One More Time, With Feeling: GE’s Latest Approach to Energy Storage
After a long evolution, GE now sees integrating batteries with renewables or gas turbines as its best place to add value. Century-old electric technology company GE kicked off 2019 with yet another reorg. The workhorse Power division was split up, to start. Though still a top supplier of the world’s natural-gas turbines, the division had […]
Why Is Wind + Storage Getting Short Shrift?
Hybrid plants combining wind, solar and batteries can reliably supply electricity during peak-demand hours, the author writes. Chandu Visweswariah is founding president and CEO of Utopus Insights, a New York-based energy analytics company acquired last year by Vestas. Competitive markets are wonderful crucibles of innovation. With decades of accumulated manufacturing experience for use in portable […]
The Arizona Battery Explosion Is Changing Conventional Wisdom on Safety
Six months later, GTM gets an exclusive update from APS and Fluence on an event that’s forcing a new look at grid battery engineering. It’s been nearly six months since an explosion ripped through a grid battery near Phoenix and upended the industry’s understanding of the technology’s safety. The McMicken conflagration injured first responders and […]
ERC releases draft rules on commercial operations of distributed, hybrid energy
THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has released a draft of the rules that include distributed energy resources and hybrid energy systems as among those that need prior certification from the agency before they can commercially operate. In the draft, which the ERC posted on its website for industry comment, the agency will start issuing a […]
From Science Project to Money Maker: Energy Storage Hits Inflection Point
Lower costs, more revenue streams and deeper industry experience are making energy storage an integral part of electric grids around the world. In 2014, the vast majority of storage projects Greensmith Energy was working on might have best been described as science projects, often dependent on grants or utility R&D budgets devoted to figuring out […]
GlidePath Took on Storage in Texas. Now It Wants to Add Batteries to Wind
Quinbrook-backed developer will fill batteries with wind power during times of negative pricing in the Southwest Power Pool. Batteries paired with solar plants have gained momentum in sunny locales, but a market for shifting wind generation using battery storage has so far failed to materialize. Developer GlidePath Power Solutions, however, sees a path forward for […]
‘Cheaper Than a Peaker’: NextEra Inks Massive Wind+Solar+Storage Deal in Oklahoma
NextEra will build a combined 700 megawatts for an electric cooperative group in a landmark deal for the hybrid renewables sector. NextEra Energy Resources seems intent on proving that triple hybrid plants can work in the U.S. market. The powerhouse renewables developer contracted this week with Oklahoma-based Western Farmers Electric Cooperative to build the largest […]
Northeastern States Primed to Be the Next Major Energy Storage Market
Where the challenge was once a lack of profitable storage opportunities in the Northeast, now the trick is keeping up. Here’s GTM’s handy guide. Northeastern states have enacted a dizzying array of policies to promote energy storage development alongside the growth of renewables over the past few years. Where the challenge used to be a […]
Vestas to Acquire Stake in Wind and Solar Developer Sowitec
Wind turbine companies are increasingly engaging with solar and storage as they diversify into new corners of the power-generation market. Denmark’s Vestas, the world’s leading wind turbine supplier, is moving to acquire a stake in renewables project developer Sowitec — part of a trend of wind manufacturers diversifying to offer multi-technology solutions to customers around […]