Cruachan Dam, Scotland, site of an existing 440MW pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) facility. Image: Drax.

Clean energy developer ILI Group has begun the initial planning phase for a new pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) project in Scotland.

The Balliemeanoch project at Loch Awe, Dalmally in Argyll and Bute will be able to supply 1.5GW of power for up to 30 hours. It is the third and largest of ILI’s pumped storage hydro projects, with the other two being Red John at Loch Ness and Corrievarkie at Loch Ericht.

The Balliemeanoch project will create a new ‘head pond’ in the hills above Loch Awe capable of holding 58 million cubic metres of water when full.

Mark Wilson, CEO of ILI Group, said that long-duration energy storage, particularly storage over four hours, is “crucial” to reaching net zero, with announcements such as the new seabed leases for offshore wind making energy storage projects such as Balliemeanoch becoming “increasingly important”. 

To read the full version of this story visit Solar Power Portal.

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SunPower Commercial; Overall view of the UC Davis West Village on Hutchison Drive in Davis, Calif.

TotalEnergies has signed a definitive agreement with SunPower Corp. to acquire its Commercial & Industrial Solutions (CIS) business for $250 million, including $60 million of earn-out subject to regulatory evolution. TotalEnergies is the majority shareholder of SunPower, a solar technology and energy services provider.

“With this acquisition, TotalEnergies is further investing to grow its distributed generation activity in the U.S. and support its B2B customers in meeting their sustainable development goals,” says Vincent Stoquart, senior vice president of renewables for TotalEnergies. “It is a new milestone in our renewable development in the country, where we are targeting 4 GW of solar capacity by 2025. This will also give SunPower additional resources to focus on the growing residential market. We look forward to welcoming the Commercial & Industrial teams and ensuring the continuity of TotalEnergies’ commitment in this business as we integrate this high-quality portfolio of products and customers.”

TotalEnergies’ distributed generation business currently accounts to close to 500 MW in operation worldwide. The purchase will allow TotalEnergies to extend its distributed generation business footprint to the U.S. and to develop over 100 MW of additional capacity per year.

“TotalEnergies is the ideal partner for our CIS business to take advantage of the growing commercial market and opportunities like community solar and front-of-meter storage,” states Peter Faricy, CEO of SunPower. “The sale enables SunPower to focus on creating a superior residential experience, increase our investment in product and digital innovation, and reach more homeowners. The enhanced strategic clarity created by this transaction will help SunPower lead the industry and deliver maximum value to our investors, partners and customers.”

Following a thorough process involving discussions with a number of parties, and upon the unanimous recommendation of a special committee of SunPower’s independent directors, the acquisition has been approved by both companies. The transaction is expected to close early Q2 subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. This operation is not expected to reduce TotalEnergies’ majority ownership stake (50.83%) in SunPower.

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Form Energy’s scalable battery storage tech involves rusting and then de-rusting iron as it discharges and charges. Image: Form Energy.

Multi-day battery storage tech startup Form Energy is working with Georgia Power on a potential 15MW/1,500MWh project in the US utility company’s service area. 

Form Energy went public last year with the iron-air chemistry of the battery it had been developing for a number of years in stealth mode. The technology essentially causes iron to rust as it discharges energy then converts the rust back to metallic iron as it charges.  

The startup has claimed this will offer long-duration energy storage at low-cost, storing and continuously discharging energy for up to 100 hours. If those claims are true, it can be cost competitive with thermal power plants and cheaper than other batteries.

In an interview with this site last year, CEO Mateo Jaramillo, a former director of Tesla Energy, said the rechargeable battery could go after markets that high capacity factor resources, like open cycle gas turbines (OCGT) and coal, currently dominate. 

In other words, iron-air could position renewable energy as baseload power for the grid, Jaramillo said. Indeed, before rebranding as Form Energy, the company, spun out of work by noted MIT professor Yet Ming-Chiang, was known as Baseload Renewables. 

Yesterday, the company announced its tie-up with Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, one of the US’ biggest energy utility holding companies. 

Georgia Power and Form Energy are working together to find an optimal application for the 1,500MWh of iron-air battery energy storage systems (BESS) that the technology provider has proposed. 

“At Georgia Power, we know that we must make smart investments and embrace new technologies now to continue to prepare for our state’s future energy landscape. As we continue to grow our renewable portfolio, we believe that energy storage solutions will play an important role in ensuring our customers continue to have a reliable and resilient electric grid for decades to come,” Georgia Power’s chairman, president and CEO Chris Womack said.

“We’re very pleased to work with Georgia Power on this important project and to provide a technology solution that will accelerate the transition to a reliable, renewable and affordable electric grid,” Jaramillo said.

