Utility Scale Storage

Aurora Energy Research says it has recorded a sharp increase in green hydrogen projects, with 90% of them in early phases of development, while E.ON says that Germany’s hydrogen ramp-up is stuck due to an investment backlog.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has issued its first report on the importance of battery energy storage technology in the energy transition. It has found that tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 would require 1,500 GW of battery storage.

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have identified a high-energy, high-power hybrid sodium-ion battery capable of charging in just a few seconds. The system integrates anode materials typically used in batteries with cathodes suitable for supercapacitors.

Baud Resources, a clean-tech startup, has developed a gravity energy storage mechanism that uses locally available materials such as sand and industrial waste as its payload. The company is building a 100 MWh pilot plant that will reportedly offer a levelized cost of storage of around INR 2.5 ($0.03)/kWh.

The Spanish authorities are seeking 1.3 GW of clean energy and storage projects to provide flexibility, stability and security to the national electricity supply.

Denmark will procure at least 6 GW of offshore wind power capacity to potentially produce hydrogen, while Orlen says it will use a European Commission grant to build 16 hydrogen refueling stations in Poland.

The use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to create nanoscale crystal structures to attract hydrogen molecules could drastically improve the energy efficiency of storing and transporting the energy carrier.

Norwegian PV developer Scatec ASA has switched on a hybrid solar and battery storage facility in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.

Linde says its White Martins unit will build a second electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen in Brazil, while Sunfire has launched a front-end engineering and design study (FEED) for a new 500 MW hydrogen project.

Netherlands-based developer Giga Storage has obtained the irrevocable permit for the construction of a 600 MW/2,400 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Belgium.