David Zwillinger

D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) has entered into a strategic financing relationship with Harbert Infrastructure managed funds, including Gulf Pacific Power LLC (GPP) and Harbert Infrastructure Fund VI (HIF VI). Under the arrangement, Harbert will provide DESRI with up to $400 million of capital to use at DESRI’s discretion. This relationship will support DESRI’s operations across the renewable energy sector in the United States.

“We have known and collaborated with the DESRI team for several years, in multiple capacities. They have a decades-long track record of performance in developing, owning and operating contracted renewable energy projects,” notes Claude Estes of Harbert. “Massive growth in renewable generation capacity is required to facilitate the energy transition and DESRI’s disciplined, consistent and strategic approach to development is something that our group has immense respect for. We are thrilled to officially call them our partner.”

“DESRI is extremely excited about our recently formed financing partnership with Harbert to continue to support our consistent growth,” says David Zwillinger of DESRI. “This financing will support DESRI’s growth in key electricity markets across the U.S. and facilitate new investment to serve our customers and host communities.”

DESRI is focused on owning and managing long-term contracted renewable energy assets in North America and has a portfolio of projects totaling over 6 GW AC of operating, construction and contracted projects.

Harbert has developed, acquired, owned and operated infrastructure assets in the United States and Canada for over 35 years and currently manages investments in power generation assets totaling over 7 GW AC of gross capacity.

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Leclanché exhibiting at Intersolar/ees Munich in May this year. Image: Solar Media.

Energy storage solutions company Leclanché claims an addition to its lithium-ion battery can reduce the risk of a thermal event by close to 80%.

The Switzerland-based firm said a fire-retardant additive to its electrolyte formula composition lowered the risk of a thermal event, without compromising cell performance. It called it a ‘significant breakthrough in safety’ of its batter technology.

The achievement has been validated by the German division of Intertek, a British multinational assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company.

Intertek Germany conducted a series of industry standard nail penetration tests on Leclanché’s 60Ah cell. The test cells were punctured leading to an internal short circuit, but the cells exhibited a far lower risk of fire than the same cells without the flame retardant additive.

Pierre Blanc, chief technology officer, Leclanché, commented: “While the entire battery industry continues to place considerable R&D resources into the development of solid-state batteries, there’s a critical need to enhance the safety of today’s high energy density lithium-ion cell technology.”

“Most efforts, until now, adversely impact the performance or longevity of cells. Leclanché has been able to develop a high performance and high energy density lithium-ion cell exhibiting high safety characteristics without any negative impact on performance or longevity.

“As technological advancements continue to be developed, this is a crucial improvement in state of the art cell technology, that does not require breakthrough technology that could still be several years away from commercial availability.”

The company manufactures its battery cells at a production facility in Willstätt, Germany, using a proprietary production process. Electrodes are manufactured in a water-based process instead of using organic solvents. Those electrodes show a high stability towards the flame retardant additives contained in the new electrolyte, resulting in the maintenance of cell performance.

As well as building its own battery cells, Leclanché deploys utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). It was recently selected to deploy an 11.9MWh system at a solar PV plant in Germany while just last week it finally broke ground on a solar-plus-storage project with a 44MWh BESS in the Caribbean island of St Kitts and Nevis.

The company launched its latest generation of modular utility-scale BESS product called LeBlock in May 2021, which allow customers to stack together 745kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) units to multi-megawatt-hour configurations.

Fire safety and thermal event risk reduction is a big topic area for lithium-ion battery manufacturers and energy storage system solution providers as Energy-Storage.news reported on recently.

Leclanché actually had a fire event at a factory it operates in Willstätt, Germany, in the early morning of 7 April this year. Two employees were sent to hospital as a precaution for potentially having inhaled fumes but were sent home a couple of hours later with a clean bill of health and fire crews found no risk to people in the vicinity.

Leclanché said that an investigation was underway, it had activated contingency plans for a temporary stop to production at the site and that it did not expect the incident to cause delays in fulfilling customer orders.

