Tigo TS4-A-F

Tigo Energy Inc., a Flex MLPE (module level power electronics) supplier, has launched two 25-amp Tigo TS4 MLPE products supporting the latest high-power and high-current bifacial solar modules. The Tigo TS4-A-F 25A and Tigo TS4-A-2F 25A rapid shutdown devices provide advanced first-responder safety functionality for solar modules rated up to 700 W, including bifacial modules. Both products feature compatibility with Pure Signal technology in Tigo RSS Transmitters and pair with a list of third-party solar inverters to deliver design and installation flexibility for solar installers and EPCs.

As solar module power ratings and demand for higher power density continue to rise, the Tigo TS4-A-F 25A and Tigo TS4-A-2F 25A are essential building blocks for large-scale commercial and industrial solar installations. Tigo TS4 rapid shutdown products ensure that installers have the flexibility to deploy high wattage solar modules to offer their customers the most energy production per available rooftop space.

Tigo TS4 products also reduce balance-of-system (BOS) and labor costs because of a no-bolt design and no need for additional ground wiring. Through the Tigo Enhanced program, Tigo customers and installers have the freedom to choose the right equipment for their solar projects through simple, plug-and-play pairing with inverters from major suppliers and Tigo Enhanced partners Chint Power Systems (CPS), Solectria, Sungrow, Canadian Solar and Growatt.

Additionally, the new 25-Amp Tigo TS4 devices offer plug-and-play support for all solar modules up to 700 W (one module for TS4-A-F 25A and two 700W modules for TS4-A-2F 25A) and rated for a maximum short current of 25Amps and a maximum input voltage of 80V per module. They are in compliance with NEC 2017 and 2020 690.12 Rapid Shutdown specifications when installed with the Tigo RSS Transmitter and UL PVRSS certified inverter or an inverter with a built-in Tigo-certified transmitter

reliable frame mounting requiring only 10 seconds for installation. The devices are industry-standard MC4 connectors with an IP68 enclosure rating for maximum durability as well as IEC and UL-certified for global acceptance. They reduce labor time by connecting to two modules to the TS4-A-2F 25A, which enables 16% fewer connections on a 14-panel string compared to single-channel MLPE.

“At Tigo, we serve a rapidly growing number of customers worldwide who install ever larger C&I systems, and we are pleased to serve that market with safe, reliable, and now even more powerful products,” says Jing Tian, chief growth officer at Tigo Energy. “Our investments in innovation ensure that Tigo remains a solar technology leader, and the more powerful 25-Amp TS4 products are a direct result of that.”

The new 25-Amp Tigo TS4 rapid shutdown products are fully compatible with Tigo RSS Transmitters (with or without Pure Signal technology) and are UL PVRSS-certified with hundreds of inverter models from manufacturers.

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A project that On.Energy delivered to an undisclosed international airport. Image: On.Energy.

On.Energy has raised US$100 million in project financing from UK fund SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust plc (SEEIT) for its US and Canada energy storage project deployments.

On.Energy, which has to-date mostly provided commercial & industrial-sited (C&I) battery energy storage systems (BESS), announced the financing deal with SEEIT today (16 August).

The conditional financing commitment from the listed investment vehicle, which is managed by Sustainable Development Capital, will accelerate the deployment of On.Energy’s solutions across the US and Canada, the company said.

SEEIT is initially providing a US$10 million convertible loan including an initial US$5 million drawdown, alongside the US$100 million commitment.

Commenting on the financing from SEEEIT, On.Energy CEO Alan Cooper said: “On.Energy has a proven track record of delivering fully integrated battery energy storage solutions to our customers. This investment, which is our first from a major institutional investor, demonstrates the confidence shown by SEEIT in supporting our projects and validates the tireless efforts of our employees, investors, and management team.”

On.Energy has delivered 30-plus BESS projects to-date across various C&I locations such as airports, hotels, retailers, plastics, and power generation in North, Central and South America, and claims a total project pipeline of nearly 2.5GWh. It has headquartered in Miami but also has offices in Texas, Mexico and Peru.

It also provides long-term operation and maintenance (O&M) services on its BESS projects. A majority of the projects listed on its site are behind-the-meter (BTM), for which load shifting, backup power, peak shaving, reactive power compensation and tariff changes are cited as use cases. Most of its listed front-of-meter projects provide frequency regulation services to the grid.

