Storage

The Dendo Drive House includes a solar system, residential storage and a bi-directional charger. Mitsubishi says it reduces electric bills and fuel costs by enabling battery charging from the grid at night, when power prices are cheaper, and can also draw power from an electric vehicle.

A budget of €60 million has been allocated for this year, in 2020 and 2021 it will rise to €70 million. Applications for the incentives can be submitted from today.

In the paper “EU support for energy storage”, the audit agency said that measures taken so far for storage and electromobility development across the EU will not be sufficient for the achievement of the Union climate targets. The authors of the report also stressed that EU is far behind its competitors for battery cell manufacturing, and that more innovation is needed. They also claim development of grid energy storage is being slowed down by double grid fees in some EU countries, including Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Finland.

The energy company plans to build the “HySynGas” project in the Brunsbüttel Industrial Park with ARGE Netz and MAN Energy Solutions. The consortium wants to establish a power-to-gas hub for cross-sector decarbonization in northern Germany.

Saft, a subsidiary of French oil giant Total, is joining forces with Chinese storage specialist Tianneng to grow in China’s energy storage and EV markets. Tianneng will take a 60% stake in the newly created joint venture, with Saft holding the other 40%.

A recent Australian National University study shows that newly developed geographic information system algorithms can identify prospective sites for off-river pumped hydro projects throughout the world. The researchers, who identified around 530,000 potential sites, said pumped-hydro installations could enable large-scale energy time-shifting, as well as a range of ancillary services such as frequency regulation, which could help to integrate high levels of PV and wind into electricity systems.

Scientists at MIT have developed a new type of “hybrid” cathode for lithium batteries, which they say could increase their energy density beyond that of current commercial lithium-ion battery designs.

The first Solar Power Mexico exhibition was a success, despite being held just weeks after the Mexican government announced the cancellation of its fourth long-term energy auction for renewables, along with general policy-related uncertainty for clean energy.

According to a new report from the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER), distribution system operators should own and operate storage systems only when market-related entities are unable to provide flexibility in accordance with energy regulations.

Against the backdrop of soaring demand, commodity prices for lithium and cobalt have come down 30% since the beginning of the year. This could have a profound effect on the EV industry, bringing price parity in comparison with conventional vehicles much earlier than previously thought.