Rendering of how the Fort Carson project will look, with solar PV array in background. Image: US Army / Lockheed Martin

Construction has begun on a megawatt-scale flow battery project at the US Army’s Fort Carson in Colorado.

An event was held last week (3 November) to mark the breaking of ground at the project, which will see a 1MW/10MWh long duration flow battery energy storage system supplied by Lockheed Martin installed.

It marks one of the first pilot projects for the aerospace and defense industry engineering specialist’s flow battery. Called GridStar Flow, Lockheed Martin had been developing the product behind closed doors for several years, since it acquired the assets of flow battery manufacturer and MIT spinout Sun Catalytix in 2014.

The first commercial-scale version of the battery system was installed at Lockheed Martin’s Andover, Massachusetts, testing facility in 2020. The first field pilot was announced in December 2021, a 6.5MW/52MWh (eight-hour) system at a solar PV plant in Alberta, Canada.

The Fort Carson project was announced in June this year. Over a two-year period, the flow battery will be run and assessed in accordance with protocols developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), in a tailored programme coordinated by utility Colorado Springs Utilities.

Lockheed Martin said when the project was announced that the anticipated construction time is eight to nine months.

US Army Garrison Commander Col. Sean M Brown addresses attendees at the groundbreaking event. Image: Jordyn McCulley, Fort Carson Public Affairs Office.

The battery system will enable Fort Carson to reduce its draw of electricity from the grid at peak times, lowering its electricity costs and easing strain on the grid. Meanwhile in the event of grid outages, the flow battery will provide critical must-run and backup power to the fort.

It’s the largest long-duration energy storage (LDES) system to be installed at a US Department of Defense facility – defined as over six hours duration in this instance – but the battery’s chemical contents remain top secret.

Lockheed Martin has not revealed GridStar Flow’s electrolyte chemistry and only offered a few hints to the effect that it is more abundant material than commonly found in other flow batteries – the main types of which are usually vanadium or zinc-bromide – and cheaper.

In an online briefing with journalists, Lockheed Martin business development director Roger Jenkins also said the electrolyte’s composition is benign. Unlike vanadium which has to be dissolved in acid, the GridStar Flow electrolyte doesn’t cause significant wear and tear on balance of plant (BOP) equipment, Jenkins claimed.

“GridStar Flow, our long-duration energy storage system, is comprised of engineered electrolytes made from commonly available materials to enable durability, flexibility and competitive total cost of ownership,” Lockheed Martin VP for advanced programmes Steve Botwinik said at last week’s ceremony to launch the project.

The Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) at the US Army’s Engineer Research & Development Center (ERDC) will manage the Fort Carson flow battery system. ERDC awarded Lockheed Martin a US$17.5 million contract for the project.

Detail of Lockheed Martin’s first 2.5MWh Gridstar Flow, at the company’s test centre in Andover, Massachusetts. Image: Lockheed Martin

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GlidePath’s Prospect project, brought online in 2019, was one of the first projects of its kind in Texas’ ERCOT market. Image: GlidePath.

GlidePath has started operating Byrd Ranch, a 50MW battery energy storage system in Texas, US, which will be optimised by Habitat Energy.

Byrd Ranch is a one-hour system and will provide grid support to the state’s grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The main frequency response services in ERCOT are regulation reserve service (RRS) and a sub-set within that group called fast frequency response (RRS-FFR).

The system is located near the Sweeny Substation in Brazoria County. It consists of 20 inverters totalling 3.62MVA each according to an interconnection agreement from two years ago.

UK-headquartered optimiser Habitat Energy will use its AI-enabled energy bidding and performance optimisation platform to maximise the performance of Byrd Ranch. It is also optimising a 10MW/10MWh project from Glidepath in the same state, as previously reported by Energy-Storage.news.

Like most developed markets, energy trading is an increasingly important revenue driver for energy storage projects. None more so than in ERCOT where the energy market is completely decentralised, with no capacity auctions like in the UK or frameworks through which the grid operator mandates utilities to procure power like Resource Adequacy in CAISO (California).

GlidePath and Habitat are both owned by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners.

“We are proud to help create a more robust and reliable Texas grid by delivering GlidePath’s latest battery storage project so close to a major energy hub in Houston,” said Chris McKissack, CEO of GlidePath.