One of these is in Puebla, Mexico, and was the first in the country to do so when it was delivered in 2019. David Fernandes, then country manager Mexico and now group CFO, spoke to Energy-Storage.news in January last year about the country’s growing need for BESS projects.

It has also worked closely with the renewables arm of Italy-based energy company Enel X, co-developing at least two projects to-date, and has used batteries provided by China-based CATL for at least one project.

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Magdalena Neidhart, sustainability manager at flow battery provider CellCube speaks at the IFBF Summer Conference in Belgium earlier this summer. Image: Anthony Price / IFBF.

Energy storage industry veteran and tireless clean energy technology advocate Anthony Price summarises what took place at this year’s International Flow Batteries Forum Summer Conference in Brussels, Belgium, putting it all into a wider context of international decarbonisation and energy system modernisation.

“We will ensure the deployment of sufficient LLES (large scale and long-duration energy storage) and to balance the overall system by developing appropriate policy to enable investment by 2024.”  

The UK government’s response issued by its Department for Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to a 2021 consultation on long-duration energy storage, is summarised in a few lines above. Its publication just over a month after the recent International Flow Battery Forum (IFBF) held in Brussels in late June, inspires hope that policy can direct a flow of investment into LLES.

We think flow batteries are ideally suited to many large-scale and long-duration energy storage applications and many in the flow battery industry will look at BEIS’s response, hoping their plans might overlap, not only with the UK’s energy policy, but with those of other nations in Europe, North America and elsewhere.

Alongside the consultation response, BEIS published “Benefits of Long Duration Electricity Storage,” a report which quantifies the value of storage – for example “long duration storage solutions reduce net zero system costs by between £13 billion (US$15.69 billion) and £24 billion …..” and “longer duration storage solutions can deliver the required greater volume of storage more cheaply than short duration storage alternatives.”

These independent numbers agreeing with the sentiments expressed at the IFBF conference gives reassurance that flow batteries would be one of the important future energy storage technologies.

It’s quite interesting that the government response failed to define exactly what is large-scale long-duration storage. The concern is that rigid definitions create boundaries, and boundaries could exclude projects scales or technologies that could provide valuable services or benefits to the system.

At the IFBF we have a good picture of what a flow battery is: “an electrochemical energy converter that uses flowing media as or with active materials and where the electrochemical reactions can be reversed.”

There was also good agreement on flow battery benefits: long lifetimes, long cycle life, low environmental impact, low or no requirement for strategic raw materials, high levels of recycling but general dismay that many project developers did not see these attributes when the natural choice for a battery system was based on lithium-ion.

One problem area was the prevalence of reports that either excluded flow batteries or downplayed their role. So, it was nice to have 250 people in a room being enthusiastic about the benefits of flow batteries.  The debate about what is meant by long-duration or large-scale will continue, and it’s probably wise to note that having any thresholds will mean discontinuities in behaviour.

We can remember the plethora of 49MW generation projects developed in Britain as a workaround to avoid the need for additional planning consent and operating conditions, as an example of how a threshold can force behaviour in the energy market. We need to see a definition of long-duration storage that encourages investment in good quality projects.

Drone shot of MiRIS, an energy storage pilot project in Belgium featuring two different flow battery technologies alongside lithium-ion. Image: Anthony Price / IFBF.

This year’s IFBF was held in conjunction with Flow Batteries Europe – the new trade association for the flow battery industry.

It was an opportunity for both members of FBE and non-members to get together, share in some positive networking and discuss not only recent progress, but to work together on some generic industry objectives.

There was a good buzz from the large flow battery community that created a friendly and co-operative spirit and encouraged debate and discussion. Flow Batteries Europe’s members were keen to display their expertise, as well as challenge European and national policymakers to work with the industry to bring more low cost, low environmental impact and high performing long-duration storage onto the power system.

Engaging with policymakers means listening as well as speaking

The forum was held in Brussels – home for the European Commission and Parliament. The forum attracted the interest of a few policy makers and advisors, who had the chance to meet and discuss flow batteries with the specialists. Part of the task is to make sure that the right information is included in policy documents and briefing sheets. It’s also important to hear the views and share opinions with advisors and decision makers.

