The 100MW/400MWh Alamitos BESS in California, built at the site of an existing gas power plant. Image: AES Corporation.

An interdisciplinary study conducted over three years by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Energy Initiative has found energy storage can be a key enabler for the clean energy transition.  

A 387-page report has been published as the study came to an end. Called ‘The future of energy storage,’ it’s part of a MIT EI series, which includes previously published work on other technologies like nuclear, solar and natural gas and the role each has to play – or not – in decarbonisation, while making energy affordable and reliable.

The study has been designed to inform government, industry and academics of the role energy storage can play in charting the path to electrification and decarbonisation of the US economy while focusing on making energy access just and affordable.

It also looked at other regions such as India for examples of how energy storage can play its part in more emerging economies.

Its main takeaway is that as solar and wind come to take greater shares of energy generation, it will be energy storage that enables what the authors called “deep decarbonisation of electric power systems… without sacrificing system reliability”.

Substantial investments into effective energy storage technologies of different kinds will be required, alongside investments into transmission systems, clean power generation and demand-side flexibility management, the study said.

“Electricity storage, the focus of this report, can play a critical role in balancing electricity supply and demand and can provide other services needed to keep decarbonised electricity systems reliable and cost-effective,” it said.

The report also recommends that to facilitate investment, governments have a role to play, in market design and in supporting pilots, demonstration projects and R&D. The US Department of Energy (DoE) is currently rolling out its programme ‘Long duration energy storage for everyone, everywhere,’ a US$505 million initiative that includes funding for demonstrations.

Other takeaways include the opportunity that exists to locate energy storage facilities at existing or retired thermal power generation sites. That’s something that has already been seen at places like Moss Landing or Alamitos in California, where some of the world’s biggest battery energy storage system (BESS) installations have been built already, or in Australia, where a number of major power generation companies plan to site BESS capacity at retiring coal power plants.

The full report can be downloaded here.

Continue reading

Urban Electric Power’s utility-scale solution, Zeus. Image: Urban Electric Power.

Urban Electric Power has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with developer Pine Gate Renewables to supply the latter up to 4,550MWh of its zinc batteries over the next five years.

Pine Gate will have preferential terms for acquiring Urban Electric’s patented zinc alkaline batteries over the next five years for its co-located and standalone storage projects. Pine Gate has over 1GW of operating solar assets in the US and a 16GW development pipeline.

Urban Electric offers its batteries under the Ohm label to residential and commercial & industrial (C&I) customers but also has a utility-scale offering called Zeus. The zinc alkaline batteries have several advantages over lithium-ion, including lower integration costs, more plentiful supply of core materials, a less problematic supply chain and lower fire risk, the company said.

A company brochure says the Zeus battery energy storage system (BESS) has a power range of 250-1000kW and a duration of 2-24+ hours. Using the example of a five-hour, 760kw/3,800kWh system, it says the round-trip efficiency would be 86% – lower than lithium-ion which is typically in the high 90s.

Ann Marie Augustus, Urban Electric Power’s VP operations, said: “As we phase out fossil fuels and add distributed renewables, demand will only grow for replacing old battery technology with cost-effective energy storage that is safer, longer-lasting, and more environmentally friendly. We offer non-toxic, utility-scale battery energy storage with no thermal runaway fire risk, at a cost and environmental footprint less than standard lithium-ion or lead batteries.”

The deal is not Ashville-headquartered Pine Gate’s first use of zinc batteries. In November 2021, it chose another zinc battery manufacturer’s technology, Eos Energy, for a 500kWh standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) in Utah. That contributed to Eos Energy’s strong first quarter 2022 results in which sales grew year-on-year by a factor of 20.

Zinc battery chemistry, which marks the starting point of battery technology’s history, is growing in popularity as an alternative to lithium-ion. A company related to the US’ largest homebuilder D R Horton recently chose Salient Energy’s zinc-ion technology for installation in up to 200,000 homes citing issues with lithium-ion.

The technology has found a sweet in being a backup power for data centres, wrote Dr Josef Daniel-Ivad from the the Zinc Battery Initiative which represents companies including Urban Electric, Salient and Eos, in a guest blog for Energy-Storage.news. Urban Electric recently struck a deal to replace 1,000kWh of lead-acid batteries at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).

