Energy Management Systems

The “next-generation” utility has presented a micro-grid at a Togolese village. The concept can be reproduced and power schools, small businesses and homes alike. Even an internet connection is part of the project. Despite the World Bank and other institutions reaching out to provide capital for electricity supply, Germany-based Mobisol GmbH is currently in self-administered insolvency proceedings.

The state grid operator has shown that for most of the period between 1:50 PM and 3:05 PM on Sunday, more carbon emission-free electricity than users demanded was generated in its region.

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems has demonstrated combining solar generation with agricultural activity is now not only viable at lower costs, but may be particularly suitable for arid regions.

The storage supplier will set up a mixed-asset virtual power plant that will initially aggregate up to 2 MW of capacity as the first phase of a planned smart local energy system in southern England. Moixa aims to eventually scale the VPP up to 17 MW.

The Consortium for Battery Innovation has produced an interactive, online map highlighting the location of lead-battery storage installations worldwide.

The state grid operator reported breaking 11 GW of instantaneous power from large scale solar on Saturday at 1.50pm. Just 20 minutes earlier, the CAISO grid was exporting a record 1.5 GW of electricity, and last Wednesday it hit 93% clean electricity for a moment.

First-quarter data from Green Energy Markets shows double the uptake of small-scale rooftop solar on the same period last year as record numbers of residential and business consumers seek to reduce electricity bills. A tendency for installations to increase toward the year end suggests more than 2 GW of solar will hit the rooftops this year. But could this become a cautionary tale?

The pending electric vehicle transition is all set to offer on-site self-consumption to the already compelling business case for solar carports, says French renewables developer Neoen.

Solar could meet approximately 68% of global energy demand with other renewables making up the rest, according to a new report. A 100% renewable energy system could also create 22 million solar jobs by 2050, the study claims. Keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees C, though, would require FITs for projects up to 40 MW in capacity, auctions for bigger systems, removing fossil fuel and nuclear subsidies and providing more education and R&D and less red tape.

The transition for utility scale storage from offering short duration, high value grid services to the world of long duration energy peaking could spell the end of fossil fuel backup generation within five years.