Issue 15: Winter 2016/2017
Charging the future – special supplement on global ees exhibition series
Embracing the year ahead The new business landscapes of energy storage Injection of reality Long in potential but short in action: finally India is opening up
Big is beautiful Centrica’s huge UK battery paves way for additional services
Lead acid surprise Carbon nanotubes provide spectacular improvements
CONTENTS COVER STORY
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THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE AND THE NEW NORM Energy Storage Journal spoke to the shakers and movers in the industry for their take on the year behind, the year ahead and their long-term thinking. Cautious optimism in new US admin: Janice Lin, CESA • Lithium ion world faces threats: John Jung, Greensmith • Prices driven yet lower: Jim Hughes, Eos • New business models on maturing technology: Anil Srivastava, Leclanché • Off-grid markets set to keep growing: Catherine Von Burg, Simpliphi • Fossil fuels face their fate: David Kaplan, Doosan Gridtech • Renewables to buck change of political tone: Marc Borrett, Reactive Technologies • Energy storage to unlock European opportunities: Alfons Westgeest, EUROBAT • Drive to solar, storage unstoppable: Ken Munson, Sunverge • The global ‘Internet of Energy’: Ryan Wartena, Geli • Silver lining from power outages: Troy Miller, S&C Electric • 2016 trends reinforced in year ahead : Michiel van Schalkwijk, Solarwatt • Industry to look for longer duration storage: Anthony Price, ESN • The need for big data management: Ronnie Belmans, Global Smart Grid Federation • Californian C&I to forge ahead: Boris von Bormann, chief executive, Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas • Storage to open up the lower cost of solar: Scott McGregor, REDT Energy • UK to lead great energy storage break out: Simon Daniel, Moixa Energy • US commercial market on the up: Neil Maguire, Adara Power
EDITORIAL
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NEWS FOCUS
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Centrica’s big UK battery paves way for storage-based services
NEWS
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INDIA
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Changing business landscapes: what map for energy storage futures? 16
Ring-fencing the system to ensure Centrica’s safety 3
Carbon nanotubes create ‘spectacular’ improvement in lead batteries • Soaring Australian power prices open doors for Redlfow • ZincFive eyes global markets with purchase of Ni-Zn battery maker • UK’s largest grid scale battery approved after two year trial • Lightsource to invest $740 million for revenue flows from pre-installed solar • RedT Energy deploys 17 Vanadium flow energy storage machines • Largest microgrid in central America commissioned for Costa Rica
Rising energy demand and its ambitious goals for renewable energy deployment have opened up opportunities in India for energy storage for various applications.
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT — EES IN EUROPE
Wind-solar-storage project opens up in India’s remote Rangrik region 12
31-46
The road to 2020 Viewpoint: the changing face of distributed energy Electrical energy storage meetings worldwide
UNDERSTANDING BMS
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An exclusive extract from John Warner’s book, The Handbook of Lithium Ion Battery Pack Design
EVENTS
Energy Storage Journal’s round-up of the most interesting conferences and exhibitions to attend in the coming six months.
Advertising manager: Jade Beevor jade@energystoragejournal,com +44 1 243 792 467 Supplements editor: Wyn Jenkins, wyn.jenkins@serenglobalmedia.com, +44 1 792 293 222 Energy Storage Journal — Business and market strategies for energy storage and smart grid technologies Energy Storage Journal is a quarterly publication. Publisher: Karen Hampton karen@energystoragejournal.com +44 7792 852 337 Editor: Michael Halls, mike@energystoragejournal.com +44 1 243 782 275
Let cool heads prevail
Associate editor: Sara Verbruggen sara@energystoragejournal.com The lead-lithium storage debate steps up a notch +44 7981 256 908 The new titan of lead Ecoult’s UltraBattery, ready to take lithium on, head-to-head
The CEO interview Anil Srivastava and Leclanché’s bid for market dominance
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Next gen integrators Coming soon to a smart grid near you, the ideal middle man
Business development manager: June Moultrie, june@energystoragejournal.com +44 7775 710 290 Reception: Tel: +44 1 243 782 275 Fax: +44 1 787 329 730 Subscriptions and admin manager: Claire Ronnie, subscriptions@energystoragejournal.com admin@energystoragejournal.com +44 1 243 782 275
54 Events round-up
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Design: Antony Parselle aparselledesign@me.con International advertising representation: advertising@energystoragejournal.com The contents of this publication are protected by copyright. No unauthorized translation or reproduction is permitted. Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this publication is correct, the publisher will accept no responsibility for any errors, or opinion expressed, or omissions, for any loss or damage, cosequential or otherwise, suffered as a result of any material published. Any warranty to the correctness and actuality of this publication cannot be assumed. © 2017 HHA Limited UK company no: 09123491 Working with
Research editor: Jane Simpson jane@energystoragejournal.com
Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 1
EDITORIAL Mike Halls, editor • mike@energystoragejournal.com
The future beauty of our dreams “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” wrote Eleanor Roosevelt in the early days of the second world war. It was a difficult moment in time. A time that needed something that sounded nice. And, yes, it sounds nice. But is it true? We think she couldn’t have got it more wrong. Because when we talk about the future and our dreams, for the realists among us the two are long-distant cousins — related but bearing little likeness to each other. And when it comes to energy storage — from plain batteries at the least but also to the high blown ideas of super new energy highways of the future — this distance between a planned future and our beautiful dreams couldn’t be even further apart. Because at its most basic, historically, the world has always been divided between those that foresee the future (and invariably get it wrong) and those that choose to see no further than the end of their nose. And the dreamers and visionaries of our energy future are no better, or at least no worse, than Eleanor Roosevelt’s dreamers. Sir Lawrence Freedman in his magisterial work, Strategy: the History, puts his finger on the problem. Strategy is governed by the starting point. Not the end point. And that’s the trouble with most of the visionary thinking that our latest generation of advanced battery developers want to theorize about. Put simply, they are looking at the end point and not mapping out the route that we get there. Their talk is always that the problems of today will be solved by the march of a technology that is as yet unproven (in the scale that will be required) and still unknown (in its achievability). Clearly, this makes it more of a leap of faith than the attempts at taking a cold-blooded view of the future worthy of calling oneself a strategist. So even though this magazine believes that advanced battery chemistries and products will be building blocks of out future societies — but we have no clear idea of when — we realize that our belief is no more valid an opinion than that of its detractors. The core issue at the heart of any strategy is whether it is possible to manipulate and shape our environment rather than simply become the victim of forces beyond one’s control. Freedman points out that the inherent unpredictability of our environment — it’s subject to chance events, the efforts of opponents, the missteps of friends — provides 2 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017
strategy with its challenge and its dramas. Armies or corporations or nations rarely move from one predictable state of affairs to another, he says. Rather they feel their way through a series of states, each one not quite what was anticipated, requiring a reappraisal of the original strategy, including its ultimate objective. One thing to note is that strategy is not the same as planning. Planning for the future is common sense. But it’s also a one-dimensional approach; a simpler solution that ignores swathes of the difficulties and challenges ahead. We too can see the beauty of many of the dreams that are being envisaged. Yes, wouldn’t we all love to imagine a world where the world’s energy doesn’t come from drilling for oil or fracking gas but directly from the sunlight or wind — rather than energy stored thousands of millennia ago? Who wouldn’t want to live in a bright and sunlit land where renewable energy fits into a new and smiley landscape where electricity is cheap as air? A future where solar and wind power will look after humanity’s needs to drive its cars, mow its lawns, unscrew its home fittings, and even charge our torches! The trouble for the grown-ups among us is that we’re surrounded by the language of the media. And this is a media determined to give us an opinion on things we have little right — or need for that matter — to pronounce a verdict on. The media’s persistent talk of “game-changing” technologies that are just around the corner is part of a persistent technological enthusiasm that has infected us from our youngest days. Enthusiasts’ talk about how community energy storage will change the North American electrical landscape also depends on points of view. The utilities see it as another tool to assert their continued role at the heart of energy provision. Their detractors believe the opposite will happen and the might of the utilities will be challenged. Neither dream seems particularly beautiful to us but we’d find it hard to think that either point of view led to more than mere planning on the behalf of the utilities or mere wish fulfilment from their opponents. Rather the enemy of both strategy (which is at least reactive) and planning is a rule mostly conceived a couple of centuries ago by the economist Adam Smith. Its modern formulation — the law of unintended consequences — at least takes us on the route to reason. It doesn’t provide us with ready answers. It’s not even concerned with our attempts at working out will happen. But threatens us with a future that is beautiful only its unpredictability. www.energystoragejournal.com
NEWS FOCUS
Centrica’s big UK battery paves way for storage-based services In Europe, energy utilities are developing new business services for their large commercial and industrial (C&I) customers, centring on saving energy costs through efficiency, adaptive consumption and provision of grid services. This December, Centrica announced it had been picked to build a 49MW battery storage plant to provide reserves in the UK’s Capacity Market, to ensure there is enough electricity to meet demand during peak periods. The energy storage system can also be used to provide frequency response services into the transmission system operator (TSO), the National Grid’s grid ancillary services market, since it is capable of responding to grid signals in under a second. The battery array is to be built, starting in 2017, on what was originally the site of a coal-fired power station,
in Cumbria in the north of England. Later a gas power station was built on the same site, which was mothballed in 2012 and demolished in 2015. The battery will be able to access the local electricity distribution network from the old power station site.
New challenges for utilities
Decarbonizing the production of electricity brings a set of new challenges for grid operators, such as TSOs and for utilities traditionally involved in power generation. As more variable renewables are added — which tend not to generate electricity at times of highest demand — and traditional power plants are retired, the electricity system’s ability to keep the grid frequency at a stable level is diminishing, risking outages and blackouts. Coal, gas and other fossil fuel plants generate electricity by using steam to
“As long as the end customer’s energy needs are being addressed, that the system is ring-fenced to provide demand charge reduction, they don’t want to be managing all of this. They just want it to happen.” — Jayesh Goyal, Younicos www.energystoragejournal.com
run turbines. Lots of big turbines, turning, endow the system with enough inertia to withstand imbalances in grid frequency caused by the mismatches in supply and demand. But energy storage systems can also respond fast enough, under a second, to inject and absorb power to balance the grid. A separate but related issue created by retiring megawatts of traditional power generation capacity and increasing intermittent renewables is that during times of peak demand, such as a particularly cold winter, there are risks of not having enough capacity to supply the highest peak in demand. In the UK Capacity Market, flexible fast response units are able to ramp up to provide the power needed to meet demand. Though the majority of capacity awarded under the latest Capacity Market auction that took place in December is for gas, battery storage and capacity provided through demand response services was also rewarded with plenty of contracts. “As well as being built to provide grid support, the battery plant will show C&I electricity customers what is possible in terms of the technology,” says Emily Highmore-Talbot, speaking on behalf of Centrica. “A smart battery built on a large energy consumer’s premises cannot only enable them to save on their energy costs, by using electricity stored in the battery at times of peak demand, but can also allow them to share in some revenues from providing grid services.” Energy storage technology, controlled by algorithm-driven software, and demand response — again an advanced software-driven application — enables organizations with big electricity needs to become participants in a wholesale energy market that is more reliant on grid services to keep the entire electricity system in balance. Utilities are the new middle men. They provide services that allow their C&I energy customers to measure and monitor consumption, adjust consumption patterns, for payment, and
Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 3
NEWS FOCUS install on-site energy storage for saving on energy costs and tapping into revenues. Like other European utilities divesting their traditional power generation portfolios, while acquiring or taking states in software start-ups, Centrica has been shopping around. The company’s acquisitions include Panoramic Power, a wireless sensor technology provider, which provides consumption data from individual devices up to site level. “It can track, in real-time, what loads the customer is using, and this can show them how they can make savings by changing their usage patterns,” says Highmore-Talbot. “As more technology becomes available we can offer different levels of services for our various customers. Some might want more control and to be more active in this participation while others expect it to happen without being aware that it is going on,” she says.
“As well as being built to provide grid support, the battery plant will show C&I electricity customers what is possible in terms of the technology.”
UK and Germany
One of Centrica’s rivals, Eon, is also selling energy storage-enabled services and expects to announce projects with C&I customers in 2017, pinpointing the UK and Germany as first-mover markets in Europe. Younicos is the energy storage company providing Centrica with its 49MW battery energy storage system. The Berlin-headquartered company recently announced its first C&I customer in Denver, Colorado in the US. But it is in Europe where C&I activity seems to be picking up for the company. Younicos expects to close a further two deals in the first quarter of 2017. Jayesh Goyal, the company’s chief commercial officer, says: “Customers come to us with pretty standard use cases, such as high demand charges, so they see energy storage as a way to avoid those by doing some peak shaving and some load shifting. But then we tell them about grid services and the back-up potential of the system and the conversation becomes one not just of cost saving, but of revenue generation. “Both the transactions we’ll be announcing in early 2017, in Europe, will be more than just a peak shaving application.” Many energy storage systems and products available on the market have the capability of doing a variety of different things, often simultaneously. “What’s interesting is when you have a big energy customer with several sites and you install storage in these different locations,” says Goyal.
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From cost saving to revenue generation: Younicos is providing Centrica with its 49MW battery energy storage system.
“By aggregating them together you then have a substantial amount of capacity to play into grid services markets. The energy utilities, such as EDF, Centrica, Eon and are the aggregators, but it’s about identifying the end customer. These could be hospitals or logistics businesses, for example. “As long as the end customer’s energy needs are being addressed, that the system is ring-fenced to provide demand charge reduction, they don’t want to be managing all of this. They just want it to happen,” he says. Younicos’ software also optimizes how the batteries are used to preserve their longevity and keep operational costs lower. “We also have a remote operations centre so we can see how the battery is working and we can advise the asset’s owner on how it
should be aggregated,” says Goyal. He too sees Germany and the UK driving the C&I market in Europe, initially at least. The two projects will be for system sizes of between 500kWh and 3MWh. Younicos is aiming to serve the larger projects in the C&I energy storage market, though with its technology it can also go down to sizes in the 20kWh range. The UK has emerged as one of the biggest markets for energy storage in Europe. But with regulations still evolving, it is no good relying on one or two use cases for energy storage systems, because if the regulations or markets change this could impact returns. “We encourage clients to look at multiple cases, so they are not putting all their eggs into one basket,” says Goyal.
Utilities are the new middle men. They provide services that allow their C&I energy customers to measure and monitor consumption, adjust consumption patterns, for payment, and install onsite energy storage for saving on energy costs and tapping into revenues. www.energystoragejournal.com
NEWS
AES launches Open Innovation Contest for unmanned inspection approaches AES is launching an Open Innovation Contest in partnership with NineSigma, a company with extensive external resources and connections, to accelerate innovation and improve the safety and increasing availability of power plants through unmanned inspections in locations of extreme heat. Three winners will be recognized and rewarded at AES’ global Innovation Congress in July 2017, held at its corporate headquar-
ters in the Washington, DC area. The company is accepting proposals until the end of February. More than 20,000 MW of generation capacity is offline globally at all times due in part to outage-related inspections, reducing the ability of electric grids to absorb variable renewable sources such as wind and solar. “These outages represent $1 billion in lost power capacity, nearly the energy consumption in the state
of Virginia every year,” says AES. “Electricity generation can require extreme heat conditions. When a system failure occurs that halts electricity generation and we need to inspect and repair equipment, we must wait until temperatures reach a sufficiently low level for someone with personal protective equipment to enter the confined space safely to inspect and repair the equipment. “It not only can be hazardous work, but also in-
creases the time it takes the company to begin generating electricity again.” AES says it is looking for innovative unmanned technologies to conduct inspection work that can resist extreme heat and keep people safe while improving energy availability by getting plants back online more quickly. Responses and potential solutions are being requested from other companies, consultants, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs or inventors.
Nidec-ASI joins German utility to install one of world’s largest BESS Italian generating firm Nidec-ASI and German utility STEAG have installed one of the world’s largest battery energy storage systems with a total capacity of 90MW across six different sites in Germany. LG Chem, the Korean electronics giant, supplied the batteries for the BESS, which was installed at three sites in North Rhine Westphalia, in Germany’s northwest, and three in Saarland, in the south. The systems, based on Nidec-ASI’s energy conversion solutions, store power which STEAG then uses to provide auxiliary services to Germany’s power grid. Media reports suggest the project cost around $100 million. Each of the six 15MW systems contains five 3MW units, which include power converters, transformers, the control system and the LG Chem new-generation lithium batteries. Developing energy storage technologies has become a prime focus in Germany as part of its transition away from nuclear and fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Between 2012 and 2015, 26MW in 10 pilot pro-
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jects was installed, much of which received funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, according to the organization GTAI – Germany Trade & Invest. This latest STEAG installment increases the country’s grid battery storage capacity by more than three times as part of Germany’s
‘ambitious energy transition project’, says GTAI. “The planned closure of all nuclear power plants in Germany by 2022 poses a significant technological challenge in the transport and storage of electricity from multiple sources,” said Giovanni Barra, CEO of Nidec-ASI. “Nidec-ASI provides the
AES picks Mitsubishi-GS Yuasa and Parker-Hannifin to supply Chile BESS AES Gener and AES Energy Storage chose ParkerHannifin in December to supply advanced battery energy storage systems for their new Cochrane power station in Chile. The battery energy storage system will be supplied by Mitsubishi Corporation with the lithium ion battery module manufactured by GS Yuasa and the lithium ion battery cells by Lithium Energy Japan, a joint venture of Mitsubishi Corporation and GS Yuasa. The project is the companies’ third energy storage facility in Northern Chile, integrating 20MW of advanced battery-based
energy storage with a 532MW thermal power plant. The project is owned by AES Gener, the second largest power generator in the country, and Mitsubishi Corporation. “We already have battery energy storage systems in our Angamos and Norgener power plants,” said Felipe Cerón chief executive of AES Gener. “It will be good for the supply of power in the northern grid, and also for the stability of the system.” The Cochrane facility being developed by AES Gener will incorporate AES Energy Storage’s Advanced Reserves
technological innovation of its management system and storage control, which allows the release of electricity to the grid within milliseconds to strengthen its stability, and also offers experience in managing such complex projects.” Nidec-ASI was formerly known as Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali. product including patented controls, a modular system architecture, and operational support. The Grid Services division of Parker-Hannifin will provide power conversion and system-level services. The battery energy storage systems in combination with the energy produced by the Cochrane generating station will provide reliable power in the Northern Grid. AES Gener and AES Energy Storage have previously developed energy storage projects at the Norgener and Angamos power stations. The first of these, the Los Andes Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), has been delivering grid reliability services since 2009.
Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 5
Check out how Hammond Group is driving innovation for PbA batteries. www.hmndgroup.com/about/
For the challenges ahead...
2016 InnovatIon award wInner
NEWS
Soaring Australian power prices open doors for Redflow Redflow, the Australian zinc-bromine flow battery maker, announced on December 5 it had approved a further seven installers for its ZCell storage system, meaning the company now has installers in every state and territory in Australia. The batteries, which Redflow claims are the smallest flow batteries in the world, appear to be flying out of the factory since they were launched in March. The company announced its first approved installers in September, and already the total has reached 12. “Converting the world energy grid to becoming majority renewablesourced is entirely achievable by using batteries to time-shift electricity,” said CEO and executive chairman Simon Hackett.
“The strong level of engagement from installers reflects that demand from both residential and business consumers. Each of our 12 installers has ordered ZCell batteries from Redflow already, with one order for 48 ZCells, worth about $600,000. Electricity is expensive in Australia. Carbon & Energy Markets, an Australian energy and electronics consultancy, showed that out of 91 countries and regions around the world, including the US, Asia and Europe, only Denmark’s household electricity prices were higher. This July, Energy Consumers Australia, an economics consultancy, said households in New South Wales paid the highest bills
in the world. Hackett says Redflow has approached local and federal governments to highlight the benefits of public support for more widespread storage. “Added to the high cost of electricity in Australia is the fact that a number of states, including New South Wales, are finishing their generous solar feed-in tariffs which have run for the past decade,” said Hackett. “By creating a situation where people with solar panels are receiving less for the energy they feed into the grid than they pay for energy they obtain from the grid, this is encouraging many people in these jurisdictions to consider batteries to store their PV solar energy until they need it – that is, self-
ZincFive eyes global markets with purchase of Ni-Zn battery maker ZincFive, a US-based developer and manufacturer of battery management systems for nickel-zinc batteries, confirmed mid-November that it had bought NiZn battery maker PowerGenix in a move to commercialize the technology and scale up production. Formerly trading as EnSite Power, the company was re-structured two years ago and under the new name ZincFive has bought PowerGenix to work on pushing the commercialization of the technology. “Our primary purpose is to provide high performance solutions to global energy storage markets that desire high-power density, safety, long life and low environmental impact,” CEO and co-founder of ZincFive Tim Hysell told BESB.
“The addition of PowerGenix has expanded our ability to leverage the 62 issued patents around NiZn and incorporate them into a licensing agreement with one of the largest global battery manufacturers in the world. “Now the relationship culminates in a combined company, with the potential to deliver greater value to both customers and shareholders.” Ensite Power developed its UPStealth digital battery management system with NiZn technology that provided UPS to traffic intersections when utility power went down. It is now targeting other markets with its battery technology, including stopstart vehicle applications, for which, the firm says,
8 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017
“nickel-zinc is lighter, has a much longer life and delivers greater energy density than traditional lead-acid batteries. “NiZn is more than capable of replacing leadacid in the start-stop application due to the energy density, weight, tolerance to extreme temperatures, safety and performance life. ZincFive is working with multiple OEMs with which we are bound by confidentiality agreements,” said Hysell. “We also see a future in other applications for starter motors, especially those where safety, lighter-weight, increased power density and longer life are valued.” The company also manufactures a high power density battery back-up system for intelligent traffic
consumption. “As well as cost reductions, a strong motivator for people enquiring to buy our batteries is the desire for a reliable back-up power supply. This became a primary motivator for people enquiring a couple of months ago after a major power outage cut off electricity for the entire state of South Australia.” The latest seven installers approved by Redflow in Australia are SSE Systems in the ACT (Canberra area); Riverina Complete Solar in Griffith, NSW; Country Solar NT in the Northern Territory; Apex Communication Technologies and Sustainable Works, both in South Australia; Veida in Victoria; and Green Gateway in Western Australia. systems that is deployed in more than 700 installations across North America, such as traffic lights and light rail crossings. “ZincFive addresses a growing need in the battery market between lead-acid and lithium-ion capabilities,” says Tod Higinbotham, ZincFive’s president. “New applications in our ever-evolving electrified and connected world are requiring much higher powered solutions, with increased cycling, lighter weight and significant safety and environmental improvements. Although it took a while for Edison’s idea to make it, the timing could not be better.” The company claims that NiZn batteries are safe, non-explosive, deliver greater energy density at a lower cost than lithium or lead batteries, have a high charge and discharge capability with no trickle charge and the ability to withstand high temperatures.
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NEWS
UK’s largest grid-scale battery approved after two-year trial UK energy utility UK Power Networks on December 2 announced the success of a two-year trial of the largest grid-scale battery in Britain, 6MW, which it says could transform the grid and play a major role in transitioning to a low-carbon economy. The Smarter Network Storage facility at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, was designed by S&C Electric, a Chicago, US-based electric power systems designer that used 50,688 individual Samsung SDI lithium-ion cells with a total energy capacity of 11.2 MWh. The £18.4 million ($23.4 million) 6MW/10MWh facility —the size of three tennis courts and able to store enough electricity to power 6,000 homes for 1.5 hours — has supported the National Grid for more than 7,500 hours, feeding the electricity network 180 times, said spokesperson Jenny Chapman at UK Power Networks. “The facility was the first multi-purpose grid-scale battery system providing support to the distribution
network operators and ancillary services to National Grid. When first energized it was the largest utility battery in Europe and doubled total GB DNO connected battery storage,” she said. Much of the funding for the project came from UK regulator Ofgem, which awarded £13.2 million from its Low Carbon Networks Fund. UK Power Networks added £4 million and ‘other project partners’ made up the rest. “We are anticipating that we will get over 10 years’ use before the battery capacity no longer meets our needs,” said Chapman. “This trial was set up to not only prove that the technology works but analyze the commercial and regulatory barriers that storage has. Our contribution to the project is part of this wider goal. The immediate benefits of implementing this solution is network reinforcement deferral, but the contribution it has made to the industry has also been very important.” Suleman Alli, director of
safety, strategy and support services at UK Power Networks, said: “As we move towards a low-carbon, decentralized, digital energy system, all eyes are on storage, especially batteries, in Britain’s electricity network. We believe grid-scale storage has a huge role to play in addressing the challenges the industry faces. “The trial has drawn attention to the fact that the UK’s regulatory framework needs to evolve to help exploit its full potential.” “The primary application of the system is peak shaving,” said S&C’s EMEA Business Unit sales director Cleverson Takiguchi. “The system is also able to derive value from additional services such as dynamic firm frequency response, static firm frequency response, enhanced frequency response, voltage control, wholesale electricity market tolling, reactive power support as well as short term operating reserve. The Leighton Buzzard facility is unlikely to remain the largest of its kind in the
Lightsource to invest $740 million for revenue flows from pre-installed solar Lightsource Renewable Energy announced in December it is looking to invest up to £600 million ($740 million) over the next five years to buy solar assets from households and businesses as it looks to diversify. The company, one of the largest developers and operators of solar assets in Europe, said the scheme would offer owners of residential and commercial rooftop solar arrays a cash lump sum for their installation. Under the terms of the proposed deal, Lightsource
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would take ownership of the arrays and receive the feed-in tariff (FiT) payments associated with them. However, the original owner would continue to receive power free of charge from the solar panels and Lightsource would take responsibility for the operations and maintenance of the installation for the rest of the FiT payment period. “There’s no question that solar PV is a sound investment,” said Nick Boyle, CEO at Lightsource. “Our buyback scheme offers
early adopters the chance to realize an immediate substantial return on their investment with the added benefit of continued free solar electricity.” The company said it had already acquired more than 1,000 installations across the UK, with more than 2.25MW of capacity through its buyback scheme, but is looking to beef up funding with a focus on acquiring solar systems deployed before FiT rates were cut in April 2012.
UK for long. Planners at Dormington, Herefordshire, have just granted approval for a 20MW battery storage system that will be designed by the Brighton-based developer Energy Reservoirs, which is contracted to complete construction within three years. A decision has not yet been made as to which batteries will be installed.
Leclanché chooses Greensmith for 20MW/10MWh system Battery manufacturer Leclanché has selected Greensmith, the energy storage software firm, to provide a turn-key 20MW/10MWh system in Marengo, Illinois — just outside Chicago. This will be Greensmith’s fifth system within the PJM market. It will provide frequency regulation as the main use-case. Leclanché will provide the batteries and work with Greensmith to deliver the project. The site will be commissioned by May. PJM ensures grid reliability for 61 million people in 13 US states. “Leclanché is committed to acting as EPC contractor and providing fully integrated storage solutions,” said Leclanché chief executive Anil Srivastava. “As grid operators look to new technologies to improve power quality and reliability, advanced energy storage has proven to be an effective and superior provider of frequency regulation,” said John Jung, CEO of Greensmith.
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NEWS Massachusetts becomes next US state to set energy storage targets for utilities The US state of Massachusetts intends to set energy storage targets for electrical utilities, a move that could fortify a developing industry that state officials said could store 600MW megawatts of power by 2025. The impetus behind the move follows state government officials in California setting aggressive renewable energy targets mandating certain amounts of storage for each utility. Massachusetts’ Department of Energy Resources determined it is “prudent for the Commonwealth to set targets for energy storage systems”, according to DOER commissioner Judith Judson in December. An energy diversification law was signed by Charlie Baker, the state governor, in August. This gave the DOER the discretion to determine whether to set costeffective energy storage targets for utilities to be achieved by January 2020. The law required the department to make a determination on targets by year’s end. The DOER is opening a public comment period ending January 27 and the department will need to adopt storage targets by July 1. In September, Baker administration officials said the state planned to fund up to half the cost of roughly 10 to 15 energy storage projects under an $11 million programme aimed at creating 5MW of storage.
Carbon nanotubes create ‘spectacular’ improvement in lead batteries Lithium may lead the field in energy storage at the grid level but the lead battery industry is fighting back with improvements that could challenge the supremacy of lithium by offering similar capabilities but at much lower cost. Scientists at the university of Bar-llan in Israel and the nanotube company OCSiAl have announced “spectacular” results when they added single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) to the electrode pastes of lead-acid batteries. Presenting at the world’s first nanoaugmented materials industry summit that was held in Novosibirsk, Russia, in November, Doron Auerbach, head of the chemistry department at Bar-llan University, said there had also been remarkable results with the addition of SWCNT to the electrodes of advanced lead batteries with gel electrolyte — an improvement he said had been completely unexpected. “It was above all expectations,” said Auerbach. “SWCNT increased the mechanical strength of the
active mass, the integrity of the active mass and the electric conductivity of the active mass. “Even tiny amounts were very effective, which means with mass production the cost will not be a big issue because the amounts required are so tiny.” Auerbach said that with just 0.001% of SWCNT added to the electrode paste of ordinary lead-acid batteries, the cycles of the cells increased by more than 600 and there was a five-fold increase in cycle life. The rate capability increased more than five times with the addition of the nanotubes. With advanced lead batteries it was even more remarkable because the results were unexpected, he said. “In advanced lead acid batteries the electrolyte is now a gel, and we didn’t expect there to be much of a difference because the batteries are better, after all,” he said. “But when the cells were polarized, they needed much lower voltage if they
had SWCNT added to the gel. “When we added our magic additive we could see the improvement in advanced lead batteries which was spectacular when compared with blank cells. There was a five-fold gain in cycle number.” The addition of SWCNT also suppressed sulfation, Auerbach said. The nanoaugmented materials summit was organized by OCSiAl, the Luxembourg-based firm that has developed its own brand of nanotubes, Tuball. Tuball consists of more than 75% of single wall carbon nanotubes and is added to a wide range of materials which the firm says include touch screen panels, polymers, structural composites, rubber goods and batteries. OCSiAl co-founder Yuri Koropachinoskiy said: “Commercial production of SWCNT is a fundamental achievement. This is the first material with fundamentally new properties which mankind has learned to produce commercially over the past 50 years.”
AES 50MW facility in Scotland advances One of the world’s largest power storage facilities — a 50MW array in Fife, Scotland to be built and operated by AES — is advancing and a planning application is likely to be submitted to the local council early this year. The proposed battery energy storage array would be housed in an agricultural style building, and would be operational in 2018. The site would collect
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surplus electricity from the grid and feed it back into the network at times of high demand. The arrays relieve pressure on generation plants and help ensure a balanced system of electricity generation and supply. AES will deliver the project using Advancion 4, the company’s fourth generation battery-based energy storage platform, which won the Edison Electric Institute’s 2016 International
Edison Award. The company says Advancion 4 will improve existing electric infrastructure and unlock the value of existing clean energy resources. AES’s first, battery-based energy storage facility in the UK was the Kilroot array in Northern Ireland. It provides 10 MW of interconnected energy storage, equivalent to 20 MW of flexible resource for the allisland transmission grid.
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NEWS
RedT Energy deploys 17 vanadium redox flow energy storage machines RedT Energy, the UK-based vanadium redox flow energy storage machine company, confirmed mid-November that it had finished its so-called ‘Gen 1 market seeding phase’. This is where its first manufacturing run of 17 machines have been sold and deployed to customers in various market sectors around the world. The flow batteries have been manufactured under contract by Jabil. “The company has now proven both its small 40kWh and large 240kWh energy storage machines in
the field,” said chief executive officer Scott McGregor, who said 10 small and seven larger machines had been installed in Europe and Africa. “RedT is the first vanadium flow machine company to prove its technology in large commodity manufactured 240kWh energy storage machines,” he said. “This is crucial to the mass adoption of industrial scale energy storage.” McGregor said the firm was also “very excited” about the sale of its first Gen 2 storage machine, in South Africa, to what McGregor says is one of Africa’s largest
telecoms companies. “It needs to be stable and secure,” said McGregor. “Sub-Saharan Africa has over 240,000 telecom towers providing mobile coverage to 70% of the population. This figure is expected to grow to over 325,000 by 2020, with the majority of sites situated in either offgrid or weak-grid locations. “There are two good reasons why our machines are ideal. One is economic. Conventional batteries will eventually run out. Batteries are very good for back-up, and you can charge them up and down, but they will
degrade, no matter how advanced they are. “Vanadium doesn’t degrade. This is a liquid electrolyte and has been tested and tested, and it will last at least 20 years. “The second reason is theft. It’s very easy to pick up a lead-acid battery and take it home. No one is going to be able to take home a 20ft energy storage machine.” The Gen 2 machine has been sold to Jabil Inala, a South African energy solutions provider and systems integrator that operates across sub-Saharan Africa.
Largest microgrid in central America commissioned for Costa Rica Rio Grande Renewables, a pioneer in developing and financing microgrids in Latin America, and Demand Energy, an energy storage provider, announced in December the two companies have commissioned a battery storage-plus-solar-PV microgrid at Establishment Labs, a medical manufacturing plant in Costa Rica. The system is to provide multiple on-site and gridassisting services, including peak demand reduction, solar PV shaping to smooth out variability, and back-up power for critical loads in the event of an outage. The microgrid, the largest in Central America, includes a 500kW/1MWh lithiumion battery storage resource connected to 276kW of solar PV. It is controlled by Demand Energy’s Distributed Energy Network Operating System (DEN.OS), which optimizes how these resources interact and perform. Under normal conditions the system will integrate intermittent solar PV for onsite self-consumption: when an outage occurs, the microgrid will island itself off
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from the grid and continue operating in standalone mode. “Like most sensitive manufacturing and laboratory operations, the Establishment Labs facility must receive a continuous flow of quality power,” said Shane Johnson, vice president of operations for Demand Energy. “This DEN.OS-controlled intelligent microgrid offers a rapid payback thanks
to significant savings from peak power reduction, and it will deliver instantaneous back-up power to support clean room operations when needed -- preventing production losses during outages. The system eliminates the stranded costs of traditional diesel generators while offering a healthy return on investment through optimizing renewable solar generation, which drives a reduction in greenhouse emissions that
First battery storage microgrid for low income NY apartments gets $1m loan The New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation has made a 10-year project loan of more than $1 million to the energy storage company Demand Energy, bringing large-scale battery storage technology to a privately owned low-income housing development in Brooklyn, New York. Demand Energy’s lithium-ion battery system will be used to store power generated onsite by the Marcus Garvey housing complex’s solar panels
and fuel cell systems—or lower-cost off-peak Con Edison power—reducing power demand when electricity is at its highest cost. It will be the first battery storage microgrid installation at a low-income property in greater New York. The 625-unit apartments, located in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, are owned by L+M Development Partners, a large owner/ developer of low-income housing. L+M has already
supports Costa Rica’s goal to be the world’s first carbonneutral country.” Brian Schmidly, president of Rio Grande Renewables, said: “This new generation of microgrid technologies is a game-changer in the region. They are also more affordable now than in previous years. We expect to see demand for microgrids grow as customer awareness increases and the benefits are clearly demonstrated.” installed 400 kW of solar and committed to adding 400kW of fuel-cell generating capacity as part of a major property renovation. The energy storage and distributed energy resources will be integrated into a microgrid managed by Demand Energy’s DEN.OS software platform, which aims to optimize the value of L+M’s energy generation investments. The system will cut power expenses, help keep the grid reliable and provide off-grid backup power for emergencies.
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INDIA Rising energy demand and its ambitious goals for renewable energy deployment have opened up opportunities in India for energy storage for various applications. Sara Verbruggen reports.
