The new system will give ESO control room engineers pre-selected lists of units to choose from in order to meet a network requirement. Reducing the number of manual instructions required from the control room is set to greatly reduce the time taken to instruct balancing mechanism units.

This optimisation will enable control room engineers to send hundreds of instructions to smaller Balancing Mechanism Units, allowing battery storage “play a more active role in balancing the network.”

To read the full version of this story visit Current.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 9th annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 20-21 February 2024. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place. Visit the official site for more info.

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The factory will have an annual production capacity for 33MWh of electrolyte.

The plant has been supported with a grant from the Australian federal government under its Modern Manufacturing Initiative. AVL was selected in 2021 for a AU$3.69 million (US$2.48 million) award alongside seven other companies or projects focused on developing Australian resources and critical minerals sector value chains. The company today said the majority of that money went towards the new plant’s development.

It was built by Western Australia-headquartered engineering group Primero. Primero has been handed a certificate of practical completion by AVL. That means the Primero construction team can now hand the plant over for commissioning, which is expected to be completed early next year.  

AVL is also developing primary vanadium production and processing capabilities, building a processing hub aimed at producing 13,000 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide flake a year, and is then looking to build a vanadium mine, both also in Western Australia. The latter has been designated a project of national importance and is being fast-tracked by the government.

Access to electrolyte holds key to market

While vanadium redox flow batteries are considered a proven technology for delivering large capacity energy storage resources with fewer limits on storage duration and cycle life than lithium-ion, VRFBs are more expensive to buy upfront, and flow battery manufacturers do not have as well established supply chains to leverage as the more common lithium technologies.   

Being able to access sufficient vanadium electrolyte if demand for VRFBs takes off as some have anticipated may be a challenge, and the electrolyte is commonly thought to be the most expensive component of a flow battery. In a Guest Blog for Energy-Storage.news earlier this year, Samantha McGahan, marketing manager for AVL, noted that the supply of electrolyte “is now playing the most important role in the batteries’ market growth”.

The major producer is currently China, although the highest purity vanadium electrolyte is produced in Arkansas, US, by US Vanadium. McGahan pointed out that the Arkansas facility’s annual production capacity is 4 million litres per year, equivalent to about 60MWh of flow battery capacity, slightly less than twice that of AVL’s new factory.

AVL has licensed its electrolyte production technology from US Vanadium, with AVL holding exclusive rights to the process in Australia and New Zealand. AVL claimed that using US Vanadium’s proven process helped to de-risk the project, while raw materials will initially be sourced from the US maker’s Arkansas plant until AVL’s own extraction facilities are up and running.

AVL is not alone in establishing electrolyte production in Australia: in June, Vecco Group, another company developing both flow battery electrolyte production and primary vanadium extraction facilities, opened a plant in Queensland.

Attended by state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the opening event took place at Vecco’s AU$26 million Townsville Vanadium Battery Manufacturing Facility, just three months after the start of construction was officially announced in March.

The Townsville plant is expected to be considerably larger than the AVL plant in Perth, with an initial 175MWh annual production capacity of liquid electrolyte made with vanadium pentoxide, ramping up to as much as 350MWh.

Elsewhere in the world, other vanadium electrolyte processing plants are in development or construction from primary vanadium producers Bushveld Minerals and Largo Resources in South Africa and Brazil respectively.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 1st Energy Storage Summit Australia, on 21-22 May 2024 in Sydney, NSW. Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.

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The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service have issued proposed regulations to provide guidance for the advanced manufacturing production credit established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The new Section 45X provides a credit for the production (within the United States) and sale of certain eligible components, including solar and wind energy components, inverters, qualifying battery components and applicable critical minerals.

The proposed regulations affect taxpayers who produce and sell eligible components and intend to claim the credit.

The guidance provides rules for the production of eligible components and sale to unrelated persons, as well as special rules that apply to sales between related persons. The proposed regulations also include rules for a taxpayer to make an election to treat sales to related persons as made to unrelated persons, known as the “related person election.”

Finally, the proposed regulations provide definitions of eligible components, rules related to calculating the credit, as well as specific recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

More information about IRA guidance can be found on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 page on IRS.gov.

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MET Group’s first Spain solar park, Puerto Real 3, has started commercial operations. 

The company acquired a 100% stake in the project at a ready-to-build status last year. Puerto Real 3 is situated in the Andalusia region, known for its high solar irradiation levels. The solar power plant incorporates the latest technology and has an expected lifetime of at least 30 years, says MET Group.