The firm handled the overall engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the project while IHI Terrasun was the system integrator for the battery energy storage system (BESS).

IHI Terrasun is also providing the BESS for another Quinbrook project, the huge solar-plus-storage Gemini project in Nevada which pairs 690MWac/966MWdc of solar power and a 380MW/1,416MWh.

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The firm is headquartered in Germany but has recently been expanding into the US with several projects. Image: The Mobility House.

Smart charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) specialist The Mobility House has raised a US$50 million internal Series C.

The internal round of financing – the company’s first where it disclosed the amount – was led by Mercuria and co-led by Ventura Capital and Green Gateway Fund, while Mercedes-Benz, Alliance Venture, Mitsui, and SP Group also participated.

The money will go towards its technology development and expansion in Europe, North America and Asia. A European press said the amount raised was €50 million, with the two currencies currently at parity at the time of writing.

The company’s main products are its ChargePilot software which enables the optimisation of electric vehicle (EV) charging, and its EV aggregation and Flexibility Trading Platform which leverages V2G charging technology to provide services to the grid. The firm focuses on fleet vehicles.

The firm is based in Germany but has been expanding its US projects. In October, it announced that its ChargePilot software would optimise the charging and dispatch of a fleet of transit buses at the West Oakland Branch of the Oakland Public Library, including to provide backup power for the building’s air conditioning systems which serve the public during unhealthy heat or smoke conditions outdoors.

“That project will not be the last bidirectional project you’ll be hearing about out of The Mobility House in the US this year,” Sarah Woogen, head of USA operations and analytics for the firm told Energy-Storage.news in a recent interview.

In August, the firm joined EPEX SPOT SE, an exchange for power spot markets in 13 different European markets in which it will trade flexibility from 4,500 EV batteries totalling 100MW of power.

“In recent months, it has become increasingly clear: the market for smart charging and V2G is there and developing rapidly. It also has incredible economic and environmental potential for us to tap into,” said Robert Hienz, CEO of The Mobility House.

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Eos’ 100th Energy Block unit (pictured) was assembled at its factory in May. The company has since surpassed 250 Energy Blocks assembled. Image: Eos Energy Enterprises via Twitter.

Eos Energy Enterprises won’t meet previously issued revenue guidance for this year but expects 2022 revenue recognition to be pushed out into next year.

The US zinc battery storage company’s revenues for the nine months ending 30 September 2022 were more than 10 times higher than in the equivalent period of last year, leaping from US$1.49 million to US$15.26 million.

Similarly, in Q3 2022, revenues were just over US$6 million, a significant leap from US$718,000 revenues registered in Q3 2021.

However, earlier in the year Eos, which makes a stackable battery unit with a proprietary zinc hybrid cathode technology, had offered revenue guidance of US$50 million for 2022. In announcing its Q3 results yesterday, the company said 2022 revenue expectations were now between US$17 million and US$20 million, some 60-66% lower than the guidance.

Cost of goods sold was just over US$50 million for the quarter, while total costs and expenses added up to just under US$70 million. That led to a three-month operating loss of US$63.57 million and a net loss of US$70.7 million.

Eos ended September with just over US$51 million in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, versus US$144.7 million at the end of September 2021.

CEO Joe Mastrangelo said the company continued to ramp up production “in the most challenging supply chain environment of my career,” with global chip and personnel shortages at factory equipment OEMs delaying key equipment deliveries by up to 12 weeks.

Eos could benefit from Inflation Reduction Act, Department of Energy loan offer

The company has achieved some recent milestones in its journey to commercialising its technology. It just finished delivering for installation 80MWh of its battery storage systems to developer Pine Gate Renewables’ Eastover solar-plus-storage project.

As reported yesterday by Energy-Storage.news, Eos’ battery has been picked for what has been claimed is the US’ biggest renewable energy microgrid. A 35MWh Eos zinc hybrid cathode battery storage system will be paired in a hybrid configuration with a 10MWh vanadium flow battery from Invinity Energy Systems.

The project is financially supported by the California Energy Commission (CEC). Eos’ order, from project developer Indian Energy, was worth US$13.5 million.

