Solar-grade Siemens chunk polysilicon (Image: REC Silicon)

Mississippi Silicon LLC, a global producer of silicon metal, is working with REC Silicon to help establish a low-carbon and fully traceable U.S.-based solar supply chain. The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) committing them to negotiate a raw material supply agreement.

Recent investment by the Hanwha Group into REC Silicon, in conjunction with Hanwha’s subsidiary Qcells, moves REC to expand its relationship with Mississippi Silicon to support the development of an end-to-end U.S. solar supply chain from silicon metal and polysilicon to fully assembled solar modules. The plan follows the passage of the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act (SEMA) as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, expanding U.S. production of polysilicon and metallurgical grade silicon.

Located in the northeast corner of Mississippi State, the Mississippi Silicon facility is strategically placed to take advantage of a growing domestic customer base, stable low-cost electricity, and a regional supply chain.

REC is as a producer of high-purity electronics and solar grade polysilicon with assets in Moses Lake, Wash. and Butte, Mont. The recent Hanwha investment will enable a re-start of the currently idle Moses Lake plant in 2023 and make available high volumes of low-carbon, solar-grade polysilicon. REC shut down the Moses Lake plant in 2019 due to unfavorable global market conditions.

“Mississippi Silicon was founded nearly 10 years ago to be a domestic source of high-quality silicon metal to the U.S. solar, electronics and chemical industries,” says Eddie Boardwine, CEO of Mississippi Silicon. “We are pleased by the growing recognition of the importance of a strong end-to-end U.S. supply chain for these materials. Passage of the SEMA Act is critical to bringing that supply chain to reality. We look forward to working with REC Silicon to strengthen our existing relationship and build out that vital supply chain.”

“A robust solar energy industry in the U.S. is crucial to our national security and clean energy goals,” comments James A. May II, CEO of REC Silicon. “Now that SEMA has passed as part of a broad clean energy incentive package, the solar manufacturing industry is in a position to make long-term investments that create millions of new career opportunities in cities and towns across the country and accelerate the transition to clean energy.”

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A drone image overlooking the west section of the Bear Creek Solar Project after panel installation was complete. (April 21, 2022)

Alliant Energy’s first utility-scale solar project is now operational. At 50 MW, the Bear Creek Solar Project in Richland County is Wisconsin’s newest large-scale utility solar farm.

“This project represents a significant, long-term investment in our community,” says Van Nelson, the town of Buena Vista’s clerk. “The township very much appreciated how well they were kept informed of progress throughout the project. The strong partnership with Alliant Energy and its commitment to responsible stewardship ensures that this solar farm will deliver economic, environmental and financial benefits for decades to come.”

“Across Wisconsin, Alliant Energy is working with families, farmers, businesses and communities to develop renewable energy projects both big and small,” states David de Leon, Alliant Energy’s Wisconsin president. “This project is an incredible milestone for our customers. Guided by our purpose-driven strategy to serve customers and build stronger communities, this solar farm diversifies our energy portfolio, boosts American energy independence and increases access to affordable electricity.”

Alliant Energy is following the plan outlined in its Clean Energy Blueprint to bring clean, reliable and affordable energy to customers for years to come. The plan includes constructing more than 1,000 MW of utility-scale solar energy at 12 sites across Wisconsin. The Bear Creek Solar Project is the first of these 12 sites to become operational. Three additional projects are expected to go into service later this year.

Construction of the Bear Creek solar farm began in July 2021. Burns & McDonnell was the EPC contractor for the project and utilized operating engineers, carpenters, laborers and electricians from several local union halls.

“When businesses partner with the skilled forces of Wisconsin’s unionized building trades, they know they’re going to get a safe, quality product that delivers superior value for everyone,” comments Emily Pritzkow, executive director of the Wisconsin Building Trades Council. “By prioritizing the use of local unionized labor on renewable energy projects, Alliant Energy is supporting a strong workforce, keeping project dollars in the community and boosting our state economy.”