Indian firms get ready for storage ‘Aspirational’ is one way to describe India’s renewable energy goals. But ‘tortuous’ often describes some of the twists and turns of putting the process into motion. In January 2010 the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was launched, which set out a target of 20GW of grid-connected solar power by 2022. According to figures from analyst company Bridge, the I n d i a ’s total in-
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stalled solar capacity grew by more than 80% in the year ending June 2016 to reach 8.1GW. To continue this build-out, in 2016 the Indian government began to acknowledge the key role that storage has to play to support the integration of so much variable renewable energy capacity into India’s grid system. “The main driver for energy storage in India is the government’s ambition to reach 175GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, which includes 100GW of solar and 60GW of wind power,” says Abhinav Chaudhary, a design engineer at India-based firm Oranje Kracht Engineering (OKE). As in other markets that have been integrating increasing amounts of renewables, energy storage can help with many issues facing the grid system in India. Some of the key applications include time shifting of solar and other renewable energy, mitigating intermittency, grid stabilization, ramp rate control for traditional
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INDIA “The cheapest technology is lead acid, which typically lasts less than five years in the Indian climate. Even though lithium ion batteries have longer lifetimes, upwards of 15 years for more advanced chemistries they require more upfront expenditure” — Siddhartha Sengupta, president, engineering at Vikram Solar
power plants like coal and gas. But another important emerging market is rural electrification. More than 60 million households in India have no access to grid electricity, so micro and mini-grids that incorporate solar with batteries, for example, can provide an alternative source of electricity.
Tenders
In mid-2016 the Indian government announced it was planning to establish a National Storage Mission, which will bring all applications for energy storage systems under one umbrella. This also includes policies for electric vehicles, which are expected to increase in popularity as lithium
ion battery prices continue to reduce. The first few solar storage projects are about to kick off and knowledge gained from these will form the backbone of India’s storage policy in the future. They include tenders for 100MW of solar capacity in Andhra Pradesh, which is at the bidding stage, and 200MW in Karnataka, with each 50MW solar PV project connected to an energy storage plant with a capacity of 5MW/2.5MWh. Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which was set up by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), has been the most proactive of government agencies in tendering for storage capacity. The agency is behind the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka solar-plusstorage tenders. The aim is for these projects to act as pilots that position
India as a new market for utility-scale energy storage, to attract global providers such as AES Energy Storage and BYD, whilst also providing developers and EPC firms with experience of installing large-scale lithium ion battery storage systems. SECI has also announced the request for proposals for a hybrid renewables and storage project that will combine 2MW of solar PV, 0.5MW of small wind turbines and 1MWh of energy storage. Projects that combine storage with wind and solar are few and far between, with one recently announced in Australia and others occurring on island grid systems. The wind-solar-storage project will be built in a village called Rangrik in the state of Himachal Pradesh. In a separate initiative US engineering firm General Electric is collaborating with Indian firm IL&FS Energy,
TELECOM TOWERS — A ROUTE INTO ENERGY STORAGE The failure at the end of November for UK-based fuel cell multinational Intelligent Energy to finalize a £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) contract to supply energy for 27,400 telecoms towers has been yet another setback in the development of looking at alternative energy sources for India. According to a KPMG report, approximately 300,000 telecom towers in India (roughly half) face electrical grid outages for more than eight hours a day, leaving nearly half of the country’s 935 million mobile phone users disconnected for extended periods. As a result, telecom network operators have been relying on diesel generators and lead-acid batteries to provide backup power, resulting, so the report claims, in the consumption of more than 1.8 billion litres of diesel fuel annually. India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority now requires the use of renewable energy in place of diesel
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to provide power to its 650,000 telecommunications towers. Allowing solar micro-grids to service these towers looks a promising way to deal with the telecoms outage problem at the same time
as providing the infrastructure for microgrids to thrive — the telecoms towers act as anchor customers for the microgrids which then expand to offer basic electricity services to the neighbouring townships.
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INDIA
Rangrik in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, where a wind-solar-storage project is to be built. More than 60 million households in India have no access to grid electricity, so micro and mini-grids that incorporate solar with batteries, for example, can provide an alternative source of electricity. a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services, and one of the country’s largest wind independent power producers, on the feasibility of building wind-solar-storage projects. Sites in Ramagiri in Andhra Pradesh and Nana Layja in Gujarat are being investigated. At sites where wind patterns and solar generation are complementary, co-located wind and solar plants can help smooth out each other’s intermittency as more wind tends to blow at night and in the early hours when solar PV systems are not producing. Integrating energy storage can help firm up the resource further, supporting its integration in the grid. GE’s collaboration came about after IL&FS Energy signed a grant agreement with the US Trade and Development Agency in 2015 to undertake a technoeconomic feasibility study. This was to investigate how it can best integrate wind and solar PV installations with energy storage to create dispatchable, utility-scale renewable energy projects. As part of the study, GE is designing an integrated wind, solar and energy storage plant to estimate its capital and operating costs and develop a business plan that includes the gap funding needed for the project to be commercially developed. Other government agencies and statebacked companies in India’s energy and
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other sectors are putting together plans of projects that integrate solar PV with battery energy storage. The Neyveli Lignite Corporation’s 50MW solar initiative that also incorporates an energy storage component, to phase out diesel generation on Andaman, is at the expression of interest stage. Because the storage component of each of SECI’s tendered solar-plusstorage project is so small, the overall cost to build the plant will only be increased slightly. The government will also provide support. The size of the batteries to be built is small compared with other markets that are commercializing energy storage, including Europe, the US, China, even the Philippines and parts of Latin America, and multi-megawatt battery storage projects have been installed or are being commissioned. According to Siddhartha Sengupta, president, engineering, at Kolkataheadquartered Vikram Solar, one of India’s largest domestic solar PV companies, energy storage remains an expensive technology today. “The cheapest technology is lead acid, which typically lasts less than five years in the Indian climate. Even though lithium ion batteries have longer lifetimes, upwards of 15 years for more advanced chemistries they require more upfront expenditure,” Sengupta says.
However, he thinks the trend in falling prices of lithium ion cells, which shows little sign of abating in the next two years at least, which will lead to some manufacturers investing in setting up a domestic lithium battery industry in India. The government has introduced measures to facilitate a domestic solar PV supply chain and India’s lead acid battery industry is also big in global terms. “There are currently no lithium ion cell manufacturers in India. The price decline will hopefully encourage some major manufacturers to set up plants in India and cater to the upcoming storage market. In the meantime battery module assembly with imported cells and locally sourcing some of the balance of system (BOS) components is perhaps the best way to cater to the upcoming boom in battery demand,” Sengupta says.
Commercial & industrial opportunities
In 2016 the Indian subsidiaries of Japanese lithium ion cell producer Panasonic and independent power producer AES announced plans for a 10MW energy storage array at Panasonic’s factory in Jhajjar, in Haryana in the north of India. The joint project is the first largescale battery-based energy storage project in India. In addition to grid stabilizing and renewables integration applications, the installation will demonstrate benefits to commercial and industrial energy customers, by providing daily reliability and backup to the production plant. In India the commercial and industrial market for energy storage could have significant potential for growth. Thanks to the accelerated depreciation, a form of tax break for some renewable energy systems, a business or other large energy consumer can already achieve grid parity by installing rooftop solar PV. However, due to the lack of investment in the distribution network in parts of India, power cuts and outages are common, so storing solar in batteries can be more cost-effective than relying on diesel back up. The importance of energy storage will increase as more and more renewable power plants are connected to the grid. As an integrated solar engineering procurement and construction (EPC) firm as well, Vikram is preparing to add battery storage systems as a part of its EPC offerings and is seeking to participate in the government’s various energy storage initiatives.
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INDIA “Providing electricity to rural households is another area where there is ample scope in India. The government has plans to install 10,000 micro/mini grids with energy storage to help solve this issue,” says Sengupta. In other states that have also been the focus of much of India’s renewables activity, due to government tenders, including Rajasthan, Gujarat and Telangana, energy storage will be needed for grid stabilization. OKE is designing and researching and developing a range of lithium ion cell based energy storage products,
including residential energy storage systems for solar self-consumption, large grid-scale storage systems, in the MWh range, for integrating solar and also wind renewable energy generation. The company is also developing battery packs for electric vehicles. “Prototyping and testing is under way with various automotive manufacturers in India and we are looking to launch some of these various products in 2017/early 2018,” says Chaudhary. OKE buys in cells from China to make into battery packs and integrates
them with power control systems. The company is also developing a unique cooling technology that can be used with the electric vehicle battery packs as well as stationary storage systems to keep the cells cool, which helps to enhance their operational lifetime. Projects that OKE is submitting bids for include a 2MWh energy storage system for a 4.5MW solar PV system in Maharashtra. The winning bid will be selected in March 2017. The company is also at the early stages of bidding for off-grid solar and storage projects in Andaman and Nicobar.
At sites where wind patterns and solar generation are complementary, co-located wind and solar plants can help smooth out each other’s intermittency as more wind tends to blow at night and in the early hours when solar PV systems are not producing. INDIA ENERGY STORAGE ALLIANCE: WIND AND SOLAR
The India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) was launched in 2012 to assess the market potential of Energy Storage Technologies in India through dialogue among the various stakeholders to make the Indian industry and power sector aware of the need for energy storage in the very near future. IESA speaks of the huge and rising volumes of renewable power being generated. It says the solar market is gaining worldwide attraction due to favourable weather and policy incentives. “India’s theoretical solar power reception capability is about 5000 trillion KWh per year based on the land area and about 300 clear
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sunny days. The daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4 kWh/m2 to 7 kWh/m2 with about 1500 to 2000 sunshine hours per year (depending upon location). At the end of September 2016, India had 8.6GW of cumulative capacity. “As per the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, this capacity is expected to touch 10,000 MW by 2017 and 20,000 MW by 2022. Off-grid solar installed capacity is expected to reach 2000 MW by 2022.” IESA says that although India was a relatively new entrant to the wind power market in the 1990s it is ranked as having the fourth largest
installed wind capacity in the world behind China, US, Germany and ahead of Spain (which it overtook in 2015) and the UK. The capacity has significantly increased in the last few years and at the end of August 2016 the installed capacity of wind power in India was 27,676.55 MW, mainly spread across the South, West and North regions. The Ministry for New and Renewable Energy has also set a target of 15000 MW for capacity addition of grid interactive renewable energy in the 12th five year plan, which is 26% of the total target capacity, making wind the second largest power source over the next five years.
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COVER STORY: TRENDS FOR THE NEW YEAR AND BEYOND
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COVER STORY: TRENDS FOR THE NEW YEAR AND BEYOND
When thinking the unthinkable becomes the commonplace Like the political landscape in 2016, the energy sector is just as susceptible to disruption. Building on previous years’ progress, 2017 could have the makings of a record year for energy storage. But political risks to the industry are probably higher than they’ve been for a generation. Sara Verbruggen reviews the reviewers. Storage is classed as a clean technology and many proponents would like to see financial incentives for a still infant sector to help accelerate demand. This probably sounds all too familiar, but to assume energy storage is a mere enabler of more wind and solar PV in big grids and small grids alike is to miss the point. Governments that have implemented austerity measures, have tended to see supporting renewables as unaffordable and, therefore, unjustifiable, as has happened in the UK, much of mainland Europe, the US and Australia. They have used this argument to continue to cling to fossil fuel-friendly policies. Happily the fortunes of energy storage are not tacked to renewables, due to its versatility. It offers peak shaving but it also imbues grids with resiliency and supports more effective and efficient operation.
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While slashing its renewables support Australia — where, for a developed economy, a high proportion of energy consumers are on far-flung fragile grid ends, or are offgrid — is, conversely, embracing energy storage because the technology supports integration and is a more costeffective alternative to grid expansion. We asked the industry’s executives and insiders, between them knowledgeable across the spectrum of deployments; utility, commercial & industrial, residential and off-grid; both sides of the meter, and spanning expertize from all areas — integration to software development — to tell us what they think of rhe year ahead and road further along. Expect 2017 to widen the gamut of deployments and business cases for energy storage across the globe, while the regulatory landscape continues to shift to adapt.
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COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
Cautious optimism in new US admin
Janice Lin Co-founder and executive director, California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA)
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hile it is still unclear what impact the recent presidential election will have on the electric power sector broadly, there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic about opportunities for energy storage under the new administration. Given the president-elect’s focus
on infrastructure, traditional energy sources and jobs, there may be an important opportunity for energy storage to support existing natural gas generation and transmission and distribution infrastructure. Energy storage is already being deployed alongside gas turbines to increase grid reliability, flexibility and efficiency overall. Additionally, the new administration has signalled it will focus on boosting energy security, and energy storage is a key means to help ensure energy security both domestically and abroad. While it is likely we will see decreased support for clean energy at the federal level, actions at the state level will take on even greater importance. Fortunately, states across the US have already stepped up to shape clean energy targets, and energy storage will be instrumental to achieving high penetrations of intermittent renewable energy. The storage policies set in California, for example, have already gained momentum across the country, with states like Massachusetts, Oregon and New York shaping promising storage markets of their own. Beyond the US, we can expect to see storage continue to grow by leaps and bounds in countries such as China, India, Australia, Germany and Korea.
Energy storage defers the need to upgrade or replace equipment is an important area of regulatory focus — expect to see more projects built that tap into multiple value streams — Janice Lin, CESA Reductions in installed costs will enable additional storage use cases to become more cost-effective and commercialized in 2017. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has recently demonstrated its support of enabling multi-use assets for storage, such as participation in wholesale markets and transmission and distribution level benefits simultaneously. Energy storage as a non-wires alternative that relieves congestion and defers the need to upgrade or replace equipment is an important area of regulatory focus, and we expect to see more projects built that tap into multiple value streams.
Lithium ion world faces threats
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John Jung President and chief executive officer, Greensmith Energy
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e see a handful of key trends happening in 2017. First, energy storage will go from pockets of use to more widespread growth globally. Long ago, analyst firm IHS made a bold prediction that energy storage would hit 6GW of newly installed capacity in 2017. Let’s be extremely cautious here and say we wind up with 4GW instead. That would still represent year-overyear growth of more than 200%, compared with the projected market size this year. Storage is also addressing an increasing variety of use cases. This year will be another banner year for energy storage. Overall the cost of energy storage will continue to fall, putting more return on investment-positive applications in play.
To retain market share lithium ion will have to continue driving down prices, because flywheels and other technologies will remain strong challengers in the coming year — John Jung, Greensmith At this moment, too, it’s a lithium ion world. Lithium ion batteries are heading toward 90% market share on the strength of cost and performance advantages in many cases, including long-duration storage. To retain market share lithium ion will have to
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COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD continue driving down prices, because flywheels and other technologies will remain strong challengers in the coming year. Software to control and optimize the performance of energy storage becomes more important while safety remains a challenge. One of the big stories of 2016 has been price reductions for batteries, particularly lithium ion ones. As the market matures and developers see performance results from control software and integration of systems that run multiple applications, attention will shift to storage system integration and design. A battery does what it’s told to do. Software is the brains of the energy storage system. Finally, energy storage deployments will become increasingly commercial and resemble renewable power purchase agreement-type structures and longer term reliability requirements. The US Department of Energy’s Global Energy Storage Database shows almost 700 electro-chemical systems that are currently operational, plus 193 thermal storage systems and 50 electro-mechanical systems. Investors have ample data to evaluate technologies at pilot scale. In 2017, we’ll see project development move toward multi-year deployment of bankable, commercial storage systems.
Attention will shift to storage system integration and design. A battery does what it’s told to do. Software is the brains of the energy storage system – John Jung, president and chief executive officer, Greensmith Energy
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Prices driven yet lower
Jim Hughes Chairman of the board, Eos Energy Storage
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here are the two key trends about energy storage going into 2017. First, the cost curve is moving down faster than anticipated, and the rest of the energy industry is trying to keep up. When I joined First Solar in 2012, conversations were taking place about achieving $200/kWh in a seven-year timeframe. Less than five years later we already have batteries that have reached that point, with widespread speculation of costs falling even further. Second, most people continue to associate energy storage solely with renewable energy, whereas this com-
ing year will show us storage applications are rapidly becoming economic across the entire grid. Storage-plus-renewables will remain important, but those outside the storage industry will start to see more of the benefits of shaving peak, reducing demand charges, leveraging under-utilized grid assets and deploying storage on a commercial and industrial scale. Let’s dive deeper into the market and technological state-of-play. Storage looks and feels like solar circa 2011-2012 in that no one is quite sure just how quickly the cost curve is moving. There’s going to be downward pressure from Asian competitors, but all manufacturers can learn from the Chinese model of adding scale quickly while reducing risk through highly variable costs. Storage solutions requiring highly customized, capital-intensive manufacturing facilities will struggle to compete with those employing simpler, more dynamic manufacturing processes that have fewer fixed costs. Creating something with insides that are entirely custom-built can strand significant investment if a solution isn’t finding much traction in the marketplace. For the next few years, I expect a significant portion of the action for battery technology to take place in the three to eight hour capacity range, with four to six hours being the top of the curve for manufacturers. We’ll see the market for shorter durations facing competition from non-battery technologies.
Storage looks and feels like solar circa 2011-2012 in that no one is quite sure just how quickly the cost curve is moving — Jim Hughes, Eos
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COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
New business models on maturing technology Worth noting is the potential for VPPs in the UK market. Though the interest in 2016 focused on the National Grid’s enhanced frequency response market, the truly interesting potential for energy storage lies in VPP models, underpinned by significant energy trading operations that the UK is home to. — Anil Srivastava, Leclanché
Anil Srivastava Chief executive officer, Leclanché
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n 2017 the electricity market will continue to transition towards an increasingly decentralized electrical grid that makes use of distributed energy resources. This tendency also applies to transport which is progressively undergoing electrification. The increasing share of renewables in the energy mix, regulatory evolution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a redefining of the role of utilities and their business models, plus the shift to smart, clouded, decentralized energy markets, are the key trends underpinning the shift away from the traditional centralized power generation. Adoption of battery energy storage systems (BESS) at all levels has proven that the technology is mature. In North America, the largest market for energy storage, by deployment and in terms of procurement, demand is partly driven by power-intensive applications, such as provision of frequency regulation. We expect 500MW of annual procurement, based partly on projects awarded in 2016, but
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actual construction taking place this year. However, energy-intensive applications will also gain more traction from now on. Potentially significant is the demand for microgrids, especially for US and Caribbean island territories, based on solar, storage, diesel and sometimes wind power generation, which can save on operational costs for island utilities by displacing diesel, relegating this form of power generation to back-up power. Similar to what happened during the birth of distributed solar, new business models are being driven by the emergence of predictable revenue flows for energy storage project asset owners. Evolving business models call for utilities to become more agile and not only address electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, but also focus more on grid services and develop customer-friendly solutions. For the most part, utilities around the world ignored the rapid growth of residential PV in its early years. The result was a robust market with several leading providers able to challenge incumbent utilities on their home turf.