Eos said that as of 4 November, 640MWh of energy has been discharged from Eos systems, passing the 600MWh mark during the third quarter. That includes 329MWh of field discharges, 168.5MWh of factory acceptance testing and 142.5MWh in the lab. The company has now produced more than 250 of its Energy Block battery units.

The company has booked US$324.8 million of orders during the year, equivalent to 1.3GWh of systems, and its orders backlog stands at US$452.2 million, while its pipeline of opportunities is a claimed US$7.3 billion.

At the end of 2021, backlog had stood at US$148.7 million, from which it has grown considerably, although it has not substantively grown since the previous quarter.

Like many other companies in the sector, Eos Energy Enterprises believes it is poised to capture big benefits from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) legislation as it comes into effect from the start of 2023.

Similar to claims made by iron flow battery company ESS Inc in its financial results and outlook announcement a few days ago, Eos said it expected the IRA’s investment tax credit (ITC) and production tax credit (PTC) incentives to fully apply to its products and customers’ projects.

Customers can get tax credit worth up to 50% of their project’s capital investment cost, comprising a 30% base tax credit, 10% tax credit if a substantial portion of equipment or components used are domestic content and a further 10% tax credit if a project is in an ‘energy community’ aka an area where coal mining or power plant facilities recently closed.

Meanwhile as the manufacturer Eos can get a US$35/kWh battery cell manufacturing tax credit, US$10/kWh battery module manufacturing tax credit and a 10% quantifying separate tax credit for electrode active material costs.

Another potentially transformative government-related development is that Eos has been invited to apply for loans from the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office. The company is in the due diligence stage of the process, where it is competing for a share of US$2.5 billion funding to help progress its goal of reaching 3GWh annual production capacity.

Worth noting is that Eos is preparing to launch Z3, the third-generation iteration of its Znyth brand battery module. CEO Joe Mastrangelo claimed the Z3 will “double performance at 50% lower cost”.

“We believe the 10-year IRA tax programme provides a long-term growth catalyst for energy storage, and we continue to see a shift to longer duration energy storage projects,” Mastrangelo said.

“Our opportunity pipeline continues to grow, and our Made in America and domestic supply chain capability uniquely positions us to not only maximise Eos’ PTC benefits, but also our customer’s ITC benefits.”

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Energy-Storage.news proudly presents our webinar with HMS Networks, looking at data and communication challenges for battery storage, and how to solve them.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) will play an integral role in enabling both the transition to renewables and the long-term sustainability of our energy grid.

As such, BESS will need to become ubiquitous – deployed in massive volumes, across all corners of the globe. Therefore, relentless focus is needed towards cost-optimising the design, deployment, management, and maintenance of these systems to support such scalability.

In this webinar we explore some of the data and communication challenges to be solved in this process. For example, how to achieve energy protocol flexibility to allow grid/SCADA integration across the globe. In addition, since BESS life span is in the order of decades, how can we implement cost-effective remote management, diagnostic, and maintenance solutions to minimise total cost of ownership but maximise uptime?

Speakers in this webinar:

Matt Shustack, business development manager, Americas at HMS Networks

Yuan Lee, business development manager, EMEA, at HMS Networks

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To receive the presentation slides, register your details at the on-demand page here.

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FTC Solar Voyager Tracker with FSLR6 Modules

FTC Solar Inc. has developed a novel clamping solution that enables rapid installation of First Solar Series 6 and Series 6 Plus modules.

To support First Solar’s thin-film module technology, FTC developed a new product variant of its novel Voyager mounting solution. The variant uses FTC’s patented Slide and Glide methodology and First Solar’s SpeedSlot mounting feature.

The result is a reliable, robust, labor-efficient module installation system that utilizes no traditional hardware. Instead, a mechanical fastener is used to secure and ground the First Solar module frame to the Voyager system’s module rail, enabling the rapid install times our customers have come to expect from FTC.

“We combined First Solar’s SpeedSlot solution with FTC’s patented Slide and Glide rapid module installation methodology that ensures robust module capture to our rail,” says Nagendra Cherukupalli, CTO at FTC Solar. “Several nuances in the rail design enable the integrated solution to work well together. It is a testament to our engineering team’s prowess and adaptability.”