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Balaji Lakshmikanth Bangolae

Halliburton Labs has selected three new companies, including Renkube, a company focused on tracking glass for solar panels, to participate in its collaborative environment to advance cleaner, affordable and reliable energy. As a Halliburton Labs participant, the companies will receive access to a range of industrial capabilities, technical expertise and mentorships to scale their respective businesses.

“Halliburton Labs is excited to welcome AW-Energy, RedShift and Renkube to our clean energy accelerator,” says Dale Winger, managing director of Halliburton Labs. “These new companies reflect our view that numerous innovations at scale are important in the evolution of energy systems. We are intrigued by the learning and possibilities represented by the breadth of market applications and geographies with participants based in Finland, India and the United States. We are eager to collaborate with these companies to help them achieve their strategic, operational and financial milestones.”

Renkube developed an innovative glass designed to harvest light that lowers the cost of solar energy generation. The patent-pending glass is used on solar panels to track sunlight like a sunflower but without any movement.

“We are excited to be part of the Halliburton Labs accelerator,” states Balaji Lakshmikanth Bangolae, founder and CEO of Renkube. “We intend to leverage Halliburton’s deep industrial expertise in manufacturing and operations as we roll out our product for commercialization.”

Halliburton Labs is now accepting applications for its next group of participants. Applications are accessible via the Halliburton Labs website and are due by August 31, 2022.

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Duke Energy’s first battery energy storage system (BESS) project was this 9MW facility in Asheville, North Carolina, commissioned in 2020. Image: Duke Energy.

Duke Energy would still choose lithium-ion for an upcoming 7.3-hour duration energy storage system in Florida if it redesigned the project today, a spokersperson told Energy-Storage.news.

As recently reported on this site, the North Carolina-headquartered energy firm recently brought online the bulk of a 50MW/94MWh pipeline of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Florida.

The projects vary in size and duration and the last to come online is a 2.475MW/18MWh unit to be commissioned later this year, at John Hopkins Middle School, which a Duke Energy spokesperson told Energy-Storage.news uses lithium-ion battery cells.

They explained that the school is a hurricane emergency shelter so the company wanted to oversize the battery for a longer duration. When asked whether it considered other battery technologies when designing the project, and whether it would still choose lithium-ion if starting it from scratch today, they said:

“At the time this project was designed, there were no other technologies that were as cost competitive while providing the same benefits as lithium-ion.”

“Duke Energy continues to test newer technologies and will soon be piloting newer chemistries to determine their capabilities; however, if this project was being redesigned today, lithium-ion would still be the technology of choice due to its cost, performance characteristics and proven reliability.”

The company’s comments are noteworthy and feed into the ongoing debate about lithium’s suitability for long duration energy storage versus other technologies like flow batteries (though many long duration storage solution companies may not consider eight hours as long duration at all).

The cost base of lithium-ion BESS projects has increased 25% year-on-year, according to system integrator Wartsila, driven by battery cells which have increased in cost as lithium carbonate has seen 1,000% price spikes.

Despite this, and flow battery companies’ claims that their solutions are cheaper in the long-term, lithium-ion continues to be chosen for many six and eight hour projects, including a 50MW/400MWh system in California in March.

The same month, Energy-Storage.news was told that lithium-ion could eventually become cost-competitive at up to 24 hours’ duration by Haresh Kamath, director of distributed energy resources and energy storage at EPRI, the R&D and demonstration project organisation funded by electricity industry stakeholders.

Iron flow battery company ESS Inc issued a rebuttal statement to Energy-Storage.news regarding Kamath’s comments shortly after.

In April, Mitsubishi Power Americas’ head of energy storage Thomas Cornell told this site that the technology is still the best one even at 10-12 hours’ duration.

That said, Duke Energy continues to try out and test alternative technologies: in the past it has piloted the deployment of Eos Energy Enterprises’ zinc hybrid cathode battery technology for long-duration storage and is preparing to be the first to test out a new flow battery made with a proprietary electrolyte chemistry from Honeywell.

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KCE NY 1, commissioned in 2019. Image: Key Capture Energy.

Key Capture Energy is approaching the final stages of construction of a battery storage system in New York that will inform how the developer approaches much bigger projects in the state.