“This collaboration is a testament to Georgia Power’s commitment to innovation and economic solutions that are in the best interest of their customers.”

Coal coming offline leaves baseload opportunity for long-duration storage

This is Form Energy’s second announced collaboration with a US utility company. In May 2020, more than a year before the iron-air chemistry had been made public, Energy-Storage.news reported that Minnesota utility Great River Energy had signed up for a pilot deployment of the technology. 

The pilot with Great River will be a 1MW/150MWh system. It was announced shortly after the utility said it would replace coal in its energy mix with renewables and energy purchased from the market. That included retiring a 1,151MW coal plant by 2023, the year the pilot with Form is scheduled to get underway. 

Georgia Power meanwhile wants to retire over 3,500MW of existing coal-fired generating units by 2028 before closing a remaining two units by 2035. The company is planning to replace that capacity with a mix of natural gas and renewable energy. Its Vogtle Unit 3 and Unit 4 nuclear generation units are scheduled to finally come online after several challenging years of development.

The utility has also begun a build-out of 80MW of battery storage which it will own and operate, and in a recent Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) filed with Georgia’s regulatory Public Service Commission (PSC) requested permission to put a further 1,000MW of BESS into its own and operate portfolio by 2030. 

Form Energy’s decision so far to team up with utilities in two regions historically dependent on coal appears to echo its CEO’s assertion in interviews that the iron-air battery’s opportunity is for delivering applications requiring several hours or days of energy, leaving the power intensive, shorter duration applications in the hands of lithium-ion and other technologies. 

“While solar, wind, and lithium-ion batteries will meet a good part of future electricity demand, clean, firm resources provide significant cost savings and reliability benefits over a renewables and lithium-ion only approach,” Jaramillo said in his contribution to our Year in Review 2021 blog series last month.

“How to go about providing that clean, firm power and procuring it is starting to come into focus, and we expect this will continue to be the case. We believe that there will need to be cost effective solutions to complement lithium-ion and provide storage over a period of multiple days.”

The company is one of the members of the Long-Duration Energy Storage Council, to which Google and Microsoft recently added their names, and Form Energy was one of the single biggest VC investment dealmakers in the energy storage industry last year, raising US$240 million in a Series D funding round which closed in August. Investors included major steel company ArcelorMittal. 

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ACCIONA’s Sishen Solar Park in Dibeng, Northern Cape (South Africa)

ACCIONA Energía has acquired Red-Tailed Hawk, a 350 MW AC/458 MW DC photovoltaic (PV) project near Houston in Wharton County, Texas, from Avondale Solar LLC and Solar Plus Development Inc. AP Solar Holdings LLC, a full service, utility-scale solar power project developer and affiliate of Avondale and Solar Plus, developed the project.

The plant will be the largest photovoltaic installation of ACCIONA Energía and will have an estimated investment of $460 million. The construction phase is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2022, and the plant is expected to be fully operational in 2024. RedTailed Hawk will be connected to the Houston grid, which has a high demand and injection capacity, just like ACCIONA Energía’s nearby photovoltaic plant of Fort Bend, already under construction.

Red-Tailed Hawk will have a capacity of 350 MW AC of photovoltaic solar energy, enough to meet the energy needs of 66,500 Texas households. The project falls under ACCIONA’s Social Impact Management program, which re-invests a portion of the project’s annual revenue to support education, wellness and environmental stewardship programs in the community where it operates.

“We are excited to continue our growth in Texas, where we already have two solar projects under construction and three wind farms,” says Joaquin Castillo, CEO of ACCIONA Energía North America. “Red-Tailed Hawk is a clear demonstration of our commitment to the United States, and it brings us one step closer to our goal to double our installed capacity in the country by 2023.”

Red-Tailed Hawk is the company’s third photovoltaic plant in the United States, where ACCIONA Energía has already begun the construction of two other solar farms: Fort Bend (315 MW DC) in Texas and High Point (125 MW DC) in Illinois. In addition, the company also owns and operates 10 wind farms in the U.S., totaling more than 1 GW of wind capacity, and the 64 MW Nevada Solar One concentrated solar power facility.

Upon completion of the Red-Tailed Hawk, Fort Bend and High Point parks, ACCIONA Energía will have over 2 GW capacity of solar and wind energy in the United States. In total, the company has a portfolio of 4GW of projects under development.

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Lithium-ion utility-scale battery energy storage project in South Korea. Image: Kokam.

Asia-Pacific will overtake North America as the biggest utility-scale energy storage (UES) market by annual installed gigawatts (GW) by 2024-2025, according to a new report by Guidehouse Insights, one to two years later than in the firm’s previous forecasts.

