Energy Storage
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Press Releases
AES and Mitsubishi Corporation Start Construction on India’s First Grid-Scale Energy Storage System for Tata Power-DDL
Fluence to supply 10 MW Advancion storage solution, boosting reliability for more than 7 million customers in Delhi region January 23, 2018 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time NEW DELHI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AES India, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), and Mitsubishi Corporation today started construction on India’s first utility-scale energy storage system, a 10 megawatt (MW) solution that […]
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Renewables
Report: Clean Energy Investments Hit $333.5 Billion in 2017
Though some countries, including the U.S., have moved to support coal-fired power generation over the past year, investments in renewable energy continued to rise, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The research group on January 16 said global investment in clean energy such as wind and solar reached about $333.5 […]
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Press Releases
Navigant Research Finds Energy Storage Can Improve Delivery of Smart Energy Solutions in Smart Cities
Energy storage is redefining how smart energy solutions can support the ongoing urban energy transformation January 17, 2018 – Boulder, CO – A new report from Navigant Research examines the relationship between energy storage and smart cities, providing an overview of relevant applications as well as drivers and barriers. Smart energy technologies are increasingly expected […]
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Renewables
AES and Siemens, Two Power Giants, Join Forces on Energy Storage
Underscoring energy storage’s new vital role in power company operations, Siemens and AES Corp. have launched a joint company, Fluence Energy, that provides technology solutions paired with engineering and services capabilities. AES and Siemens on January 11 announced that Fluence, which merges AES Energy Storage and Siemens’ energy storage team, received all government approvals for the […]
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Commentary
Hope in the New Year: Opportunities Abound for the Power Industry
There are challenges facing the power industry in 2018, but there are also a lot of exciting opportunities. Renewable energy and gas-fired generation are expected to continue growing, but changes in federal
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Commentary
How to Build a Regulator-Approved Beneficial Electrification Program
Utilities across the U.S. are aware of beneficial electrification (BE) programs, but wide adoption has been held up by uncertainty about their potential and broader role in the evolving regulated utility
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Legal & Regulatory
Tesla Bet and Delivered 100-MW/129-MWh Energy Storage System Within 100 Days
The project to build one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage systems started out as a bet—on Twitter. Last March, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted to Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes
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Renewables
Say Hello to Hybrid Microgrids: Renewables, Storage, Diesel, and Intelligence
When is a D+ grade acceptable? The answer should be never. But that’s the state of the U.S. power grid according to the 2017 infrastructure report card issued by the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE). And the impact of this year’s catastrophic hurricane season only reinforced its vulnerability. Given the billions of dollars of […]
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Legal & Regulatory
PJM: Can the Big Dog Deal with State Interference?
The PJM Interconnection, the largest regional transmission operator in the U.S., faces many problems: adapting to state policies designed to skew power markets in the face of natural gas and renewable
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Renewables
Droneweek [PODCAST]
[Ed. note: This post was first published on October 5, 2017, and was updated on October 17, 2017, with embedded video from the DRONEWEEK television show.] DRONEWEEK is a television program that will air on the Viceland network beginning Monday, October 9, 2017, and continuing each night throughout the week. Each episode will feature footage […]
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Renewables
ENGIE, HG&E Team on Solar Energy Storage Project
Electricity from a 5.76-MW solar farm in Massachusetts will be stored in an adjacent energy storage system as part of a plan announced October 4 by ENGIE North America (ENGIE NA) and Holyoke Gas & Electric (HG&E). The project is part of Massachusetts’ Peak Demand Management Program. HG&E, which received a $475,000 grant from the […]
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Renewables
Tesla to Install World’s Largest Lithium-Ion Battery Storage Project
A lithium-ion battery under development by Tesla in South Australia (SA) will be the world’s largest of its type when completed by the end of the year. Through a competitive bidding process, Tesla was
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Gas
Two SCE Gas-Battery Hybrid Projects Revolutionize Peaker Performance
For deploying a novel, groundbreaking gas-battery hybrid technology along with environmentally significant upgrades within a tight installment window, and despite logistical hurdles, Southern California
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Commentary
Fuel Cells: Key to Our Electric Energy Future