Karlis Goldstein, policy advisor with responsibility for Energy Efficiency at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER), spoke to the conference. He was asked about the role of storage, given the current actions in the energy space, for the Commission’s views on the mix of storage technologies. He explained that actions were needed to improve the availability of energy and decrease demand through energy efficiency. 

Storage has important roles in supporting generation as well as the operation of networks, and furthermore, deployment of storage and development of European storage technology was a positive driver in economic growth for the EU.

Goldstein went on to explain that the mix of storage technologies depends on the different energy intensities, the duration and the price points. He said that storage was still an early stage technology and these technologies needed support. In response to a direct question on how to encourage investment in long-duration energy storage, he answered “providing regulatory stability”.

Jenny Condron, of trade association Energy Storage Ireland joined the conversation with Karlis Goldstein – pointing out the importance of storage as technology which not only used the network but positively supported it. They were pressing the Irish Government for an energy storage policy.

Goldstein supported the role of national governments to push for storage, but also highlighted the availability of support funding for storage technologies at the EU level from the Trans European Energy Networks.

Mark Smith of US Vanadium commented that whilst support for the flow battery industry was welcome, the flow battery industry, just like any other business, needs to be sustainable in the long term.

We heard at the IFBF about some great examples of flow battery deployment – Tim Rose of EDF Renewables talked about the flow battery recently commissioned at the Energy Superhub project in Oxford, England.

This is a vanadium flow battery working alongside a larger lithium-ion battery – but the hybrid combination shows the versatility of both battery types. The vanadium battery was supplied by Anglo-American company Invinity, and their VP of Engineering, Jean-Louis Cols, described the delivery, installation and commissioning process in detail, emphasising the need for batteries to be installed on time, with certainty of reliability and performance.

Other flow battery manufacturers and developers were similarly confident – Toshikazu Shibata of Sumitomo described a recent project in California and presented details of the 51MWh battery system commissioned in April 2022 for their client, utility Hokkaido Electric Power. This is the first phase of a large-scale project to increase the interconnection of 1,000MW of wind power generating capacity on the island.

“…it was nice to have 250 people in a room being enthusiastic about the benefits of flow batteries.” Image: Anthony Price / IFBF

Challenges can make way for opportunities ahead for flow batteries

Alexander Schoenfeldt of Cellcube, another vanadium flow battery producer, gave an overview of their business prospects and his colleague, Magdalena Neidhart presented a comprehensive life cycle analysis of the vanadium battery. Neidhart concluded that a vanadium flow battery could significantly beat a lithium-titanate-oxide (LTO) battery on its global warming mitigation potential, and reusing a flow battery’s materials could further reduce its environmental footprint.

It is well known that vanadium electrolyte is reusable – it could be moved from one vanadium battery to another without difficulty, but we are aware that the cost of vanadium is highly variable.  Its price reflects market trends and recent increases have led to some innovative thinking from both vanadium battery manufacturers and vanadium producers.

Paul Vollant of primary vanadium producer Largo Resources proposed supporting vanadium battery use, by forming a company “Largo Physical Vanadium” which would be the vanadium custodian, enabling customers of Largo’s flow battery subsidiary, Largo Clean Energy, to own the battery, but rent the electrolyte. This removed the initial (currently high) capital cost of acquiring the vanadium at the start of the project. 

There are other solutions to the challenges of cost: Alan Greenshields of ESS Inc had opted for a flow battery system which used the iron chloride electrochemical couple. As the electrolytes use lower cost materials, the cost of this different type of flow battery system, in mass production, should then be lower cost. He said that would give ESS Inc a considerable advantage over other manufacturers.

ESS Inc, having recently floated on the NYSE, was now in a very buoyant mood, looking to build and operate production facilities in several countries and to take advantage of the pent-up demand for large-scale, long-duration storage.

There are several exciting things about the flow battery industry – not least of which are the number of flow battery systems that are actively being pursued – many of which promote themselves on the basis of low-cost materials.

The iron chrome system – under development by two companies – is making a comeback, as well as companies exploiting zinc-air, hydrogen bromide and a range of organic materials. It’s one of the benefits of getting face-to-face again that we can discuss the merits of each technology, whilst understanding and respecting competitors’ and collaborators’ views.

