned. The VRFB is actually 100MW/400MWh (4 hours duration), so technically not long-duration, but the technology class is the same as it would be for a higher energy capacity project.

Europe, with the exception of the UK, has been slow to back LDES technologies, Wood Mackenzie pointed out.

At this year’s RE+ 2022 trade show, Kiran Kumaraswamy, VP of growth and head of commercial at battery storage tech company Fluence said that for alternative non-lithium technologies like flow batteries to gain market traction, they need to display qualities that offer different features or applications to lithium, rather than just competing on a side-by-side comparison basis.

Wood Mackenzie appeared to agree, stating that in addition to advancing the technologies with innovation, business models need to be created that can attract private investors and run sustainably without the need for subsidy.

That means being able to compete directly with the likes of combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS), green hydrogen, or even small modular nuclear reactors, the analysis group said.   

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Second life energy storage, like this system from Finland-based Cactos, uses battery modules or packs originally used in electric vehicles. Image: Cactos / San Francisco Oy.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has provided US$7.9 million for a 50MWh battery energy storage project using second life EV batteries in the ERCOT, Texas market, by Element Energy and NextEra Energy Resources.

The funding will support California-based Element’s 50MWh project with NextEra Energy Resources (NEER) at one of the latter’s wind farms in West Texas.

Element Energy has developed a proprietary battery management system (BMS) that it claimed unlocks the opportunity for mass deployment of second-life energy storage systems by overcoming two key challenges.

The first is providing enough performance and cycle lifetime guarantees to make the application commercially viable and the second is around safety and the need to improve thermal runaway prevention.

It said its proprietary tech replaces traditional power conversion systems (PCS) with a ‘cost neutral-architecture that distributes power conversion’.

“Instead of controlling a megawatt-hour (MWh) scale battery as a single element with thousands of cells all subjected to the same use profile, Element’s technology independently controls the power flowing in and out of each module,” a press release said.

The project will showcase Element’s technology in a real-world grid application, and was one of five proposals using second life energy storage systems.

Another project to receive DOE funding for second life demonstrations was one by Smartville, the CEO of which, Mike Ferry, was recently interviewed by Energy-Storage.news. RePurpose Energy also received US$6 million for its microgrid project using a second-life energy storage system which will specifically test its software for measuring the state of health (SOH) of such a system.

The fourth and fifth recipients were both universities. Tennessee Technological University will get US$4.5 million for its development of mobile EV charging stations utilising second life EV batteries while the University of Alabama will get US$4 million for its project looking at second life systems using batteries with varying levels of degradation.

Energy-Storage.news has been researching the topic of second life energy storage in-depth in recent months and a special feature will appear in the next edition of PV Tech Power, sister site PV Tech’s quarterly journal on the downstream solar and energy storage sectors.

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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In an effort to further its capabilities ahead of scale production and global rollout of its patented Wind-Powered Microgrid, Hover has acquired Shine Development Partners. Shine focuses on the development, financing and asset management of medium- to large- scale commercial solar, energy storage, distributed wind and clean technology projects.

“As Hover has grown, our challenges have changed dramatically,” says Hover CEO Chris Griffin. “This acquisition positions us to not only manage that growth better, but also to thrive in our development of microgrids worldwide. The assets in this transaction currently under development, and the personnel of Shine that have now become Hover, bring depth of value and expertise that truly set Hover at the ‘head of the class’ in microgrid design, development and deployment.”

The Hover Wind-Powered Microgrid combines wind and solar energy generation as well as storage if needed. The centerpiece of the microgrid is Hover’s patented wind turbine. Installed as an array on the windward edge of a building’s roof, the aerodynamic design uses the building as a sail and delivers commercial-scale power, usually with higher production than rooftop solar alone. A direct drive generator reduces friction and allows for low cut in speeds.

The solar photovoltaic array installed in the center of the roof acts as a complement to the turbine array, generating power during daylight hours. Hover has designed the entire system with an open architecture to accept production from any source. The energy captured by all sources is directed to Hover’s Integrated Energy Management System where the energy is combined, cleaned, and converted into thre-phase AC power, directly linked to the building management system.  Excess power, such as power generated at night, can be stored in batteries.

“Hover brings a truly unique solution to the global energy marketplace,” comments Shine’s CEO, now Hover’s COO, Rajiv Pandya. “Shine’s extensive experience with the integration and structuring of renewable energy projects is a natural fit for Hover as the company migrates from R&D product development to commercialization at scale.”

Shine has developed and executed over 100 solar projects across 10 states and internationally since 2013, including 50 MW of projects currently under contract for future deployment.

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Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. Image: Amanderson2 / Flickr.

Guyana, a country on South America’s north coast, has issued an invitation for bids for energy storage projects with a combined capacity of 34MWh. 

The Guyana Utility Scale Solar Photovoltaic Program (GUYSOL) is now seeking bids for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for the eight solar PV projects and 34MWh of associated energy storage. Bids must be submitted by March 7, 2023. 

It comes six months after the country received US$83 million in financing from Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, as reported by Energy-Storage.news at the time. 