New business models are being driven by the emergence of predictable revenue flows for energy storage project asset owners. — Anil Srivastava, Leclanché
This, in turn, has resulted in unstable distribution networks where PV penetration has reached high enough levels to cause voltage issues. In an effort to not repeat past mistakes, many utilities are embracing the rise of BESS technology, a trend that will continue in 2017. They see the prospect for innovative technologies, like residential storage, to provide direct value while limiting the opportunity for third parties to get between them and their customers. ESS-enabled virtual power plants (VPPs) will continue to make headway and will emerge as a key business model for distributed energy storage, spanning commercial, industrial, and residential segments. Worth noting is the potential for VPPs in the UK market. Though the interest in 2016 focused on the National Grid’s enhanced frequency response market, the truly interesting potential for energy storage lies in VPP models, underpinned by significant energy trading operations that the UK is home to. Sophisticated intelligent energy storage systems married to aggregation platforms, mean power can be bought, some of it traded in the open market and some of it also stored, and sold to large power users under corporate power purchase agreements. To enable this, we envisage smart deployment of modular ESS systems in ‘clustered clouds’ architecture, designed and engineered to deliver blended energy and power, encompassing stationary and mobile systems.
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COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
Off-grid markets set to keep growing As energy consumers, we are becoming increasingly aware that the price at the pump, or the wall-socket, does not accurately reflect the financial, let alone the environmental, cost of extracting and refining fuels and the subsidies and tax breaks that go into keeping energy prices artificially low — Catherine Von Burg, Simpliphi
Catherine Von Burg Chief executive officer, Simpliphi
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ff-grid market opportunities will continue to grow. Whether owned by a business, hospital or individual, coupling renewable generation to storage provides access to, or allows ownership of, clean power generation 24/7. Wind or solar coupled with energy storage leapfrogs infrastructure buildout otherwise required in many places where it is too expensive, or remote, or high-risk to extend the transmission grid. About 50% of our business is off-grid and we expect to see that continue across markets such as Australasia, Latin America and the African continent. Given the advances in available technology to harvest renewable generation and store it with battery solutions that are efficient, non-toxic and safe, there is no longer a reason populations living beyond transmission lines should be marginalized simply due to a lack of access to power. Our intent is creating access to energy and providing energy security for the 1.2+ billion people that live beyond centralized infrastructure and the 1.4 billion that have intermittent access due to antiquated and inadequate infrastructure. Electricity generation from distributed energy resources gives communities more security over their energy. We have seen that in places such as
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Haiti, where clinics are using off-grid systems that combine solar with batteries, this is creating an opportunity to relegate diesel generators to backup power, reducing fuel consumption and costs associated with importing fuel, not to mention pollution. What the year ahead holds in store for the US energy storage market is not easy to predict. The new government is conservative and pro-fossil fuels over renewables. But even without the political will behind this sector, stopping the momentum is going to be harder, especially as many policies, such as the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) are mandated at the state, and not the federal level. Perhaps more important than policy however is the consumer. I’m a firm believer that demand drives markets. As energy consumers, we are becoming increasingly aware that the price at the pump, or the wall-socket, does not accurately reflect the financial, let alone the environmental, cost of extracting and refining fuels and the
subsidies and tax breaks that go into keeping energy prices artificially low. As econometric models and project case studies become widely disseminated, energy consumers will begin to understand that the economics of building clean, sustainable power generation assets, such as solar PV and wind coupled with storage, are costeffective. Our conversations and installations with utilities, commercial businesses and university campuses demonstrate that these entities know they can save on energy costs by deploying renewable generation and storage in distributed microgrid systems. That knowledge–base and interest will continue. We’re also talking to utilities in the US and in New Zealand and Australia that are interested in rolling out distributed energy resource assets, like solar-plus-storage, that the utility owns and can aggregate to provide more grid services and benefits, as well as meeting the resiliency and power requirements of their constituents.
Haiti, where clinics are using off-grid systems that combine solar with batteries, is creating an opportunity to relegate diesel generators to back-up power, reducing fuel consumption and costs associated with importing fuel, not to mention pollution — Catherine Von Burg, Simpliphi
Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 21
COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
Fossil fuels face their fate
David Kaplan Chief operations officer, founder, Doosan Gridtech
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ey positive trends, many of which have become reliable in recent years, will continue to drive clean energy and the energy storage industry in 2017 and beyond. First, continuing exponential price reductions for clean energy resources will fuel more and more conversions from fossil to renewable energy sources. In particular, solar-plus-storage —
already seen as a viable alternative to conventional power in many regions — will increasingly become the most cost-effective option for addressing new load growth. Second, grid modernization efforts, driven by the need to incorporate distributed energy resources like solar PV and storage into the world’s power system, will continue to accelerate. In areas with developed grid infrastructure, utility-scale, distributionconnected resources such as substation-sited energy storage systems will augment legacy utility equipment to deliver increased grid reliability and new services. In developing areas with limited grid infrastructure, microgrids centred on new, clean resources, like solar-plusstorage, will accelerate electrification and economic development. In both developed and developing areas, these deployments will depend critically on software, information and communication technologies required to integrate clean-but-variable resources such as solar and wind with conventional power system technologies. Finally, the world will see continued progress toward a clean electric economy. Perhaps surprisingly, about threequarters of today’s end-use energy is still delivered not via the grid, but by direct combustion of fossil fuels.
Deployments will depend critically on software, information and communication technologies required to integrate clean-butvariable resources such as solar and wind with conventional power system technologies — David Kaplan, Doosan Gridtech However, long-term trends are clear. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that world electricity demand will “continue to grow more strongly than any other form of final energy,” reflecting both electricity’s flexibility at meeting human needs and its critical role in decarbonizing energy. Given these factors, the clean electric energy transformation has barely begun. Industry participants, particularly those supplying critical new technologies, can expect increasing market opportunities in the coming year and for many years to come.
Renewables to buck change
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Marc Borrett Chief executive officer, Reactive Technologies
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hree things will continue to help push the transition to smarter, cleaner grids, where flexible resources such as energy storage and demand side response (DSR) technology has an increasingly important role to play as more renewables are added. First there will be continued policy, pricing and technological instability in markets and grids. Looking back at 2016, it was a year marked by a number of green energy wins, including the ratification of the Paris Agreement. But, there were also some low carbon energy setbacks, namely governmental uncertainty resulting in energy policy instability and decreased, more cautious investment in renewable projects and energy technologies. This instability looks to continue
in 2017, with austerity measures still being implemented across Europe. In the UK the lack of disclosure, and therefore, certainty concerning the timeline and terms of the Brexit decision, does not help instil investor confidence. In the US the president-elect has made it clear he is not a supporter of renewables and he has the support of a Republican Senate. The implication these will have on the agreement reached at COP21 is unclear. There is no doubt the renewable energy community will look on with anticipation. Regardless, I predict the growth of renewables will continue, albeit not to its full potential. Second, there will be an increased rate of change, technological uptake, for grids. The technological chal-
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COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
Energy storage to unlock European opportunities
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atteries are rapidly becoming an important solution for grid services, energy storage and integration of renewables. Installed battery energy storage is going up worldwide. Recent analysis by Citigroup and Navigant forecasts an astonishing growth of battery sales in the coming years.
Alfons Westgeest Executive director, EUROBAT
In 2017 the industry will see more advanced battery storage products. At such an early stage of the market basic user incentives make sense. Germany, for example, is developing as an important market for households systems, thanks to an incentive programme by the government. The European Commission’s package for a legislative framework of energy storage proposes the much needed definition of en-
ergy storage, removal of double grid fees and creation of a market for balancing services that will allow access for small players as well as independent energy aggregators. Europe must unlock that market because other regions, like the US, are deploying battery solutions in significant amounts. In turn it will create opportunities for European cell manufacturing and research and development. Taking full advantage of the energy and transport revolutions will add value and jobs. All battery technologies — lead, lithium, sodium, nickel — offer excellent services for various segments of the energy market. We advocate letting the market choose the most efficient solution on a case-by-case basis.
The European Commission’s package for a legislative framework of energy storage proposes the much needed definition of energy storage, removal of double grid fees and creation of a market for balancing services that will allow access for small players as well as independent energy aggregators — Alfons Westgeest, EUROBAT
of political tone lenges facing transmission system operators globally will no doubt continue to exacerbate, with increasing frequency variation caused by drops in rotating mass generation and an unprecedented uptake in intermittent energy sources. In 2017, proven technologies that can help drive more efficient grid operation and provide more flexibility will increasingly find their way into the mainstream and start being rolled out. Energy storage, in particular, is a technology that despite a faltering start should pick up in the second half of 2017 as cost reductions come through. Third, there will be greater adoption of DSR among commercial and industrial energy (C&I) customers. Between high power prices and a
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push to deliver on low carbon commitments, energy managers are increasingly looking for ways to decrease and de-risk their energy spend while boosting their sustainability credentials. This should result in a record year for C&I adoption of DSR as it allows businesses to earn money for their energy flexibility while contributing to a lower carbon energy system. We aim to show how strategically
important DSR can become for a major global business at scale in 2017, giving many other businesses an insight into the real potential of this technology. In addition, the creation of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in 2016 indicates the UK government has acknowledged the importance of linking energy policy to industrial strategy, to ensure it becomes a core business objective.
We aim to show how strategically important DSR can become for a major global business at scale in 2017, giving many other businesses an insight into the real potential of this technology — Marc Borrett, Reactive Technologies
Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 23
COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
Drive to solar, storage unstoppable
Ken Munson President and chief executive officer, Sunverge
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expect storage to continue its upward growth trend in 2017, with three significant factors at work. The first is basic economics. The penetration of solar generation will continue to grow, at both the distributed energy resource (DER) and utility levels. A survey from the Pew Research Center shows overwhelming support for solar power overall in the US, with 40% of homeowners con-
sidering rooftop installations (to save money and protect the environment). Adding storage to DER solar immediately increases the system’s return on investment, shortening the payback period. The increase in electric vehicle sales will contribute, driving down the cost of batteries (through volume and innovation) while driving up demand for storage to make recharging more efficient; Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects that 35% of all new vehicles sold worldwide in 2040 will be electric. Demand for storage will also be driven by continuing changes in net energy metering tariffs, along with the addition of demand charges by many utilities and, eventually, time of use rates. There are 13 US states considering new distributed generation rate designs, including time of use and demand charges, while in Australia eliminating the feed-in tariff has been forecast to lead to 50% penetration of storage with rooftop solar — and there are already 1.6 million rooftop solar installations in the country. This will create increased demand, not simply for behind-the-meter storage, but for that storage to be ever-more intelligent, with predictive analytics that enable DER owners to automatically get the greatest possible benefit from their system — and to help utilities manage the complexities
More policy makers around the world are recognizing the value of widespread local solar and storage and strongly encouraging its deployment — Ken Munson, Sunverge of putting so much local generation on to already taxed grids. Finally, more policy makers around the world are recognizing the value of widespread local solar and storage and strongly encouraging its deployment — Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan in particular are world leaders, along with the US. Even though it appears likely the Trump administration won’t have as strong a pro-renewables energy policy as there has been under Obama, there remain strong pro-renewables policies in forward-looking states and their governors in California, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, New Mexico, Washington and Hawaii. These are bellwether states when it comes to energy policy in the US, so the outlook remains positive and strong.
Silver lining from power outages
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Troy Miller Director grid solutions, S&C Electric Company
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number of significant developments that have happened in the last six months will help build momentum for the utility-scale segment of the industry in 2017. One of these has been the aftermath of the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak that occurred in facilities owned by Southern California Gas in October 2015. The shortage in stored gas caused by this event, which could lead to blackouts in the region, has led to the fast-tracking of permitting required for battery energy storage to fill the shortfall. Ordinarily the permitting for 40MW of traditional generation would take two to four years to complete, but to deploy the megawatts of energy storage needed, it has taken a matter of months in order to make sure that
Energy storage is more than just a renewablesenabling technology. It is a valuable and versatile grid tool, as recent events like Aliso Canyon have shown — Troy Miller, S&C Electric shortfall is addressed in early 2017. We’re seeing more uptake of energy storage from across the utility spectrum, not only investor owned utilities, but also electric cooperatives and municipal utilities. The S&C project with the Village of Minster in Ohio, has used a private public partnership model to develop, in partnership with
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COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD Half Moon Ventures, the largest solarplus-storage project with a municipal utility to date. It allows this small community of 2,800 to have more solar generation, but by integrating energy storage grid resiliency is also improved. The energy storage system provides frequency regulation in PJM, while also enabling savings for Minster’s electricity consumers by avoiding peak load contribution charges, a type of peak demand charge the utility has to pay to the transmission system operator. Voltage support is also embedded into the system. Islanding is a future consideration. Definitely we are going to see more deployments of energy storage on the grid where the asset can do several things, generating different revenue streams and enabling savings. There’s been a lot of doom-saying since the election in November, especially within the renewables industry. But it is too early days yet to say what is going to happen. Energy storage is more than just a renewables-enabling technology. It is a valuable and versatile grid tool, as recent events like Aliso Canyon have shown. However, it is probably unlikely that the standalone energy storage investment tax credit (ITC) bill will be passed. Of course, we welcome any incentive but the utility energy storage industry is already standing on its own two feet.
The global ‘Internet of Energy’
Ryan Wartena President, co-founder, Geli
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even years of operating Geli as an energy automation and services layer for the energy storage ecosystem makes me feel we are a barometer for our emerging industry as it rocks and rolls, and the music is definitely getting louder and better. Financiers are backing commercial systems, utilities and networks are deploying energy storage systems to optimize grid, solar-plusstorage and microgrids are proving technically and financially viable. I’m looking forward to 2017, we are in the initial phase of the ‘big
build’ of the global Internet of Energy. In 2017 we’re going to see more instances of the industry integrating internet and network methods and business models applied to energy operations across all grid levels. This includes the major use of computational analysis and financial modelling of system configurations for accuracy and volume processing; there’s lots of buildings out there! Successful trials of peer-to-peer transactions and automated market exchanges will show the capability of every device to become an asset and resource. We see everything as a potential distributed energy resource. In 2017 solar-plus-storage financing will hit its stride and will become a more standardized offering and consideration. Energy storage systems will continue to strongly refine in integration and delivery; solid state batteries will surface and begin scaling. In 2017 electric vehicles will take a step towards becoming a dynamic interconnection for vehicle to grid platforms and there will be lots more EVs at home and work, and that means more solar-plusstorage at both places. Communities will set 100% renewable plans financed through real estate-like energy asset trusts, and Internet of Energy business models will bloom as the grid edge unfolds.
In 2017 solar-plus-storage financing will hit its stride and will become a more standardized offering and consideration. Energy storage systems will continue to strongly refine in integration and delivery — Ryan Wartena, Geli
A survey from the Pew Research Center shows overwhelming support for solar power overall in the US, with 40% of homeowners considering rooftop installations (to save money and protect the environment — Ken Munson, Sunverge
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Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 25
COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
2016 trends reinforced in year ahead
Michiel van Schalkwijk Group director international sales, Solarwatt
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here have been two key drivers for the residential energy storage market in Europe and these will continue in 2017. The first is incentives. Germany, which has had an incentive in place to encourage self-consumption among homes with solar-plus-storage, will continue to remain a key market. But others, including Italy and Sweden, are also introducing their own
incentives and tax breaks to facilitate adoption of solar-plus-storage. From 2017 we can expect these markets to grow and attract energy storage providers. Secondly, wherever the combination of solar-plus-storage means self-consumption of solar PV-generated electricity competes with retail electricity prices, these markets should also see more growth. These markets tend to be below the Alps. For example Spain has made it uneconomical to export PV electricity to the grid so storing electricity in batteries for own use is cheaper. We, and our competitors, have a job to do of educating consumers to help them to understand the benefits. It took a while for consumers to appreciate the benefits of solar, but with good incentives, many adopted solar when they could see the positive return on investments that was possible. Installing solar and storage can help people save on their energy costs, use more clean energy and give them more energy independence. In a few countries, including the UK and the Netherlands, we see opportunities for solar-plus-storage adoption among housing associations, which are under pressure to alleviate fuel poverty among their tenants. In these types of projects solar PV rooftop installations can be sizeable, 5-8kWp in
Industry to look for longer duration storage
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attery prices have continued to drop, interest in electricity storage has gone up, but we have not reached the limit of
either. If 2016 was the year of short duration applications for storage: frequency response and the like has been the area of great interest, the pendulum will start to swing, and we will see much more interest, and many more
Anthony Price Director, Electricity Storage Network (ESN)
26 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017
We see opportunities for solar-plus-storage adoption among housing associations, which are under pressure to alleviate fuel poverty among their tenants — Michiel van Schalkwijk, Solarwatt size. In the Netherlands, the burden is on the owner of the PV system to pay for any grid reinforcements that might entail. Installing storage PV can ensure that less PV electricity is being exported to the grid. To unlock solar-plus-storage demand among different residential segments, including social housing, energy storage systems need to be smaller to start with, but designed so that they can be easily extendable, to meet changing self-consumption and energy requirements in future. This is different from how the market started in Germany, which has typically seen large homes, requiring larger storage systems. But this is all part of the market’s evolution, the ability to identify different types of end-users and deliver a product that caters to their different needs. projects using long duration electricity storage by the end of 2017 and into 2018. Developers and users will appreciate the value of extra energy storage capacity, at only a small marginal cost, so that storage will be able to take its rightful place in the capacity market, be used to overcome constraints on the network, particularly when integrating renewable generation, and distribution companies will want to use storage as part of an integrated toolkit to reduce the system operating cost. In the UK, the government will finally resolve the status of storage, and decide whether it is generation or it is
If 2016 was the year of short duration applications for storage, the pendulum will start to swing, and we will see much more interest, and many more projects using long duration electricity storage by the end of 2017 and into 2018 — Anthony Price, ESN www.energystoragejournal.com
COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD not. There will be tears and disagreements about this, as there will be losers as well as winners. Distributed network operators will be under pressure as they seek to make their networks smart. The smart grid is widely seen as part of the solution to the energy trilemma, delivering lower cost energy, reliably, economically and sustainably. It brings together the different parts of the energy system; the end users of power, supply companies, network companies and the generation companies. Now, equipment manufacturers are also part of the action, and their sphere of influence is broadening as we include an internet of things — domestic appliances, lighting, electric vehicles to name but a few. But, of course, there is a link between our energy that comes from electrical sources, and the energy from gas and liquid fuels. So the smart networks do need to cross over into the gas industry, and the liquid fuel industry. Water is fundamental to our lives — a supply of clean water and the removal of waste water is vital to health, but the water industry is a major user of power, so integrating water into the smart network is also important. This all needs to communicate with each other, so we need to link this sector in as well. So I’d predict that the present regulatory regime in the UK of Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom will need to be reviewed substantially during 2017 to make sure that they are fit to deliver the smart infrastructure that we need.
