A factory in Georgia, US, which will be the site of what is claimed will be the largest lithium-ion battery recycling facility in North America. Image: Ascend Elements (formerly Battery Resourcers).

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has formally launched a US$3.16 billion grant funding opportunity for its domestic battery supply chain, the latest in a series of moves to support the sector.

The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is made up of two parts and an approximate launch date has been known since February this year, as reported by Energy-storage.news.

‘Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing’ is the bulk of the money and will go towards projects to build, retrofit or expand battery material processing or component manufacturing and recyling facilities. The submission deadline for letters of intent (LOI) and full applications are May 27 and July 1st this year, respectively, with award negotiations expected to take place between October and April 2023.

The second, ‘Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Recycling and Second Life Applications’, will support second-life applications for EV batteries and new processes for recycling materials back into the supply chain. LOIs are due May 31 and full applications by July 19, with the same timeframe for negotiations as the previous FOA.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said: “President Biden’s historic investment in battery production and recycling will give our domestic supply chain the jolt it needs to become more secure and less reliant on other nations—strengthening our clean energy economy, creating good paying jobs, and decarbonizing the transportation sector.”

The Biden administration wants to domesticate more of the global battery supply chain onto US shores as well as make EVs account for half of vehicle sales by 2030. EVs were only 8% of sales last year – 3% pure EVs and 5% hybrids – according to Reuters while the US’ percentage share of the lithium-ion battery manufacturing market is in single digits.

This FOA launch date was announced prior to the government’s recent invocation of the Cold War-era Defense Production Act (DPA) to boost the domestic battery supply chain on March 31, and is therefore unrelated. A number of sources told Energy-storage.news at the time that the DPA would only help to solve supply chain issues over the longer term.

More details on the funding opportunities can be found on the DOE’s Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy website here. The FOA is not the only funding the DOE is providing for the country’s battery supply chain, all of which stems from the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal passed in November 2021 by Congress, the legislative assembly of the federal government.

Last week, the DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) committed over US$600 million for a green hydrogen storage project in Utah and a battery graphite production facility in Louisiana.

As of March, the LPO was processing over US$10 billion in loan applications for battery manufacturing plants. In the last two months, plans have been announced to build lithium-ion gigafactories for stationary energy storage by domestic startups ABF and SPARKZ as well as a Turkish company with a track record back home. In January, Battery Resourcers (since renamed Ascend Elements) announced plans to build what it claimed will be the largest lithium-ion battery recycling facility in North America.

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Cypress Creek Renewables’ Dunn Solar Project in Harnett County, N.C.

Cypress Creek Renewables will be using Raptor Solar, the new analytics and insights platform from Raptor Maps. The advanced software solution standardizes data, analyzes findings and lifts productivity, which will enable Cypress Creek to maximize power output and returns from their extensive 3.9 GW portfolio of over 300 company-owned and third-party managed sites in 19 states.

Raptor Maps has for about a half decade provided Cypress Creek with photovoltaic (PV) module inspections. It creates digital twins of Cypress Creek’s solar arrays, offering a bird’s-eye view of portfolios, enabling a host of associated features that allow them to optimize performance. 

“We’re excited that Raptor Solar allows us to digitize portfolios, make data-informed decisions and enable a new phase of growth for Cypress Creek and our clients,” says Jared Kirk, vice president of operations and maintenance at Cypress Creek Renewables.  “Output from the software allows us to be more proactive in decision making with a higher degree of confidence. Raptor Solar’s productivity tools free up our time to focus on the overall efficiency and returns of our portfolio and those we manage for third parties.”

Unlimited inspection reports that are standard with Raptor Solar – including digitization of historical and third-party reports – allow Cypress Creek to inspect sites more frequently and in greater detail, gaining a continuous understanding of assets, including detailed and accurate comparisons over time.

The Raptor Maps data model also integrates information from Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Data Acquisition Systems (DAS), such as irradiance data. This enables more sophisticated degradation analysis using normalized temperature deltas, which can strengthen warranty claims.

