Utility Scale Storage

Dutch renewables company Photon Energy is teaming up with Australian technology provider and project developer RayGen Resources to develop a facility that will deliver 300 MW of solar generation and 3.6 GWh of energy storage. The technology used is claimed to have an LCOE of less than $0.072/kWh.

Lazard’s newly released Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis 15.0 and Storage 7.0 reports that solar and wind are the most competitive electricity sources in the US energy market. According to the investment bank’s 2021 study, gas combined cycle has the lowest LCOE of $0.045-$0.074/kWh among the conventional sources and that of coal and nuclear is $0.065-$0.152/kWh and $0.131-$0.204/kWh, respectively.

Developed by Italian dry bottom ash handling system provider Magaldi Power, the system produces green thermal energy — steam or hot air — which can be used directly in industrial plants or for the generation of electricity using steam turbines. The system consists of a blower, a fluidization air blowing system, a fluidization air suction system, an air filter and fan, an air pre-heater, and an integrated thermal energy storage module. Silica sands are the system’s storage media.

Proposed by Egyptian scientists, the proposed GIS technique considers a pumped-hydro project’s head and elevation difference, the penstock-length distance from the base plant, the site’s slopes and slope of the ground surface, the distance to the national grid and road networks, and the soil suitability. It also takes into account constraints such as land use and restrictions.

The French energy company blamed interconnection costs along with global supply chain and production issues, and tariff and trade disputes.

The lack of an incentive regime for battery projects and the like – whether a fixed feed-in tariff or market-driven contracts-for-difference program – is likely to see the COP26 host miss its 100%-clean-power-by-2035 commitment, according to K2 Management.

London-based – and apparently Moby Dick-inspired – Queequeg Renewables has revealed plans for a slew of solar projects and a string of battery plants which will provide grid balancing services.

Austrian researchers have demonstrated a chemical looping system can be retrofitted into biogas plants. It is said the new tech can produce high-purity hydrogen for fuel cells on an industrial scale. The scientists concerned said their system could produce hydrogen, on a decentralized basis, for €5/kg.

Newcastle University engineers have patented a thermal storage material that can store large amounts of renewable energy as heat for long periods. MGA Thermal is now manufacturing the thermal energy storage blocks as storage for large-scale solar systems and to repurpose coal-fired power stations.

A U.S. research team has sought to improve the way aluminum hydride is used for hydrogen storage. The material was nanoconfined in a framework that is claimed to be able to overcome the challenge represented by the thermodynamic limitation of hydrides in storing the clean fuel.