It is not just battery chemistry that is exciting, we dived deep into many aspects of battery design and manufacture: joining materials, defining operating schedules and using better layouts for stack construction. Tubular stack construction, and micro-scale applications were keenly debated, along with the role of flow batteries in land and maritime transport. 

It was very clear from the conference that there is an abundance of confidence in the role of flow batteries in the energy mix of the future – brought strongly into focus by recent events. But we were trying to understand why it’s taking so long to get to mass deployment.

There does not seem to be any shortage of technology – we had 18 exhibition booths showing what could be done and there are many examples of fully operational flow battery installations.

There is no shortage of investors in the energy sector, but there does seem to be a challenge to get manufacturing volumes up in order to get production costs down, in order to generate orders in order to place investment in manufacturing. 

Forum delegates made a site visit to a Sumitomo Electric Industries’ flow battery installation. Image: Anthony Price / IFBF

Confronting issues honestly in an open forum

We approached the issues with honesty. Lakshmi Srinivasan of the US Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has been studying failure modes, hazards and operational experience of flow batteries for a multi-year project, which is due to report soon. 

In a redacted preview of her report, she referred to the challenges of power, energy and roundtrip efficiency being below specification, along with issues of integration between batteries and inverters. Srinivasan concludes that more data and transparency will be needed if case studies are to be properly validated. Risk reduction is vital to ensure the success of future deployments.

Those in the energy storage industry with more than a few years’ memory will recall other battery types being subjected to similar comments in their early deployments. Airing these issues in an open forum provides longer term reassurance for when these issues are resolved.

The open forum of the IFBF was a good opportunity to share experiences from around the world. For example we hear that most new battery systems in California are four times larger than elsewhere in megawatt-hour terms, and long duration is increasingly the norm. Market demand like that is certain to drive more investment into low-cost, large-scale, long-duration storage.   

So as the industry continues to grow and more flow battery manufacturers move into high volume manufacturing, quality should increase, and hence reliability and improved performance. As an example of what can be achieved, the site visit at the end of conference to machinery company John Cockerill’s microgrid installation at Seraing in Belgium, gave delegates the opportunity to see one of Sumitomo Electric’s flow battery installations.

These flow battery ”lighthouses“ are leading the way. They will illuminate the route to more widespread deployment of all types of flow batteries, in many configurations and applications. More deployment will need more manufacturing capacity and many more flow battery gigafactories.

About the Author

Anthony Price is founder of Swanbarton Ltd, the UK’s first independent specialist energy storage consultancy, as well as a long-time driving force behind the UK Electricity Storage Network trade association. He is also organiser of the International Flow Battery Forum, which ran for the first time in 2010.

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Tom Hunt

National renewable energy provider Pivot Energy has acquired SGC Power, a Maryland-based community solar developer, from energy transition investor ECP. SGC Power identifies, develops and designs community solar projects. SGC Power has been involved in 2.8 GW of solar projects since the company’s founding in 2008.

“SGC Power is a community solar leader with deep industry experience,” said Tom Hunt, CEO of Pivot Energy. “We are excited to welcome their team to Pivot Energy. Together, we can further accelerate the transition to decentralized renewable energy while providing real cost-savings to businesses and families across the country.”

Pivot develops, finances, builds, owns and manages distributed energy projects. With the acquisition and the larger team, Pivot Energy scale greenfield development, accelerate the adoption of solar, add product offerings and expand the company’s national footprint.

“We are looking forward to joining the Pivot Energy team,” comments SGC Power CEO Mike Sloan. “This acquisition provides our team with a clear path to more community solar development. Plus, we get the benefit of new colleagues with a wealth of industry expertise and experience.”

“It is our firm belief that this acquisition will bring about positive changes for everyone,” adds Hunt. “It will certainly make us stronger, more competitive in the market, and the increased resources will ensure that we can provide more value to our partners and clients.”

Day-to-day activities for the SGC Power team will remain unchanged. SGC Power will continue to operate as a business unit under the Pivot Energy brand.

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Jupiter Power is one of the most active BESS developers in ERCOT. Image: Jupiter Power.