“Our digital twins incorporate geospatial and electrical relationships to create a standardized data model across the entire Cypress Creek fleet,” remarks Nikhil Vadhavkar, CEO and co-founder of Raptor Maps.  “Enterprises need to be able to click on a module in a fully populated digital twin, see factory performance data, trace the shipping container it arrived on, the moment the equipment was verified as installed, the inverter it is connected to, the performance of that inverter, current or historical issues with that module and the financial implications of O&M decisions. Cypress Creek recognizes that scalable software infrastructure is crucial to manage these 25+ year assets and we are proud to support their digitization efforts.”

“We’ve tested Raptor Maps’ insights platform and found its data and learnings to be reliable, practical and very actionable.  With a digital model of our solar portfolio and the features associated with it, we save time in the field and improve our productivity and competitiveness,” says Mitchell DuRant, Reliability Engineering Program Manager at Cypress Creek.  “The app also makes it easy when in the field to navigate to panels associated with anomalies, store geo-tagged photos and site notes and keep a record of maintenance histories.”

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Jose Zayas

José Zayas is joining American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) as the organization’s new executive vice president of policy and programs. He will lead ACORE’s policy and programmatic activities, working closely with ACORE’s board, staff and member companies to deploy ACORE’s integrated policy and program agenda.

Zayas is a clean energy leader with over 25 years in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining ACORE, he was a senior vice president of Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, overseeing their innovation, project management and partnership portfolio. Zayas also previously served as executive director of the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy, where he led efforts to improve performance, lower costs and accelerate deployment of renewable technologies.

“We are delighted to welcome José Zayas to the ACORE leadership team,” states Gregory Wetstone, ACORE’s president and CEO. “José’s deep technical and policy background and his leadership experience in government and the private sector will be tremendous assets for ACORE and our members as we work to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy.”

“I am thrilled to join ACORE’s leadership team at such a pivotal moment to continue to shape our nation’s energy future,” says Zayas.  “ACORE has played a critical role in the extraordinary growth of the renewable energy sector over the past two decades, and I look forward to working with the organization’s exceptional staff and influential member companies to secure the renewable energy future Americans want and need.”

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Brian Dunn

Summit Ridge Energy (SRE) and Cedar Ridge Community Church (CRCC) have completed a 2.5 MW DC community solar project in Montgomery County, Md. TurningPoint Energy developed the project under the State of Maryland’s Community Solar Pilot Program. The array was built on CRCC property and will provide hundreds of subscribed households with lower monthly energy costs.

“As a community of hope we are delighted to devote 8 acres of our property to solar power,” says Matthew Dyer, lead pastor at CRCC. “It’s a practical and essential expression of our desire to play our part in creating a sustainable future for this beautiful planet we all love and depend upon.

“We’re proud to have partnered with CRCC and TurningPoint Energy and are excited to expand renewable energy access to low-income Marylanders” states Brian Dunn, COO of SRE. “We also thank Councilman Hucker for his commitment to the legislation enabling this project’s completion.”

“This community solar project is the culmination of an excellent partnership between the community and County,” Councilmember Hucker. “In 2018, I spearheaded ZTA 18-01 that allowed for larger solar projects like this one so we can better position ourselves to fight climate change and collectively reduce our carbon footprint.”

“CRCC’s leadership in pursuing a low-income solar project on their property is a true testament to a faith organization’s walking the talk as a steward of the environment. This innovative project is the first of its kind in Maryland and will serve as an example for years to come,” adds Salar Naini, executive vice president of business development at TurningPoint Energy.

SRE owns the market share of Maryland’s community solar projects (90 MW DC) operating under the state’s Community Solar Pilot Program. Upon completion, their portfolio will power approximately 12,500 local homes and businesses. Nearly one-third of the projects will serve low-to-moderate income (LMI) customers.

TurningPoint Energy is the leading greenfield developer in the Maryland Pilot Program since its inception in 2016 and will have 40 MW DC or projects in operation by the end of 2023.

