Solar+storage

An Inter-ministerial committee of the Greek government last week labeled a photovoltaic project, combining lithium batteries and an electrolyzer, a strategic investment meaning it can take advantage of fast licensing processes.  

Grasshopper, a Canada-based renewable energy developer, will use $48 million of financing to support four solar+storage projects in Massachusetts.

For developers and investors who are ready to start talking about solar+storage projects, there are some interesting and not so straightforward decisions to be made on the sizing of assets. Siobhán Green, lead on battery storage in continental Europe for Everoze, looks at the different approaches to sizing and how to choose between them. In particular, she assesses the ‘lifetime’ factors to dimensioning and discusses how to plan for degradation and potential through-life resets to the revenue stack.

Annual battery storage installations will exceed 10 GW/28 GWh in 2021, following a particularly strong year in 2020, despite the challenges created by the global pandemic, writes IHS Markit analyst Mike Longson. Combined solar and storage will be a core focus for new deployment in 2021, as the front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter energy storage markets are both expected to grow significantly in the months ahead.

A few years ago, fluctuations and complex storage solutions were the main factors hampering solar growth. Today, the sector is poised to leverage technologies to make a decisive leap. With a sustainable future around the corner, it will be innovative battery storage that will drive solar PV to become more powerful and efficient than ever before. But what are the latest developments in PV and energy storage, and which innovations are poised to transform the industry?

pv magazine’s updated market overview now lists details for 54 suppliers offering 198 systems, components, or services in the field of large-scale and commercial power storage. Many of the market players highlighted a range of particularly sought-after business models in the information they provided. The most frequently cited in the survey was a business model that increases the share of self-consumption in combination with solar PV plants and peak-load capping.

The U.S. storage market is booming. But while the solar PV industry has come a long way, with decades of deployment to look back on, battery energy storage is still coming of age. And when things move fast, things can go wrong. At pv magazine’s Virtual Roundtables USA event in late-November 2020, experts raised the challenges that accompany opportunities for battery storage. A move toward greater maturity allows some lessons to be learned from solar – leveling up energy storage will require commitment from the sector with standards, testing, and quality performance.

In pv magazine’s second roundtable session, Advanced technologies, the U.S. storage market came under the spotlight – in particular, the lessons that can be learned from solar as the market moves towards greater maturity. Also under discussion was the trend among PV manufacturers to producing ever larger cells and modules in the continuous drive to bring down LCOE. But is big necessarily better?

Black Hills Energy is seeking 200 MW of solar power or wind plus energy storage capacity as part of a request for proposal, driven by summer 2019 bids for solar+storage of $0.024/kWh and $0.036/kWh and looming cuts to the 30% investment tax credit.