German utility-scale PV tender concludes with lowest price of €0.0469/kWh
Germany wrapped up another oversubscribed tender for large-scale solar last week, as well as an innovation tender for storage-linked PV projects.
Sungrow launches high-voltage battery and hybrid inverter for residential applications
The Chinese manufacturer will begin selling its new products in Australia and Europe. The hybrid inverter has an efficiency of up to 98.4% and the lithium iron phosphate battery features a storage capacity between 9.6 kWh and 102.4 kWh, depending on the number of modules.
Tesla touts the market strength of its Powerwall energy storage product
In an earnings call, the company said that storage deployments grew 71% YoY and solar installations were its strongest in 2.5 years.
Enabling aluminum in batteries
Scientists in South Korea and the UK demonstrated a new cathode material for an aluminum-ion battery, which achieved impressive results in both specific capacity and cycle life. The material allows researchers to better take advantage of aluminum’s energy storage characteristics, and produce batteries with much higher capacity.
Battery testing builds certainty
Owners and operators of energy storage systems, as well as investors, need transparent ways to evaluate battery performance. They need certainty that the selected batteries for their ESS projects will perform reliably, have predictable life expectancies, and meet projected revenue and contractual obligations over their lifetimes. The economic viability of entire projects depend on this confidence, writes Michael Kleinberg of DNV.
GM and LG Energy plan a $2.3 billion electric vehicle battery plant
The automaker’s future Ultium-powered EVs are designed for Level 2 and DC fast charging. Most will have 400V battery packs and up to 200 kW fast charging capability.
Using PET waste bottles to make batteries
Scientists in the U.S. claim to have successfully upcycled PET waste bottles into an electrochemical active-carbon material that functions as a double‐layer supercapacitor substance. They said that this achievement may lay the ground for the production of more sustainable batteries. Devices built with the proposed technique would not store as much energy as lithium-ion batteries but they could charge much faster.
Battery storage 30% cheaper than gas peaker plants for firming renewables
The contest is over. Faster, cheaper, more flexible than gas turbines – battery energy storage must be the future peaking energy service provider of choice, according to a new paper by Australia’s Clean Energy Council.
PV-powered ‘megawall’ to charge electric bus fleet
Australian public transport operator Transdev will use a “green mobility megawall” comprising 250 solar modules and 10 Tesla Powerwall units to charge two new electric buses in Brisbane.
Taiwan joins the gigafactory club
Taiwan Cement is planning to build a US$352 million EV battery factory in southern Taiwan. The 1.8 GW facility will produce high-charge-discharge nickel ternary batteries.