The need for big data management
Ronnie Belmans Executive director, Global Smart Grid Federation
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he worldwide transition to a future with a sustainable, reliable and affordable energy supply is happening right now. More and more renewable energy sources, such as solar PV and wind power, are being integrated in our existing grids. Whereas in mature and western economies, energy demand is decreasing, the need for electricity is growing due to the increasing penetration of electric vehicles and heat pumps. By now we know that a layer of ‘smartness’ has to be added to our networks to keep them in balance. Different solutions are out there. Flexibility will be harvested not only at the generation side, as it used to be, but also via demand side participation. This requires proper communi-
cation between existing and new stakeholders and urges the need for big data management. Of the utmost importance is the active involvement of the end user who has actually become a prosumer owning valuable assets. In 2017 energy storage will continue to gain market share as a flexibility source. Given the fact that prices are going down fast, battery technology is popping up at different locations, at residential level but also at utility-scale. Apart from applications such as self-consumption and local peak shaving, those stationary units will be assessed for ancillary grid services such as voltage and frequency control. From their side, transmission and distribution grid operators are working on active network management tools which might need a revision of their role in the complete energy system. All this will not happen overnight, but you cannot underestimate the growing number of industrial sites operated in a microgrid configuration and where different energy vectors are intelligently coupled in an energy management system. Whenever regulation creates an open and level playing field in which positive business cases can be created, there is nothing stopping technology.
You cannot underestimate the growing number of industrial sites operated in a microgrid configuration and where different energy vectors are intelligently coupled in an energy management system — Ronnie Belmans, Global Smart Grid Federation
Water is fundamental to our lives — a supply of clean water and the removal of waste water is vital to health, but the water industry is a major user of power, so integrating water into the smart network is also important. – Anthony Price, director, Electricity Storage Network (ESN)
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Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 27
COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
Californian C&I to forge ahead
Boris von Bormann Chief executive officer, Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas
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017 will be a significant year for energy storage, as the market continues to develop rapidly and more players are getting involved in this increasingly competitive space. The commercial and industrial (C&I) market continues to be an area of notable growth in the US, especially in California where expensive demand charges on various tariff rates
makes the economics of energy storage attractive. Regulations continue to evolve in the New England market, which is also likely to see a marked increase in the volume of storage projects. We expect the residential market to ramp up in a few key areas in 2017 and to further expand in 2018, driven by changing rate tariffs. Storage for grid services will continue to see substantial growth, not just in front of the meter but also behind the meter as utilities are putting more focus on using behind the meter assets for grid stabilization. As the automotive industry invests more in e-mobility, from the graduation to all-electric vehicles and related e-mobility products and services, solar-plus-storage fits perfectly into this ecosystem, as it enables electric vehicle owners to power their cars using clean energy generated at home. Even if incentives cannot be a longterm solution, they are of course an important driver of market activity. In the last state legislative session, California successfully passed a number of bills that promote energy storage. In particular, AB 1637 doubles the budget for the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). With increased funding and improvements to the programme’s rules, SGIP in 2017 will continue to grow
Storage to open up the lower cost of solar
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hough 2016 was a year of significant geopolitical change, which will inevitably shape future energy policies, the energy storage market continued to mature and develop unabated. In 2017, I expect to see our industry further advance with a whole host of new opportunities, applications and markets opening for industrial-scale energy storage systems and products. The financial case for solar power
Scott McGregor Chief executive officer, REDT Energy
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The C&I market continues to be an area of notable growth in the US, especially in California where expensive demand charges on various tariff rates makes the economics of energy storage attractive — Boris von Bormann, chief executive, Mercedes-Benz Energy Americas the energy storage market in California. Residential storage systems will benefit from the programme’s new residential-specific funding carve-out. The revised programme will ensure more equitable distribution of incentives and allow more participants to benefit. At the federal level, the bi-partisan energy storage tax credit bill introduced to Congress in 2016 faces an uncertain future. Energy storage technologies could potentially benefit from an infrastructure investment bill should energy infrastructure be included. looks set to become even stronger for 2017 as the cost of energy generation continues its downward trend towards a levelised 5.9p/kWh. Compare this to the levelised cost of gas (CCGT) generation at around 6.5p/kWh and it becomes clear how important low-cost solar generation is going to become. At this price, solar is one of the cheapest forms of electricity generation, and this represents a game changing opportunity for our market to couple with solar to allow it to provide firm, 24 hour power through the day and night. Quite simply, due to grid constraints, the further expansion of cheap gridconnected solar, cannot be unlocked
In the mining sector for example, diesel generation costs are the second largest operational expenditure item for companies with 24 hour off-grid operations. — Scott McGregor, REDT Energy www.energystoragejournal.com
COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD without industrial, hard-working energy storage, both in-front and behind the meter. Outside of grid-connected markets, we are now seeing operators waking up to the fact that high running costs, coupled with volatile fuel prices, have made diesel generation an expensive option to rely on. In the mining sector for example, diesel generation costs are the second largest operational expenditure item for companies with 24 hour off-grid operations. This is a key market for energy storage machines and operators can use up to 90% less fuel and save on associated transport, theft and maintenance costs by installing sufficient solar PV assets and five-hour duration energy storage systems. In short, energy storage is now an economic, commercial proposition and the years to come will see its widespread deployment unlock the cheap, reliable, renewable energy generation of the future.
The financial case for solar power looks set to become even stronger for 2017 as the cost of energy generation continues its downward trend towards a levelised 5.9p/kWh — Scott McGregor chief executive officer, REDT Energy
UK poised to lead great energy storage break out
Simon Daniel Chief executive officer, co-founder, Moixa Energy
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n 2017 we’re going to see energy storage break out of the confines of prosumer and niche early adopters, with compact products more suitable for mass market. That means any customer or household, across different incomes.
To date the quite limited — 50,000 or thereabouts — European installed base of batteries has focused on large household systems that work against grid interests, instead of systems that are sized and suitable to work with utilities in improving customer offerings through balancing and avoiding peak supply prices. We have focused on mass market systems in the UK with over
650 smart batteries deployed as part of an aggregation platform — that manages clusters of batteries for utilities or aggregates for wider grid services. In 2017 we will see the start of an inflexion point in volume battery deployment that could see the UK overtake the rest of Europe in volume and towards one million units by early 2020, driven by the regulatory freedom and maturity of grid-services market in the UK and the growing opportunity of batteries to aid peak shaving, avoid rising pricing, and help utilities by enabling them to offer improved tariffs. This will be aided by asset finance interests in energy storage, which previously helped the UK be responsible for the second largest deployment of residential solar — over three quarters of a million homes — due to the improving economics of deploying storage with solar. We aim to unlock this potential demand with an affordable solar + storage system that is really affordable to install. Customers can shorten their return on investment through being part of aggregation platforms designed to pay income back to customers from grid services. This will show how self-consumption of clean energy, using solar-plus-storage, needs to be designed to benefit more than one stakeholder — consumers and utilities and grid operators, for example — in order to gain serious traction in the coming years.
In 2017 we will see the start of an inflexion point in volume battery deployment that could see the UK overtake the rest of Europe in volume and towards one million units by early 2020, driven by the regulatory freedom and maturity of grid-services market in the UK — Simon Daniel, Moixa Energy
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Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 29
COVER STORY: THE YEAR AHEAD
US commercial market on the up Commercial-scale energy storage technology is transforming the economics of solar for companies seeking to mitigate the financial burden of high demand charges and new time-of-use rates — Neil Maguire, Adara Power
Neil Maguire Chief executive officer, founder, Adara Power
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s residential energy storage increases in popularity, we have simultaneously experienced increased interest in commercial energy storage in the US.
Commercial-scale energy storage
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technology is transforming the economics of solar for companies seeking to mitigate the financial burden of high demand charges and new time-of-use rates. The commercial market requires intelligent energy storage that has operational flexibility, industrialgrade reliability and durability, and open application programming interfaces for integration with building management systems and grid service providers. Commercial energy storage system demand is increasing due to an attractive business case for solarplus-storage keyed by rapidly falling battery prices, improved software controls and high demand charges.
Residential demand continues to grow with a significant decline in the cost per kWh and as utilities moving away from net energy metering. However, in most markets value must be placed on added benefits of back-up power to justify the purchase. The big trend for 2017 will be the increasing number of large battery and inverter suppliers entering the North American market with new generations of higher performing, lower cost solutions. This will spur growth in software solutions and control systems that enable the mass customization of these systems for individual state, utility and tariff structures.
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So much so, we’ve dedicated two areas of the magazine just for you to tell it as it is. The first is our section called COMMENT — which rather says it all. Here give us your views about what our industry is doing well (or badly) or just needs to open a discussion, this is where to air your views.
Disclaimer: Our editorial board necessarily vets every article that we print and will impartially approve pieces that it believes will be interesting and supportive of the energy storage industry and related products. Articles submitted should not be marketing pieces.
30 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017
The second is called CONFERENCE IN PRINT. Here we’re looking for scholarly articles looking at the nuts and bolts of what we do. We’re looking for technical papers that can explain advances in chemistry or technology.
Contact: editor@energystoragejournal.com
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CHARGING THE FUTURE ENERGY STORAGE, E-MOBILITY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY: A PERFECT FIT
CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES: THE ROAD TO 2020 EES AROUND THE WORLD: THE AMERICAS, INDIA THE CHANGING FACE OF DISTRIBUTED ENERGY ELECTROMOBILITY: THE NEXT PHASE ARRIVES www.ees-events.com
ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE |(EES) EES EUROPE | EUROPEIN MUNICH
THE ROAD TO 2020
Ahead of this year’s industry meetings in Europe‘s largest exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems, the ees Europe in Munich, Sara Verbruggen reviews the latest developments across the continent. Germany, the Energiewende pioneer, continues to push ahead with energy storage deployments, while new markets from Sweden, to the UK, to Italy, are also forging their own path
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Next steps A clear path for the future of renewable energy storage across Europe now looks assured. The route may still be a little sketchy at times but the direction is clear. The reason is simple. The core question — whether mass adoption of renewable energy and storage across Europe will be the future for Europe’s power needs— has been answered. The answer is a resounding yes. And the one country that has done the most in providing that answer — Germany — looks set to lead the way. Thanks to a continuation of the decision by the government, at the start of 2016, to rein-
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In Germany where peak demand prices are high for large energy users — companies consuming more than 10GWh in a year — these customers can reduce their grid charges by 80%-90%, by installing a battery.
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state a subsidy for small-scale behind-themeter energy storage systems, Germany’s residential solar-plus-storage build-out is assured. To date, over 40,000 systems have been installed, comprising units supported with the incentive paid by the state-controlled KfW bank, as well as systems installed without support. The solar-plus-storage systems installed, which encompass new installations as well as retrofit, exceed over 200MWh of energy storage capacity on the grid. Germany’s residential solar-plus-storage market is by far the biggest in the world and it is likely to stay that way for some time, even as new residential solar-plus-storage markets start to get underway this year in Australia, Italy, Sweden, the UK and some American states, including Hawaii and California. Lithium ion battery technology is the chemistry of choice for most residential energy storage systems in Germany. Key players in the German energy storage market, which were out in force in the ees exhibition halls alongside / co-located with Intersolar Europe
2016 in Munich — and look set to do the same this June, include Sonnen Group. The firm, which has also expanded to the US, Australia and the UK, supplies about a third of domestic demand for residential storage systems. Solarwatt is another notable domestic energy storage player with global ambitions. Both companies have made most of their energy storage system sales to date through distribution partnerships with solar distribution and installation businesses. In 2016, Solarwatt signed a deal with German utility Eon, which is distributing Solarwatt’s energy storage system, branded as Aura. “It is clear that the utilities have to find new business models. This process is still going on. As solar PV-plus-storage will be one of the most important components of the future electricity system it is a big opportunity for utilities. Their advantage is their large customer base,” says Jörg Mayer, managing director of BSW Solar. Though Sonnen has focused on a new business model that circumvents utilities by
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allowing members to trade surplus electricity generated from solar-plus-storage and other small-scale distributed generation systems with other via its online platform Sonnen Community, the company’s OEM partners include rival German utility RWE – lately rebranded to Innogy – which has been white-labelling Sonnen’s battery storage systems and selling them since 2012. In 2016, Germany’s Daimler Group made a concerted move into energy storage announcing a new division, Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage, in June at ees Europe in Munich. Target markets include the UK, Netherlands and the US. The battery systems, which use the same technology as the automaker’s electric cars, are compatible with SMA inverters. Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage’s solar partners span large, established German solar businesses, including Krannich and Baywa.re, as well as Segen, one of the UK’s biggest distributors. Daimler Group has also been working with partners to supply industrial grid-scale projects in Germany, providing services to Germany’s primary power market, when fully connected. By 2018, it is expected that solarplus-storage systems will cross with socket prices for electricity, saving on energy from being able to self-consume as much as 80% solar generated power. This is not due to retail electricity rates in Germany rising, as these should remain steady at around €0.29/kWh ($0.32/kWh). Self-consumption is becoming more affordable due to the continuing price falls in lithium ion batteries. By 2020 some estimates expect annual demand for home storage systems in Germany to be in the region of 50,000, driven by a growing number of residential electricity customers’ desire to gain more grid independence, which explains the popularity of solar-plus-storage systems even while payback timeframes are at least 10 years, even when subsidized. Sweden, UK, Italy embrace residential solar-plus-storage Residential solar-plus-storage has been one of the huge themes of 2016 and should continue to dominate many parts of this year’s ees and Intersolar Europe exhibition area from May 31 to June 2 in Munich. Last year, for example, Mercedes-Benz energy had a
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major booth that promoted the launch of its new home storage system. Tax reductions on solar PV and solarplus-storage systems over the first 10 years of operation, rising electricity rates as well as high levels of solar irradiation due to its southern European geography, has made Italy an attractive market for solar-plus-storage. Energy bill savings combined with tax savings suggest on average home owners can expect payback between six and eight years, for a consumer installing a solar plus storage system in Italy in 2017. This is one of the reasons why ABB has chosen Italy as the first country in which to launch the company’s lithium ion battery
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In Germany where peak demand prices are high for large energy users — companies consuming more than 10GWh in a year — these customers can reduce their grid charges by 80%-90%, by installing a battery.
storage system, called React, which is based on inverter technology developed at Power-One, when ABB acquired the company in 2013. Other companies which have also started to roll out home storage products in Italy include Switzerland-headquartered Leclanché.
C&I energy storage poised for take-off in Germany, UK Despite current legislative constrictions, which the EU’s Winter Package (see box on next page) will ease, large-scale energy storage deployments, especially among commercial and industrial (C&I) energy consumers in Europe are expected to rise. In Germany where peak demand prices are high for large energy users — companies consuming more than 10GWh in a year — these customers can reduce their grid charges by 80%-90%, by installing a battery. Berlin-based energy storage software and turnkey systems provider Younicos is working on several projects with C&I customers in Europe and sees Germany and the UK as driving C&I demand for energy storage initially. European utilities Eon and Centrica are also targeting C&I opportunities in Europe. In the UK, where the recent capacity market auctions rewarded several energy storage projects, some of these will be sited at customers’ premises and will provide stacked services to ensure the investments are commercially viable. This will be by providing services that benefit the customer, like peak shaving and back-up, as well as earning revenues from the Capacity Market as well as other grid ancillary services markets potentially. Younicos’ Y-Cube product, developed specifically for C&I applications, can pay for itself in under seven years by a combination of saving the company costs as well as generating revenues. The company can guarantee its battery systems for 10 years, which
helps assure customers that their investment will pay for itself. As more projects have been developed, installed and operated with success, financiers are getting increasingly comfortable with energy storage technology. “Bankability has improved dramatically, but regulatory uncertainty can still hurt. However, with the market shifting towards C&I applications, bankability is increasingly connected to the customers‘ credit rating, which in the case of German industry tends to be good,” says Philip Hiersemenzel, a spokesman for the company. In Germany, engineering firm AEG Power Solutions is commercializing an innovative hybrid platform that combines electrical energy storage with power-toheat equipment, reducing the capital expenditure of energy storage. The company is targeting the platform at entities that use thermal processes in their facilities, such as local heat networks in combination with electrical distribution networks, as well as C&I customers with demand for power and processing heat, which could also earn revenues by providing frequency control. By combining energy storage with a power-toheat system the battery can operate at 100% stateof-charge, using all available capacity, so the battery capacity can be reduced. Any electricity the system absorbs from the grid goes straight to powering the heating/thermal system.
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By 2020 some estimates expect annual demand for home storage systems in Germany to be in the region of 50,000, driven by a growing number of residential electricity customers’ desire to gain more grid independence
The UK, which after Germany, has one of the highest amounts of installed residential solar PV capacity in Europe, is also pegged for solar-plus-storage growth from 2017 onwards. Many companies, including Sonnen, Solarwatt, Leclanché, Tesla, Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage, Samsung SDI, LG Chem and SMA, plus domestic player Moixa, having started marketing and supplying energy storage products in anticipation of increasing demand.