Key Capture Energy’s KCE NY 6 is a 20MW/40MWh (two-hour duration) lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) just south of Buffalo, in Upstate New York.

The project is being built with unionised labour through local branches of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), United Steelworkers and Communications Workers of America. Key Capture Energy said yesterday that this was made possible by its construction contractor, Black & McDonald.

Key Capture Energy is headquartered in Albany in the Upstate region. The developer delivered New York State’s first-ever grid-scale battery storage system, KCE NY 1, which was commissioned in 2019. That 20MW system was also the first project to benefit from state-level incentives through a programme from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

KCE NY 6 and two other Key Capture Energy projects (KCE NY 2 and KCE NY 11, both also 20MW) will also be receiving money from the NYSERDA programme, called the Bulk Energy Storage Incentive Program. At the time the award to KCE NY 1 was announced, the company said the incentives were the path to “monetising millions” of dollars from the New York projects.

Energy-Storage.news reported in November 2021 as construction of KCE NY 6 began that according to Key Capture CEO Jeff Bishop, the developer had a development portfolio of 1,000MW in New York State at the time. New York has a statewide policy target to deploy 6,000MW of energy storage on its grid by 2030, helping to leverage renewable energy generation from less population dense Upstate and rural areas as well as from offshore wind to be built in the coming years, as it targets a zero emissions electricity sector by 2040.

With the company typically going into a new US transmission operator service area or state market and building smaller projects before scaling up to larger ones, lessons learned from KCE NY 6’s development, construction and commissioning phases would be applied “immediately” to other projects in the portfolio, Bishop said.

Sungrow Americas was announced as the BESS supplier to the project, with the regional energy storage division of Chinese PV inverter manufacturer Sungrow having worked with Key Capture Energy (KCE) on projects in other US regions, including Texas.

In October 2021, KCE placed a 390MW BESS order with Sungrow for projects to be construction towards the end of that year and into this one, as Energy-Storage.news reported. The order was for Sungrow liquid-cooled lithium iron phosphate (LFP) BESS units ranging from one hour to two hours duration.

In December last year, KCE was bought by South Korean energy company SK E&S. SK E&S, an affiliate of major Korean conglomerate SK Group, said that it intended to invest at least a billion dollars into the developer.

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Brandon Schwertner

Priority Power Management Inc., an energy optimization and infrastructure company offering smart energy solutions, has completed its acquisition of the energy procurement, consulting and solar development business of Affordable Gas & Electric Co. LLC (AGE).

This transaction further increases Priority Power’s footprint in Midwest energy markets where Priority Power, through Satori Energy (acquired in 2021), has expanded in energy procurement and consulting.

AGE’s energy management services business, headquartered in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, serves hundreds of municipalities, chambers of commerce, businesses and industrial clients throughout Illinois and Ohio.

For a decade, AGE has been aggregating commercial, industrial and municipal electricity customers into strategic “bulk energy loads” to deliver cost-effective and efficient energy procurement negotiating strength for its 125,000+ residential and 1,000+ commercial customers. AGE offers a suite of energy management and solutions focused on energy transition and sustainability. AGE also offers community solar programs, behind-the-meter solar solutions, co-generation solutions and other energy efficiency services such as lighting retrofits.

“The addition of AGE’s business to Priority Power’s industry leading energy procurement and consulting business reinforces our commitment to providing the premier suite of energy management solutions to our customers nationwide,” says Brandon Schwertner, CEO of Priority Power.

“AGE’s energy procurement aggregation business and energy transition initiatives perfectly complement the expanding suite of services that Priority Power, through Satori, provides to our customers in the Midwest,” adds David C. Wiers, president of Satori.

“Priority Power and Satori are the perfect partners for AGE’s customers, allowing for increased rate negotiating strength and access to even greater energy solution expertise that will guide our customers through this new sustainable energy world,” notes Jeff Haarmann, managing partner of AGE.

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A FlexGen battery energy storage system. Image: FlexGen.