Continue reading

2021 inauguration of a 32MW solar PV plant in Ukraine. Image: Scatec.

RePower EU, the European Union’s plan to transition away from dependency on Russian fossil fuel imports has been released in draft form, with only a few short mentions of energy storage.

The RePower EU plan has been in the making since Russia invaded Ukraine and brought to public attention Europe’s reliance on Russian gas and coal. There has been concern that although it calls for a massive growth in renewable energy generation alongside energy efficiency measures and diversity of energy supply, there have been no indications that energy storage is being considered an integral piece of EU-wide efforts.

This was evidenced in a leaked version of the plan which Energy-Storage.news saw last week. The leaked draft included no mention of storage whatsoever, except in the context of natural gas and hydrogen storage.

Today, the European Commission’s officially published draft proposal appears to have been revised to include it, but clean energy advocates are unlikely to be pleased at the extremely brief and seemingly vague way it does so.

It appears at times to conflate certain technologies and does not include specific reference to batteries, pumped hydro energy storage or any other kind of electricity storage with the exception of green hydrogen.

Perhaps the most positive of those brief mentions is that the Commission is proposing to promote the development of electricity storage capacities “as being in the overriding public interest and facilitate permitting for their deployment”.  

Yet while specific targets are offered for deployment of technologies like solar PV and hydrogen, there is no such detail offered on electricity storage strategy.

The EU’s 2022 Large Scale Call of its Innovation Fund will make around €3 billion (US$3.16 billion) available, a doubling of a previously set budget. Energy storage may be able to benefit from this, as some funds will be made available to cleantech manufacturers that the document said includes “innovative renewable equipment, energy storage or heat pumps for industrial uses”.

Innovation Fund money will also be available for innovative industrial electrification applications and “mid-sized pilots” for validation, test and optimisation of “highly innovative solutions,” which again could apply to some energy storage tech.

Elsewhere, it highlights the crucial role that energy storage can play in ensuring security and flexibility of supply, “by facilitating the integration of renewable generation, supporting the grid, and shifting energy to the time when it is most needed.”

“Ultimately, energy storage reduces the use of gas power plants in the energy system,” the document reads, but it appears to stop well short of offering the sort of coherent strategy needed to support the massive growth in energy storage that European Union decarbonisation and energy security goals require and that has been called for by the likes of the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE).

It remains to be seen whether this apparent belated recognition of the importance of energy storage will be reflected in the RePower EU plan as it takes its next steps towards adoption in the coming weeks.

Continue reading

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy ceremonially pours concrete at the site. Image: CMO Andhra Pradesh via Twitter.

Construction has begun on a major hybrid renewable energy and storage plant in Andhra Pradesh, India, with the state’s chief minister ceremonially helping to lay the project’s concrete foundation.

India-headquartered independent power producer (IPP) Greenko is building the single location project in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool District. It comprises 3,000MW of solar PV, 550MW of wind power generation and 1,680MW/10,800MWh of pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) for a total 5,230MW.

What has been dubbed by Greenko as the world’s largest integrated renewable energy storage (IRES) plant in the world to date kicked off construction works yesterday as Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy performed the first pour of concrete.

The minister said the project is creating history and would be a “trigger and a blueprint for the rest of India”.

“This project demonstrates how the use of fossil fuels will increasingly take a back seat and renewable energy will lead the way in the future,” Reddy said.

“I appreciate the innovation and initiative undertaken by Greenko in setting up this facility which will provide clean energy round the clock.”

The minister also noted that Andhra Pradesh offers support to companies seeking to invest in the transition to low carbon energy, with the state’s topography holding the potential to host 33GW of renewable energy capacity.

Greenko said it is making an investment worth about US$3 billion to build the hybrid plant.

The IPP has signed up numerous industrial and utility off-takers and formed partnerships with other power companies to market and sell the plant’s energy. That includes a partnership with IPP Ayana Renewable Power to offer industrial customers 24/7 renewable energy under a replicable template contract, a similar agreement with Adani and a 975MW contract to sell energy to metals company ArcelorMittal.

Greenko’s project won an Indian government tender in 2018 and was highlighted by industry experts as the lowest cost bid to win a renewables-plus-storage project contract anywhere in the world at the time, with a tariff of US$0.054/kWh.

