Utility Scale Storage

The Solar Energy Corporation of India has invited bids for the development of an aggregate capacity of 20 MW of lagoon-based floating PV with 60 MWh of battery-based storage systems in the union territory of Lakshadweep.

The 23 MW/12.6 MWh facility is near Mafraq, in northern Jordan. The storage system will offer peak shaving to increase grid stability while enhancing solar output.

A new approach could extract carbon from polyethylenes in a cost-competitive way, that could be scaled up. Researchers have also performed electric testing with the extracted carbon and found it suitable for use as anodes in Li-ion batteries, among multiple other uses.

In the Infrastructure Outlook 2050 study, Gasunie and TenneT say ambitious EU climate targets can only be reached through deeper integration of the power and gas infrastructure, and with power-to-gas technologies supporting renewables. The most bullish scenario for solar states how storage and power-to-hydrogen capacity could be crucial to meet seasonality in supply and demand.

Australia’s Smart Energy Council welcomed yesterday’s launch by the NSW Labor party of a policy to drive 7 GW of renewable energy into the National Energy Market by 2030 as “the biggest rollout of renewable energy in Australia’s history”.

An initial tender on Palau was won by French energy company Engie, through its unit Engie Electro Power Systems. The 100 MW microgrid project consisted of coupling 35 MW of solar and 45 MWh of storage with diesel generation.

The Energy Storage Europe conference is nearing and pv magazine is featuring the top ten developments in the field as our Energy Storage Highlights, selected by an independent jury of experts. Having kicked off with a hydrogen fuel cell based approach to self-sufficient living in Switzerland, we continue our ranking with DNV GL’s bid to map the vast battery storage landscape, helping buyers make decisions.

In May, oil giant Shell invested in German manufacturer Sonnen. Now the 112-year-old company wants to fully acquire the business, subject to Germany’s monopoly authorities. Sonnen said it hopes the deal will accelerate its growth by expanding its market reach and capacity.

Given its ambitious goal of achieving 175 GW of renewable power generation capacity by 2022 – and push for electric mobility – the world’s second most populous nation presents a potentially huge investment opportunity.

Clean energy analyst BloombergNEF says the U.S. installed 11.7 GWdc last year – 15% more capacity than earlier estimated – as well as 292 MW of batteries. Despite new solar and wind growth, and coal closures, however, emissions still rose from 2017 levels on the back on increased gas use.