“We currently operate six solar power plants in Hungary and two wind farms in Bulgaria,” says MET Group’s Christian Hürlimann. “Other diverse projects are under development or already being implemented in Italy, Germany, Romania, Poland and Switzerland. The green asset portfolio now consists of around 400 MW in operation, including the Puerto Real 3 project we have just completed.”

The 50 MW project site covers an area of 130 ha, with more than 88.000 solar panels installed.

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Jared Haines

Catalyze has announced it will be heading operations at two Lancaster, N.Y. solar sites, totaling over 12 MW.

The first site is a 6.63 MW community solar project with Finger Lakes Health as the anchor commercial utility off-taker. The second 6.06 MW site will offer remote net crediting, providing an additional opportunity for the off-takers. While the sites are co-located, they connect to the New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) distribution infrastructure by two different interconnection points. 

“We’re proud to support New York’s efforts in expanding solar energy access to commercial and mass market energy users that may not have the option of putting solar on their own building,” says Jared Haines, CEO of Catalyze. “This project further demonstrates renewable energy’s role in supporting local economies, and we will continue to look for opportunities that both accelerate the clean energy transition and create value from unused space.”

AC Power initially developed the two projects. Catalyze now owns and operates the two solar sites on what was formerly a landfill.

“We’re proud to support New York’s efforts in expanding solar energy access to commercial and mass market energy users that may not have the option of putting solar on their own building,” says Jared Haines, CEO of Catalyze. “This project further demonstrates renewable energy’s role in supporting local economies, and we will continue to look for opportunities that both accelerate the clean energy transition and create value from unused space.”

Ampion, a community solar subscription management company, enrolled Finger Lakes Health, the town of Hector’s municipal services and other subscribers to the sites.

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Jeffrey Peck

iSun has closed on an $8 million senior secured loan with Decathlon Capital Partners to fully refinance the prior senior secured convertible facility which had become dilutive.

The transaction carries a 48-month term and is a straight debt instrument, avoiding any equity dilution. Debt service payments begin at a smaller initial level and increase over the course of the loan in several step-ups, tracking the company’s revenue growth. 

Funds will be utilized as follows:

$6 million for the retirement of existing Senior Secured Convertible Notes previously issued to Anson Investment Master Fund, LP and Anson East Master Fund, LP;

$1.5 million to the balance sheet for working capital;

and $0.5 million in transaction fees.

“This is a huge milestone for iSun, and I want to say ‘thank you’ to our new financing partners at Decathlon and to our employees for all their hard work in getting this across the finish line,” says Jeffrey Peck, iSun’s chairman and CCO. “This debt facility validates our commitment to accelerating the transition to clean energy as we continue our fight against climate change while providing an opportunity to strengthen our balance sheet..”

England & Company acted as exclusive advisor and placement agent for the financing and Merritt & Merritt acted as the company’s legal counsel.

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Ormat Technologies said this week (12 December) that it has signed a 15-year energy storage service agreement (ESSA) with SDCP for its Pomona 2 battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Los Angeles.

Ormat is best known as a renewable energy developer working on geothermal projects, but opened an energy storage division in 2020, targeting growth opportunities in the sector and setting itself a target to deploy 500MW by 2025.

Pomona 2 is a 20MW/40MWh asset which went online in July. Ormat CEO Doron Blachar said the long-term contract would “help to balance our merchant portfolio and support more stable and profitable revenues for the storage segment,” describing energy storage as a “ unique, multi-year growth sector”.

SDCP is one of California’s community choice aggregator (CCA) non-profit energy suppliers. Ormat has in place a number of similar contracts for storage projects with CCAs, including another signed with SDCP a few months ago.

In September Ormat Technologies signed a multi-year supply deal with battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech which was linked to the price of key raw material lithium carbonate, for up to 750MWh of BESS.

Wärtsilä supplies integrated BESS to co-located Florida project

Wärtsilä will supply a 15MW/30MWh BESS solution to Florida utility Tampa Electric Company (TECO) for co-location with a 25MW solar PV plant.

The Finland-headquartered technology company said the deal was booked in March 2023 but announced it publicly earlier this week. The project is scheduled to go into operation in the latter part of 2024 in Dover, an unincorporated community in Florida’s Hillsborough County.

TECO has pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and claimed to have already lowered emissions 53% relative to 1999 levels. Solar PV is set to reach 14% of its energy mix during this year, representing 1,250MW of installed PV capacity, but the BESS ordered from Wärtsilä will be just the second utility-scale storage system on its networks.

The BESS will perform applications including resource adequacy, frequency regulating ancillary services and solar load-shifting.