The IPP is in the shared ownership of its two founders, sovereign wealth funds from Singapore and Abu Dhabi, along with Japan’s Orix Corporation. In 2020, Orix acquired 20% of the company for an investment of more than US$980 million, which left Greenko valued at about US$5.75 billion.

Greenko has ambitions to deploy 50GWh of energy storage by 2025 and 100GWh by 2027 as well as 10GW of green hydrogen facilities. The company’s CEO, MD and founder Anil Chalamalasetty yesterday echoed minister Reddy’s words in highlighting Andhra Pradesh’s renewable energy potential and said the state would become “an energy storage capital of India” as well as a sustainable manufacturing hub.

Driven largely by national policy goals for decarbonisation that require the deployment of at least 500GW of renewable energy, India is fast becoming a hot market for energy storage, including batteries as well as pumped hydro. Large tenders for battery storage hosted by government-backed entities are being held, while the government is also maintaining a supportive stance towards growing battery manufacturing capacity in the country.

Greenko said its project is expected to be commissioned by the latter part of 2023.

In April, Energy-Storage.news reported that JSW Energy of Indian conglomerate JSW Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government of Chhattisgarh for a 1GW PHES plant. Company CEO Prashant Jain said that JSW Energy aims, like Greenko, to directly pair PHES with solar and wind plants to create firm dispatchable renewable power.

On 22 June 2022, Energy-Storage.news and Clean Horizon will host a webinar explaining and analysing the current and future business models for energy storage in India, with guest speakers including Dr Rahul Walawalkar of the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) and Bharath Reddy from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Sign up to attend, free of charge, here.

Continue reading

EnerVenue has signed a multi-year agreement with solar and energy storage developer Pine Gate Renewables. Under the terms of the deal, Pine Gate Renewables will procure and deploy 2,400 MWh of EnerVenue’s battery energy storage systems in the United States to support their growing energy storage project pipeline.

“Pine Gate Renewables excels at launching and operating renewable energy and energy storage projects, and is an ideal partner for deploying EnerVenue’s innovative battery systems,” says Randy Selesky, chief revenue officer at EnerVenue. “We’re proud to work with Pine Gate in expanding renewable energy usage to new locations, businesses, and partners across the country, and we are excited for what the next four years will bring for both of our organizations.”

Pine Gate Renewables currently manages more than 1 GW in operational assets, with more than 16 GW in active development across the country. Under the terms of the agreement, Pine Gate Renewables will deploy EnerVenue battery systems to support its growing pipeline of projects over the next four years.

“EnerVenue batteries offer a differentiated value proposition – lower degradation across a wide temperature band, and lower cost for maintenance and augmentation, whilst posing no fire or thermal runaway risk. These batteries also have a stackable form factor and can last for more than 30-years while being able to cycle multiple times a day,” states Raafe Khan, director of energy storage at Pine Gate Renewables. “We are proud to partner with EnerVenue in bringing this technology to our customers, further bolstering our unwavering commitment to strengthen the domestic supply chain and build a sustainable energy storage ecosystem in the United States.”

Continue reading

Heather Zichal

The American Clean Power Association’s (ACP) latest Clean Power Annual Market Report 2021 shows that wind, utility solar and battery storage power capacity in the U.S. topped 200 GW after 28.5 GW of clean energy projects came online in 2021. Regardless of this milestone, installations were flat when compared to 2020 levels due to several policy headwinds facing the wind and solar sectors. ACP found that maintaining last year’s project volume would provide only 35% of what is needed to reach a net-zero grid by 2035. 

 “Despite recent growth trends, unrelenting challenges from the pandemic and global supply chain issues slowed clean power growth. Roughly 10 GW of clean power capacity originally expected online in 2021 were delayed because of various policy headwinds,” observes Heather Zichal, ACP’s CEO. “Looking to 2022 and beyond, the uncertainty of tax credits for renewable energy projects, the availability of solar panels, supply chain issues and inflation are all expected to have a concerning impact on our ability to deliver growth. Further, continued and arguably heightened uncertainty brought about by challenges to existing trade precedent like this year’s Department of Commerce inquiry into solar module tariffs are already taking a toll as we see projects canceled and delayed.”