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Dominion Energy Virginia’s Gloucester Solar facility in Gloucester County, Va.

In a new request for proposals (RFP), Dominion Energy Virginia (DEV) is soliciting proposals for the acquisition of up to 1,200 MW of new solar and onshore wind development assets, as well as approximately 125 MW of energy storage. A separate RFP seeking proposals for power purchase agreements (PPA) will be issued on September 1, 2022.

Acquisition of the projects will support the company’s projected customer load as outlined in the company’s 2021 update to the 2020 Integrated Resource Plan. The projects will also help the company achieve the goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) and the company’s commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Different from past annual RFPs, the company will now accept acquisition proposals on a continuous basis throughout the year. The new process will provide greater flexibility and transparency for the development community and maximize the company’s ability to procure the best clean energy resources for its customers.

The company is interested in proposals for five categories of new development assets, including photovoltaic (PV) solar nameplate capacity, PV solar generation paired with energy storage nameplate capacity, onshore wind nameplate capacity, onshore wind paired with energy storage nameplate capacity, and stand-alone energy storage nameplate capacity.

For solar proposals, the company is seeking both utility-scale projects that are greater than 3 MW, as well as distributed projects that are 3 MW or less. For all proposals, the company will only consider facilities located in Virginia. Specifically, for distributed projects that are 3 MW or less, the facilities must be located within DEV’s service territory where there are location grid benefits to DEV customers.

Read more details on registering for the RFP here.

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Meyer Burger Technology AG is developing a new module production facility with an additional 400 MW at the Freiberg, Germany site, using space in its logistics center in the immediate proximity of the existing plant. To this end, the company is using solar cell capacities from the production site in Thalheim (Bitterfeld-Wolfen) that are initially, on a short-term basis, being handled in Germany instead of the U.S. This will help optimize the planned expansion to a total nominal annual capacity of 1.4 GW for 2023.

The company is proactively addressing the tense situation, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, by pursuing further development in Germany. The use of available synergies through additional development in an existing building in Freiberg, the existing production capacities in Germany, and the elimination of long transport times for machines and systems to the U.S. optimizes the timetable. Furthermore, supply chain risks are minimized and, more significantly, human resources can be put to more efficient use. Sales of the high-performance modules in the U.S. solar market are progressing as planned and are unaffected by the decision.

As planned, Meyer Burger is simultaneously pursuing its expansion strategy in the U.S. in order to develop a medium-term solar module production with an annual capacity of up to 1.5 GW in Goodyear, Ariz. The preparatory work in the plant began on schedule in the first quarter of 2022. The planned expansion of the module capacities at the Goodyear site requires synchronized growth of the solar cell production beyond the ongoing expansion to a capacity of 1.4 GW. For this anticipated growth in capacity beyond 1.4 GW, Meyer Burger has obtained a long-term lease on an additional building on the same site as the premises already used in Solar Valley in Thalheim, and can now begin preparing the further development of production.

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Laura Zapata

Rivian and Clearloop are partnering to bring online Rivian’s first MW of renewable electricity. The Paris Solar Farm – Puryear in Tennessee will be the first installation in Henry County. The project utilizes unique approaches to financing and siting that aim to put renewables on more fossil-fueled grids where they can displace more coal and natural gas.

“Corporations have played a major role in growing renewables, but we’re arriving at a point where we need to evolve our approaches in order to truly decarbonize the nation’s entire grid,” says Laura Zapata, Clearloop’s co-founder and CEO. “Clearloop is opening up a new solar financing mechanism that focuses on the carbon impacts rather than the MWhs. Rivian’s willingness to think creatively and take this different path is a key enabler.”

Rivian provided upfront financing for 1 MW of the 6.75 MW project, which will cover electricity used by Rivian Waypoints chargers planned for Tennessee state parks as well as other clean energy commitments in the region. Rivian’s capital helped to kickstart construction of the overall project and demonstrates corporate demand for renewable power in the region, Clearloop leaders say.