The research firm has revised up its forecasts for global annual installed UES by 2029 from forecasts made 18 months ago, from around 25GW to around 27.5GW with a nudge over 30GW in 2030. It anticipates an average CAGR from 2021-2030 of 25%.

It has also pushed back the timeframe in which Asia-Pacific will overtake North America for annual installations from 2023 previously to 2024-2025. And by 2030, the region’s cumulative 71.4GW installed will make it the largest UES market overall, ahead of North America, the firm says.

“The UES market continues to develop at differing rates in regions and countries around the world,” says Pritil Gunjan, principal research analyst with Guidehouse Insights.

“The clear market leaders are pioneering new applications, business models, and technologies to drive the market forward.”

BloombergNEF also reckons Asia-Pacific will be the largest market by GW of storage by 2030 but notes the Americas will have higher gigawatt-hours (GWh) due to longer durations of storage, as covered by Energy-Storage.news.

It forecasts cumulative installations of energy storage reaching 345GW/1,028GWh by 2030, although clearly has a broader definition than Guidehouse’s.

Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables’s 2030 forecast is similar with ‘close to 1TWh’ expected worldwide. It primarily publishes GWh in its research, leading it to conclude that Asia-Pacific is actually larger in energy storage today and will itself be leapfrogged by the Americas in the mid-2020s. 

On annual energy storage installations in 2030, research houses using gigawatts (GW) are in close agreement.

IHS Markit and Guidehouse both expect it to ‘exceed’ 30GW while BloombergNEF gives a precise and fairly bullish figure of 34.2GW. 

Recent spikes in lithium-ion materials have been a cause for concern in the industry. But Guidehouse forecasts that the average price of lithium-ion cells is expected to decrease over the next 10 years by a further 41%. This is some way off the 80-90% fall seen over the 2010s. The technology accounted for 86% of new UES installations in 2021.

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Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC, through a wholly owned subsidiary, has purchased a 20-MW DC pre-operational solar portfolio from TUUSSO Energy, a Seattle-based utility-scale solar developer. The portfolio’s three 6.7 MW DC projects are Greenbacker’s first assets in Washington.

Located in Kittitas County, the projects – Camas, Penstemon and Urtica – are all expected to reach commercial operation in 2022. Each have long-term power purchase agreements in place with the same investment-grade utility offtaker. When completed, the renewable power produced by the portfolio will contribute to the state’s goal of achieving carbon-neutral electricity production by 2030 and 100% clean power by 2045.

“We’re thrilled to enter a new market with three projects that will deliver cheaper clean power to consumers,” says Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “This expansion is the result of a successful long-term collaboration with the solar development experts at TUUSSO. We’ve been involved with the portfolio since the planning stage, and today we’re very pleased to include it in our fleet of renewables projects driving a clean energy future in the state of Washington.”

To help reach its clean energy goals, Washington has a number of supportive solar policies, including several tax exemptions for qualifying solar energy equipment and a net metering incentive, which allows solar owners to feed any unused energy back into the grid, offsetting their power bills by an equal amount.

“Greenbacker has been a great partner on these projects, and we’re very pleased to reach this milestone,” states Owen Hurd, CEO of TUUSSO. “These projects would not have been possible without Greenbacker’s unwavering commitment, and the collaborative efforts of local landowners, the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, Puget Sound Energy, the Governor’s Office and other individuals. We look forward to beginning commercial operation in 2022 and hope these projects will encourage more solar in our home state in years to come.”

Greenbacker’s fleet of sustainable infrastructure projects comprises over 2.6 GW of generating capacity (including the TUUSSO portfolio and assets that are to be constructed). Since 2016, Greenbacker’s real assets have produced approximately 3.4 million MWh of clean energy.

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Jennifer Daloisio

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides has named Jennifer Daloisio as CEO and executive director of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC). MassCEC is dedicated to accelerating the clean energy and climate solution innovation that is critical to meeting the Commonwealth’s climate goals while building a nation-leading clean energy economy in Massachusetts.

“The Baker-Polito Administration continues to make significant strides in achieving Massachusetts’ net zero emission goal by 2050, and MassCEC will play a critical role in our ongoing efforts to develop clean energy technologies, build local companies, and expand the state’s clean energy workforce,” states Theoharides. “Jennifer has proven time and again to be an effective leader, and I believe under her guidance MassCEC will help to lead the clean energy transition by driving climate change solutions and working to grow a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce.”