Gravity-based energy storage company Energy Vault will deliver and optimise battery energy storage systems (BESS) totalling 220MWh for developer Jupiter Power in Texas and California.

The company, best known for its novel energy storage technology based on raising and dropping weights to charge and discharge energy, is now providing conventional BESS projects alongside its core product. It laid out its project pipeline for each division in its results presentation last week, in which it claimed to expect nearly US$700 million in revenues over 2022 and 2023 combined.

The company will supply a 100MW/200MWh BESS at a Jupiter Power Facility near Fort Stockton, Texas, which will provide energy and ancillary services to ERCOT, the state’s grid operator, according to a press release. Note that the ERCOT market doesn’t have centralised capacity auctions so any wholesale energy sold is to buyers in the market.

Energy Vault, which went public earlier this year, will also construct and commission a smaller 10MW/20MWh BESS unit for Jupiter in Carpinteria, California. The BESS will participate in the CAISO Resource Adequacy programme, the framework through which the grid operator ensures there is enough energy to meet demand (again, without centralised capacity auctions).

The projects Energy Vault is delivering for Jupiter will utilise its business unit Energy Vault Solutions’ (EVS) proprietary system design and Energy Management Software (EMS), which are technology-agnostic, according to the company.

The company launched EVS in November 2021, reported at the time by Energy-Storage.news. The division is headed by John Jung, the former CEO and president of battery storage and EMS pioneer Greensmith Energy until its acquisition by Wärtsilä in 2017.

“With today’s inaugural EVS-enabled battery energy storage projects announcement supporting a market leader in storage infrastructure and analytics like Jupiter, we are delivering on our comprehensive energy storage solutions strategy introduced just nine months ago,” said Marco Terruzzin, CCO, Energy Vault.

Jupiter Power has 654MWh of BESS projects in operation or the commissioning stage in the ERCOT market, which Energy-Storage.news has previously reported on.

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Workers at one of the utility’s existing PV plants in Chile. Image: Colbún

Chilean utility Colbún has submitted plans for a solar-plus-storage project with a 1.2GWh battery energy storage system (BESS).

The company last week (8 August) submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to the Environmental Assessment Service of the northern region of Arica and Parinacota for the project, which it plans to build in the commune of Camarones.

The solar PV portion of the project, which is being called Celda Solar (Solar Cell), will comprise 700,000 bifacial modules totalling 421.9MW of power. The attached energy storage will be a 240MW, five-hour BESS meaning a total capacity of 1,200MWh, making it one of the largest single projects being planned in the country.

The 960-hectare site is part of a public land reserve owned by the state which has been earmarked for energy projects. The power from the project will be injected into the national grid through the Roncacho substation.

Although it is one of the leading PV markets in South America, second only to Brazil, Chile today has only 64MW of utility-scale BESS connected. That is according to the Asociación Chilena de Energía Renovables y Almacenamiento (ACERA), the country’s renewables and storage trade association.

This is set to grow substantially in the coming years as new projects pair batteries to PV parks, which can help reduce curtailment by storing excess power and discharging it during higher-demand periods. As such, most big projects being announced have a duration of between four and five hours.

Examples include a recent order by Independent Power Producer (IPP) Innergex Renewable Energy to Mitsubishi Power Americas for 85MW/425MWh of co-located BESS projects. In late 2020, AES and its energy storage subsidiary Fluence, which it IPOed last year, started construction on a 112MW/560MWh project integrating several different PV parks. And Colbún recently ordered an 8MW/32MWh BESS from System integrator Wärtsilä for a separate project.

The utility has 248MW of operational PV and 1,023MW which is EIA-approved, as well as an 812MW wind farm under construction and a 360MW one for which it is about to submit an EIA. It plans to have a total renewable energy capacity of 4,000MW online by the end of the decade.

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The BlackRock and Akaysha Energy teams together. Image: BlackRock.

A real estate and infrastructure investment arm of BlackRock has committed to investing a billion Australian Dollars (US$700 million) into growing an Australian developer’s energy storage business.

BlackRock Real Assets manages US$60 billion of funds worldwide. The group announced today that one of the funds it manages has agreed to acquire Akaysha Energy, which develops energy storage and renewable energy projects.

Akaysha has nine projects in development that it wants to put into Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM). BlackRock will commit the billion-dollar funding into that pipeline, which the company said totals 1GW of battery storage.