The eight ground-mounted solar PV plants will total 33MWp while the battery energy storage systems (BESS) will amount to 34MWh of capacity. It is not yet clear how many BESS units are being deployed, but it is unlikely to be eight since of a portion of the PV projects are standalone. 

A document from Guyana Power and Light Inc, the agency executing on the process, did not specify the required power output of the BESS either. 

The projects will spread across the country’s three separate electricity grids; the Linden Isolated Power System (LIS), Essequibo Coast Isolated Power System (EIS) and Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS). 

Three solar PV plants totalling 15MWp will be installed with a minimum of 22MWh of battery storage in the LIS, two solar PV plants totalling 8MWp with 12MWh of storage in the EIS and some 10MWp of standalone PV will be installed in the DBIS. 

The projects will help to lower emissions, reduce the cost of running the three grids and support the country’s transition to renewable energy. 

Bidding will be conducted through International Competitive Bidding (ICB) procedures specified in IDB’s Policies for the Procurement of Goods and Works. 

Guyana is not to be confused with French Guiana, an overseas territory of France which is also located on the north coast of South America. 

See the Invitation document, with all the relevant contact details, here. 

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Andrew Moles

PCL Construction has launched PCL Solar as a new business targeting the North American and Australian solar markets. The solar operations will include offices in the United States, Canada and Australia. It will be responsible for estimating, design, performance analytics, solar-specific technology, project execution and in-house commissioning. PCL will self-perform 75% of the work on solar projects to gain greater control over project schedules and cost.

“For the past 12 years, PCL has focused on growing our solar construction market and a formalized operation will support the significant growth we see in 2023 and beyond,” says Andrew Moles, general manager of solar for PCL Construction. “In 2021 alone, the team doubled in size and increased revenue by 60 percent.”

Moles will lead the solar operation as general manager. He began his career at PCL in 2007 and started working on solar projects in 2009. He has since led solar expansion efforts across North America and Australia. Moles has served as a board member on the Canadian Solar Industries Association, and as a board member and vice-chair of the Utility-Scale Solar Division of the U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association.

“Across the world, governments are demonstrating ongoing support for renewable energy, including legislation such as the IRA. The formalization of our solar business will reinforce the growth in renewable energy while positioning us for the many opportunities to come,” adds Rodolfo Bitar, business development manager for PCL’s solar operations. Next year, Rodolfo anticipates PCL will work on six to eight U.S. solar projects at any given time and that number is expected to steadily increase year-over-year.

To date, PCL has worked on over 50 Solar, BESS and solar + BESS projects for renewable energy companies, including the 239 MW Rayos Del Sol at direct current photovoltaic power station located in Cameron County, Texas; the 241 MW Crooked Lake at a direct current solar farm on more than 1,700 acres in Blytheville, Ark.; and the 692 MW Travers Solar at a direct current solar farm located in Vulcan County, Alberta in Canada.

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There are now over one million households in Europe with on-site battery storage systems paired with PV. Image: Hycube.

Residential battery storage capacity in Europe is set to reach 9.3GWh by the end of this year, according to SolarPower Europe.

That is in the solar PV industry trade body’s Medium Scenario, which estimates the continent will reach 39.9GWh of residential storage by 2026. In its pessimistic and High Scenarios it could reach 23GWh or 44GWh by that year, respectively.

Some 2,294MWh was installed last year and SolarPower Europe is anticipating 3.9GWh of deployments over 2022 in its Medium Scenario, a 71% increase. The 2022 figure equates to around 420,000 batteries installed, which would push the continent over the one million mark.

Home batteries have become an attractive means to reduce electricity bills, especially during a year of huge rises, increased interest in energy resilience and lower carbon footprints. And the growth of residential solar, also helped by various government incentives, has laid the foundation for the attached storage market to take off.

The attachment rate between energy storage and solar has grown from 23% in 2020 to 27% in 2021.

The main headwinds preventing installations from being even higher have been a lack of installers and a shortage of battery cells. Installation is a much greater proportion of overall costs for residential than commercial and industrial (C&I) or utility-scale.

Unsurprisingly, Germany is the biggest market according to the solar PV industry trade body’s data. The country’s residential energy storage market has always been strong as consumers seek to pair storage with home PV, which the government has incentivised, and increase self-sufficiency.

It installed 1.3GWh of home storage systems in 2021, 59% of the total 2.2GWh installed across the continent. Italy, the next-largest market, deployed 321MWh thanks partially to the Superbonus incentive scheme for home storage, while Austria (132MWh), the UK (128MWh) and Switzerland (79MWh) make up the top five.

One company seeking to capitalise on growth in Germany is Bridges Fund Management, which this week announced the acquisition of Hycube, a residential energy storage system solution provider. It said the German home energy storage market is worth €5 billion (US$5.25 billion).

Looking ahead, while Germany will remain the dominant market with 36% of 2026’s 7.3GWh installed, SolarPower Europe expects Poland and Sweden to be the next big markets. It forecasts they will have an 8% and 6% market share respectively, the second and third-largest that year.

For Sweden, this is because of the combination of a rapidly growing PV market, subsidies for storage and its position as the country with the highest penetration of EVs (43% of new car sales in 2021). Poland meanwhile also has a thriving home PV market which should spur on growth for storage.

Read the full report here.

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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