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Detail of Windcharger, the first grid-scale battery project in Alberta. Image: TransAlta via Twitter.

Westbridge Renewable Energy has received approval for one of its four large-scale solar-plus-storage projects in Alberta, Canada.

The developer said yesterday that its “flagship” Georgetown Solar + Energy Storage Project received Power Plant and Battery Energy Storage System Approval as well as permit and license to build a related substation, from the Alberta Utilities Commission.

The project would pair a solar PV plant of up to 230MWac/278MWdc with up to 200MWh of battery storage sharing the site and interconnection to the grid. Approval was granted to a Westbridge subsidiary, Georgetown Solar.

Westbridge offered a corporate update to investors in March this year, in which it said the BESS at Georgetown was anticipated to be 100MW output. At the same time, the company unveiled another development project in the Canadian province, called Sunnynook, which would pair 236MWdc of solar with a BESS of the same size as at Georgetown.

In June, the company announced another Alberta solar-plus-storage project. Called Dolcy, that project would pair 250MWdc of solar PV with another 100MW BESS.

Then last week it announced its fourth and biggest project in Alberta to date, Eastervale, which will be a 300MWp solar PV plant and a 200MW/400MWh BESS.

Elsewhere, the company has one solar-only project, a 221MW plant in Texas and a 53MW/106MWh standalone battery storage project in the UK under development, for which it secured grid connection this summer. The company noted that its BESS developments now add up to 553MW/1,106MWh, alongside 1,285MW of solar PV.

Westbridge’s four Alberta projects are now all at Stage 2 or Stage 3 of the Alberta Energy System Operator (AESO) grid connection process, which has four stages in total.

Alberta only got its first grid-scale battery storage system in 2020, a few months after the province’s first solar-plus-storage project was granted development approval.

The state now has a few notable projects underway, such as two partly government-funded solar-plus-storage projects which will use flow batteries, a 216MWac solar PV plant with 80MW/80MWh of batteries from developer GreenGate Power Corporation, and a 180MW BESS which TransAlta Renewables propose to build at a hydroelectric power plant.

It has also recently become host to a number of solar PV projects, including a 47MW project that German developer Goldbeck Solar began constructing recently, and Suncor Energy’s recently sold development pipeline of solar and wind assets that included 1.5GW of PV in Alberta.

Canada’s government just announced a few days ago that it intends to introduce investment tax credit incentives for clean energy generation sources like solar PV and all forms of energy storage, including batteries and other technologies.

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Josh Skelton

Minnesota Power, a utility division of ALLETE Inc., is advancing its EnergyForward plan by significantly increasing the amount of renewable energy it provides over the next 15 years, based on an agreement reached with stakeholder groups, including clean energy organizations, labor and host communities.

In a letter filed with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission as part of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) proceedings, Minnesota Power said it will seek up to 400 MW of wind energy and 300 MW of regional solar energy. That’s nearly double what the company proposed in its initial Integrated Resource Plan filing, which called for the company to add 200 MW of wind and 200 MW of solar as part of its EnergyForward blueprint for achieving 100% carbon-free energy by 2050.

“Before and during the state’s IRP process, we have prioritized listening and taking feedback from customers, communities and organizations that will benefit from our clean energy transition for all,” says Minnesota Power COO Josh Skelton. “We are pleased that we could work with these stakeholders to reach an agreement that allows us to continue on our path to a carbon-free supply while also protecting safe and reliable energy at competitive rates.”

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will consider the next steps in Minnesota Power’s EnergyForward plan as it holds two hearings to discuss the details of the company’s IRP. The commission is expected to vote on the IRP on Nov. 22, including the agreement reached on increasing renewables.

If approved, under the agreement Minnesota Power will advance storage projects that support investment in its renewable portfolio and continue to evaluate the transition of Boswell Energy Center (Boswell Unit 3 will cease coal operations by 2030). Other resource considerations, including electric grid strengthening proposals such as the MISO Long-Range Transmission Plan and a previously approved natural gas power plant, have been deferred until future regulatory filings.

“Our planning for a sustainable transformation requires a flexible and dynamic approach. Since the filing of our IRP in February 2021, there have been many exciting developments, including the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, that support lowering the cost of renewables,” Skelton adds.