Daloisio first joined MassCEC as chief financial officer and treasurer in November 2014 and began serving as interim CEO in September 2021. Prior to joining MassCEC, she practiced public accounting in Boston for 18 years, most recently as a director at Deloitte. During her time in public accounting, she served clients in a variety of industries, including energy, retail and manufacturing. Daloisio also serves as a director on the board of the Northeast Clean Energy Council Institute.

“I am honored to lead MassCEC at this pivotal time as we work to meet the Commonwealth’s ambitious climate goals,” states Daloisio. “Under the Baker-Polito Administration’s leadership, MassCEC’s efforts have led to a thriving clean energy industry in Massachusetts. Driven by entrepreneurship and innovation, this industry is delivering clean, resilient, and cost-effective energy solutions. I look forward to continuing the critical work on our climate challenges while ensuring our communities and residents are able to experience the benefits of the clean energy transition.”

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Fluence has signed an agreement with The AES Corp. to employ the AI-powered Fluence IQ Bidding Application to maximize the value of a 1.1 GW portfolio of solar and energy storage projects in the Western United States. The software will optimize revenues earned by solar and battery assets through participation in wholesale markets.

The Fluence IQ Bidding Application recommends bids into daily and hourly auctions for energy and grid services, anticipating opportunities using advanced forecasting to take advantage of favorable pricing while minimizing exposure to unfavorable pricing.

“We are proud to support AES in maximizing the value of their clean energy assets with our automated bidding software,” says Seyed Madaeni, Fluence’s SVP and chief digital officer. “Storage, solar, and wind owners and operators around the world trust Fluence IQ to manage the complexities of electricity market participation. Today our software supports over 6 GW of contracted or operating assets globally. Our software-as-a-service model enables us to rapidly integrate with customers’ assets, scale across geographies and technology types, and ensure superior performance as markets change.”

Fluence is a developer of AI-enabled bid optimization software for grid-scale storage and renewable generation assets. Fluence’s data scientists, market experts and software engineers apply machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to the challenges of optimization in energy markets, designing tools that enable customers to articulate bidding strategies and balance operational considerations.

“At AES, we are focused on accelerating a carbon-free energy future and helping our customers achieve their clean energy commitments,” states Leo Moreno, AES Clean Energy’s president. “The Fluence IQ Bidding Application will allow us to best meet our customers’ needs with innovative solutions by optimizing assets in real time based on market price forecasts. By implementing and utilizing cutting-edge automated bidding software for our projects, we will be able to improve grid reliability and efficiency while also supporting our customers’ green energy transitions in a safe and reliable way.”

The Fluence IQ Bidding Application is available in two markets: the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) market and the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM). The platform is currently used by energy asset owners in Australia to optimize approximately 20% of all grid-scale wind and solar energy assets bidding into the NEM. Bidding Application customers can increase the revenue they earn in these markets by 40% to 50% for battery-based energy storage and 10% for standalone renewable energy assets.

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Fluence’s digital software capabilities extend into renewables asset optimisation, as well as batteries. Image: Fluence.

Fluence has netted a deal to onboard 1.1GW of solar and storage assets to its digital energy trading and bidding platform with AES Corporation, one of the energy storage technology provider’s parent companies. 

The deal, announced today, covers an AES portfolio of independent power producer (IPP) projects in the Western US which will now use the Fluence IQ Bidding Application.

The artificial intelligence-enabled, machine learning-based software gives recommendations on when and how much to bid into auctions for energy and grid services on an hourly and daily basis. 

It allows asset operators to make real-time decisions based on historical data and forecasting on metrics like expected energy generation and demand, weather and so on, optimising the revenues that can be earned from wholesale market opportunities. 

“By implementing and utilising cutting-edge automated bidding software for our projects, we will be able to improve grid reliability and efficiency while also supporting our customers’ green energy transitions in a safe and reliable way,” Leo Moreno, president of AES Clean Energy said.     

Fluence, launched in 2017 as a joint venture (JV) between AES Corporation and Siemens, went public in an IPO that valued the company at just under US$5 billion last year.

It is best known as an energy storage system integrator and technology provider, with more than 3.6GW of energy storage already deployed or contracted for deployment in 30 different global markets. 

However, Fluence has expanded its reach into the digital and software side of asset management and controls, largely since its acquisition of US energy storage AI and software provider Advanced Microgrid Solutions in 2020.

Since getting a contract to optimise market participation of a 182.5MW/730MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in California a few months later, the company has added capabilities to manage bidding for renewable energy assets as well as battery storage. 

It signed 2,744MW of Fluence IQ digital contracts during 2021.  

Fluence CEO Manuel Perez Dubuc told this site at the beginning of the year that digital applications is now one of the company’s three main business lines, along with energy storage products and services. 