In the UK Moixa has installed over 650 of its smart batteries, equivalent to 1.3MWh, for storing solar and powering direct current loads, like LED lighting, flat panel televisions, laptops, smart phones and other computing equipment. All are deployed as part of an aggregation virtual power plant (VPP) platform — that manages clusters of batteries for utilities or aggregates for wider grid services. The rapid maturing of the grid services
Winter package clarifies roles for DSOs and energy storage On November 30, 2016, the European Commission published its “Clean Energy For All Europeans” package, widely referred to as the “Winter Package”. The Winter Package consists of lots of legislative proposals, with three main aims of prioritizing energy efficiency, continued renewable energy development, and providing a fair deal for energy consumers. This topic is likely to prove to be a major discussion area for this year’s forums at ees Europe exhibition and conference in Munich. In the recast of the Electricity Directive, a key element of the Winter Package, the role of distribution system operators (DSOs) are
clarified in the new power market design proposals within the package. The new power market design is expected to facilitate future electricity markets in Europe, where increasing amounts of variable and decentralized energy production will continue to be added, and there will be increased interdependence between individual electricity markets’ systems across borders and growing opportunities for electricity consumers’ participation in the market through demandside response, distributed generation, smart metering and energy storage. To ensure flexibility in the system, DSOs will be able to procure services from
The Winter Package consists of lots of legislative proposals, with three main aims of prioritizing energy efficiency, continued renewable energy development, and providing a fair deal for energy consumers. This topic is likely to prove to be a major discussion area for the ees/Intersolar forums.
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decentralized resources, included distributed generation, demand-side response programmes and energy storage. DSOs will also be assigned a role in the integration of electric transportation in the electricity network, by facilitating the connection of public and private gridconnected recharging points for electric vehicles. Rules on DSOs’ ownership and operation of energy storage plants are also clarified in the Winter Package proposals. These new roles and associated tasks for DSOs will be based on the principle that DSOs are not allowed to develop charging and storage solutions, unless certain conditions are fulfilled. These conditions include the lack of interest by other parties. Where storage is concerned, the use of an energy storage system or facility is limited to securing the efficient, reliable and secure operation of the distribution system. DSO ownership and operation of storage and charging facilities are subject to approval by the national energy regulator and must be in compliance with unbundling provisions in each national market. The potential interest of other market participants is reassessed at intervals. The Winter Package will not take effect before the latter part of this decade but it is crucial for clarifying the position of DSOs in relation to energy storage and electric vehicle recharging infrastructure, which will help to unlock deployment of these technologies within the distribution network.
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market, which supports aggregators and other energy service providers, could see demand for behind-the-meter storage in the UK accelerate in the next few years. Several players are targeting opportunities by partnering with solar installers that work with housing associations. Energy storage systems, coupled with solar PV, or standalone, can help electricity consumers on variable tariffs, to reduce their energy bills further by charging up the batteries in times of low demand when socket prices are cheapest, to provide power for households on tight incomes when demand and socket prices are highest. In 2016, Leclanché was selected by UK solar installer North Star Solar to supply its TiBox home energy storage system, which uses lithium titanate cells, one of the highest cycling lithium battery chemistries available. North Star has introduced a financing model which allows its customers to save on electricity costs with repayments coming directly from energy savings, with no upfront payments. Utilities benefit because peak shaving services provided by aggregated batteries help to balance the grid and defer costly investments in upgrading and reinforcing parts of the network. Taking a leaf out of Germany’s book, towards the end of 2016, Sweden announced it was introducing a scheme to subsidize solar-plus-storage purchases by residential energy consumers. Sweden wants to eliminate all fossil fuels used for electricity generation by 2040. The Swedish government hopes that much of the new generation capacity will come from solar PV, which already receives support, and that distributed energy storage systems will enable a smooth integration whilst enhancing the resiliency of Sweden’s grid. The new subsidy, which covers up to 60% of the cost to install a system, is scheduled to run until the end of 2019 that could support up to 25MWh of new energy storage capacity. Grid stabilizing and flexibility Battery storage systems, from utilityscale installations, to customer-sited deployments, to VPPs based on multiple distributed generation units are being rolled out across Germany. These show the technology’s versatility — its use in
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different configurations, sometimes for multiple use cases — is helping to stabilize Germany’s power grid. Last November one of the world’s largest battery energy storage projects, for providing frequency control was inaugurated. Engineering multinational Nidec ASI supplied power producer Steag with six energy storage systems, installed across several of Steag’s sites, totalling 90MW of capacity. The systems combine Nidec ASI’s power conversion equipment with LG Chem’s lithium ion batteries. A 15MWh system using around 3000 new electric vehicle battery packs is being built by Daimler, with its subsidiary Accumotive, and with a local utility in Herrenhausen, to provide frequency regulation services. In 2016, Daimler also supplied one of the largest energy storage systems to reuse spent electric vehicle batteries in a stationary storage application. The 13MWh facility at a recycling plant in Lünen, actually fulfils three use cases; frequency regulation, electric bill management and energy time-shifting. In Bavaria, a project has been running since 2015, to show how aggregated individual energy storage systems coupled to rooftop solar PV systems, operated within a VPP
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North Star has introduced a financing model which allows its customers to save on electricity costs with repayments coming directly from energy savings, with no upfront payments.
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platform, can provide frequency control services as well as enable the systems’ household owners to benefit from high levels of self-consumption, reducing energy bills. The energy storage ‘swarm’ pilot consists of 65 individual energy storage units, amounting to 1.3MW of capacity, supplied by German firm Caterva, working with Nuremberg community utility N-ergie. In the UK, the transmission system operator (TSO), the National Grid, is also procuring more grid services using energy storage in response to a loss of inertia across the system due to the retiring of large thermal power generation units and increasing amounts of variable renewable energy generation.
Off-grid and smart concept grids Off-grid energy storage opportunities are arising across Europe’s islands. The most advanced of these to date is a renewables-powered microgrid on the island of Graciosa, which is using energy management technology from Younicos, coupled with battery technology from Leclanché to ensure wind and solar can be used for the majority of Graciosa’s electricity production, relegating fossil fuel generation to a back-up role. Through its extensive overseas territories, largely consisting of islands in various seas, France has pioneered cleaner island grids that deploy energy storage with renewable resources such as solar and wind. Projects include a 4.5MW system on the island of La Reunion. Closer to home French battery maker Saft has
supplied two 1MWh lithium ion battery storage systems for renewables integration on the island of Corsica. The battery systems are each connected to a 1MW solar plant on the island. On its mainland, France is also piloting energy storage. Saft has supplied battery systems for the Nice Grid project, which is testing a smart grid concept, with utility EDF, where batteries are being used to integrate solar PV from lots of rooftop systems in the region. Recently EDF ordered a flywheel system from German supplier Stornetic for a concept grid smart grid test facility south of Paris, which has been set up to validate energy storage and other smart grid technologies, reducing their time to market, by seeing how they work in a real world environment.
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In 2016, Germany’s Daimler Group made a concerted move into energy storage announcing a new division, Mercedes-Benz Energy Storage, in June at ees Europe in Munich.
In the summer of 2016, the National Grid announced the successful bids for its first 200MW enhanced frequency response tender. All deploy battery storage. However, more storage opportunities are opening up due to the recent results of the TSO’s Capacity Market tender, for reserve capacity in ti-
Residential solar-plus-storage has been one of the huge themes of 2016 and should continue to dominate many parts of this year’s ees Europe exhibition area from May 31 to June 2 in Munich, Germany. Last year, for example, Mercedes-Benz energy had a major booth that promoted the launch of its new home storage system.
Lithium ion battery technology is the chemistry of choice for most residential energy storage systems in Germany. Key players in the global energy storage market, such as LG Chem, which was out in force in the ees Europe exhibition co-located with Intersolar 2016 in Munich —look set to do the same this June
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mes of peak demand, from 2020/2021. Along with Germany the UK is expected to be one of the hottest markets for energy storage in Europe, for C&I and utility-scale deployments. Longer duration storage Grid stabilization applications, which requires short duration energy storage, have helped drive demand for utility-scale storage so far in Europe. However, longer duration energy storage applications are expected to become more popular from 2017 onwards, for applications such as renewables firming. In Germany, where older wind farms are starting to emerge from their 20-year feed-in tariff contracts, operators are looking at how energy storage can be used to firm output to enable trading it in the power markets. Such applications are expected to become more commercially viable as negative pricing gaps widen. Of course, Italy is one country familiar with deploying energy storage at scale for longer duration applications, to reduce curtailment of wind power, where it is mainly generated in the south. But there is not the sufficient transmission lines and other infrastructure in place to get the power to the north of the country, where much of the demand lies. So, Italian TSO Terna has turned to energy storage, commissioning several energy storage projects over the past two years, which demonstrate a range of battery technology and storage characteristics, from lithium ion titanate chemistries to flow and sodium nickel chloride batteries. One of the projects commissioned is a 450kW/1.4MWh vanadium redox flow battery supplied by Unienergy Technologies for a Terna substation in Ciminna, on Sicily. The system was installed as part of the first 16MW phase of Terna’s energy storage programme and the TSO is now in the process of commissioning the second phase, which will lead to the installation of an additional 24MW of energy storage, based on the most promising technologies demonstrated in the first phase. Terna is seeking energy storage technologies to help it address a range of use cases and services, including frequency regulation, transmission upgrade deferrals, due to wind, transmission support, voltage support and black start capability. n
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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE |(EES) EES SOUTH | EUROPE AMERICA
Electrical energy storage in Brazil In April 2016, the Brazilian National Regulatory Authority, better known as ANEEL, published the first draft of a three-year energy storage initiative in the context of its R&D programme for technological innovation in the power sector, which was launched in 2012. Project selection for the initiative should be concluded in 2017. ANEEL’s announcement is timely and shows an interest in pushing energy storage to be considered as a solution to Brazil‘s growing renewables capacity and urgent need to fill the transmission infrastructure gap.
ees South America
Electrical energy storage in Latin America
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outh America offers one of the five highest solar potentials in the world. In the long term, a high share of solar energy in the region, together with other renewable energy sources such hydro, wind and geothermal energy, will impose challenges on the power system. These challenges will be addressed with storage technologies, smart transmission systems and demand side management (DSM). The high penetration of renewables that is
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envisaged in future power systems of South America will increase the need for flexible operational measures and generation technologies, whose associated investment decisions have to be properly planned in the long term. In Chile for example the electricity sector is already deploying battery storage as a spinning reserve. In the residential, commercial and industrial segments, the market players are looking for market-ready energy storage solutions. n
ees South America is the new platform for storage technologies reshaping LATAM’S energy sector. The ees (electrical energy storage) global exhibition series is the industry hotspot for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and users of stationary and mobile electrical energy storage solutions. ees is a special exhibition running within Intersolar South America 2017 and is dedicated to storage solutions for renewable energy, from domestic and commercial applications to large-scale storage systems for stabilizing the grids.
This year it takes place between August 22 and 24 at the Expo Centre Norte in São Paulo.
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South America offers one of the five highest solar potentials in the world.
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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE | EES NORTH AMERICA IN SAN FRANCISCO
US and California lead the charge
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n 2015, the US energy storage market reached a record-setting number of installations, with an annual total of 221MW. That figure represented a 243% increase over 2014’s installation total of 65MW. Looking ahead to the final figures for 2016, the market will continue to post impressive numbers: GTM research forecasts the annual US energy storage market to cross the 1GW mark in 2019 and to reach 1.7GW by 2020. The market will be worth $2.5 billion by 2020. Additionally, the number of solarplus-storage installations is expected to grow with the extension of the investment tax credit (ITC).
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In the United States, the utility (frontof-meter) segment continues to be the bedrock of the market. In 2015, front-ofmeter storage accounted for 85% of all deployments for the year. The residential and non-residential (behind-the-meter) market is much smaller but grew 405% in 2015. But energy storage still faces significant hurdles. Many systems are not yet cost competitive with conventional technologies. Cheap natural gas suppresses the market for peak-load shaving and ancillary services. And many US states lack the regulatory structures necessary to facilitate energy
storage deployment or reward utilities for their investments in storage projects. Despite these challenges, certain states have emerged as leaders in energy storage deployment. California is home to the country’s largest energy storage market, and its policies and deployment practices serve as a model for other states. n
For more information ... You can download the GTM white paper at: www.ees-northamerica.com/newspress/download-resources
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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE (EES) | NORTH AMERICA
North America’s ultimate hot spot for energy storage solutions Covering the entire value chain of innovative battery and energy storage technologies, ees North America is the ideal platform for all stakeholders in the rapidly growing energy storage market. It takes place in the epicenter of the US storage market: California. Co-located with Intersolar North America, North America‘s most-attended solar event, ees North America provides the best opportunity to explore
energy storage systems in combination with PV and beyond. In 2016, more than 100 energy storage exhibitors and 18,244 visitors participated in the co-located events. ees North America is part of the ees global exhibition series. Together with ees Europe in Munich, and ees India in Mumbai, ees events are represented on three continents.
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GTM research forecasts the annual US energy storage market to cross the 1GW mark in 2019 and to reach 1.7GW by 2020.
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The United States is set to be the largest energy storage market worldwide, and California is the hub of technology innovation and policy development! As more solar power comes online, storage technologies play a critical role in grid stabilization, electric transportation, demand management and beyond.
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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE | EES INDIA IN MUMBAI
Drivers for energy storage in India
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he increased penetration of solar PV and wind installations is fundamentally altering the power sector across the world. The shift towards more and more distributed power generation and higher contribution of energy to the grid from power sources like solar and wind are creating new challenges in grid integration of renewables. The seasonal fluctuations in solar power generation and the inherent unpredictability of energy from these sources have led to increased adaption of energy storage systems. India’s renewable energy targets will massi-
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India’s electrical storage market is projected to reach $200 million by 2018.
Why ees? Intersolar India is hosting and highlighting the special exhibition „ees India“ to extend and round up electrical energy storage innovations and programs. The focus at ees is on energy storage solutions suited to energy systems with increasing amounts of renewable energy sources attracting investors, utilities, installers, manufacturers and project developers from all over the world. The huge economic growth in India and the strong engagement
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of the Indian government for energy security and renewable energy, the potential market for electrical energy storage in India is expected to be tremendous in the future. The location of the exhibition and conference in Mumbai — the financial and commercial capital of India — means that ees India will attract international powerful buying power for electrical energy storage innovations. In 2016, ees
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vely add capacity to the grid over a very short period of time. Narendra Modi, the prime minister, has declared energy a top priority. By 2022 the country aims to achieve an installed photovoltaic capacity of 100GW and 175GW renewable energy in total. Many parts of the country face power cuts for up to 16 hours a day, and power is available only intermittently. This has prompted many households that can afford these storage systems to deploy them at their homes and use them during the long power outages. Today almost none of these storage systems have so far been connected to a PV system and the energy stored in the system is the grid electricity. However, there are only a few storage systems either in the industrial or commercial sectors at the moment, mainly owing to the high cost of storage devices. But the importance of energy storage systems
India took place in parallel with Intersolar India. At the companies’ booths, numerous visitors learned more about the energy storage sector. This event complements the exhibition perfectly — batteries are essential for India’s journey to a renewable future.
for India cannot be underestimated. In a country where more than 400 million people do not have access to grid electricity and a similar number not having reliable and quality grid power, distributed and off-grid PV systems along with storage will be of great need. And things are shifting dramatically. India’s electrical energy storage market is projected to reach $200 million by 2018. The key drivers for this growth are the mandated replacement of decentralized generation (sets by solar for telecom towers, the expected growth of mini and micro grids, and the imminent need for grid stability arising out of growing solar and wind penetration. Given the need for energy storage due to the increase in PV penetration, distributed power generation and power shortage in the country, Indian policy makers – both at the central and state level – can play a major role in devising policies to gain a major share in the PV storage market. The Indian government is looking at ways to minimize the impact on the existing grid. Therefore, according to media reports, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is contemplating the launch of a National Energy Storage Mission. State policies will fire up energy storage and microgrid opportunities as well. A possible energy storage policy would most likely be linked with the solar or wind energy policy. According to the Indian Storage Alliance (IESA) there are also policy drivers for storage with India’s Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC) mandating the scheduling of renewables farms and the Central Electricity Authority establishing a national task force for the integration of renewables, including the role required of storage technology. n
Where + when ees India takes place within Intersolar India 2017 from December 5-7, 2017 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai.
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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE |(EES) EES EUROPE | EUROPE| VIEWPOINT
The changing face of distributed energy ees Europe spoke to six industry leaders exhibiting in the Munich meetings from May 31 to June 2 for their perspectives on the present European marketplace
Battery assets to provide multiple services and benefits Eliano Russo, head of energy storage at Eon reckons that the industry is reaching a turning point on the grid, idle for many hours until it is called upon to provide one type of ancillary grid service, we are looking at projects where the battery is deployed first and foremost to provide peak shaving for the customer, but can also provide other services and benefits.
