Energy Storage

The government of Mauritania and renewable energy developer CWP Global have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a 30 GW power-to-X project. Danish power company Ørsted, and Copenhagen’s utility, Hofor, entered into an agreement that will secure green power in the framework of the wider, 1.3 GW, Green Fuels for Denmark project.

European researchers have estimated the potential of floating PV deployment at Africa’s existing hydropower reservoirs which exceed 5 MW in size, by using satellite images and hydropower reservoir data. Under the most likely scenario presented in the study, utility scale floating solar may reach a capacity of more than 20 GW by using less than 1% of the water surface area at 108 hydropower plants spread across the continent, assuming a capex of €0.40/W.

The Clean Energy Council says investors are shying away from large renewable projects in Australia, as government intervention has created uncertainty and grid risks are tough to quantify – even with a prized connection agreement in hand.

Total shareholders approved plans last week to change its name and logo to TotalEnergies. It is now heavily focusing on investments in renewable energy and hydrogen.

Italy’s Fincantieri has joined forces with Faist Group to produce lithium-ion batteries. Through the joint venture Power4Future, the two companies want to reach a production capacity of 2 GWh over the next five years.

Queensland’s worst power outage in decades has triggered calls for the introduction of more utility-scale batteries to provide security for the Australian state’s electricity network.

The German Federal Ministry of Economics and the German Federal Ministry of Transport selected 62 large-scale hydrogen projects to receive €8 billion in government funding. Furthermore, 11 projects have been selected in the framework of H2 Hub Airport, a call for expressions of interest to contribute to the surge of the hydrogen airport ecosystem in France. French energy company Total acquired a 20% stake in Hysetco, a French company developing hydrogen mobility in cities.

The replacement program could cost around $350 million. New batteries will incorporate manufacturing process improvements.

A new study commissioned by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation has indicated renewable hydrogen is already approaching cost competitiveness with that produced using fossil fuels but some in the industry say the government-owned green bank’s figures are much too conservative.

The storage system is based on fluorenone derivative anolytes. Despite its small dimensions, the device is claimed to have an energy density that is more than twice that of the vanadium batteries in use today.