That gigawatt of storage could enable the addition of around four times as much new renewable energy capacity onto the grid through managing the variability of wind and solar PV, BlackRock claimed.

Australia is targeting 80% renewable energy by 2030 and various studies have shown a growing need for energy storage to enable its integration. In an interview with Energy-Storage.news earlier this year, Dr Bruce Mountain of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre (VEPC) explained the urgency of getting that storage online quickly.

Unlike Europe or the US, Australia doesn’t have a lot of gas-fired baseload electricity generation, although it does have a sizeable fleet of gas peaker plants. Nor does it have much hydroelectricity and it doesn’t have any nuclear power plants.

With most baseload generation coming from coal in Australia and no prospects of building new baseload gas plants, VRE combined with energy storage is the quickest, cheapest and most effective way to lower emissions, avoid exposure to fossil fuel price spikes and add secure and decentralised capacity, Mountain said.   

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which oversees and sets the rules for the NEM, has modelled that by 2050 that could mean 59GW of storage being required to integrate a projected 204GW of variable renewable energy (VRE) which will be on the system by that time.

In founding Akaysha Energy, the company’s managing director Nick Carter identified a gap in the market for a “a fully integrated development business focused primarily on battery storage,” particularly in light of the accelerating energy transition in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

A former employee of Tesla Energy and consultancy Macquarie, Carter has assembled a team of established energy sector professionals and partners with Tier One suppliers of equipment.

“The Asia-Pacific region is at the dawn of its energy transition from carbon emitting fossil fuels to intermittent renewable resources and we believe a successful shift to a more sustainable energy future is dependent on the use of large-scale battery storage,” Carter said today, adding that Akaysha will be able to leverage BlackRock’s “global capabilities and track record in climate infrastructure”.  

The developer does everything from modelling and simulating optimal strategies for energy dispatch and market participation as it originates projects, to bringing projects online at greenfield sites and operating them on both a single asset and fleet basis.

It’s the latest investment into an energy storage development portfolio by a major investor, with recent moves made by the likes of sustainable infrastructure investor Generate Capital to acquire developer esVolta in the US and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation’s acquisition of a stake in UK developer Constantine Energy Storage (CES).

In Australia, most battery developments to date have been tied to generator-retailer (‘Gentailer’) utilities with balance sheets large enough to finance and accept the risk of participating in the country’s largely merchant opportunities for earning revenues from battery storage, mainly through frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) in the NEM wholesale market and smaller shares of income from arbitrage and other applications.

“As renewable energy infrastructure continues to mature in Australia, investment is required in battery storage assets to ensure the resilience and reliability of the grid, especially with the continued earlier-than-expected retirement of coal-fired power stations,” BlackRock’s co-head of climate infrastructure in the APAC region Charlie Reid said.

“For our clients, we see tremendous long-term growth potential in the development of advanced battery storage assets across Australia and in other Asia-Pacific markets and look forward to working with Akaysha to ensure an orderly transition to a cleaner and secure energy future.”

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Luminace, a North American decarbonization-as-a-service platform of Brookfield Renewable and a provider of distributed energy solutions to commercial, industrial and public sector customers, and AC Power LLC, a brownfield solar development firm and certified women-owned business, has launched a development services agreement (DSA) after their collaboration on two New Jersey Community Solar projects.

Under the DSA, AC Power will originate sites and manage key early-stage development tasks. Once an eligible project reaches construction-ready status, Luminace will acquire and build the project and serve as the long-term owner and operator. The DSA marks the most recent of Luminace’s strategic joint ventures as it pursues its commitment to advancing the energy and sustainability goals of its customers.

The AC Power team worked with Luminace on the development of two community solar projects made possible by the New Jersey community solar pilot program. The close collaboration between AC Power and Luminace was vital to the success of these projects, which are expected to add approximately 2.26 MW DC of clean renewable power to the local electric grid.

“Luminace is pleased to partner with AC Power to develop solar projects,” says Brendon Quinlivan, SVP of Luminace. “AC Power’s specialized experience of pairing solar energy with underutilized sites combined with Luminace’s operational experience and access to capital will help customers achieve their decarbonization goals while reducing their costs.”

