News, Trends & Analysis
Posts tagged Storage
Xtreme Power and Xcel Energy Partner With SolarTAC on Utility-Scale “Solar-to-Battery” Distribution Project
Dec 29th
December 29, 2010 08:00 AM Eastern Time
Dynamic Power Resource™ to be installed at nation’s largest solar technology testing facility
DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Xtreme Power Inc., provider of Dynamic Power Resources™ (DPRs) for utility-scale energy storage, and Xcel Energy (NYSE:XEL) today announced a partnership to install a 1 megawatt (MW) system to collect operational data on the integration of energy storage and solar energy systems at the Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC).
“Taking part in the SolarTAC project with Xcel Energy affords us an opportunity to work alongside one of the most progressive utilities in the industry”
SolarTAC is a private facility in Aurora, Colo. that serves as a solar More >
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Loading ...AES Energy Storage taps A123 Systems for 44MW in smart grid stabilization systems
Aug 16th
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Residential Energy Storage « Pike Research
Jul 28th
One significant trend in the electric utility market that is beginning to gather momentum is residential energy storage (RES). Like many renewable initiatives, California is the trailblazing state for RES. In 2006, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law the so-called California Solar Initiative. The plan calls for a million solar roofs which will add 3 gigawatts of clean energy and is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3 million tons, all by 2018.
Fast-forward four years. The momentum of the California Solar Initiative is beginning to manifest itself into opportunities for residential energy storage. What is More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Energy Storage Needs Better Utility Policy, Language, Culture to Succeed
Jul 28th
ERIC WESOFF: JULY 28, 2010
How about we start by calling storage, storage and a battery, a battery?
Utility-scale energy storage in the field today is limited to pumped hydro, a few large deployments using compressed air energy storage (CAES), hundreds of megawatts of sodium sulphur (NaS) batteries, mostly in Japan, and some experiments with banks of lithium-ion batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries and regenerative fuel cells (flow batteries). Greentech Media has long covered the energy storage market with technologies that include:
- Batteries (Li-ion, NiMh, Zinc Air, NaS, etc.)
- Flow Batteries
- Flywheels
- Phase-change materials
- Ammonia
- Thermal Storage as heat or ice
- Hydrogen systems
- Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES)
- Pumped Hydro
- Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES)
- Ultracapacitors
- Using off-peak wind energy to synthesize fuels More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Jigar Shah (Founder, Sun Edison): “The Solar Industry Controls Its Own Destiny”
Jun 30th
ERIC WESOFF: JUNE 30, 2010
Jigar Shah, solar visionary, speaks on a variety of controversial topics including energy storage, DC-to-DC chips, and trackers.
Jigar Shah, CEO of the Carbon War Room and Founder of Sun Edison, spoke at Camstar’sSummit on Solar Quality event today in Santa Clara, California. I managed to chat with him before he delivered his keynote.
He was adamant. “The solar industry controls its own destiny.” The industry thinks its “controlled by subsidies or the price of silicon,” but in his view, it’s held back more by timidity than by those external factors. Shah went on to claim, “We are going to be at 100,000 More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Technology Review: Nanotubes Give Li-i Batteries a Jolt (MIT Research)
Jun 21st
Lithium-ion batteries with nanotube electrodes could go longer between charges.
MONDAY, JUNE 21, 2010
A lithium-ion battery with a positive electrode made of carbon nanotubes delivers 10 times more power than a conventional battery and can store five times more energy than a conventional ultracapacitor. The nanotube battery technology, developed by researchers at MIT and licensed to an undisclosed battery company, could mean batteries that extend the range of electric vehicles and provide longer periods without recharging for electronic gadgets, including smartphones.
Nano power: The pores between the nanotubes in this transmission- electron microscopy image can store lithium ions in a high-power battery. More > (No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Sept 16-17: #NIChE Workshop on Materials for Large-Scale Energy Storage | Council for Chemical Research
Jun 17th
September 16-17, 2010 National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, MD
Energy storage on the megawatt scale is a significant technical and economic challenge. Power companies are working to develop market strategies to reliably deliver electricity and power when and where it’s needed and storage materials research efforts are growing fast. This workshop will delve into the end-use applications and market drivers for large-scale storage, the R&D efforts that are pushing the boundaries, as well as highlighting some near-deployment technologies.
This event will be a unique opportunity to interact with key innovators and network with potential partners in solving today’s challenge of More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Taking Grid Energy Storage to the Edge
May 15th
Taking Grid Energy Storage to the Edge by Brad Roberts, S&C Electric Co. POWERGRID International Published: May 12, 2010
Boston, United States — The concept of storing electricity generated in a utility grid has been tried since the beginning of the power industry. In the U.S., large-scale storage projects flourished in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s as utilities added 18 GWs of pumped hydro facilities to support the rapid build out of the fleet of nuclear power plants across the nation. Nuclear plants run best at higher power ratings, so pumping water in these hydro plants presented ideal off-peak loads during More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Electric Transmission Texas Brings Large Utility-Scale Battery Online
Apr 12th
Apr 9, 2010 10:43 AM Electric Transmission Texas
Electric Transmission Texas, LLC dedicated the nation’s largest, and Texas’ first, utility-scale battery yesterday during ceremonies in Presidio, one of the oldest cities in Texas.
The 4-megawatt NAS sodium-sulfur battery system was energized March 31 to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid.
ETT is a joint venture between subsidiaries of American Electric Power and MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.
The NAS battery system represents part of an approximately $70 million overall commitment by ETT to improve transmission reliability in Presidio and surrounding areas. The dedication ceremonies recognized installation of the new battery system and thanked local and state leaders for the More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Is Energy Storage a Product or Service?
Mar 10th
MICHAEL KANELLOS 03 08 10
Why sell utilities the cow when they can get the electricity for a fee?
Energy storage companies generally get their revenue by selling products.
But they might do better if they position themselves as mini-utilities.
To overcome some of the economic realities of the energy market and to better highlight some of the advantages of storage systems, makers of large-scale batteries, flywheels and other types of equipment may start to position themselves as power providers or service providers instead of manufacturers.
Take Beacon Power, for example. The Tyngsboro, Mass.-based company originally planned to sell its flywheels as a pieces of equipment to utilities to More >
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