System integrator FlexGen will provide energy storage systems and optimisation software for a 100MW portfolio in Texas recently acquired by investment fund manager SUSI Partners from SMT Energy.

The 10 projects will come online from spring through fall of 2023 and will have 10MW of power and 9.95MWh of energy storage capacity each.

FlexGen said the units, which have a duration of just under an hour, will be certified to all four ERCOT checklists to provide the full range of ancillary services to Texas’ ERCOT market.

A press release announcing FlexGen’s involvement described the projects as belonging to developer SMT Energy. As Energy-Storage.news reported last week, SMT Energy entered into a partnership with infrastructure investment fund manager SUSI Partners to work on a 100MW ERCOT portfolio, marking Switzerland-headquartered SUSI’s first front-of-meter large-scale battery storage acquisition in the US.

A FlexGen spokesperson confirmed to Energy-Storage.news that it is the same portfolio, which SMT and SUSI will jointly own and operate, with the pair intending the carry the relationship into other projects.

FlexGen said the projects will improve the resilience of the ERCOT grid, enable integration of renewable energies and improve the ability of the grid to balance load and supply. Combined with its short duration, this indicates the projects may be largely focused on providing ancillary services. Most recently announced projects in the state have been between one and two hours.

A recent flurry of project development sales in ERCOT by Black Mountain Energy Storage have mostly been for two-hour system while gravity-based storage solution company Energy Vault’s first conventional battery project is a 100MW/200MWh system in Texas. In June, projects brought online by Jupiter Power, acquired by Canadian Solar subsidiary Recurrent Energy, and funded by US development bank NADBank were all two-hour systems.

Alongside being one of the world’s largest battery storage system integrators by MW deployed and in the pipeline, FlexGen is known for its HybridOS energy management system platform, which delivers the full stack of energy storage value, including ancillary services, capacity, and energy market.

Law firm Squire Patton Boggs advised the system integrator on its deal to deliver the ten projects.

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Workers preparing production lines at the iM3NY factory ahead of its opening in Endicott, New York. Image: iM3NY via Twitter.

A lithium-ion battery factory has opened in New York State which could ramp-up to 38GWh annual production capacity by 2030, serving the electric vehicle (EV) and stationary battery storage sectors.

Australian vertically integrated battery tech and materials company Magnis Energy Technologies earlier this month announced the opening of the factory by its joint venture (JV) subsidiary Imperium 3 New York (iM3NY) in Endicott, a small village in rural Upstate New York.

iM3NY is majority-owned by Magnis and its technology partner at the plant, Charge CCCV (C4V). C4V claims to have developed a lithium manganese phosphate battery technology called BMLMP, with the ‘BM’ standing for Biomineralised cathode.

BMLMP cathode batteries operate at a higher voltage than other leading lithium sub-chemistries like lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), while also not requiring cobalt or nickel for their production like NMC and various other sub-chemistries do.

The Endicott factory will produce prismatic cells designed to yield high mechanical integrity, ease of assembly and volumetric efficiency.

The production line is at the quality assurance stage to begin with, until late September, but will begin making cells for sale to customers after that and then increase annual production levels to 1GWh by the end of next year.

Longer terms plans are to ramp that up to 1.8GWh annual capacity, equivalent to 15,000 cells per day, and then to 38GWh annual production by 2030.

Magnis said the plant has been independently verified to be among the more sustainable battery production facilities around, by social impact consultancy Abt Associates, using as it does hydroelectric generation to power its production.

“The iM3NY team has put in a huge effort to achieve this major milestone of commercial production with iM3NY being North America’s only pure home-grown battery plant,” iM3NY CEO Chaitanya Sharma said.

“Despite a challenging global environment and supply chain issues, we have successfully started production close to schedule which is a major achievement. We now look forward to increasing production rates toward and over the gigawatt-hour mark.”

First of many

While it may be the first of its type in North America, it’s likely to be the first of many more gigafactories from US companies. Some that have specifically been announced to produce batteries for grid storage in addition to or even instead of vehicle batteries include a 12GWh factory in Buckeye, Arizona, thought to be at a late stage of development by US-headquartered startup KORE Power.