Clean power dominated new power capacity additions in 2021. A total of 594 projects came online, representing 81% of all new power capacity installations. And more is on the way, so long as constraints can be eased. At the end of the year, there were 303 projects under construction and 390 in advanced development. Clean power technologies now deliver 13% of the nation’s electricity – the equivalent of powering over 56 million homes. 

However, the country faced a downward trend in transmission infrastructure, with only 386 miles of transmission lines being built in 2021. Transmission is critical to maintaining a reliable electricity grid and to integrating renewable energy resources more efficiently. Recent transmission additions are simply not adequate to enable the clean energy transition, as clean energy projects continue to scale up. Transmission projects in development could deliver an additional 5,000 miles of lines by 2025. 

Last year was the second biggest year for wind installations after 2020 with 13,400 MW installed, bringing the total U.S. wind operating capacity to 135,843 MW. Despite this, land-based wind capacity installations were down due to more than 5 GW of projects being delayed for a variety of reasons including supply chain challenges, transportation and logistics constraints, inflation causing higher commodity prices, and interconnection delays. Overall, wind remained the largest renewable power source on the grid with utility operations in 41 states and Puerto Rico.  

The U.S. utility solar sector installed a record 12,433 MW of capacity in 2021, bringing total cumulative operating capacity to 60,733 MW. Solar capacity installations grew by 20% year-over-year, although over 6 GW of projects were delayed in 2021. Delays were due to supply chain constraints and trade barriers. Solar imports into the U.S. fell 18% due to regulatory barriers which are expected to obstruct future industry growth. 

The battery storage market saw its largest year on record with developers bringing 2.7 GW online in 2021, the first year of multi-GW battery storage capacity installations in the U.S. Overall there are now 4.7 GW of battery storage online. 

More than 415,000 Americans make up the wind, solar and energy storage workforce across all 50 states. The solar sector makes up the largest share of clean power employment with more than 231,000 estimated majority-time workers. The wind sector employed about 116,800 workers, while the growing battery storage market employed approximately 66,700 workers.  

The report finds the 594 clean power projects brought online in 2021 represent roughly $40.6 billion dollars in investment. Since 2000, total project investment in the clean energy sector is an estimated $392 billion across the U.S.  

Clean energy also provided nearly $2.5 billion investment into local communities; last year alone, the clean power industry paid an estimated $1.2 billion in state and local taxes and nearly $1.3 billion in lease payments to landowners across the country.  

The report also shows solar and wind costs have fallen 71% and 47% respectively in the last 10 years. Based on analysis in the report, wind and solar offer the lowest cost of any generation type in most parts of the country.

There are 35 states with at least 1 GW of operating wind, utility solar or battery storage capacity.  Texas leads all states with 45,301 MW of cumulative clean power capacity installed, followed by California (23,434 MW), Iowa (12,341 MW), Oklahoma (11,050 MW) and Kansas (8,275 MW).

Texas added the most clean power capacity last year with 7,690 MW, followed by California (2,852 MW), Oklahoma (1,408 MW), Florida (1,382 MW) and New Mexico (1,374 MW).

In 2021, Texas led all states in land-based wind capacity additions with 3,343 MW and utility scale solar capacity additions with 3,768 MW. California led in battery storage additions, with 1,371 MW.   

When it comes to electricity generation, Texas led all states by generating over 116 million MWh of renewable electricity in 2021. However, when it comes to the share of total electricity generated in a state, Iowa led with 55.8% of electricity generated from clean power in 2021. Other top states for clean power generation share include South Dakota (52.3%), Kansas (45.3%), Oklahoma (41.6%) and New Mexico (36%).  

Business demand for clean power set a record as corporate buyers announced a record 13.6 GW of new clean power contracts in 2021. Corporate buyers are playing an increasingly important role in helping to scale up clean energy technologies by purchasing record amounts of clean power – 2021 was the first year in which non-utility buyers accounted for more than half of announced clean power purchase agreements. 

Amazon (2,580 MW) and Meta (1,907 MW) lead power purchase agreements announced in 2021, followed by TotalEnergies (1,000 MW) as the third largest purchaser of clean power offtake agreements. In total, 128 entities announced PPAs in 2021. 

