Grids & Integration

UN delegates are meeting in New York to negotiate further realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. One of the goals is to ‘Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.’ And Bloomberg NEF argues that thanks to new technology this goal is more feasible than ever, and that delegates should focus on building financial and regulatory frameworks to enable large scale micro-grid development.

Gogla has released a report showing the positive economic effects of deploying small-scale pay-as-you-go solar systems in off-grid regions. More than half of the survey’srespondents reported having increased economic activity, with many of those starting new businesses or significantly increasing their household income.

Following the U.K. government’s announcement to significantly increase EV numbers on its roads, a call for applications was announced. Ramping up EV numbers does necessitate a convenient and low-cost charging infrastructure. To achieve this, public administration offices will fund trial phases of promising concepts. Businesses can apply until August 29.

The virtual power plant (VPP) solutions provider connected its product with a 2 MW storage system in Belgium. It will be the country’s first storage system to take part in the grid’s frequency control reserve.

The project connects four to six households, and lets dwellers pre-purchase daily access to electricity using a mobile app. A successful trial phase has just been finished and the executing association, Nanoé Développement has set new goals to reach in the near future.

InnoEnergy has launched its energy management platforms with local partners in Sweden. The platform would help integrate renewable energy resources through battery storage management algorithms. An expansion into other markets is planned already.

EU member states have reached a consensus regarding the prohibition of discriminatory taxes for self-produced energy, in negotiations on the renewable energy directive. The indiscriminate regulation covers systems of up to 30 kW capacity. Furthermore, double taxation through the additional charges on energy storage is to be avoided.

The City of Sydney has installed the first large scale battery storage system to be located within the Sydney metropolitan are. Transgrid and the City collaborated on the project, which sees 500 kWh of batteries coupled with around 450 kWp of rooftop PV.

The German-based company delivered 26 battery inverters for lithium-ion storage with a capacity of over 50MWh. The facility is one of the largest of its kind and will provide reserve capacity to compensate for deviations in the power supply.

Finnish-based energy-solution provider, Wärtsilä has signed an agreement with automobile producer, Hyundai Motor Group to establish a commercial partnership for the use of second-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries in storage solutions.