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The Nant de Drance pumped storage power plant in Valais, Switzerland. Image: Alpiq.

A pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant with a capacity of 20GWh in Valais, Switzerland will begin operations on Friday 1 July.

The launch of the Nant de Drance plant, which sits 600m below ground in a cavern between the Emosson and Vieux Emosson reservoirs, marks the conclusion of 14 years of construction. It will be officially inaugurated in September and its shareholders have invested CHF2.2 billion (US$2.3 billion) in the project.

It features six turbines with a nameplate capacity of 150MW each meaning a maximum power of 900MW. The upper Vieux Emosson reservoir, which sits at an altitude of 2,200m, holds 25 million cubic meters of water which represents an energy storage capacity of 20GWh. That means a maximum duration of dispatch of 20 hours.

Utility Alpiq, the main shareholder in the project with a 39% stake, says the plant will play a crucial role in stabilising the electricity grid as more renewables come online. Swiss national railway company SFR is the next biggest with 36%, followed by utilities Industrielle Werke Basel (IWB) with 15% and Canton-owned FMV with 10% of a total share capital of CHF350 million.

The development involved 60 companies and at the peak of construction, 650 workers on-site. The power house cavern measures 194m long, 52m high and 32m wide and required the excavation of 400,000 cubed meters of rock and the drilling of 17km of tunnels. The Vieux Emosson dam, pictured, was raised by 21.5m which doubled the capacity of the reservoir.

Utility Alpiq said the plant has a ‘yield’ or ‘energy efficiency’ of over 80% which it said was one of the highest for a PHES plant, presumably referring to round-trip efficiency. For comparison, a 250MW plant in Dubai, which recently approached the halfway point of construction, is slated to have a round-trip efficiency of 78.9%.

Some CHF22 million was spent on 14 projects to offset the environmental impact of the plant, mainly to recreate specific biotopes locally to encourage recolonisation of the area by displaced animals and plants.

PHES makes up the vast majority of operational energy storage capacity today, but newly operational facilities have been few and far between in recent years due the time taken for projects.

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Hornsdale Power Reserve, South Australia. Image: Neoen.

Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia has been fined for breaching National Electricity Rules over a three month period in 2019.  

Operators of the then-100MW/129MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project – since expanded to 150MW/193.5MWh – made offers to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) that it could provide contingency services into the National Electricity Market (NEM) between late July and late August 2019.

However, when a coal power plant in the region tripped and Hornsdale was called on to provide those services, it did not do so. The Federal Court ruled this week that a fine of A$900,000 (US$620,000) is payable for this failure to meet its obligations.

As reported by Energy-Storage.news last September, the Australian Energy Regulator instituted proceedings in the Federal Court on AEMO’s request.

AEMO became aware of the situation after Queensland’s Kogan Creek 750MW coal power station ran into problems and caused network disruptions, leading to AEMO asking Hornsdale to make good on its contingency services promise and deliver frequency control ancillary services (FCAS).

Hornsdale is one of the most famous large-scale battery storage systems in the world, built and connected to the grid in just 100 days, following a 2016 Twitter exchange between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Developed by French company Neoen using Tesla’s grid-scale BESS equipment, reports on the system’s technical operation and market participation have been positive besides this latest penalty being applied.

Last year, Neoen Australia’s CEO Louis de Sambucy pointed out that in its first two years of operation the BESS successfully reduced the costs of providing FCAS to South Australian consumers by A$150 million.

Hornsdale is a “a critical positive contributor to maintaining the reliability and stability of the South Australian electricity network,” de Sambucy said.

While there was the one incident that alerted AEMO to Hornsdale’s inability to deliver, during proceedings the asset’s operators admitted it would have been unable to provide contingency services between 23 July and 14 August 2019. This was despite it receiving payments under the scheme.

Australian Energy Regulator chair Clare Savage said the penalty sent out a strong message to the market, although it remains to be seen whether any punishment will be forthcoming for some 3,000MW of coal plants which went offline for various reasons earlier this year. Those outages, many unplanned, helped plunge Australia into an energy crisis, as electricity prices soared.

