Energy storage

September 13, 2016 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time HERNDON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Greensmith Energy, one of the largest providers of energy storage software and integration services, announced today that American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) has selected Greensmith as the software provider for a 2 megawatt/14 megawatt hour energy storage system in West Virginia. For the last five years, this […]

  GE commits to a five-year, $7.5 million membership with MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) GE will become a Sustaining Member of the MITEI and participate in MITEI’s Low-Carbon Energy Centers Furthers GE’s commitment to the Boston area and expertise focused on solutions to carbon reduction   CAMBRIDGE, Mass., August 30, 2016–GE (NYSE:GE) announced it will […]

Reliability and cybersecurity ranked as the two most important issues currently confronting the electric industry, according to surveys completed by 672 qualified utility, municipal, commercial, and community stakeholders for Black & Veatch’s “2016 Strategic Directions: Electric Industry Report.” It’s not particularly surprising to see reliability rank at the top of the list. “Reliability has always […]

Massachusetts’ lawmakers approved an omnibus energy bill that sets down an energy storage mandate and requires utilities to solicit contracts for 1.6 GW of offshore wind. The bill also outlines clean energy procurement targets, including for 1.2 GW from hydro, onshore wind, and other renewables from within the state, from neighboring states, or from Canada. […]

Wärtsilä Corporation, Trade press release, 19 July 2016 at 14.00 EET Wärtsilä today announced that it has entered into a cooperation agreement with U.S. -based Greensmith Energy, the aim of which is to further strengthen its energy system integration capabilities. Greensmith Energy, a leading provider of energy storage software and integration services, will provide the […]

Diablo Canyon, the two-reactor nuclear power plant on the central California coastline, will be permanently shuttered by 2025 under a renewables-boosting initiative announced today by its owner, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). The company on June 21 unveiled a “joint proposal” with labor and environmental groups that seeks to increase investment in energy efficiency, energy […]

Hands down, 2015 was a record year for global investment in renewable energy. Excluding large hydroelectric projects, the amount of money committed to renewables rose 5%, to $285.9 billion, exceeding the previous record of $278.5 billion reached in 2011.

NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) and NEC Energy Solutions (NEC Energy) today announced that they have supplied and completed the installation of a GSS® large-scale energy storage system, with a capacity of 1.2MWh and output of 500kW, to operate in conjunction with a large PV solar power plant established by COLON Company Limited (Kagoshima Prefecture, […]

Desert sand from the United Arab Emirates could be used in concentrating solar power (CSP) facilities to store thermal energy up to 1,000C. And replacing the typical heat storage materials used in thermal

We live in a world of “slow growth and volatility,” said Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric, but there’s an opportunity to “make a lot of money” if you have courage in such times.

  Look out Tesla, the Germans are coming. The U.S. residential energy storage market took another step forward on January 29 when German firm sonnen announced that it was partnering with solar manufacturer SolarWorld to offer residential solar-plus-storage systems in the U.S., much like the systems announced by Tesla and Solar City last April. Unlike […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced on January 15 that it was awarding up to $40 million each in cost-shared funding to Southern Co. and X-Energy to “support work to address key technical challenges to the design, construction, and operation of next generation nuclear reactors.” It also announced on January 18 that it was awarding […]

In mid-November, current members of POWER’ s Generating Company Advisory Team responded by email to a set of questions about their concerns, challenges, and new initiatives as they plan for the year ahead

Battery storage firms and energy storage experts at the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference in San Diego Oct. 13–15 were effusive in their praise of battery storage’s potential while

Duke Energy announced the completion of a 2-MW battery-based energy storage system that has been installed to increase power grid reliability and stability for the PJM regional transmission organization. Installed at its retired W.C. Beckjord coal-fired power plant in New Richmond, Ohio, construction began in August, and the system was placed in operation on Nov. […]

The German battery storage market took a leap forward as German generating company Steag announced on Nov. 4 that it will invest €100 million in six 15-MW battery storage projects at several of its power plants in Germany. The batteries are expected to come online mid-2016 through early 2017. The facilities will be sited at Steag’s generating […]

Energy storage needs better energy storage policy. Speaking at the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference in San Diego on Oct. 12, Garrett Fitzgerald, senior associate with the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), was frank about the challenge facing energy storage technologies: They’re starting to get well ahead of the regulatory regimes that are needed to […]

Battery energy storage has exploded in deployment over the past several years, but the majority of it by capacity, especially in North America, is deployed at grid scale. That may be a problem, because a new study from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) suggests the greatest value to the system lies with behind-the-meter batteries—distributing battery […]

AES has begun construction of what will be the largest energy storage project in Europe when it comes online later this year in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. The 10-MW/40-MWh Kilroot Advancion Energy Storage Array is being added to the AES UK & Ireland Kilroot Power Station in County Antrim along the country’s east coast. The grid-connected […]

Emerging energy technologies such as rooftop solar, microgrids, and distributed generation could adversely affect reliability of the nation’s grid, a new report from the Electric Markets Research Foundation (EMRF) warns.  The non-profit research entity whose mission it is to fund studies on significant electric market issues notes in its report, “Changing Uses of the Electric […]

Concentrating solar power has found a partner in thermal storage, but costs remain high. Solar photovoltaic generation may have a partner in rapidly expanding battery options, but the economics are uncertain. Is there room for both approaches, or will one be crowded out? Battery storage is officially hip. Once a subject of concern largely only […]

What turns a trend from trendy to established? In the energy industry it can be any number of things, from a technology breakthrough, to a new market, to forces of nature. The shale gas boom in the U.S. is the most well-known example of a technology trend that has changed the economics for all power […]

“When pigs fly” is a figure of speech used to express disbelief that a particular situation will ever come to pass. For the power industry, several recent and emerging developments are the equivalent of

The Solana Generating Station ( solana in Spanish means “sunny spot”) is built on a 1,920-acre site near Gila Bend, about an hour’s drive west of Phoenix. According to Abengoa, which owns the facility

Just as POWER predicted in its May issue (see “The Year Energy Storage Hit Its Stride”), energy storage is starting to gain traction, not only in the U.S., but around the globe. Europe’s largest commercial battery power plant was connected to the German grid in mid-September. With a power rating of 5 MW and an […]

Regulators in California last week initiated rulemaking to push the state’s three investor-owned utilities to incorporate distributed energy resources (DERs) into the planning and operation of their electric distribution systems. The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC’s) Aug. 14 Order Instituting Rulemaking establishes rules, policies, and procedures to guide Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, […]

Developers of renewable energy projects in Puerto Rico must incorporate energy storage into new installations under recently approved standards. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and the island territory’s government-owned utility, Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) on Dec. 12 released a new minimum technical requirementthat requires new grid-connected solar and wind power projects to add […]

The U.S. must first develop unsubsidized, cost-effective energy storage technologies, validate reliability and safety, establish an “equitable” regulatory environment, and boost industry acceptance before it will see the widespread deployment of energy storage systems, says a report released today by the Department of Energy (DOE) to members of the U.S. Senate.  Commissioned by Sen. Ron […]

A final rule issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Nov. 22 allowing energy storage projects to connect with the electric grid could boost the energy storage industry’s presence as a backup power source for intermittent energy sources, industry experts say. FERC Order No. 792 amends Order No. 2006—the pro forma Small Generator […]