Utility Scale Storage

The state-owned UAE clean power developer appears to have quadrupled its previously announced ambition today as it announced its $20 billion renewables portfolio rose from 10.7GW to more than 15GW last year.

Through two different procurement exercises, the archipelago’s Central Electricity Board seeks to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.

Previously announced plans by the solar developer to pay a deposit to secure gas from a connected business expired on Friday and the company has now said it will focus on a form of the energy carrier powered by renewables.

Starting from this year, the scheme will also be open to green hydrogen facilities that are directly linked to wind or solar parks, and industrial electrification projects based on hybrid glass furnaces.

Vattenfall, SSAB and LKAB have reached the halfway point in the construction of a rock cavern storage facility in a coastal city in northern Sweden. The 100-cubic-meter facility is being constructed 30 meters below ground and will begin storing green hydrogen next year.

An international research group has developed a solid oxide fuel cell that may be used in vehicles. The monolith device has an active cell area of around 18 cm2 and was built through common manufacturing processes. It was found to achieve a high power density of 5.6 kW/L, which the scientists said is comparable with that of the best performing fuel cells based on ceramic anodes.

Australia’s biggest power producer AGL has secured planning approval for a 500MW/2GWh grid-connected utility scale battery to be developed at the site of its coal-fired Liddell power plant in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

Elsewhere, the Danish government announced a plan to deploy up to 6 GW of electrolyzer capacity by 2030 and Germany and Norway agreed to conduct a feasibility study on large-scale hydrogen transport, including via pipeline.

A Dutch-Danish research group has provided a proof of concept for the use of Blatter radicals in electrochemical energy-storage applications. It tested these compounds in a small electrochemical cell that was found to remain stable over 275 charge/discharge cycles.

For short-term storage in a 100% renewables grid, thermal energy storage located at concentrating solar power plants could compete with batteries, according to a new study using an idealized grid model. Seasonal storage needs could best be met with power-to-gas-to-power technology.