RMI partners with General Motors, Google Nest for initiative to promote and support virtual power plants

A coalition launched Tuesday aims to spur broader adoption of the virtual power plant concept by bringing together distributed energy industry stakeholders and policymakers.

By Emma Penrod • Jan. 11, 2023

Orlando Utilities Commission to collaborate with startup Malta on long-duration energy storage

A financial package could include funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law and investment tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act.

By Stephen Singer • Jan. 10, 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

Form Energy to build first US battery plant in West Virginia

The iron-air battery maker will invest $760 million to build a factory at the site of a former steel plant.

By Sara Samora • Jan. 10, 2023

PG&E, Energy Vault plan largest US utility-scale battery, green hydrogen long-duration storage project

A city in California wine country that’s vulnerable to high winds and wildfires could switch to power held in a long-duration energy storage system relying on batteries and hydrogen.

By Stephen Singer • Jan. 6, 2023

New York’s plan to expand storage capacity to 6 GW by 2030 includes centralized procurement method

New York’s storage plan includes index storage credits that are similar to the state’s renewable energy credit structure used for procurement of Tier 1 renewable resources, analysts say.

By Stephen Singer • Jan. 3, 2023

Spanish energy company Acciona to acquire largest battery energy storage system in Texas from QCells

The transaction is an important milestone for Acciona Energia, the CEO says, citing it as the biggest battery energy storage system project in one of the world’s most developed BESS markets.

By Stephen Singer • Dec. 20, 2022

CAISO adopts energy storage, imbalance market rules to improve grid reliability

CAISO said “storage enhancements” are the result of its efforts to refine policies for batteries to be accurately priced and fully charged and provide energy when needed.

By Stephen Singer • Dec. 20, 2022

American Battery Factory to open first in planned series of gigafactories

The company said the Arizona plant will be the largest producer of lithium-iron phosphate batteries in the U.S.

By Megan Ruggles • Dec. 15, 2022

Cost concerns could blunt ‘promising’ utility trends on energy storage, smart meters, EVs: Deloitte

“Supply chain snags, rising costs and extreme weather are likely to continue plaguing the power sector,” the consulting firm said in a report.

By Ethan Howland • Dec. 14, 2022

GM, LG venture gets $2.5B federal loan to boost EV battery manufacturing

Ultium Cells will use the funding to support three facilities in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan.

By Sara Samora • Dec. 14, 2022

Developers, power plant owners to boost US utility-scale battery storage capacity nearly fourfold by 2026: EIA

The Energy Information Administration expects U.S. utility-scale battery storage to grow to 30 GW by the end of 2025 from 7.8 GW today.

By Stephen Singer • Dec. 13, 2022

Long-duration energy storage has attracted more than $58B in global commitments since 2019: WoodMac

Project commitments include 57 GW of LDES, which is roughly the equivalent of three times the global energy-storage capacity deployed this year.

By Stephen Singer • Dec. 12, 2022

Building competitive advantages and cutting costs with mobile energy storage

Mobile energy storage is a powerful tool that enables both C&I customers and the utilities that serve them to contain costs while still maintaining or expanding their operations.

Dec. 12, 2022

Cleaner, more efficient method found to make cathode material for lithium-ion batteries

Depending on cobalt, a foreign-sourced rare metal, presents risks to U.S. manufacturing supply chains and transportation, Oak Ridge lab researchers say.

By Stephen Singer • Dec. 5, 2022

10 must-read utility sector stories from 2022

Reliability, security and affordability concerns are rising in a U.S. power sector increasingly focused on decarbonization and electrification. Utility Dive has rounded up some of our top stories so far on these and other trends in 2022.

By Larry Pearl • Dec. 5, 2022

NuScale, Shell, others to develop hydrogen production concept with heat from small modular reactor

Research will consider the number of NuScale power modules needed in solid oxide electrolysis cell hydrogen production and the quantity of hydrogen that could be stored for subsequent electricity production.

By Stephen Singer • Dec. 2, 2022

Promises of outstanding aqueous zinc-ion battery performance are overstated, researchers say

“Many challenges underlying these claims of outstanding electrochemical performance are overlooked or underestimated,” the researchers said.

By Ethan Howland • Nov. 30, 2022

California moves to up PG&E energy storage contract prices amid ‘unprecedented’ market conditions

The four energy storage contracts follow an 11.5 GW procurement order the California Public Utilities Commission approved last year to ensure grid reliability. 

By Kavya Balaraman • Nov. 30, 2022

DOE labs launch thermal energy storage consortium to spur development, market adoption

The Stor4Build consortium plans to develop a community-scale TES demonstration project.

By Ethan Howland • Nov. 29, 2022

Managing NuScale, other SMR waste will be ‘roughly comparable’ with conventional reactors, DOE labs find

The Argonne and Idaho national labs say managing nuclear waste from small modular reactors would have no additional ‘major’ challenges compared with other reactors.

By Stephen Singer • Nov. 23, 2022

DOE awards $100M for innovative floating wind, pumped storage and other emerging clean energy tech

Energy officials look to scale up and bring to market innovative energy technologies that would reduce costs for pumped storage and offshore wind farms.

By Diana DiGangi • Nov. 23, 2022

House lawmakers, advocates want $5B to help Puerto Rico install rooftop solar, storage systems

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers in the House have called for an emergency supplemental spending bill to provide clean energy for underserved Puerto Rican households. 

By Robert Walton • Nov. 22, 2022

Second-life EV batteries can bolster the energy storage market — if major challenges can be overcome

With 80% of a battery’s capacity left at the end of its useful life in a vehicle and current constraints on supply chains for new batteries, repurposing electric vehicle batteries seems like a no-brainer. 

By Emily Goldfield • Nov. 21, 2022

US large-scale battery storage deployments triple to 1.2 GW in Q3 but slowdown possible: S&P Global

Companies are scaling back due to supply chain bottlenecks, with planned storage additions this year down 2 GW from six months earlier, to nearly 8 GW.

By Stephen Singer • Nov. 18, 2022

FERC orders reliability standards, registration requirements for wind, solar, storage to protect the grid

The agency is acting partly in response to reliability risks of inverter-based resources unexpectedly tripping offline.

By Ethan Howland • Nov. 18, 2022