For more than 20 years, I have been championing the use of fuel cell powered cars to connect the natural gas distribution network of this country with the electric distribution network, making them partners in
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O&M
Collaboration and Innovation Produce a Powerful Microgrid Solution
The challenge was to take a facility that was far off the grid, and move it forward as an energy self-sufficient complex while also turning an idea into a commercially viable product. That was the impetus
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History
Microgrids: An Old Concept Could Be New Again
Self-contained, small islands of electric generation, storage and distribution inside the existing grid–microgrids–could be the next big thing in electricity. But some argue they may be just another
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Renewables
New Jersey Backs Studies for Microgrid Projects
New Jersey officials this week said the state’s Board of Public Utilities is funding feasibility studies for a series of microgrids across the state that could provide needed power to municipalities at times of critical need, such as after a natural disaster. The board said the idea is designed to further the State Energy Master […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Massachusetts Sets Energy Storage Target, Issues Offshore Wind Proposals
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has set the commonwealth’s much-anticipated energy storage target at 200 MWh to be achieved by January 1, 2020. Last week, it also issued a joint request for proposals for 400 MW of offshore wind energy. The announcements made this week follow an energy bill signed into law by […]
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Renewables
European Pumped Storage Plants Are in Crisis
A number of baseload generators across Europe have decried the fall in average European wholesale power prices, which some peg to additions of subsidized low-marginal-cost renewable generation to an already
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Renewables
MISO: Avoiding the Mess Facing Other Wholesale Competitive Electric Markets
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO’s) geographic footprint extends down the middle of the U.S. Because of the structure of its market, MISO has artfully avoided some nasty policy and
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Renewables
The Latest in Thermal Energy Storage
As renewables gain a greater foothold in the energy system, the importance of energy storage is going to increase in kind. With the ongoing gradual shift away from traditional baseload energy sources, the
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Coal
POWER Digest (June 2017)
India Joins IEA as an Association Country. India joined the International Energy Agency (IEA) as an association country on March 30, marking a significant move for the country into global energy affairs. The
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Gas
SCE, GE Debut Battery-Gas Turbine Hybrid System
Southern California Edison (SCE) put online the world’s first battery–gas turbine hybrid system on March 30 in Norwalk, Calif., pioneering a new direction in the way power could be generated and stored
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Energy Storage
Wärtsilä Acquires Major Energy Storage Player
Finnish technology firm Wärtsilä has acquired Greensmith Energy Management Systems, a firm that specializes in energy storage optimization and integration software, for an undisclosed amount. Greensmith, which has designed and deployed more than 180 MW of energy storage at 50 sites globally, has developed a software platform, GEMS, which optimizes the performance of energy […]
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Hydro
Trends Suggest New Directions for Global Hydropower
While hydropower installations worldwide fell slightly in 2016 to 31.5 GW compared to 33 GW in 2015, the sector marked a colossal jump in pumped storage installations last year, the International Hydropower
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Renewables
Battery Storage Goes Mainstream
Grid-connected batteries have long been touted as a tantalizing prospect that could help balance electricity supply and demand as the amount of installed variable renewable generation ramps up. New
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Energy Storage
Maryland Passes Energy Storage Tax Credit
Maryland on April 10 became the first state in the nation to pass legislation enacting a tax credit for residential and commercial energy storage installations. The measure passed unanimously in the state Senate, and with a 101–11 vote in the House. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is expected to sign SB 758 into law. The bill […]
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Renewables
Commodity Price Volatility Is Prime Concern Among Global Energy Leaders
An April 6–issued report released by the World Energy Council suggests that the single biggest worry among global energy leaders is commodity price volatility. Prices appear to be a big concern because of the “Grand Energy Transition” toward de-carbonization. Leaders in resource-holding countries, such as Saudi Arabia, are anxious about long-term economic models, if prices […]
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Renewables
A 100% Renewable Grid: Pipe Dream or Holy Grail?
The boom in renewable energy, spurred by dramatically falling costs, has led some experts and political figures to begin talking seriously about what was once science fiction: A world powered entirely by renewable generation. But is it truly feasible or economic? One series of studies suggests it is—with some important caveats. In the first half […]