Energy-Storage.news has reached out to Neoen Australia for comment on the latest fine and has enquired as to the cause and nature of the failure.

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A shared community battery storage system in Western Australia. Image: Horizon Power.

Australia’s Clean Energy Council has joined calls for the country to adopt a deployment target for energy storage, while arguing that a proposed capacity mechanism plan be scrapped.

The national Energy Security Board (ESB) published a draft high-level design proposal for a capacity mechanism earlier this month and is seeking input from stakeholders until 25 July.

Amid concerns Australia’s energy crisis won’t be solved in a business-as-usual scenario, the mechanism would be introduced into the National Electricity Market (NEM) which covers six Australian states.

Last week, Energy-Storage.news reported that the Clean Energy Council trade body had warned against including coal generators in the capacity mechanism as proposed. Australia’s energy policies should squarely focus on driving investment in renewable energy and energy storage, the council said.

Another trade group, Smart Energy Council, said something similar, with the group’s CEO John Grimes emphasising that any capacity mechanism should be focused on zero emissions generation.

Environment Victoria, an advocacy group, said paying “aging and polluting” fossil fuel generators to keep running would be a dangerously retrograde step.

Capacity mechanism is ‘unnecessary’

Yesterday, Clean Energy Council announced a four-point plan which it said could accelerate the transition to renewables and storage, replace fossil fuels and make the grid more reliable and protect customers from energy price rises and volatility.

Along with introducing a storage target and dropping the capacity mechanism proposal, the other two points the council suggested would be to support solar and batteries for households, especially those with low incomes, or that live in public housing or rent their homes, and to more broadly modernise the grid.

“Australian households and businesses have just borne the brunt of an energy system built around the failing dirty technologies of the past – unreliable coal and expensive gas,” Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said.

The energy crisis saw the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) temporarily suspend all spot market trading in the NEM wholesale market from 15 June. Prices had soared, AEMO had introduced a price cap and energy supply was in a perilous situation.

The suspension was finally lifted on 24 June. Incidentally, battery storage in the NEM typically makes about 80% to 90% of its revenues from frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) and only a small portion from energy trading at present.

Thornton said that the introduction of a capacity mechanism in response to the crisis was unnecessary.

Instead, as suggested by academics at the Victoria Energy Policy Centre, a target for energy storage deployment could enable Australia to achieve its clean energy transition.

“Clean energy and storage can meet our energy and capacity needs and the technology is here now. A storage target can accelerate the deployment of batteries, pumped hydro and other means of storing energy when it’s needed,” Thornton said.

“A target worked for renewable energy in its formative years and can do the same for storage.”

If a capacity mechanism were to be introduced, it should certainly be designed to include and promote energy storage participation, according to the CEO at PXiSE, a grid control software firm headquartered in the US but with a growing involvement in the Australian market.

“With Australia’s recent power crisis caused in part by a loss in coal generation, it’s more pertinent than ever that the country adds greater and more flexible energy capacity,” PXiSE’s Patrick Lee said.

“The recent proposal from the ESB to add a capacity mechanism to the country’s National Electricity Market demonstrates Australia is taking steps to address generation shortfalls, and this could be an opportunity to add energy storage to the mechanism.”

Lee argued that the proposed capacity mechanism design would pay coal power plants to keep generating on “irregular and unprofitable dispatch schedules”. Instead, the ESB should support the deployment of energy storage at coal power plants.

“In this way, the country can gradually transition away from coal while maintaining sufficient generation capacity maximising the use of existing infrastructures, and energy providers can operate their storage and plant facilities at financially reasonable levels of generation. The capacity mechanism could also offer more financial support to renewable energy storage, to better support the ability of renewables to offset a loss in coal.”

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Joe Rosenberg

DSD Renewables has acquired a seven-project, 11.3 MW community solar portfolio spanning six cities in Minnesota. The acquisition marks DSD’s first venture in Minnesota, expanding its footprint of assets to 22 states across the nation.