NextEra Energy is the largest owner of operating clean power, accounting for 14% of total capacity. Berkshire Hathaway Energy comes in second with over 13,400 MW online, about 7% of total capacity, and Avangrid comes in third with 7,796 MW online. 

Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Xcel Energy maintained their top rankings as number one and number two top buyers of clean power. Berkshire Hathaway Energy delivers over 14.4 GW of clean power to its customers across the West and Midwest regions of the country. Xcel Energy has nearly 11.8 GW of operating clean power available for its customers. Southern California Edison rounds out the top three with nearly 10.1 GW of operating clean power purchases. 

The offshore wind market took several significant steps forward in 2021 with the first commercial-scale offshore wind project, the Vineyard Wind (806 MW) project, beginning onshore construction in November. South Fork Wind (132 MW) also received a record of decision in November, allowing construction to move forward earlier this year. The industry set a record for offshore wind procurement as states and utilities announced 8.4 GW of offshore wind procurement in 2021.  

There are 18 projects in development that have secured offtake, totaling nearly 17.5 GW. In total, there are currently 26 active leases on the East Coast, stretching from Massachusetts to North Carolina in various stages of development. 

Wind and solar projects provide significant environmental benefits and long-term health benefits. Wind and solar capacity online through 2021 can avoid an estimated 86 million cars’ worth of carbon emissions, or 398 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. The carbon emissions savings can prevent over $20 billion in climate-related damages each year. The roughly 38 GW of wind and solar power capacity under construction at the end of 2021 can reduce CO2 emissions by an additional 70 million metric tons once operational. That would bring total emissions reductions from U.S. wind and solar energy to around 470 million metric tons per year, while total U.S. country emissions totaled 5,222 million metric tons in 2020. For comparison, energy consumption in the U.S. produced approximately 4.5 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2020.

Read the full report here.

Continue reading

One of First Solar Inc.’s manufacturing plants

First Solar Inc. has signed an agreement with Scout Clean Energy to supply 378 MW DC of advanced, thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar modules.

Scout, a renewable energy developer and owner-operator headquartered in Colorado, is actively developing a portfolio over 12,000 MW of solar PV, battery storage and onshore wind projects spread across 21 US states. Scout is a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners. Scout plans to use the First Solar modules to begin construction on several late-stage projects with start of operations expected in 2024.

“We’re excited to partner with First Solar as we continue to develop and grow our portfolio of solar PV assets across the US. This deal reflects our confidence not just in the technology, but in First Solar itself,” says Michael Rucker, founder and CEO of Scout Clean Energy. “Sourcing our modules from a U.S.-based supply partner at this challenging time solidifies our competitive advantage in meeting our customers urgent timing needs for solar power to meet their decarbonization goals.”

“As we diversify Scout’s asset base and grow our solar portfolio, we want to source our panels through partners that we can trust to deliver with no compromise on quality, ethical sourcing of raw materials and who is committed to ongoing innovation,” Rucker adds. “First Solar readily satisfies those critical criteria for Scout.”

First Solar’s PV modules are designed and developed at its research and development centers in California and Ohio.

“Experienced developers like Scout Clean Energy understand the criticality of both insulating themselves from pricing and supply volatility, and staying true to their values and principles,” said Adam Smith, vice president of global business development at First Solar. “They also recognize the value of technological and supply diversity, and of a competitive product that embodies sustainability and transparency. Together, these factors are invaluable in helping them navigate some of the headwinds that others in the industry struggle with.”

Continue reading

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

Major US utility company Duke Energy’s carbon reduction plan for its North and South Carolina businesses includes proposals for a “significant growth” in energy storage deployments.

The company said in its Carolinas Carbon Plan, filed yesterday with the regulatory North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) that it wants to put between 3,700MW and 5,900MW of energy storage in its service area by 2035.

This would support the growth of renewables, including a tripling of solar PV installations from current levels and the addition of wind power resources to diversify its renewable energy portfolio, the company said.

By 2035, this would equate to between about 7,600MW and 11,900MW of new solar PV, on top of 5,000MW of solar PV that will be online in the utility’s Carolinas service area by the end of 2022 and a further 1,900MW of solar planned or already in development.