Where has Eon positioned itself in the current market? Following research in 2014 to 2015 to identify the most profitable applications across the different regions Eon operates in, we concluded that energy storage has value both in behind-the-meter deployments, in homes and on industrial premises, as well as for utility-scale in-front-of-the-meter applications, supporting transmission system operators and distribution system operators. In the UK we have been selected as one of the successful bidders to provide services in the National Grid’s new enhanced frequency response (EFR) market. However, this type of application, where the battery automatically responds to changes in frequency, is really the start. What do you mean, the start? From now on we are looking at projects where battery assets can provide multiple services and benefits. This requires sophisticated software controls. Rather than having a battery that sits
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What does this mean in geographical locations? In Germany, where peak demand prices are high for large energy users — companies consuming more than 10GWh in a year — these customers can reduce their grid charges by 80%-90%, by installing a battery. But in other countries in Europe, including the UK, similar opportunities are starting to emerge, especially if peak shaving can be complemented with other services or benefits such as improving power quality; for some manufacturing and processing businesses this is important, and back-up. Last but not least if the asset can also generate revenues from the National Grid’s ancillary services, then pencilling out a business case for energy storage becomes possible. And what is your approach to this? That’s the direction the business is taking and it is why we are going to be focusing more on the intelligence — software — side. We made an investment in US energy storage software developer Greensmith in 2015, but we are also looking at other solutions on the market. These types of investments by European utilities in software developers have been occurring because they are mutually beneficial. Utilities have access to customers and know about their lo-
ads, their usage patterns and billing, so can see how energy storage can be of service to customers, and how to monetize these assets. Software providers, which have the technology platforms to enable energy storage systems to perform intelligently, providing multiple functions and services, are able to gain access to the European market. Energy storage should not be treated like a standard generation asset. But, the industry is still immature, though it has incredible potential. In Europe certainty in the regulatory framework — for grid operators and distribution system operators — around who can operate energy storage and who can use it is going to be needed. If we can set down some basic principles, it will provide investors with more certainty. The EFR market, which is the first kind of grid ancillary service tailor-made for batteries, is going to be closely watched and monitored by other European transmission system operators. Energy storage growth is comparable to the global solar PV market’s evolution. For many years there was very little growth and then from 2009 to 2016 the market has boomed, going from 20GW to 300GW of installed global capacity. We are approaching that turning point with energy storage, I believe. n
“ „ In Europe certainty in the regulatory framework, for grid operators and distribution system operators, around who can operate energy storage and who can use it is going to be needed
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ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE | EES EUROPE | VIEWPOINT
The need for greater customer awareness Daniel Hannemann, managing director of Tesvolt, reviews the current energy storage landscape
What do you regard as the most significant change to the energy storage landscape — for your business — to have happened in 2016? Why? Over the course of the last year, the industry has made major advances in the area of technology. As a result, storage systems are becoming increasingly competitive. One of our own developments was among the most significant of these innovations in 2016: The active bidirectional battery management system (BMS). This monitors the condition of the cells and balances each individual cell, thus achieving greater efficiency in the battery system compared to existing methods – such as passive battery management.
„ “ Our new generation of products will have a lifespan of 30 years and a DOD of 100%.
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It constantly tracks the temperature, voltage and state of charge of each individual cell. This award-winning system enabled our battery storage systems to have a lifespan of around 20 years and a depth of discharge (DoD) of 90%. Our new generation of products will have a lifespan of 30 years and a DOD of 100%. Could you name some things that you wish could happen for the energy storage industry for the year ahead? Ideally, we would like to see a further fall in prices of battery storage systems driven by continued product development and improvement. The demand for storage solutions is there, but there needs to be an increase in customer awareness around the world that they can save money by using storage systems. We are planning to offer customised storage applications, most notably for the European market, and to continue to be involved in the area of off-grid.
The uptake of energy storage is geographically disparate, with Germany and some parts of the US leading the way. In your opinion what would speed up adoption elsewhere? Cross-border subsidies? Harmonized international regulations? The situation is this: Combining storage systems with renewable energy sources offers a favourable alternative to diesel. This is a strong argument, particularly in countries where the power grid remains underdeveloped – where up till now, the necessary power has been supplied by typically expensive and environmentally harmful diesel generators. We need customers to be better informed and to put their trust in the technology. For the one part, bilateral agreements between countries and partnerships with other companies can contribute to the exchange of knowledge and help to pool strengths. For us, it is particularly important to work with inverter manufacturers. But establishing uniform standards for manufacturers and international legal frameworks would also be an important step in increasing acceptance towards storage systems. Renewable energy is increasingly finding its way into everyone’s lives through the grid to the home and factory but the transportation sector — electromobility is virtually untouched. Why do you think this is the case? What factors will drive this business sector forward? Here, we face the same challenges as with stationary storage systems: It is difficult to win customers over if they cannot recognise the economic efficiency of storage devices. This is why we are looking to symbiosis between the use of stationary storage systems, renewable energy and e-mobility. These areas must be more closely linked to ensure clear benefits for customers using emobility. E-mobility will only be a success if it is envisaged in connection with stationary storage systems. The domestic storage systems currently available are often much too small to supply a system including electric cars with enough energy at any given time. For that reason, now that commercial storage systems for companies are well established, we are aiming to make commercial storage systems more attractive for the home as well. n
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The joys of self-consumption Andreas Gutsch, chief innovation officer of Solarwatt, discusses how his rapidly expanding company is positioned for the future.
How do you see the current market situation for your firm? Worldwide interest in our storage systems has been grown significantly. In 2017, we will start selling MyReserve in Australia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and France. This international market growth increases the sustainability of the market and thus enables us to develop even more powerful products. What concerns do you have about the present energy storage scene
and what improvements would you suggest that would speed up adoption? As for any innovation, safety is the most important issue. In 2015 the lack of guidance on this topic became evident and the “recommendation policy for safety in Li-Ion home storage systems” was developed in cooperation with numerous Institutes and major players. My wish would be that this policy could be swiftly established globally. Because any accident in the sector would impact the whole sector. In addition, the self-consumption of green solar energy from storage systems should be treated the same as tomatoes from your own garden and not taxed as is the case in Germany at the moment. It would be desirable to raise public awareness for the cost/performance relation of the various storage systems. We truly do not believe in any kind of subsidies. Solarwatt products pay off without financial
support from third parties. Harmonized international regulations, especially in regard to safety of lithium ion batteries, would help a lot. At the moment we have a variety of regulations that differ from country to country even within the EU. And how does electromobility fit into this? Solarwatt has a system approach around the concept of generating, managing and storing solar energy with clear focus on the self-consumption, among other, also the charging of electric vehicles. However, due to the small number of Electric vehicles sold so far, this concept has not yet fully penetrated into consumer consciousness. In expectation that the trend to electric vehicles will increase, Solarwatt already today, offers a fully integrated product assortment ranging from long-life glass-glass solar modules, via energy management and storage, to the Wall-box for charging the EV. n
The rise and inevitable rise of electromobility Thomas Speidel, general manager of ADS-TEC which makes high-performance battery systems for alternative energy sources, considers the growing market in e-vehicles. Electric mobility will be a major driver of flexibility in the grid — especially in the distributed grid. This sector looks as if it is untouched at present but, as soon as the right products become available this is going to change. In the future, the e-mobility market will look a little like this.
Renewable energy is increasingly finding its way into everyone’s lives through the grid to the home and factory but the transportation sector is virtually untouched. How do you see its future?
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• Electric cars will have a reasonable price and have a decent driving range. • More vendors than had been expected will offer e-cars. China will lead the field. • The infrastructure for charging will be standardized and readily available. There will be no major hotel, restaurant, shopping mall or the like which would be wi-
thout charging infrastructure. • Much of the core technology can be bought off the shelf, so sensors and software will be offered from companies such as Google similar to Android on mobile phones. • Long development cycles can be shortened by using established components and functionality. • Plug-in hybrids will become too expensive as they are neither an electrical nor a conventional car. Used plug-in cars will lose a lot in value. • Cities will prohibit combustion engines in certain circumstances. • Regulations such as parking will become preferential to electrical drivers. n
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Long duration needs to lead demand Lars Möllenhoff, CEO of Gildemeister Energy Storage believes that a worldwide reappraisal of renewable energy is underway
Our experience shows demand for longduration storage will start to become more significant from 2017 onwards, both in developing and developed economies. There is a worldwide change in energy goals and targets set by governments to
increase the usage of renewable energies and to expand rural electrification. The Rural Electrification Agency in Uganda for example is planning to connect 100% of its inhabitants with electricity by 2035, including those living on remote islands and in rural areas, which would mean a connection of 1.4 million new customers. Currently, Uganda’s overall electrification rate is only 14%. Vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) technology, a form of longduration storage, can leap-frog lack of grid infrastructure and provide clean electricity. Alongside East Africa, governments and project developers in India, Oceania and south-east Asia, such as Thailand, are interested in investing in microgrid solutions, which suggests plenty of growth market potential for VRFB technology in the upcoming years. In developed markets we are seeing the demand for long-duration storage systems steadily increasing. This demand is mainly coming from the US, where customers are
Energy Storage 2.0 Christoph Ostermann, CEO and founder of Sonnen says the evolution of the energy storage market is far from over.
What do you think will be the next stage in the development of energy storage this year? 2017 is going to be about Energy Storage 2.0. During the last five years we’ve seen many new companies with many different technical approaches for finding the most efficient,
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the smartest, or the most economic way for storing energy. This phase is not finished yet and we’ll still see the entering of new players and the evolutionary improvement of storage systems. But, in parallel the market has already entered a new phase. It is based on the assumption that the technical race will make storage systems more and more comparable in the future, in that products will become more commoditized, just like any other hitech industry. In addition, smart energy storage has a disruptive power that offers completely new applications beyond storage. So it will be not enough to just have the best or even the cheapest storage system on the market.
“ „ A tendency towards DC-DC storage systems is underway, especially relevant is the growing interest in community solar-plus-storage projects
asking for scalable storage solutions for four, six, or more, hours. Recent political developments within the US considering a change in the energy policy by president-elect Trump have not had an effect so far. A huge impact in the long-run should be unlikely, as state law in many US states is in favour of renewables. Besides these major trends, a tendency towards DC-DC storage systems is underway, especially relevant is the growing interest in community solar-plus-storage projects. n
So what do you think will happen in this next phase? That’s why in the next phase we’ll see the focus on establishing new services that are based on leveraging the full value of energy storage. In addition to sharing platforms, additional services — such as those that offer a flat electricity rate, where energy storage systems provide grid services — mark the evolution of this disruptive industry. These additional services that are based on Internet of Things technology will become the unique selling point over the coming years and will help decide who will win the inevitable consolidation phase that the industry is moving towards. n
“ „ In the next phase we’ll see the focus on establishing new services that are based on leveraging the full value of energy storage
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Battery assets to provide multiple services and benefits A major component of the ees Europe conference (Munich, Germany, May 3031) will be dedicated to the role of advanced batteries in automotive applications. We spoke to Professor Werner Tillmetz, a 30-year veteran of alternative battery technologies, a member of the ZSW Managing Board and head of the Electrochemical Energy Technologies division, member of the faculty of natural sciences at the University of Ulm and the key figure in arranging this part of the conference programme.
“ „ I speak with some 30 years of experience in the alternative automotive business and that is that change cannot happen without government interference or involvement.
EV and hybrid sales are climbing. How significant is this as a trend? EV growth is now moving into exponential territory. The market recently hit sales of two million and over the past five years we’ve seen annual growth rates of some 80% annually. We’re now seeing worldwide rates of growth doubling every year. This isn’t a trend that’s going away and within a few years’ time we should surely see EV sales occupying a sizeable chunk of the market. The recent diesel scandal has had a strong impact on the strategy of the OEMs, now pushing for EVs.
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Where has EV penetration been greatest? And why? Worldwide the three areas that stand out are California, China and Norway. The reason for this — and I speak with some 30 years of experience in the alternative automotive business — is that change cannot happen without government interference or involvement. In California, for example, EV and hybrid growth has been fuelled by the state legislature’s zero carbon emissions policy which is effectively a mandate to eventually make consumers drive electric. In Europe we should expect to see a similar surge in EV and hybrid growth when the new, lower, European Union emissions come into force in 2020. Car manufacturers have to comply with these lower standards and will have to tailor their automotive sales accordingly. In China the government has taken a similar policy approach to encourage EV sales — it’s a bit more blunt: “… you want a licence plate for a car, you can have one but it has to be an electric one!” In Norway, the emphasis is on providing subsidies for their citizens to buy EVs on preferential terms. Given the choice of buying a Golf or a Tesla at the same price — OK an exaggeration — which would you choose? Obstacles to EVs tend to focus on the three areas — price, performance such as driving range, and popular reluctance to look at these cars. What’s your take on them? Each generation of EV or hybrid cars is coming down in price quickly and performance, such as driving range, is increasing. You only have to think of, for example, BMW’s new i3, the latest Chevy Bolt or
the Tesla Model 3 where we’re seeing the driving range extend up to the 300km to 400km mark. The cost range is dropping too, with prices of around €30,000. Popular acceptance is something that is largely driven by the media for — but, however, this can be offset by the simple expedient of letting people sit in the cars and getting used to them. Something that, of course, will become more natural as time goes by. Do you think there will be some kind of standard norm of electrochemistry that will become the EV standard? I see the immediate future being dominated by lithium ion batteries and fuel cells. The two shouldn’t be seen as being in competition with each other but as complementary — at its simplest it would be lithium for say, for example, city driving, but fuel cells for longer distance, city buses and logistics. And how will this fit into your conference programme for Munich at the end of May? The emphasis of the sessions will be to focus on some of the remarkable developments in the technology that we’re seeing in automotive batteries — the types of solutions that we’re able to offer now in terms of yet better performance. n
“ „ I see the immediate future being dominated by lithium ion batteries and fuel cells.
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EUROPE’S LARGEST EXHIBITION FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
MAY 31–JUNE 2, 2017 MUNICH GERMANY
CHARGING THE FUTURE NORTH AMERICA'S ULTIMATE HOT SPOT FOR ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTIONS
JULY 11–13, 2017 SAN FRANCISCO USA
THE MAJOR PLATFORM FOR STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES RESHAPING LATAM’S ENERGY SECTOR
AUGUST 22–24, 2017 SÃO PAULO BRAZIL
INDIA’S LARGEST SOLAR EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS ENERGY STORAGE INNOVATIONS
DECEMBER 5–7, 2017 MUMBAI INDIA
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION SERIES FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
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INSIGHT John Warner, perhaps best known as an articulate speaker on the development of lithium ion batteries has recently released a book The Handbook of Lithium Ion Battery Pack Design, where we extract a chapter, The book is a useful tool for understanding the power, potential and pitfalls of the chemistry as an energy storage medium.
BMS controls — the brains of the working in the lithium ion battery pack The Battery Management System, while it may have many other names, is the central control unit of the battery pack. It is essentially (and quite literally) the brains of the operation. The BMS is a combination of several component systems, including a host or master controller (a printed circuit board, a PCB), a series of slave control boards (depending on system typography), sensors, and software that makes everything work together. Some people also expand the definition of a BMS to include the control electronics such as the switches, fuses, high-voltage front end, high-voltage interlock loop, and disconnects. What, then, does a BMS do in a lithium-ion battery system? In short, the BMS provides protection against overcharging, over-discharging, high temperatures, low temperatures, short circuiting, and other failure modes. In addition to protection, the BMS offers monitoring functionality; in fact the protection would be useless without the ability to monitor the state of the battery and cells. The BMS also communicates both internally within the pack as well as to the outside controllers and systems. Finally, the BMS provides optimization and maximization of the batteries performance, ensuring that the user can get the best performance out of the battery at any time. Overlaid on top of all of these are the software calculations that estimate the various factors within the battery such as the state of health (SOH), the state of charge (SOC), maximum voltage, etc. That describes the ‘what’ of the
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BMS; the ‘why’ then is relatively simple. Why does a lithium-ion battery pack need a BMS? In short, the BMS ensures the safety and life of the battery pack. The BMS manages the amount of power and energy in the pack to achieve the desired lifetime of the pack. Most portable power batteries for laptops and similar devices only need to provide energy and power over a year or two and are generally operated in a narrow temperature range. How often do you leave your laptop outside in the middle of winter? On the other hand, the automotive and industrial batteries must last from eight to 10 or even 15 years or longer and will need to survive in a very wide range of temperatures from the Arizona desert summers to the extremely cold winters of the northern regions. Can a lithium-ion battery be used without a BMS? I have heard of some racing type EV applications where they claim to have no BMS in the system. But these are typically one- or two-use applications; the life of the battery may only need to last for one racing season and will be stressed to the extreme so warranty and longevity are not concerns. But overall, no production application will be designed without a BMS. Compared to other cell chemistries, lithium-ion needs to be managed in order to ensure its safety. A lead–acid battery, for instance, easily operates with no form of electronic controls as it is more easily able to accept abusive conditions without going into thermal
runaway-type events. Lithium-ion, on the other hand, must be managed to ensure that the cells stay below their maximum and minimum voltage, temperature, and current limits. This chapter/article will provide the reader with a very brief overview of the BMS, its functionality, and its hardware. For a more detailed review of the BMS and its operation, I recommend Davide Andrea’s well written book Battery Management Systems for Large Lithium-Ion Packs Andrea covers all topics in great detail from general descriptions to how to design and build your own BMS.
BMS typologies
There are two basic types of BMS system topologies, a centralized BMS and a distributed BMS. The main difference between the two is where the hardware is mounted. This is of course a major simplification but is relatively accurate. The host, or master, control unit usually encompasses the majority of the functionality of the ESS: • opening and closing the contactors, monitoring the temperature of the pack, and communicating with the cell control boards to monitor the cell temperatures; • monitors the voltage of the pack and cell control boards; • manages the heating and/or cooling (turning it on and off) based on the temperature readings; • manages the safety (opening and closing the contactors based on the voltage and temperature and SOx);
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INSIGHT • calculates, manages, and tracks the SOx functions, and communicates with the vehicle (or other master system). The controller is made up of two main components: a hardware controller board and a large amount of software algorithms that ensure the performance and safety of the complete system. In a centralized BMS system, the main control board as well as the cellmonitoring control boards are all colocated in one unit with wiring harnesses spanning throughout the pack connecting to all of the cells (Figure 1). This minimises the amount of hardware but increases the amount of wiring needed in the pack. In the distributed BMS structure (Figure 2), there is a host or master controller that is centrally located and there are multiple separate boards to monitor the cells that are usually mounted directly to the cells or modules. This reduces the wiring needed as the slave boards tend to be connected in a daisy chain manner. But it also tends to drive up the cost as it increases the amount of PCB type hardware that is required. However, the distributed BMS design is often used to offer greater functionality and control within the system as each slave board controls only a limited number of cells. There is some variability in the BMS architecture as the types of typologies actually vary across a continuum with the distributed at one end and the centralised at the other end. There are several variations of these BMS system architecture and the final design will be determined by how the system is going to be used.