Six of the sites will have 100% residential offtake and are expected to serve more than 600 residents, while the seventh project will have 100% commercial offtake. All seven projects are expected to generate 17,073 MWh of clean energy each year.

“We are thrilled to be entering a new market with such a strong portfolio of community solar projects that will bring affordable renewable energy to a large swath of Minnesotans,” says Andrew Thurston, director of asset acquisitions at DSD.

DSD will serve as the long-term owner and operator of the sites, which are expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2023. Common Energy will be handling customer acquisition and subscriptions for the portfolio.

“Minnesota’s community solar program is widely recognized as a leader in terms of installed capacity, and DSD looks forward to additional opportunities to streamline and expand that impact,” adds Joe Rosenberg, DSD’s director of business development.

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Source: Allume Energy

Allume Energy, RENU Communities and esaSolar have successfully commissioned Orlando’s first behind-the-meter shared solar system in a multifamily building. SolShare is a hardware for sharing rooftop solar with multiple apartments in the same building.

One of the first of its kind in the U.S., the shared solar system will generate clean renewable electricity for Canopy Villa Apartments, a 296-unit apartment complex in Orlando. By utilizing the SolShare technology, residents will be able to subscribe to a portion of the solar energy produced on the roof, offsetting the cost of their individual electricity bills.

Canopy is the first asset within the recently announced ESG-centric venture between Taurus Investment Holdings LLC and Aegon Asset Management. Utilizing Taurus’ sustainable retrofit subsidiary, RENU, the partnership will acquire multifamily assets, aiming to significantly reduce the energy consumption and carbon output of those assets.

“This innovative partnership represents RENU’s core values of constantly evaluating and implementing tailored solutions for our projects. We are excited for this collaboration, leveraging this technology to accelerate the distribution of clean energy and improve resiliency,” says Christopher Gray, Ph.D., CTO of RENU Communities.

Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) worked with Allume, RENU and esaSolar to review and ensure this system for Florida met its interconnection and safety requirements.

RENU delivers decarbonized energy retrofits to existing real estate assets by combining state-of-the-art technology and real estate expertise to overhaul existing properties. For Canopy, RENU partnered with esaSolar to develop, design and install the solar array as well as integrate the SolShare technology to the existing electrical system.

“Because Orlando is one of the fastest growing cities in Florida, it needs to develop affordable housing solutions that also prioritize energy efficiency and sustainability,” states Morgan Brawner, esaSolar’s vice president of business development. As a local solar development and construction firm, esaSolar provided technical consulting to ensure the system would operate correctly with OUC’s electric grid.

SolShare, developed by Allume Energy, gives multi-tenanted residents access to the environmental and economic benefits of rooftop solar with no change to the existing electricity supply and metering infrastructure as it sits entirely behind the meter.

“We are thrilled to see the SolShare in this milestone project unlocking a crucial part of offering carbon-neutral living in Florida,” comments Mel Bergsneider, Allume’s executive account manager. “We look forward to expanding solar access to as many Floridian tenants while contributing to OUC’s net-zero energy goals.”

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Gripple has launched its second product range aimed at increasing both build stage and O&M efficiency for solar EPCs, contractors and developers.

The CR-System range comprises of overground cable routing devices which are lightweight but strong, able to hold 1,170 6 mm2 of cables and have the potential to be stacked to increase capacity. Manufactured from polycarbonate, UV-stabilized, corrosion-resistant material, their installation causes much less disturbance to the environment than traditional methods and the free-air position can assist at design stage to de-rate and reduce the CSA on cabling used, providing further savings on project costs opposed to traditional trenching, as well as less fire safety issues, O&M rectification works and plant extensions. 

“We’re a team of problem solvers, engineers and manufacturing experts here at Gripple,” Dean Barlow, explains product manager. “We’re constantly developing new solutions in response to feedback from our clients around the world in different industries. Having already seen a great response to our solar anchoring and bracing systems for frame stability and bi-facial security solutions, we are excited about our new range of cable routing solutions, which is already getting positive feedback from EPCs globally.”