Alongside those developments, Duke also wants to be allowed to take what it said would be “initial steps” to developing zero-emitting load-following resources (ZELFRs), clean or carbon-free that can be supplied on-demand. This could include advanced nuclear power stations, carbon capture, storage and utilisation and other technologies like next-generation geothermal or hydrogen storage.

These ZELFRs and wind power, which are newer to the energy mix in the Carolinas, will start to come to the fore towards the end of this decade, the utility said.

An executive order issued by North Carolina’s governor Roy Cooper in January this year set policy targets for emissions reductions of 50% compared to 2005 levels by 2030 and the achievement of net zero emissions status by 2050 at the latest.

Duke Energy claimed that its Carolinas Carbon Plan is in line with those aims, and that all of the options its proposal sets out would meet other metrics set by the executive order, including those on selecting the lowest cost options and maintaining electric system and supply reliability.

The utility said it is taking an “all of the above” approach, through the mix of technologies it proposes to use, from natural gas and small modular nuclear reactors to solar PV, wind power and energy storage.

It would also take immediate action to implement energy efficiency and demand-side management as well as upgrades to the grid to enable it to host higher shares of renewables.

Once implemented, the plan would be reviewed every two years.

Outline:

By 2030, the utility is proposing:

3,400MW reduction in peak demand through energy efficiency and demand-side management3,100MW of new solar PV, including 600MW paired with energy storage2,000MW of new natural gas units which are ‘hydrogen capable’1,000MW of standalone battery energy storage600MW of onshore windEarly development work to enable 800MW of offshore windEarly development work to enable 570MW of small modular nuclearEarly development work to enable 1,700MW of pumped hydro energy storage (PHES)

The plan could enable a 70% CO2 reduction by 2030 as well as carbon neutrality by 2050, Duke Energy claimed, while the company is also committed to closing its North and South Carolina coal plants by 2035.

Duke Energy said the fact that it has a dual-state system in operation between both Carolinas helps it to keep costs low and maintain reliability, citing customer rates that are below national averages. The plan, to also be filed with South Carolina’s Public Service Commission, would necessitate an increase customer rates between 1.9% and 2.7% each year to 2035.

Four separate portfolio options have been included in it, each with a slightly different mix of resources. While one option could reach 70% CO2 reduction by 2030, the others would take slightly longer, until 2032 or 2034, to achieve that, although all four would result in carbon neutrality by 2050.

Duke Energy has around 7.4 million customers for its energy services in six US states, as well as around 1.5 million retail natural gas customers in four states. In March the company announced the completion of three lithium-ion battery projects in Florida, totalling 34MW/58MWh. Duke also joined up with technology provider Honeywell to roll out microgrids for cities across the US a few weeks ago.

The utility’s planning processes came in for criticism in 2021, when its 2020 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) was described as flawed by energy consulting firm E3. E3 said that the IRP did not effectively allow for the diversity benefits of solar and storage to be captured, our sister site PV Tech reported at the time.

Duke’s capacity expansion methodology considered solar and storage independently, at different steps of the process, which E3 argued meant the synergistic benefits that exist between the two were ignored.

Continue reading

Kibo Energy will roll out Cellcube’s vanadium flow battery across projects in the Southern Africa region. Image: Enerox/Cellcube.

Cellcube has signed a five-year agreement with an energy asset developer to deploy 1GW-plus of its vanadium redox flow batteries (VFRBs) in Southern Africa.

The announcement made today comes shortly after CellCube CEO Alexander Schoenfeldt told Energy-Storage.news in an interview last week that the vanadium flow battery supply chain needs to scale up dramatically to be competitive and meet growing demand, especially in the utility-scale battery storage market.

Cellcube, officially called Enerox but better known by its brand name, has signed the five-year framework agreement with renewable energy developer Kibo Energy to deploy at least 1GW of storage in targeted Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. The SADC comprises all 16 countries from South Africa up to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.

The two companies have agreed to develop and deploy long-duration energy storage (LDES) solutions in the region using Cellcube’s technology. Kibo, which has historically owned coal projects but is transitioning to green energy, will be project developer and an integrator of the CellCube solutions, subject to audit and certification by CellCube.

The Ireland-based, stock-listed developer has been granted conditional exclusive rights to the marketing, sales, configuration and delivery of CellCube’s VRFBs when deploying solutions for behind-the-meter microgrid applications, subject to successful proof of concept projects which will be ordered by June 30. The exclusivity does not extend to utility-scale projects.

