Battery storage

Although PV trails wind and nuclear in terms of its anticipated future footprint, the opposition party’s attempt to outflank left of center rivals on climate change has resulted in one of the world’s most ambitious national roadmaps towards a zero-carbon future.

New company NGEN appears to have introduced the Powerpack battery to central Europe in a €15 million, 12.6 MW/22.6 MWh project in the northwest of the country which is the first of two planned utility scale systems due for completion by July.

GE Renewable Energy has been chosen to supply a massive battery for the 200 MW Solar River Project in South Australia.

With the region of Styria considering making PV mandatory on all new buildings, the nation’s Climate Fund will support PV and storage projects in agriculture and forestry. Applications can be submitted by November 2020 – or until the pot is empty.

A consortium led by gas network owner Enwave Australia is developing Australia’s first industrial renewable energy microgrid at a new 120-hectare business park in Nambeelup, Western Australia.

On August 9, a thunderstorm caused 1.5 GW of generation capacity to go offline within seconds in the U.K. The incident caused millions of households to temporarily lose power but the situation could have been considerably worse if not for the country’s battery storage reserves.

The managing director of London-based energy infrastructure company Statera has told pv magazine a clean energy grid in the U.K. will require as much flexible gas plant capacity as battery storage.

An energy conference in West Bengal heard of a proposed 800 MW solar project in the state on top of a 900 MW scheme being carried out with Japan. But the chairman of power giant NTPC said artificial intelligence and digitization should be used to extend coal burning for decades.

Australian Vanadium and Metrowest Power Systems have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to look at energy storage opportunities in Australia using vanadium redox flow battery technology.

A report produced by an AI and automation market research company says an anticipated boom in the European storage market – driven by a desire to reduce carbon emissions – will attract producers as demand outside China tails away.