Thanks to continuously declining costs, a hybrid renewable electricity generation system that combines wind, solar, and storage could become competitive with the cheapest fossil fuel electricity in the United States—combined-cycle natural gas generation, an MIT professor suggests. John Deutch, an Institute Professor at MIT, has recently presented a study, ‘Demonstrating Near Carbon Free Electricity Generation […]
Energy Storage
100% Renewable Energy Needs Lots of Storage. This Polar Vortex Test Showed How Much.
Energy analysts used power demand data from the Midwest’s January deep freeze and wind and solar conditions to find the gaps in an all-renewable power grid. In the depths of the deep freeze late last month, nearly every power plant in the Eastern and Central U.S. that could run was running. Energy analysts saw a […]
Energy storage can offset ‘major risky infrastructure investment’ costs of electric vehicles
With carbon reduction goals a long way off from being met in Europe’s transport sector, energy storage can play a key role in coupling transportation and energy technologies, the European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) has said. The association has just published ‘Energy storage: a key enabler for the decarbonisation of the transport sector’, […]
Institutional investors ‘see energy storage as most interesting renewable’ option
A new poll has identified energy storage as the most promising technology for institutional investors keen on renewable assets, amid plans by many to ramp up allocations. Nearly two-thirds of all asset owners and managers quizzed by the firm chose batteries and other energy storage technologies as the renewables subsector with the greatest potential. The […]
Coal going from winner to loser in India’s energy future: Russell
No, the main reason coal may battle to fuel India’s future energy needs is that it’s simply becoming too expensive relative to renewable energy alternatives such as wind and solar. New Delhi: India’s demand for electricity is expected to double in the next two decades, and coal has been long forecast to be the fuel […]
How Solar and Batteries Could Help California Manage Fire-Prevention Grid Shutdowns
Sunrun wants solar-battery microgrids to be part of PG&E’s plan to mitigate what could be widespread blackouts geared to prevent fires. As Pacific Gas & Electric and California regulators grapple with how to manage the potential for widespread fire-prevention grid shutdowns this summer, clean energy advocates are demanding a role for solar, energy storage and […]
A New Path to Market for Flow Batteries: Rent an Electrolyte
The newfangled arrangement lowers the upfront price of vanadium flow batteries, potentially making them more competitive with lithium. When you’re competing with mass-produced lithium-ion batteries, every bit of cost reduction counts. The dominant energy storage technology benefits from massive economies of scale. Flow batteries, a major class of alternative storage technologies, lack that scale, and […]
SoftBank Enters Indian Wind Energy Market
SoftBank-led SB Energy has shown a clear intention of entering the Indian wind energy market. The company, which is one of the largest players in India’s highly competitive solar power market, has participated in the sixth national-level wind energy tender issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). SECI received bids to set up […]
SA Water awards solar photovoltaic generation and energy storage contract
SA Water has awarded a framework agreement contract for up to $304 million to South Australian company Enerven to deploy approximately 154 megawatts (MW) of new solar photovoltaic generation and 34 megawatt hours of energy storage across around 70 of its sites over the next 18 months. The investment in more than 500,000 solar panels […]
Philadephia Solar’s solar-plus-storage plant in Jordan is up and running
A ceremony was held on 18 February to celebrate the commercial operation date of the Al Badiya plant in Jordan. Image: Philadelphia Solar. PV manufacturer and EPC Philadelphia Solar says it has achieved commercial operation of an expansion phase to one of the first solar projects built in the MENA region where energy storage has […]