“Minnesota Power has been proactive and responsive with our commitment to climate, customers and our communities that is driving our national leadership to achieve a carbon-free supply of energy,” concludes Skelton. “Our EnergyForward plan being considered by the Commission this month accomplishes these goals in a way that reflects what is realistic today and what is possible tomorrow as we meet our goal of providing safe, reliable and affordable power to all customers.”

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GIG is working with energy storage system integrator Fluence to put a 150MW BESS at the former site of Hazelwood, a coal power station in Victoria, Australia. Pictured is a rendering of the site’s BESS, currently under construction. Image: Fluence via Twitter.

A global platform to develop and own battery energy storage assets has been launched by Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group (GIG).

GIG announced the launch of Eku Energy yesterday, with the new company aiming to develop, build and manage assets across a diversified base of markets, revenue sources and contracting structures. A source close to the company said each project in the company’s pipeline is expected to be financed with a combination of equity and debt.

GIG, which was founded in 2012 as the Green Investment Bank by the government of the UK and then bought in 2017 by Australian financial services group Macquarie, renamed and relaunched as a specialist green infrastructure and development investor.

As GIG, it has already been active in battery storage markets in the UK and Australia. Its existing activities will be wrapped up into Eku Energy’s business, meaning the developer begins life with GIG’s two projects under construction in its portfolio.

These are a 40MW/40MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Maldon, Essex, in England, which GIG acquired as part of a seven-project 187MWh transaction in June 2021, and a 150MW/150MWh BESS at a former fossil fuel site in Victoria, Australia.

The Maldon project achieved financial close in December 2021, the same month that construction began on the project in Victoria.

In addition to that 190MWh, Eku Energy has adopted GIG’s more than 3GWh pipeline of development opportunities, which are in the UK, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan. The source told Energy-Storage.news the pipeline’s value is estimated around US$2 billion. Once relevant regulatory approvals are in place the company will open offices in London, Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, and Taipei.

In June this year, GIG signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with UK-based developer Bluestone Energy to work on up to 2GW of UK battery storage projects. A year prior to that, the group launched a partnership with another UK developer, Enso Energy, to work on subsidy-free solar and storage projects.  

“As the world races towards net zero, the challenges around the energy transition are shifting. We’ve proven we can produce renewable energy at low cost, now we need to deliver the smart, flexible energy system that will support the electrification of the global economy,” Eku Energy interim CEO Chris Morrison said.

“Battery storage is critical to maximising the role for renewables in our energy mix by enabling the delivery of dispatchable clean energy.”

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Stefano Romanin

Westbridge Renewable Energy Corp.’s wholly owned subsidiary, Georgetown Solar Inc., has obtained power plant and battery energy storage system (BESS) approval (Decision 27205-D02-2022) and a substation permit and license (Decision 27205-D03-2022) from the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) for its flagship project, the Georgetown Solar + Energy Storage Project.

The Georgetown Project marks the first of four Alberta projects of Westbridge to receive power plant and BESS approval from the AUC. The approvals allow Georgetown to construct and operate the project, located near Mossleigh in Vulcan County, Alberta. The project consists of a solar power plant with a capacity of up to 230 MW AC / 278 MW DC, BESS with capacity of up to 200 MWh and the associated Mossleigh 1051S Substation. Approval is granted subject to provisions by the Hydro and Electric Energy Act and the Alberta Utilities Commission Act.

“We are pleased to have achieved this important milestone for Westbridge Renewable, validating our work as a leading solar developer and confirming the strength of our team, business model, and quality of our projects,” comments Stefano Romanin, director and CEO. “This approval confirms our ability to originate high-quality greenfield projects, and add significant value by taking them to shovel-ready approval.“

“We are excited to have received this decision after all of the hard work that has been put into the project by Westbridge and the greater team of professionals we work with,” says Maggie McKenna, director and COO. “It is a job well done by everyone involved and we thank everyone including the stakeholders that participated in the process. This accomplishment brings the Georgetown Project closer to monetization.”

Westbridge Renewable Energy has five utility-scale solar PV projects and four BESS projects in North America and one standalone BESS project in the U.K., totaling 1,285 MWp of solar PV and 500 MW / 1 GWh of BESS under development in its growing portfolio.

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