DOE selects 4 equity-focused organizations to receive energy storage assistance

The agency's Energy Storage for Social Equity initiative helps underserved communities install batteries to meet their energy goals.

By Robert Walton • July 6, 2023

Greenbacker Capital expands battery fleet with purchase of 4-hour, 30-MW California storage system

The Holtville BESS project will be the largest standalone storage asset in GCM’s clean energy portfolio, the company said.

By Robert Walton • June 27, 2023

Explore the Trendline➔

Virtual Power Plants

Virtual power plants and their ability to balance energy supply and demand are increasingly sought by utilities as electricity demand increases, but their lack of standardization remains a barrier.

By Utility Dive staff

Future-proofing large scale solar projects

Solar developers are adopting new strategies to de-risk large-scale projects, maximizing rewards with a prepare/plan/prevent framework.

By Omar Ahmed – VP of Systems Engineering, and Nate Robinson, Senior Vice President of Construction – DEPCOM Power • June 26, 2023

Cleantech M&A activity expected to grow, driven by ESG investing and federal funding: West Monroe

ESG is an “unstoppable long-term trend,” according to the report released Thursday. “Much of this wall of capital will be sunk into cleantech.”

By Ethan Howland • June 22, 2023

Four non-transmission solutions for clean energy with new power lines in the permitting ‘Valley of Death’

Smart technologies, storage, overbuilding and distributed resources can move the energy transition ahead until workable reforms bring new transmission online, stakeholders agreed

By Herman K. Trabish • June 21, 2023

Energy storage growth stalled in early 2023, projected to bounce back: report

Researchers tracked a 26% decrease in new energy storage projects in the first quarter compared with the previous quarter.

By Patrick Cooley • June 20, 2023

California’s storage portfolio could provide grid benefits of up to $1.6B per year by 2032, report finds

Storage, particularly well-sited storage, can provide “flexible capacity and efficient reliability services to ratepayers,” said Sergio Dueñas, policy manager at the California Energy Storage Alliance.

By Kavya Balaraman • June 20, 2023

Batteries on freight trains could be tapped to support the power grid in emergencies: study

Berkeley Labs says mobile storage batteries are a possible resource to assure grid reliability in the future.

By Patrick Cooley • June 14, 2023

BLM approves NextEra’s 300-MW Sunlight Storage II project in Southern California

The project will bring the total storage capacity co-located with the 550 MW Desert Sunlight Solar Farm to 530 MW.

By Stephen Singer • June 13, 2023

DOE announces $192M for battery recycling, says lithium storage market could grow tenfold by 2030

Rapid growth in the lithium battery market is being driven by growing adoption of electric vehicles and the need for stationary storage, the U.S. Department of Energy said.

By Robert Walton • June 13, 2023

EPA memo clarifies handling and permitting requirements for end-of-life lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion battery disposal should be managed as hazardous waste as more of the batteries are produced and more companies expand to manage the end-of-life material, EPA said.

By Megan Quinn • June 6, 2023

ESS, other energy storage manufacturers announce safety certification for competitive edge

“Eventually, we have to believe everybody is going to be out there getting it,“ said Hugh McDermott, senior vice president of business development and sales at ESS, referring to the UL 9540 standard.

By Stephen Singer • June 5, 2023

California Energy Commission funds Redflow batteries for 20 MWh microgrid project

The commission’s approval of Redflow’s project “firmly establishes our presence in California, which is leading the development and support of non-lithium technologies to achieve its net-zero goals,” CEO Tim Harris said.

By Stephen Singer • June 5, 2023

AI, climate change, fuel cells among energy transition ‘disconnects’ for utilities: Morgan Stanley

“Not all incumbent utilities will gain from the energy transition,” analysts said in a report issued Wednesday. Those that could be challenged include Consolidated Edison, Entergy and NextEra.

By Ethan Howland • June 2, 2023

US battery storage capacity increased by 52% year over year, to 10.8 GW by the end of Q1

While first-quarter additions shifted to ERCOT, the West is expected to again lead in U.S. capacity additions in the second quarter.

By Stephen Singer • May 30, 2023

No ‘silver bullet’: Report lays out fixes for interconnection delays plaguing US renewables and storage

“The wait to interconnect is so long that many projects drop out and never end up being built,” said Todd Olinsky-Paul, senior project director at Clean Energy Group.

By Stephen Singer • May 25, 2023

Mass. agency dismisses 2 battery storage projects, citing lack of legal clarity over ‘generating facility’

“As a matter of physics, batteries do not actually store electrical energy,” the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board said.

By Stephen Singer • May 23, 2023

Green Mountain Power aims to lift cap on popular residential energy storage programs with Tesla, others

A lengthy waitlist places an unnecessary barrier to participation in GMP’s two energy storage programs, and a 5 MW annual cap delays “robust storage deployment,” the company told Vermont utility regulators.

By Stephen Singer • May 16, 2023

DOE promotes commercialization of long-duration energy storage

To DOE, “lift-off” occurs when private capital can take over as technology costs and operations improve significantly.

By Stephen Singer • May 9, 2023

Hawai’i leads the way on advanced rate design with default time-of-use rates, fixed charge innovations

Hawai’i’s planned granular cost study still must prove to other states that the new TOU rates, fixed charge framework and new way of defining costs will allocate costs accurately, analysts said.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 9, 2023

Portland General Electric to add 400 MW of battery storage at 2 sites in partnership with NextEra, Eolian

The two 200-MW projects, one expected to begin service by the end of 2024, the other by the middle of 2025, represent the largest single procurement of standalone energy storage by a utility in the U.S. outside California, PGE said.

By Stephen Singer • May 1, 2023

California regulators approve PG&E, Energy Vault green hydrogen and battery microgrid

The microgrid’s planned use of green hydrogen fuel cells and batteries marks a departure from PG&E’s earlier practice of using diesel generators for backup power during outages.

By Kavya Balaraman • May 1, 2023

Peregrine Energy Solutions, Ascend Analytics plan auction for nearly 900 MW of energy storage

The companies will sell storage projects at six locations in four power grids across a broad swath of the United States.

By Patrick Cooley • April 27, 2023

Hyundai, SK On plan $5B Georgia EV battery plant

The venture will supply batteries to power Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EVs by the second half of 2025.

By Megan Ruggles • April 27, 2023

Maplewell Energy, Urban Electric Power to link zinc batteries, energy management systems as VPPs

Utilities have learned that they can defer distribution system upgrades if they add battery capacity and intelligently dispatch peak demand events, Maplewell CEO Matt Irvin said.

By Stephen Singer • April 25, 2023