“The carbon consequences go beyond state lines,” sates Andrew Peterman, director of renewable energy at Rivian. “Given the urgency with which we need to transition to more sustainable energy systems, the system-wide impacts matter. That’s why we’re being thoughtful from the very first steps on our path to carbon neutrality.”

Rivian aspires to achieve carbon neutrality in its own operations – Scopes 1 and 2 as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol – by 2028, and in categories within Scope 3 by 2032. Scope 3 encompasses the full value chain from suppliers to vehicle charging. The company is building charging networks across the U.S. and Canada and plans to match every kWh Rivian owners drive with renewable energy purchases on an annual basis – whether vehicles are charged at home, a Rivian charging network charger or at a partner network charging site.

In addition to the partnership between Rivian and Clearloop, the Paris Solar Farm – Puryear is also enabled by a recent Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provision that allows local electricity providers within its jurisdiction to source 5% of their power from renewables developed by entities other than TVA. Local power company Paris BPU, which serves Henry County, is among the first to use the provision. The solar farm allows the utility to offer its first green tariff, which allows local companies to purchase the environmental attributes the new solar provides and helps meet their own renewable energy targets cost effectively in their own backyards.

“We’re seeing a lot of interest from local businesses, and we’re pleased we can help them meet their targets while also generating revenue that helps keep our rates stable for our customers,” comments Terry Wimberley, Paris BPU’s president and CEO. “As part of Silicon Ranch, Clearloop’s partnership with Rivian showed us how as a rural power company we can use renewable energy certificates as an economic development tool for our community.”

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Freewire’s EV charging solution. Image: Freewire Technologies.

FreeWire Technologies, a battery-integrated EV charging solution provider, has raised US$125 million in new capital from global asset manager BlackRock and other investors.

The financing consists of a Senior Convertible Note provided by BlackRock Financial Management and an equity raise with investors including BP ventures, Riverstone Holdings, Octave Ventures, Gly Capital Management, Blue Bear Capital, and Daishin Private Equity.

FreeWire Technologies provides an EV charging solution, Boost Charger, that is integrated with an embedded 160kWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS). This removes the need for every charger installed to have a high-power grid connection, allowing for faster and more widespread charger deployment, according to the company.

It also claims this combination with a BESS provides resiliency and can reduce operating costs for EV charging parks by enabling peak shaving and load shifting, citing an Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) report into its technology. The EPRI report also found that FreeWire’s solution had lower installation costs due to reduced infrastructure requirements.

The company also has a smaller solution intended to be a generator replacement that can charge EVs, Mobi, with an 80kWh BESS.

The newly-raised capital will be used to support the company’s commercial deployments of its solution and increase in manufacturing capacity. It cites ‘high priority’ markets as the UK, Canada, Japan and Australia/New Zealand. It will also expand its team and invest in R&D.

Arcady Sosinov, Founder and CEO of FreeWire Technologies, said: “The most significant barrier to mass EV adoption is the electric grid, which simply can’t meet the power demand required for ultrafast charging to sustainably and cost-effectively electrify our transportation system.”

“FreeWire’s fully-integrated Boost Charger breaks down this barrier by combining battery technology, power conversion technology, and software to enable utilities, retailers, fleets, and site-owners across the US to scale up ultrafast EV charging quickly without requiring expensive and time-consuming utility upgrades.”

The California-based company recently broke ground on a new 6,100 square metre R&D facility in Newark, California to develop and manufacture new ultrafast charging and energy storage product offerings. It will be fully operational by summer this year.

FreeWire is also developing its software offering. It expects to roll out AMP Pro, a distributed energy management services platform (DERM) to manage load shifting, demand charge management, resiliency, in 2022 followed by Charging as a Service in 2023.

Long term, FreeWire wants to be a turnkey retail energy service operator, “whereby it owns, manages, and optimises the customer’s utility meter and bill to unlock opportunities to further monetise its integrated battery system,” the company said.