“We are thrilled to have the support of Luminace. Their deep expertise is the perfect partner to AC Power as we work together to bring forward complex projects that might not otherwise be completed,” states Annika Colston, president and founder of AC Power.

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H.R. 5376, which passed the U.S. Senate on August 7, 2022, has passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a 220-207 vote. The bill modifies and extends through 2024 tax credits for producing electricity from renewable resources, specifically for wind, biomass, geothermal and solar, landfill gas, trash, qualified hydropower, and marine and hydrokinetic resources. It also extends the credits for investment in certain energy properties, such as solar, fuel cells, waste energy recovery, combined heat and power, small wind property, and microturbine property, as well as for alternative fuels and fuel mixtures, and biodiesel and renewable diesel.

Among other new tax credits, H.R. 5376 has created ones for the production of clean electricity and for investment in zero-emissions electricity generation facilities or energy storage technology, and the domestic production and sale of qualifying solar and wind components.

The bill provides funding to the Department of Energy (DOE) for interregional and offshore wind electricity transmission planning, modeling and analysis. It also offers for the lease of federal land in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for offshore wind development. Specifically, the Department of Interior (DOI) may issue leases, easements and rights-of-way in the OCS to produce, transport, store or transmit energy from sources other than oil and gas (e.g., offshore wind energy sources) in land areas previously withdrawn from leasing.

“In addition to extending and expanding a variety of critical energy tax incentives, this piece of legislation will ensure that all utilities can benefit from these incentives, which encourage the critical energy investments they need to continue to use cleaner generating technologies,” comments Joy Ditto, American Public Power Association’s president and CEO. “In the end, this makes these incentives fairer and more effective.”

In addition, the bill expands the definition of the OCS to include land that is within the U.S. exclusive economic zone and adjacent to any territory of the United States and allows DOI to conduct wind lease sales that are in such areas if the leases meet specified criteria.

“The most transformational clean energy package in history is now one step closer to becoming law. The House passage shows that America is prepared to lead the world in the fight against climate change by investing in our communities and workers,” comments Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “The Inflation Reduction Act will drive historic investments in clean energy deployment and manufacturing which will help create millions of new, well-paying careers. In the face of a global energy crisis and rising inflation, the measures in this bill will strengthen America’s energy security by boosting production here at home, all while lowering prices for families through investment in historic levels of low-cost, reliable clean energy.”

The bill provides funding to the Bureau of Land Management for water supply projects, projects to cover water conveyance facilities with solar panels, and drought mitigation in western states.

Image: “Installing solar panels” by OregonDOT is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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Rendering of one of FREYR Battery’s planned gigafactory factory sites in Norway. Image: FREYR.

European gigafactory group FREYR’s new technology resources campus and business unit in Japan could see it partner with companies in addition to existing technology provider 24M, CEO Tom Jensen told Energy-Storage.news.

The new business unit is the company’s first physical location in Asia and will primarily focus on facilitating and scaling up FREYR’s testing and development of the lithium-ion battery production technology from 24M. 24M is the lithium-ion battery production technology FREYR is using for its gigafactory projects in Europe and the US, as CEO Tom Jensen explained in a previous interview with Energy-Storage.news.

When asked about the new unit and why the company chose Japan, Jensen told this site: “Lithium ion batteries came from Japan in the first place, and it used to be the dominant player in the space until the Chinese and Korean companies took over, but there is still a lot of competence and capacity across all form factors and chemistries there.”

The facility will mainly run electrochemical testing of various materials related to 24M’s technology development, while also providing a platform for the recruitment and hiring of experienced battery engineering talent.

Jensen added that the existing ecosystem of battery technologies in the country could mean FREYR eventually partners with providers other than 24M, even if the facility is initially focused on the Massachusetts-based firm.

“What Japan has missed out on was the speed of implementing large manufacturing systems, which they have now done in China and we like to look upon ourselves as an industrialisation partner of choice,” he said.

“So we do think there are opportunities to actually partner with a number of Japanese companies alongside and complementary to 24M to see if we can sort of be replicating the learnings we had in building Giga factories with the 24M technology into other technologies as well.”

The company recently doubled its long-term capacity target for 2030 to 200GWh, as reported by Energy-Storage.news.

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