Gripple is a 100% employee-owned company which also provides solutions for construction, civil engineering, utilities, agricultural, landscaping and seismic bracing applications.

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Solar FlexRack and Tucson Electric Power (TEP) are working on an innovative community solar project in southern Arizona. TEP’s 15 MW Raptor Ridge solar array was commissioned this month at a 100-acre site in Tucson, Ariz. The project utilizes Solar FlexRack’s single-axis trackers to support 35,500 bifacial modules, which increase energy production by up to 30% compared to monofacial modules.

The new array will supply power for the TEP GoSolar Home program, which provides a renewable energy option for renters and homeowners, including those whose rooftops are shaded by trees or nearby buildings. Participants can buy clean solar energy without installation or equipment maintenance costs.

“We selected Solar FlexRack from many solar racking options because of their engineering expertise and solar tracker architecture with minimal backside shading design, well suited for bifacial modules,” says Jeff Krauss, TEP’s manager of community scale renewable resources. “In a challenging market environment where supply chain issues have delayed other large solar projects, Solar FlexRack demonstrated their commitment to customer service by honoring agreements and delivering product on time. We are excited to bring this community-scale solar project online and Solar FlexRack is a big part of TEP’s success at Raptor Ridge.”

“We are pleased to have been selected by Tucson Electric Power to participate in this benchmark project,” comments Mike Herman, director of operations at Solar FlexRack. “We look forward to providing our engineering expertise and reliable and time-tested trackers in additional impactful community solar projects in 2022 and the years to come.”

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Energy Dome’s ‘CO2 Battery’. Image: Energy Dome.

Energy Dome, an Italy-based company which has developed a novel CO2-based long-duration energy storage system, has closed an US$11 million bridge funding round.

The convertible funding was led by the Evolution Fund of asset management firm CDP Venture Capital Sgr, together with existing investor Barclays through the latter’s Sustainable Impact Capital programme targeting early-stage companies accelerating the transition to net zero.

Another existing investor, Swiss family office Novum Capital Partners, also participated in the round which brings Energy Dome’s total fundraising to nearly US$25 million, in advance of its Series B round, which is planned for later in the year.

The company’s first major project, a 2.5MW/4MWh CO2 Battery facility is now fully operational and the bridge financing will allow it to accelerate the development of its larger, ten-hour duration 20MW/200MWh system. Specifically, it will purchase orders for the turbomachinery equipment needed for that project, which it described as ‘long lead time’ equipment.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the utility-scale project was signed with A2A, a European utility, in December 2021 although it was touted back then to be a five-hour, 100MWh project by an Energy Dome spokesperson speaking to Energy-Storage.news.

Energy Dome’s technology uses a thermodynamic cycle to store and dispatch energy with a 4-24 hour duration. It ‘charges’ by drawing carbon dioxide from a large atmospheric gasholder (the Dome, pictured) and storing it under pressure at an ambient temperature, and dispatches by evaporating and expanding the gas into a turbine to generate electricity and return it back to the Dome.

Energy Dome says its technology is based on a novel industrial process which integrates off-the-shelf components using established supply chains. It claims an energy storage density 10-20 times higher than other compressed air energy storage (CAES) solutions. It concedes it can only hit two-thirds of liquid air energy storage’s (LAES) density but says its solution does not require the cryogenic temperatures of LAES which can make the system less competitive.

Commenting on the bridge financing, Claudio Spadacini, founder and CEO of Energy Dome said: “This important achievement will sustain our ambitious growth. I would like to welcome CDP Venture Capital Sgr into our team and to thank them, Barclays, and Novum Capital Partners for their trust in Energy Dome as we’re poised to become a leading solution provider for the long-duration energy storage market.”

Alongside its MOU with A2A, Energy Dome also has a global licensing agreement with Italian power engineering firm Ansaldo Energia for the latter to commercialise Energy Dome’s technology in its core markets.

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