Recently, another group, American Battery Factory, claimed it could have a network of LFP gigafactories up and running within two years and another startup, SPARKZ, is developing a gigafactory in West Virginia which will make cobalt-free, solid-state lithium batteries suitable for grid applications.

Recent policy moves by the Biden-Harris Administration look like they could further the cause of domestically sited battery manufacturing, like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

The administration has identified a need to bring more of the battery value chain into the US and outside of China, with the two pieces of legislation and others offering financial support to industry to do that.

That coupled with increased demand for batteries overall could lead to more onshoring of cell production in the US, senior director of manufacturing Peter Silveira at battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator and technology provider Fluence has already told Energy-Storage.news. Meanwhile, Kontromatik, a Turkish company, said last week that the Inflation Reduction Act has already persuaded its leadership to upsize a planned US factory from 2GWh to 3GWh.

Schumer invites zinc battery company to New York site

It’s not just lithium-ion battery companies that are likely to benefit from US policy support, Energy-Storage.news has heard from commentators including specialist energy sector lawyer Morten Lund from law firm Stoel Rives.

One of the politicians most instrumental in drafting the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, has been working in the last few months to encourage zinc battery storage technology company Zinc8 to set up shop in his New York constituency.

On 12 August, the day the IRA passed in the Senate, Zinc8 signed a letter of intent to develop a manufacturing hub in iPark87, an industrial and technology campus in Ulster County, in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Zinc8 makes a zinc-air battery that can store and discharge energy over durations of up to 15 hours, scalable to higher capacities with an increase in the size of storage tanks that hold zinc particles. The technology is currently being trialed at a New York City housing complex by the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) where a 100kW/1.5MWh zinc BESS is being combined with onsite CHP generation.

Schumer had directly invited the company to make an application to become an anchor tenant at the iPark87 site. Zinc8 did not disclose the expected size or annual production capacity of the plant at this stage but did say it expects it to create 500 jobs in the area.

Zinc8 noted that Schumer had been instrumental in bringing it to the state. As well as his direct intervention at local level, the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit included in the IRA provides incentives to battery manufacturers as well as to critical mineral processing companies.

Every eligible battery cell will receive a US$35 credit, scaling with the capacity of the battery, with incentives to last at their initial level until 2029, before phasing down from 2030 to a phase out stage beginning in 2032. There is also US$10 billion support available for construction of clean energy tech factories, or for retrofitting existing factories with tools and production lines to make clean energy equipment and components.  

Meanwhile the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aka the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, included US$6 billion incentives to support R&D and production of batteries in the US as well as supporting the creation of a domestic supply chain.

Over in Europe, dozens of gigawatt-hours of battery production at planned gigafactories may be delayed from coming online on time due to a confluence of macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, Energy-Storage.news has heard.

Despite delays, factories will go ahead and many are understood to be revising their production capacity plans upwards, reflecting increased demand for EVs and energy storage.

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Image: Andy Colthorpe / Solar Media.

Canadian Solar manufacturing subsidiary CSI Solar’s battery storage shipments exceeded the 1GWh mark in the first half of 2022 while the parent company’s battery project pipeline stands at 31GWh.

The vertically integrated solar PV company announced its second quarter financial results last week, raising its full-year revenue guidance to US$7.5 billion to US$8 billion from US$7 billion to US$7.5 billion, as reported by our sister site PV Tech.

It has also raised its solar manufacturing targets, including plans to have 50GW of annual PV module manufacturing production capacity in place by the end of 2023.

CEO Dr Shawn Qu referred to increased global demand for solar PV driving the company’s expansion plans in a call to explain results. Qu also said that the company has experienced significant growth in battery storage solutions shipments, while the US’ Inflation Reduction Act legislation will result in “a big acceleration in demand for clean energy” in the country, “especially for solar energy and battery storage”.

Canadian Solar’s US developer subsidiary Recurrent Energy claims more than half of the solar company’s pipeline of project opportunities, with 16.5GWh of potential contracts for battery storage alongside 8GWp of solar development opportunities.

