'Not all batteries are made equal' — APS battery fire highlights safety risks, lack of knowledge

The recent explosion at an Arizona energy storage facility renewed concerns about battery safety, including the need to educate regulators and lawmakers, a Sonnen official said.

By HJ Mai • June 5, 2019

Utah lays claim to world's largest renewable storage project

The 1 GW project, being developed by Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems and Magnum Development, would utilize a range of technologies, including renewable hydrogen, large-scale flow batteries.

By Robert Walton • May 31, 2019

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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

What's the value of energy storage? Minnesota aims to find out

Storage-related provisions in the recently approved Omnibus Jobs and Energy Bill will also require utilities to consider storage in their long-term resource plans, and allow them to propose pilot projects.

By Robert Walton • May 29, 2019

To establish storage sector leadership, look to value-added services: Navigant

Services in the areas of operations and maintenance, warranties and performance guarantees also lower the risk that gets passed on to the customer, allowing more projects to get built.

By HJ Mai • Updated May 30, 2019

Advanced technology revenues could grow $65B if market barriers removed: AEE

A new paper from Advanced Energy Economy highlights successes in growing wholesale market access for clean energy resources, while also pointing to a baker's dozen of remaining barriers to entry.

By Robert Walton • May 28, 2019

Eversource turns to non-wires solution in outage-plagued New Hampshire town

The project in Westmoreland includes a large-scale battery, energy efficiency efforts and a program to incentivize customer-owned distributed resources.

By Robert Walton • May 23, 2019

Storage advocates await leadership action as bipartisan bills pile up in Congress

"Senate leadership priorities depend on many moving parts ... separate from the bipartisan support that some energy storage policies have," said Energy Storage Association CEO Kelly Speakes-Backman.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • May 23, 2019

Senators launch bipartisan initiative on long term solutions to expiring energy tax credits

Finance Committee task forces are expected to produce options by the end of June that can be enacted this year while clean energy advocates are pushing to also give storage access to tax credits.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • May 21, 2019

SCE rolls out $356M charging program to spur electric trucks, buses and other large vehicles

Southern California Edison's Charge Ready Transport program is aiming to install charging infrastructure at almost 900 commercial customer sites in the next five years, to support 8,490 electric vehicles.

By Robert Walton • May 21, 2019

Want to know if California can make zero emissions by 2045? Here's what to watch

To reach a zero emissions economy, California needs to eliminate natural gas by regionalizing the Western grid and coordinating local and state system planning.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 21, 2019

When cooperative federalism becomes compulsory: FERC overreaches for storage

If FERC is empowered to do anything as broad as Order No. 841, so long as it’s a practice "affecting wholesale rates," then there are no bumpers on federal jurisdiction, because everything affects wholesale rates in some way.

By Tony Clark and Ray Gifford • May 20, 2019

FERC commissioners deny opportunity for state-by-state opt out of storage order

Chairman Neil Chatterjee said Order 841 will withstand legal scrutiny, after Commissioner Bernard McNamee brought up concerns over FERC's jurisdiction.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • May 17, 2019

WoodMac: Energy storage will move toward value stacking as industry matures

The global energy storage industry is experiencing significant growth, and capitalizing on all the technology's potential revenue streams will become increasingly important.

By HJ Mai • May 17, 2019

PJM CEO Ott: Lowering storage durations in Order 841 response will displace demand response resources

The grid operator doesn't want to lower its 10-hour minimum storage duration requirement for capacity market participation at the risk of displacing demand response resources. 

By Iulia Gheorghiu • May 16, 2019

As concerns mount in wake of APS battery fire, new coating could improve safety

Argonne National Laboratory scientists have discovered a new cathode coating for lithium-ion batteries that could reduce costs by increasing energy density while improving overall safety.

By HJ Mai • May 16, 2019

IHS Markit: Global grid-connected storage deployment could reach 4.3 GW in 2019

The global grid-connected energy storage market has seen a "significant acceleration" in activity this year, according to the company's analysis.

By HJ Mai • May 15, 2019

North Carolina approves Duke's first solar+storage residential microgrid

Regulators say the Hot Springs, North Carolina, project could give the state and utility a better understanding of how storage technologies can make the grid more reliable.

By Robert Walton • Updated May 22, 2019

California ISO tests flow battery tech that could decrease bulk storage costs

CAISO is assessing "the most profitable operation practices of flow batteries in specific hours and seasons, under many scenarios in the energy trading market."

By HJ Mai • May 14, 2019

Anbaric to flip Massachusetts coal plant site into offshore wind facility with 400 MW storage

The former Brayton plant site, symbolic of the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, will also have a 1,200 MW high-voltage direct current converter.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • May 14, 2019

Florida's solar turnaround sparks concerns over limits on community projects

Many are asking how big this boom will get, but a better question may be how this growth will evolve as its impact sparks responses by utilities, solar developers and policymakers.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 9, 2019

Massachusetts' multipronged policy approach spurs distributed energy storage

Sunrun has credited the state's bedrock of distributed energy policies for enabling its participation in ISO-NE's capacity market with an aggregated solar-plus-storage bid.

By HJ Mai • May 7, 2019

Green Mountain Power pilots Tesla batteries as meters

The technology uses Powerwall battery packs to measure energy use for 18 months, with plans to test other systems as part of their vision to have batteries in every home.

By Iulia Gheorghiu • May 2, 2019

California utilities reject automated demand response incentives for battery storage controls

The state's three large investor-owned utilities say battery installers are more focused on value stacking than participating in existing demand response programs to qualify for Auto-DR incentives.

By Robert Walton • May 1, 2019

APS storage facility explosion raises questions about battery safety

There are two schools of thought on increasing safety — keep working on lithium-ion and solve the remaining problems or ABL, "Anything But Lithium."

By HJ Mai • April 30, 2019

Moving beyond 'rules of thumb' for smart, cost effective storage deployment

Identifying the storage investments that provide the greatest value to the system, especially at higher penetration levels, will require significantly more sophistication than decision-makers currently employ.

By Nick Schlag, Dan Mullen and Kush Patel • April 30, 2019