“Significant demand for digital products that optimise assets – both renewable and storage,” was one of Perez Dubuc’s big takeaways of last year in our Year in Review 2021 blog series. 

“The business model and economics of combining energy storage plus services plus digital optimisation is powerful, and we expect interest in that type of combination offering to grow.”

Although the platform is currently only available in the frontrunner California CAISO wholesale market and Australia National Electricity Market (NEM), availability in other regions is expected to come soon, sources close to the company have said. 

Fluence has claimed its bidding platform can create revenue uplifts of 40% to 50% for battery energy storage and about 10% for standalone renewable energy assets in CAISO and NEM. 

“Our software-as-a-service model enables us to rapidly integrate with customers’ assets, scale across geographies and technology types, and ensure superior performance as markets change,” Fluence SVP and chief digital officer Seyed Madaeni said.

Rivals in the energy storage technology provider space have launched similarly-themed offerings, including Wärtsilä’s Intellibidder platform and Tesla’s Autobidder.

Last week, Energy-Storage.news reported that Fluence has entered a long-term strategic partnership with another software-based clean energy company, Pexapark. 

Pexapark has a suite of analytical tools and services offering market intelligence about renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) and energy portfolio risk management optimisation solutions. Fluence customers will gain access to Pexapark’s energy market software while Pexapark will be able to benefit from Fluence’s own energy storage analytics capabilities.

Fluence has offered revenue guidance between US$1.1 billion and US$1.3 billion for 2022. Company executives were due to discuss its latest quarterly earnings today.

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The Nature Conservancy has publicly released a map to help companies and communities identify the most promising places in the central U.S. to quickly develop renewable energy while avoiding impacts to important wildlife and habitats, called Site Renewables Right. The new analysis combines more than 100 GIS layers of wildlife habitat and land use data, helping to find areas where renewable energy development is most likely to avoid important natural areas, permitting delays, and cost overruns.

This first-of-its-kind map puts the latest research and data on the best places to source renewable energy in the hands of companies and communities. The Site Renewables Right map spans 19 states, from Ohio to Wyoming.

All told, Site Renewables Right estimates at least 120,000 square miles, an area larger than Arizona, hold the potential for low-conflict renewable energy siting in the central United States. The analysis suggests these areas could support approximately 1,000 GW of wind capacity – nearly 10 times the current U.S. wind capacity.

“To tackle climate change, we need to transition to renewable energy, and fast. Site Renewables Right finds there is huge opportunity to do this at a large-scale across the central United States, without significant impacts to habitat and wildlife,” says Nathan Cummins, director of renewable energy programs for The Nature Conservancy’s Great Plains Division. “Like any type of development, solar and wind facilities can harm wildlife and habitat if not sited properly. Site Renewables Right provides a way for companies and communities to assess those impacts. It encourages the right conversations to avoid project delays and impacts to the very same wildlife and natural areas we are trying to protect from climate change.”

Identifying low-conflict places for renewable energy in the region is critical, as the central United States is home to North America’s largest and most intact temperate grasslands, among the most altered and least-protected habitats in the world. It is “home on the range” for iconic wildlife such as bison, eagles, pronghorn, deer, and prairie chickens.

“Renewable energy and transmission are critical to reducing emissions and slowing global temperature rise to ensure a cleaner future for both people and wildlife,” states Garry George, director of the Clean Energy Initiative at National Audubon Society. “The Site Renewables Right tool plays an important role in Audubon’s analysis of clean energy planning and individual projects to make sure that conservation and renewables go hand-in-hand.”

With up to 75% of the nation’s large renewable energy projects expected to be developed in the 19-state region by 2050, tools such as Site Renewables Right can help companies, state agencies and communities quickly plan, permit and purchase renewable energy in ways that helps conserve natural areas.

Companies can use Site Renewables Right to meet their climate goals and support wildlife conservation at the same time.

“The Nature Conservancy’s Site Renewables Right map is an excellent example of data capture that helps organizations make informed business decisions when evaluating renewable energy projects,” comments Roberta Barbiera, VP of global sustainability at PepsiCo. “Projects that are properly sited and developed support a sustainable and equitable clean energy transition, a critical lever in achieving our net-zero by 2040 goal and broader pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) ambitions.”

Energy companies are embracing this technology as well to help them achieve climate targets.

“Renewable energy plays a critical role in Xcel Energy’s vision to deliver at least 80% emissions reduction by 2030, and we’re responsibly developing wind and solar resources to protect the environment,” mentions Jeff West, senior director of environmental at Xcel Energy. “We’re committed to working with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy and its Site Renewables Right initiative that researches and supports protecting wildlife and other natural resources as we provide a clean energy future for our customers.”

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