In reporting the company’s previous results for Q1 in late May, Energy-Storage.news noted that at that time Canadian Solar’s claimed global battery storage pipeline was 27GWh, meaning it has rapidly grown by 4GWh.

The company has long stated its aim to establish energy storage as a key part of its core business, from manufacturing to project development.

Overall, Canadian Solar achieved a 16% gross margin for the quarter, doubling its gross profit sequentially to US$371 million. Revenues grew 85% from Q1, to US$2.3 billion. Senior VP and CFO Dr Huifeng Chang said the company ended the quarter with a total cash position of US$1.9 billion.

That gave the company “significant financial flexibility to fund long-term growth opportunities, including accelerating our upstream capacity expansion,” Chang said.

Battery storage solutions contributed significantly to the strong net revenue position, as did higher project sales and higher solar shipment volumes at a higher average selling price (ASP).

Project development falls under Canadian Solar’s Global Energy business line (which includes Recurrent Energy). Global Energy projects include utility-scale solar PV as well as hybrid solar-plus-storage and standalone battery assets.

CSI Solar expects up to US$1.9 billion battery storage solutions shipments for 2022

The company reaffirmed guidance for total battery storage shipments from CSI Global of 1.8GWh to 1.9GWh for the full year and 2.1GW to 2.6GW of total projects sales for Global Energy, including solar PV as well as battery storage.

Since the beginning of 2021, Global Energy has been siting solar power plants with co-located battery storage at “nearly all” projects under development. In an interview earlier this year, Recurrent Energy head of energy storage development Lucas Moller said that “there is pretty much a fundamental need to add storage to every [solar] project to make it economically viable,” in the Desert Southwest areas of the US where the developer is most active.  

In June, Recurrent Energy acquired two development stage BESS projects in Texas’ ERCOT market region, totalling 400MWh. The projects were bought from developer Black Mountain Energy Storage, which has since gone on to sell further ERCOT projects to fellow developer Cypress Creek Renewables and UBS Asset Management.

Elsewhere, in July Canadian Solar sold two permitted and construction-ready projects in the UK to alternative asset management firm Gresham House: a co-located solar PV and battery project with 50MWp PV and 38MW/76MWh BESS, along with a standalone 28MWp solar PV project.

CEO Qu said Q2 2022 is likely to be Canadian Solar’s biggest quarter for the year, based largely on the timing of project sales and battery storage shipments within the period, but the company expects profitability to “remain healthy through the second half of the year”.

The company is set to officially launch its own suite of utility-scale and residential BESS products at next month’s Solar Power International event at the RE+ 2022 trade show in Anaheim, California.  

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American Battery Solutions’ manufacturing facility in Ohio. Image: American Battery Solutions.

American Battery Solutions, a US company specialising in EV and commercial & industrial (C&I) battery energy storage solutions, has launched a new product for the grid-scale market.

The company has released TeraStor, a new lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) along with the StorView energy management system (EMS) suite of software and control hardware for optimising the system’s performance.

TeraStor offers ‘more than’ 7.2MWh of energy storage and 3.5MW of integrated inverter capacity, i.e. power. The company claims its pre-made configuration means it can be installed on-site in six hours versus weeks or months for a more conventional system.

According to a company datasheet, it has an AC round-trip efficiency of 88-91%, relatively low for lithium-ion, and an operating DC voltage range of 1150-1560 Vdc. Although not on the datasheet, the company’s website says it uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.

American Battery Solutions (ABS) announced its arrival into the market in 2018 with the acquisition of the manufacturing and testing assets for battery systems from Robert Bosch Battery Systems. That included a 16,000 square metre facility in Springboro, Ohio, where Robert Bosch had been assembling lithium-ion battery packs for the EV sector since 2009.

ABS re-launched the facility in April 2022 with added production capacity, mainly for its ALLIANCE Intelligent Battery Series for light commercial and heavy-duty EV markets. It also has an innovation centre in Michigan and employs 175 people.

US president Joe Biden last week signed the Inflation Reduction Act which increased incentives for both upstream and downstream parts of the country’s energy storage value chain.

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