battery

German production equipment provider Schmid and Saudi chemical group Sabic are planning to begin activities at a new factory in Saudi Arabia, with production being expected to begin in 2021.

Winning developer Renew Power can opt for solar, wind or hybrid plants along with energy storage systems to ensure round-the-clock power supply.

Scottish start-up Gravitricity is planning a project to store surplus power from renewables at Port of Leith. A 250 kW, grid-connected prototype facility will have its ability to stabilize the network tested. The system involves a 16m rig over a 150-1500m shaft.

A German-Israeli research group has gathered for three days to discuss which storage technologies may outperform lithium-ion batteries in the future. They concluded that there is no such a thing as a “post Li‐ion” era in sight. They recommended a “side‐by‐side” approach for multiple technologies in different applications, as well as the hybridization of technologies. The group highlighted the strong potential of redox flow storage, which in their view may outperform Li‐ion, although only for stationary applications.

The holy grail of energy storage has always been low-cost and long-duration. Form Energy intends on deploying a 1 MW/150 MWh system with a Minnesota utility before 2023, an unprecedented energy storage duration if successful.

Scientists in Spain have assessed the viability of ‘power-to-heat-to-power storage’ in a residential solar installation in Madrid. The technology could reduce electricity bills by more than 70% and would have a 12 to 15-year payback period, according to the researchers.

Researchers have studied the potential of using compressed air to store renewable energy in offshore saline aquifers. The technology could hold 77-96 TWh for up to two months in British waters, although the costs have proven hard to pin down.

Tesla finished the first quarter of 2020 with a positive GAAP net income, driven by the profitability of the Model Y. However, the story was not so bright for solar, storage or corporate governance.

A study from Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology states decarbonization of desalination could help achieve a levelized cost of water of €0.32-1.66 per cubic meter. Solar and storage are expected to play a decisive role.

Matt Harper, chief commercial officer of newly-merged British-Canadian vanadium redox flow battery business Invinity Energy Systems has spoken to pv magazine about the VS3-022 Battery Unit it is marketing for grid scale solar-plus-storage projects and why it may be a better bet than lithium-ion.