In an interview at last week’s Intersolar Europe / Electrical Energy Storage Europe trade event in Germany, prior to this announcement, Cellcube CEO Schoenfeldt explained to Energy-Storage.news the reasoning behind this strategic focus on microgrids.

“Our main target markets are high solar radiation and specifically on-site generation where industrial customers can use our batteries to avoid high grid costs. Particularly in places like North America, the Sub-Saharan region and Australia. Our focus in Europe is on security of supply for industrial clients and owners & operators of critical infrastructure,” he said.

“For today’s sales we are looking at the microgrid business rather than large-scale front-of-meter because the supply chain hasn’t ramped up yet for vanadium batteries. But as market leader we are at the same time developing large scale deployments in order to build the demand for more production capacity to be built.”

Kibo, which has a dual listing on London’s AIM market and the AltX on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, plans to develop an order pipeline from its already existing project pipeline of up to 21,200 installations, ranging from 40kWh-2,000kWh per installation. Its target sectors for this rollout are ICT towers, gated communities, shopping centres and commercial parks while both companies will review a bespoke renewable energy project microgrid pipeline.

The press release added that Kibo has been granted a first right of refusal to any production output that Cellcube establishes in the SADC region delivering CellCube core components or CellCube technology, as long as firm order commitments are made by Kibo.

“As Kibo is aggressively rolling out its Sustainable and Renewable Energy Strategy, we are delighted to announce this dynamic arrangement with a leading flow battery producer. The development of a large project pipeline ready for immediate execution is the main pivot on which the FA hinges,” commented Kibo Energy CEO Louis Coetzee.

Schoenfeldt told Energy-Storage.news: “With vanadium flow batteries it is all about the maturity, durability and mean time before failure (MTBF) and we have a proven track record rather than just a claim. We have an installed field of more than 130 systems in around 20 countries and more than 6 million operating hours of systems. Our oldest system, in Austria, has been running for 11 years and has a capacity loss of just 1% over its lifetime so far. Backed up by (insurer) Munich Re we offer a bankable product ready for roll-out.”

But he also pointed out that the VRFB supply chain has a long way to go before it can get to the ‘gigafactory’ scale of production he wants.

“I’d guess that outside China, in 2021 the vanadium battery supply chain was about 30MW production capacity on an annual basis. It’s peanuts compared to lithium. The big question is how we get our suppliers to ramp up and invest in larger machines and larger tools to move from a 30MW production capacity on an annual basis to a 300MW and then a 3GW annual capacity. I am not saying this because we are waiting for someone, CellCube is actively working with its partners to get this ramped,” he said.

One of Enerox’s shareholders is Bushveld Minerals, a mining group which is one of only three primary vanadium producers globally, from its mine in South Africa. Enerox/Cellcube recently set up its first US subsidiary to target the North American market.

Continue reading

INTILION’s prototype safety technology shows gases being safely vented from the front side of the storage system. Image: Cameron Murray / Solar Media.

Battery storage system safety was at the top of the agenda for many vendors and their customers at ees Europe last week.

The electrical energy storage trade event took place alongside Intersolar Europe and other strands relating to electric vehicles (EVs) and other smart and clean energy industry sectors and technologies, at Messe Munchen in Munich, Germany.

While there were many interesting products on show and various big picture topics discussed – like the need for coherent policy strategies at EU level on energy storage and the ongoing supply chain crunch – various sources commented that the lithium battery storage industry’s need to reassure stakeholders on the topic of fire safety is paramount.

“In order to really play an important role in our energy and ability, future batteries need to be safe. It’s bad for the industry if people are concerned about battery safety,” Kai-Philip Kairies of battery analytics specialist ACCURE Battery Intelligence tells Energy-Storage.news.

ACCURE’s software can help monitor and assess how batteries in EVs and battery energy storage systems (BESS) are performing, how they are aging and how safely they are operating. Of those three main features of the analytics suite, safety has gotten the most attention lately, Kairies, a battery expert-turned startup CEO, says.

There have been some “high profile failures,” that include the fire at Tesla’s Victorian Big Battery in Australia and the overheating incident at Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California: respectively the biggest BESS projects in Australia and the world.