Wärtsilä Energy, ranked among the leading global energy storage system integrators, is currently the subject of a strategic review by parent company Wärtsilä, through which options including full or partial divestment are being considered.

Canadian Solar latest to launch 5MWh container

Vertically-integrated solar PV company Canadian Solar has launched a new grid-scale battery storage product which features up to 2.35MW of power and 5MWh energy capacity in a 20ft container.

E-Storage, the energy storage arm of Canadian Solar’s manufacturing subsidiary CSI Solar, is launching SolBank 3.0, which as the name suggests is the third iteration of the company’s SolBank BESS solution.

With higher energy densities being achieved through improvements in both the battery and non-battery components of energy storage systems, SolBank 3.0 is the latest in a series of launches by major BESS integrators and manufacturers to approach the 5MWh capacity mark, with others including EVE Energy and Hithium.

From the previous generation, SolBank 3.0 represents a 45% increase in product-level capacity and a reduction in required time for commissioning of around 40%, while an optimised thermal management system means there is a reduction in auxiliary power consumption of about 30%.  

Canadian Solar has announced a number of big BESS supply deals in recent weeks, including involvement in a 1,000MWh project in the UK and a 480MWh project in Australia for infrastructure investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), and a 200MWh deal with Engie for two more UK projects.

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Rob Haddock

S-5! announced an additional 21 new company patents issued this year, bringing the total number of issuances since the company’s first product was patented in 1991 to 133.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office most recently granted S-5! patent number 11,808,043 for its new bonding clip, which bonds and grounds standing seam metal roof panels, if the roof is energized.

Other patents were issued to S-5! this year by the following global patent agencies including the PVKIT 2.0 solar solution in Canada, as well as GripperFix utility mounting solution and WindClamp 2X external seam clamp in the U.S.

“As our international business expands, including the growth of solar worldwide due to global initiatives for clean energy, S-5! continues to be at the forefront of innovation, providing our channel partners with trusted, tested and engineered manufactured metal roof attachments,” says Rob Haddock, S-5! founder and CEO.

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Jürgen Reinert

SMA Solar Technology expects to expand its manufacturing into the U.S., with a projected production start of 2025. 

SMA is currently working with potential partners to evaluate the most strategic manufacturing location and approach. The company says it is planning for 3.5 GW of capacity per year at the new site, with the potential to expand. 

“With this step we will significantly strengthen our market share in the U.S. and set the course for SMA’s future growth,” says SMA CEO Jürgen Reinert. “The global demand for climate-friendly solar solutions and the urgent need for more energy efficiency continues to increase. This is reflected in our order books, and with our broad portfolio of solutions we are ideally positioned to benefit from this decision.”

“This strategic decision will energize SMA’s growth and supply solutions to a market seeking domestically sourced products,” says Jeppe Johansen, managing director of SMA America. “We applaud the Biden Administration working in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the IRS for their bold policies to stimulate clean energy manufacturing in the U.S. The potential for our market is vast and local manufacturing is one strategic piece of our growth trajectory.”

SMA’s expected manufacturing expansion coincides with the construction of the company’s GW factory, allowing it to double its Germany production capacity in Germany to 40 GW per year. 

U.S. site selection is anticipated in the first half of next year. 

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The project is expected to come online in 2025 and is the company’s first in the state, which is the largest state for battery energy storage system (BESS) deployments in the US.

Its proprietary battery chemistry is based around the oxidisation (i.e. rust) of iron that can store electrical energy and discharge it at 100 hours or more cost-effectively, the company has claimed.

The grant funding has come from the CEC’s US$380 million long-duration energy storage (LDES) programme which it launched last year with the first project going to a project combining vanadium redox flow (VRFBs) and zinc-hybrid batteries.

After voting to approve the grant yesterday, David Hochschild, CEC chair commented: “Long-duration and multi-day energy storage are critical to achieving California’s clean energy goals.”

“Just like the state has done through its pioneering policies and investments to rapidly scale project deployment and jobs in the solar, lithium-ion battery storage, and other industries, California is continuing to accelerate the path to market for emerging technologies that are critically needed to address climate change, air pollution, and equity in our state and globally.”

Form Energy has also won grant funding from similar LDES programmes at the Federal level and in New York in the past few months. The Federal programme funding is going to Form’s two, 1GWh projects with utility Dominion Energy in Minnesota and Colorado, which were its first major projects when announced in January 2023.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 5th Energy Storage Summit USA, 19-20 March 2024 in Austin, Texas. Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.

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