To-date, it has installed nearly 5MWh of energy storage capacity through its EV charging solution and has over 30MWh of orders booked. This equates to about 31 Boost Chargers installed and a pipeline of around 190. It aims to deploy 5,000 by 2025.

BESS integrators and suppliers are increasingly entering the EV charging infrastructure space through solutions like FreeWire’s or battery packs designed to be integrated into chargers, while EV companies themselves are also launching similar products. E.ON and Volkswagen tied up on one last year.

US system integrator FlexGen recently launched a similar battery-integrated EV charging solution, for example, while European company Alfen’s range of products includes similar solutions to FreeWire.

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Prizren, Kosovo’s second-largest city near where the pumped hydro project has been proposed. Image: Pixabay.

The Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) of Kosovo is reviewing an application to build a 250MW pumped hydro storage facility.

The ERO lists the project, titled ‘DRINI PSHP – REVERZIBIL/PRIZREN‘ as one of four projects for which it has received requests to authorise the start of construction from the company behind the project, local construction outfit Eurokos.

Eurokos signed a grid connection agreement with Kosovo’s transmission system operator KOSTT back in 2020 for the project, which is to be sited near a KOSTT substation near Prizren, a city in the southwest of the disputed state.

Reports at the time said the project would cost around €300 million (US$317 million) to build with a further €27 million needed to upgrade local transmission infrastructure to accommodate it.

It is one of four projects at a similar stage of review by the ERO totalling around 300MW. The other three are biomass, wind and run-of-river hydro facilities.

Eurokos’ previous projects include roads and bridges and it also says it is involved in the construction of the wind and run-of-river hydro projects ERO is reviewing, launched by DARDANA INVEST and HIDROENERGJI respectively.

It is the second large energy storage project in Kosovo to make headlines this year. Last month, the government announced plans to build a battery energy storage system (BESS) with a capacity of 200MWh-plus to deal with the country’s energy crisis, as reported by Energy-storage.news.

Part of that project will be funded from a US$234 million grant from a US aid agency, which was initially going to go towards a new gas pipeline to North Macedonia, until recent gas price spikes made that uneconomical.

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Jennifer Granholm, US Secretary of Energy, visiting Eos R&D facilities last year. The DoE has invited the company to apply for loans as a battery manufacturer. Image: Eos via Twitter.

Eos Energy Enterprises has secured a US$200 million investment commitment through an agreed share sale as the zinc-air battery energy storage company commercialises and scales up production.

Eos hopes to earn US$50 million revenues in 2022, more than 10x what it achieved last year. It is currently expanding production facilities at its factory site near Pittsburgh to 800MWh annual capacity and spending US$25 million to do so.

The company said yesterday that an unnamed affiliate of its financing partner Yorkville Advisors has agreed to make a common stock standby equity purchase agreement for the US$200 million sum. Through the agreement, Eos has the right, but not obligation, to sell common equity stock to the Yorkville affiliate at any time during an agreed two-year period.

Yorkville president and founder Mark Angelo said that working with Eos gave his group a “front row seat as the world continues its transition to cleaner energy”.

The shares will be issued at a discounted price based on 97% of the three-day weighted average share price at the time of purchase while the deal also allows for sums to be loaned to Eos, US$50 million at a time.

Eos Energy Enterprises has developed a zinc battery technology through plating and replating zinc. It enables up to 3-hour duration per module of Eos’ Znyth brand batteries, however those modules can be stacked together to create up to around 12 hours of storage in a complete system.

The company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in November 2020 as one of a number of energy storage companies to merge with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) entities during the last couple of years.

Eos was clear at the time that the path to profitability would take a while to traverse and would require significant investment in technology and manufacturing scale, as well as business development activities.

It incurred costs of just under US$140 million for 2021, but finished last year with an order backlog worth US$150 million. Its market cap as of early April was US$211 million, while Eos has also been invited by the US Department of Energy (DoE) to apply for loans to fuel its manufacturing expansion.

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