Most recently there was also fire reported at a 10MW/40MWh BESS installed for utility Salt River Project (SRP) in Arizona. Germany’s home energy storage system market is also rapidly growing and Kairies says he knows of five fires at residential systems reported in the past month alone.

While thankfully it appears that no one has been injured by any of those incidents and they remain rare relative to the sheer volumes of battery storage being installed around the world, no one — least of all customers or the general public — can be taking them lightly.

Battery storage manufacturer Saft has been delivering containerised systems to global markets since 2010. It has never experienced any serious failures of equipment that have caused fires, a track record that the company’s VP for innovations and solutions, Michael Lippert, said it is proud of.

However, there is still a potential risk involved and one should “never say never” when it comes to safety assessments. Lippert says that for Saft, critical safety considerations needed to be considered holistically and in-built from the very start of work to design the company’s grid-scale battery product, Intensium Max.

One way in which Saft’s approach may differ from its competitors is that the Intensium Max is a standardised, repeatable product that doesn’t fundamentally change in design from project to project.

“From the very beginning, we have made a risk analysis of any possible risk. This includes things like the effect of the cooling system, we will include humidity due to condensation, for example, which is a risk because in a 1500 Volt system, any humidity can create leaking power,” Lippert says.

“We make sure that before you open your [container] door, we set the temperature beyond the condensation point. So, there are many things we have thought through in the beginning towards [enhancing] functionalities, but also safety.”

Saft’s system design integrates a combination of detection systems, fire suppression and hazard management that Lippert claims is “quite unique in the world”.

Intensium Max, the building blocks of all Saft’s projects, contains two independent fire suppression systems. The company has also learned, from seeing incidents take place at other makers’ projects, that there is a need for management of the gases that can cause explosions if built up inside containers.

“We pay a lot of attention to making sure that the operator, but also fire brigades that would intervene are familiar with these devices and they have the tools to make the right decision. Which means they do not need to open the container to see what is happening, they have the training, and they have the diagnostic tools outside to see the temperature, to see whether there is an explosive atmosphere.”

Evolving safety technologies

INTILION, a battery storage manufacturer headquartered in Germany, was unveiling a new prototype BESS for the commercial and industrial (C&I) market, with an inbuilt fire safety feature.

The many advantages that lithium-ion batteries have, also come with “characteristic fire and explosion risks,” which mean a lithium fire cannot be extinguished, INTILION product manager Martin Peters says.

There are three main causes of fires: electrical risks from overvoltage, overcurrent or overheating, thermal risks from high temperatures outside the battery system and mechanical risks that come from physical damage or manufacturing defects which can’t be readily identified externally.

“Maybe over the years of usage, you have some issues in the cells. Dendrites on the plates could be increasing, leading to a cell internal short circuit, which then leads to thermal runaway and then propagation.”

In the German market, battery systems for indoor use need to meet certification standards set by VDE. These include requirements that no fire can spread or propagate between neighbouring battery modules and that there should be no flames outside the module.  

INTILION has designed an additional housing to go around each module, with calculated air channels that route any gases released in a defined way. The gas is therefore compressed enough to not be flammable, and the gases are vented from the front of the unit.

The prototype has been certified by a laboratory in Germany. Peters says the fire risk from lithium batteries can’t be completely eliminated, but the damage can be limited to just one module. The INTILION system also includes a tray to collect any leaked electrolyte, preventing contamination of groundwater.

Once systems are actually in the field, battery data can be an effective tool in preventive maintenance, ACCURE’s Kai-Philipp Kairies says.

“Every battery has a BMS, a battery management system, that generates some data like voltage, current and temperature and we use that data to basically reverse engineer what’s happening inside of the battery,” Kairies says.

There are certain “inner states” of battery health that can’t directly be measured, can be calculated. Depending on how these inner states develop over time, ACCURE is able to judge if a battery module or cell’s performance is healthy, and similar to the rest of the pack.

If the analytics software indicates that one battery shows indications of plating, for example, that battery can be pulled out of operation before it becomes dangerous. With over 1.5GWh of assets under management across the EV and ESS sectors, ACCURE proves this can be done at scale, Kairies says, ensuring the safety of this and the next generation of lithium battery storage systems.

Continue reading