BMS hardware
The BMS hardware board(s) are a critical part of the design process. It typically includes one or more PCBs that integrates all of the components that make up the controller board, including CAN, LIN, or other communications components, capacitors, resistors, current sensors (Figure 3), and most importantly the applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) (Figure 4), all mounted on to a nonconductive substrate and connected with embedded conductive copper that is etched from copper sheets and then laminated on to the boards. The slave boards may go by one of many different names, in fact depending on the designer. There are a wide variation in naming conventions, in-
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cluding voltage–temperature monitoring (VTM) board, cell supervision circuit (CSC), and many others. But in any case, similar design focus should be made in the slave boards. Especially important in the slave
and the cabling that connects them. Another option for the PCB slave board is the use of a flexible circuit board or flex circuit. This solution is essentially the same as the hard PCB board but instead of using a hard
Figure 1. Centralized battery management system (BMS)
Figure 2. Distributed BMS
board design is the balancing circuit and the waste-heat management of the boards. With a passive-type balancing system, these boards will convert energy into waste heat. The boards must be designed in such a way as to minimize the impact of the heat on either the cells or the board components itself. Another important aspect of the electronic hardware design is taking into account the electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of the components in the system. This is especially important when the control board is in close proximity with a charger, inverter, converter, or other high-voltage equipment. In these cases, it is important to provide adequate shielding of the hardware
Figure 3. Top Figure 4. Below
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INSIGHT
Figure 5. Imbalanced cells at beginning of discharge
substrate, it uses a flexible plastic substrate, or a combination of the two. This is most often used in the CSC boards that mount directly to the cell modules.
Balancing
One of the other features of most BMS systems is their ability to maintain the cells in a pack at the same SOC, this is referred to as balancing the cells. The reason for balancing is that lithium-ion cells, just like any manufactured component, are manufactured to within a specification range but are not all exactly identical in their SOC or voltage when they are shipped from the factory. Additionally, lithium-ion, like almost all batteries, suffers from leakage or self-discharge over time. In other words, if a cell is shipped at 3.7 V and 100% SOC, by the time it reaches the pack manufacturer it may be down to 99.5% SOC (purely for explanation purposes). So for a large lithium-ion pack that is made up of hundreds or thousands of cells, the cells may all arrive at the pack integrator at very slightly different states of charge. While that may not seem to be a major concern because the variations are so small, it can create some major problems as the system begins operating. This is because the ability to charge and discharge is limited by the cell with the lowest (on discharge) cell SOC. A simple example may help to clarify this. In the example below (Figure 5), we see three cells with two at about the same SOC and the third at slightly lower capacity. This is an unbalanced group of cells. When the cells are fully discharged, cell #1 will be fully discharged before the other two and the pack will stop discharging as any further discharge will damage cell #1. This means that there will always be some remaining charge that is essentially unusable in the other cells as it will never be able
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Figure 6. Imbalanced cells at end of discharge
to be fully discharged (Figure 6). Over time, this variation in the cell SOC will grow as the battery is cycled and eventually will lead to premature failure or end of life of the system. Additionally, the cell that is the weakest in this example will get more use than the others, resulting in it premature aging. In other words, this first cell will work harder than the others, which will lead to an early death for both the cell as well as the complete battery system. It is vital to ensure that the cells are as closely matched as possible. However, this is exactly what BMS balancing is intended to resolve. Cell balancing is essentially the act of making all of the cells the same SOC. As Davide Andrea describes it, balancing is the term used for the process of bringing the SOC levels of cells in a battery closer to each other, in order to maximize the battery’s capacity, One additional thing to note here is that when cells are assembled into
parallel configurations, they will automatically balance to each other. Each of the groups of parallel cells will still need to be balanced, but the cells within the parallel group will self-balance. The other question that comes about when talking about balancing is when to do it. Most of the current BMS systems on the market today balance the cells while the ESS system is charging. This is done for a couple of reasons. First, balancing usually takes a significant amount of time and the battery must essentially be out of use when it occurs in order to accurately measure the capacity and voltage of the cells in the energy storage system. Alternatively, for an HEV application, balancing could be done during a long freeway drive when the battery is essentially unused. However, this may generate some challenges while the BMS decides that you are on the freeway and can balance. This may be done by monitoring the speed of the vehicle and the duration that it re-
A large lithium-ion pack is made up of hundreds or thousands of cells. The cells may all arrive at the pack integrator at very slightly different states of charge. While that may not seem to be a major concern because the variations are so small, it can create some major problems as the system begins operating. DESIGN GUIDELINES AND BEST PRACTICES There are two major types of BMS typologies: centralized and distributed • A centralized BMS has all of the hardware located in one spot in the battery pack • A distributed BMS has a single master controller and then a series of slave boards attached to the cell modules Two major types of cell balancing are passive and active balancing • Passive balancing uses resistors to convert excess energy into waste heat • Active balancing transfers energy from a cell at a higher SOC to a cell at a lower SOC.
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INSIGHT The unsung hero of the BMS system is the software that controls it all. Most manufacturers will guard the core software very closely as this is the core IP of the entire BMS design. mains at high speeds. Of course, this also assumes that you are on the road long enough to complete the balancing. Alternative definition: another way to look at cell balancing is to imagine that you are at a party and a new game is being played. In this game, there is a table with three glasses on it. We need to fill and then eventually empty all of the glasses. But there are some rules we must follow. The first rule is that you have to use the special funnel device that allows all three glasses to be filled at the same time and with the same amount of water. The second rule is that you must stop filling the glasses once one of them is completely full, regardless of how full the others are. The third rule is that you must drain all the glasses at the same time using another funnel tool. Finally, the fourth rule is that you must stop emptying the glasses once one of them is completely empty. Ok, now that we have the rules. Let’s take a look at what it might look like…(Figure 7). In this game, we see that the water levels have been exaggerated greatly to facilitate the game. However, the result is clear. When you begin filling the glasses through the funnel (rule 1), the last glass will get filled compared to the top first (rule 2). Now you can see that the other two glasses still have plenty of room in them and in fact the first glass is not even close to being full (Figure 8). So using this example, we see that cell balancing can be done in one of two different manners. Either the water is removed from the fuller glasses or the water is transferred from the fuller to the less full glasses. The next section will describe these two actions, passive and active balancing.
Active versus passive balancing
There are two main methods for achieving cell balancing within a large lithium-ion battery pack, either active or passive balancing. The simplest explanation of the difference is based on what is done with the energy in the cell.
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In passive balancing, the excess energy of the highest SOC cells is converted into heat energy and dissipated, essentially wasting the excess energy of the highest SOC cells. This can be done through several methods but the most common is to use a resistor to convert the energy into heat. Of course, this means that appropriate-sized resistors must be integrated into the slave boards that monitor the cells. This also means that you can use one resistor to balance multiple cells, although not at the exact same time. The main benefit of passive balancing is that it is less expensive than an active balancing system, which makes it the preferred system for automotive applications. However, the detriment of this system is that energy is wasted as it is converted into heat energy. This creates a secondary problem as this heat generation must now be managed within the battery pack system. Another potential challenge to passive balancing is that it can be more time consuming than in an active balancing system (Figure 9). In an active balancing system (Figure 10), the excess energy of the higher SOC cells is moved to the lower SOC cells until all of the cells are at the same SOC. This may actually be done through a repetitive process whereby as more capacity is freed up, the charging will resume until the lowest cell again hits its maximum limit, then the balancing again resumes until all cells are at the same SOC. The benefit of the active balancing system is that the excess energy is not wasted, instead moved into the other cells. However, the detriment of this is that the hardware required for active
Figure 7. Imbalanced cells
Figure 8. Effect of imbalanced cells at full charge
balancing is more expensive and can require more space within the pack. The electronics necessary to do this must also be attached to each cell, or integrated in the slave boards for a group of cells. There have been a lot of evaluations of both systems over the past few years; however, current studies do not show the long-term benefits of using an active balancing system. In short with the current level of technology, there does not appear to be any major system benefits that can be achieved and those minimal ben-
Another important aspect of the electronic hardware design is taking into account the electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility of the components in the system. ... this is especially important when the control board is in close proximity with a charger, inverter, converter, or other high-voltage equipment. www.energystoragejournal.com
POWERING THE SMART GRID www.energystoragejournal.com
Meet the team Issue 8: Spring 2015
Sara Verbruggen, Associate Editor Sara, one of the founding figures of Energy Storage Journal, has relocated back to England, and now works as our in-house adviser as well as a respected contributor to sister magazine, Batteries International.
Let cool heads prevail The lead-lithium storage debate steps up a notch The new titan of lead Ecoult’s UltraBattery, ready to take lithium on, head-to-head
The CEO interview Anil Srivastava and Leclanché’s bid for market dominance
Next gen integrators Coming soon to a smart grid near you, the ideal middle man
Mike Halls, Editor Mike, a former journalist with the UK newspaper the Financial Times, has been involved in journalism, publishing and print for three decades. “I’m particularly fond of writing about the energy storage industry,” he says. “It’s an unusual mixture of being fast-paced but slow to change — and friendly too. There’s always something more to learn.”
Claire Ronnie, Office Manager and Subscriptions Claire’s our unflappable person — she’s the go-to girl for subscriptions or account enquiries. Go ahead and challenge her!
Karen Hampton, Publisher In her recent years of working within the energy storage business Karen has become a well known figure at conferences — not least as our social butterfly. “My job,” she says, “is to get the maximum benefit for our advertisers to make sure their name and brand is out there, while maintaining the integrity, fairness and excellence our publications are renowned for.”
Antony Parselle, Page Designer Better known in the office as ‘Ant’ he’s been working in magazine design and layout since the early 1990s. Not so good on showing his best side however!
ADVERTISING Jade Beevor +44 (0) 1243 792 467 jade@energystoragejournal.com
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Jade Beevor, Advertising Manager Jade, who joined the team in early 2015, is already getting a feel for the industry. “This is an incredible business we’re in,” she says. “These people are literally changing the future of our lives — and the planet too!”
Jan Darasz, Cartoonist Jan has won international fame as a cartoonist able to making anything — including an electrolyte! — funny. And as for LiCFePO4 ...
EDITORIAL Mike Halls +44 (0) 7977 016 918 editor@energystoragejournal.com
Wyn Jenkins, Supplements Editor Don’t let his boyish charm deceive, Wyn’s been a journalist and respected editor on major financial titles for some 20 years. When not heading his own publications firm, Seren Global Media, he looks after our supplements.
Kevin Desmond, Historian More than just a historian on energy storage and batteries as he’s written about many things. He’s the inspiration behind our Heroes of the Grid section.
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INSIGHT JOHN WARNER John Warner has more than 25 years’ experience in the automotive and battery industries. He is vice president of sales and marketing for XALT Energy and a member of the SAE Battery Size Standardization Committee. Warner, who has a doctorate from Phoenix University and MBA from Baker College, has previously worked as a director for Magna Steyr Battery Systems and Boston-Power. Before that he spent over 12 years at General Motors in various management roles.
The benefit of the active balancing system is that the excess energy is not wasted, instead moved into the other cells. However, the detriment of this is that the hardware required for active balancing is more expensive and can require more space within the pack. efits do not outweigh the added cost for an active balancing system.
Additional BMS functionality
The other functionality of the BMS is no less important than balancing. In fact while it will significantly affect the life of a pack, the energy storage system could operate without any form of balancing. On the other hand, monitoring the temperature of both the cells and the pack, as well as the voltage of the cells and the pack is
Figure 9 Passive cell balancing
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critical for maintaining the safety of the system. The core job of the BMS is to ensure that the battery system does not allow the cells to operate outside of their safe operating range. This includes monitoring the pack current, cell and pack voltage, and the cell and pack temperatures. Monitoring the pack current enables the system to determine how much power is instantaneously available for both discharge and charge
(regeneration). Since driving the cells either over or under their maximum and minimum voltages can result in catastrophic failure, it is vital that the BMS has capability to monitor every cell in series within the pack (cells in parallel will be treated as a single cell in most BMS systems). These data can then direct the system as when to begin or stop a charge or discharge event. Finally, monitoring and managing the temperature of the cells and the overall pack is another vital piece of data as continued operation outside of these limits can not only reduce the life, but drive the cells into thermal runaway. The BMS is responsible for telling the system to send more cooling or heating to the cells. The other important aspect of the BMS is its ability to communicate with the external system. Most ad-
Figure 10 Active cell balancing
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INSIGHT vanced BMS systems will have the capability to both send and receive messages from the vehicle and or motor controller. Typically, the BMS will send requests to reduce or stop the battery current (discharge) entirely and will send data on the status of the pack itself such as remaining capacity and energy, which can be converted into range and life for the end user. Finally, the BMS will decide when to open and close the contactors in the system thereby allowing current to flow from the pack to the electric motors or to flow from the charging system into the battery.
Software and controls
The unsung hero of the BMS system is the software that controls it all. Most manufacturers will guard the core software very closely as this is the core IP of the entire BMS design. Most of the hardware is based on off-the-shelf components, but the software is custom designed and may consist of tens of thousands of lines of code. The code may also be referred to as a series of algorithms. Essentially it is
The main benefit of passive balancing is that it is less expensive than an active balancing system, which makes it the preferred system for automotive applications. However, the detriment of this system is that energy is wasted as it is converted into heat energy. a series of mathematical formulas and calculations to understand all of the SOx states of the battery, how much energy and power is available for instantaneous use, what the current SOC is, how much SOC is left, and how much life is left. The algorithms are a very complex set of models that are usually based on a specific cell. Most often the BMS designers will operate the chosen cell in a controlled laboratory environment in order to understand how it operates under different conditions and then overlay this on to the code. Through a series of repetitive steps, it is possible for the software designers to end up with a set of algorithms that can accurately predict the perfor-
mance of a cell under most conditions. This is also the reason that it is generally not possible to take a BMS designed for a chemistry and integrate it into a system designed with a different chemistry. For instance, NMC cells operate at a nominal voltage of 3.7V, while LFP type cells operate at a nominal voltage of 3.3V and LTO cells operate at about 2.2V. So the algorithm must be designed such that it understands the maximum and minimum ranges that it can operate within. Now there are several BMS manufacturers out there who have developed multiple sets of software for their single set of hardware thereby making them usable with multiple chemistries.
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Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017 • 53
FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2017 5th National Microgrids Conference Sonoma, California, USA January 18-20 Attend this industry event to learn how microgrids provide a real opportunity to improve energy security throughout and to produce energy in a more environmentally friendly way, both by increasing the efficiency of our energy sources and increasing the implementation of renewables. The microgrid market is predicted to more than double in the next five years, both in terms of installed capacity and annual value. But as grid edge technologies quickly expand, it’s a new wave of cleaner, more agile and increasingly complex microgrids being developed, and they have the potential to dramatically change the US power landscape. Navigant estimates the overall value of the market for remote power systems to be in excess of $10.9 billion today. The market research company’s analysts forecast this will rise nearly 20-fold over the next decade to $196.5 billion. Microgrids being deployed today are more flexible and advanced. Enabled by emerging technologies, value propositions are becoming viable that previously were infeasible or too expensive. The conference will focus on issues such as: Where will new markets emerge over the next five years? Which markets are going to explode? What challenges do they face? How
much growth will there be with microgrid installations? Power equipment companies now investing in pilot projects and currently available market opportunities will be well positioned for market leadership as the demand for microgrids increases over time. Contact Chris Taylor Email: ctaylor@acieu.net Tel: + 44 20 3141 0602 www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/5th-nationalmicrogrids-conference/
ICRET 2017 — 3rd International Conference on Renewable Energy Technologies Pathumthani, Thailand January 22-24, 2017 The 3rd International Conference on Renewable Energy Technologies (ICRET 2017) focuses on timely and emerging topics of interest to the renewable energy technologies and provides an opportunity for an in-depth exchange of research ideas in an informal environment. To encourage discussion and dissemination of the latest research developments, early-stage work and possibly controversial results workshops, the conference will bring together leading researchers, engineers and scientists in the domain of interest from around the world. ICRET 2017 aims to be the premier
and most selective conference devoted to technical innovations in renewable energy technologies. Contact Cho Chang Tel: +86 28 8652 8758 Email: icret@iacsit.net www.icret.org/index.html
Advanced Automotive Battery Conference — Europe (AABC) Mainz, Germany January 30-February 2, 2017 Make plans to participate in the seventh European AABC event where chief battery technologists from major European automakers will present their development trends and projected battery needs, and their key suppliers will share their latest offerings and roadmaps for the future. In January 2016, 600 delegates from more than 30 countries took part in stimulating discussions on battery chemistry, engineering and design, as well as high-volume and speciality automotive applications. Attendance increased more than 30% in 2016, and with expanded coverage of raw materials and lead-acid as part of the agenda, even greater participation is expected in 2017. Contact Tel: +1 781 972 5400 Email: ce@cambridgeenertech.com www.advancedautobat.com/europe
Energy Storage 2017 Paris, France • February 8-9, 2017 ACI’s Energy Storage 2017 conference will bring together key industry stakeholders to address the current chal-
lenges of the energy storage market and discuss the latest developments. The two-day event will give insights
on business cases, regulatory environment, financial aspects and technological advancements for the energy storage industry. The Energy Storage 2017 conference will demonstrate successful case studies and explore the latest R&D projects. Join us in Paris to meet senior representatives from leading companies for excellent networking opportunities. Energy Storage 2017 will be attended by leading power generating companies, TSOs, DNOs and utilities including managers and directors of energy storage, power generation, R&D and new technologies, renewable strategy, innovations and strategic project managers and business development executives from technical service providers, consultants, regulators and academia. Contact Samanta Fawcett Tel: + 44 20 3141 0624 Email: sfawcett@acieu.net www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/energystorage-conference
54 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 7th Annual Next Generation 2017 Energy Storage San Francisco, USA February 14-16, 2017 Breakthroughs in new battery chemistries, novel electrode and electrolyte materials and system integration for large-scale applications have paved the way to an emerging stationary market with a seemingly unlimited potential. Will lithium ion and alternative-chemistry batteries deliver on the promise of power, energy, cost and safety? Cambridge EnerTech’s 7th Annual Next-Generation Energy Storage 2017 convenes leading experts in the fields of battery materials, systems design and integration and manufacturing and commercial applications, along with utility planners, electrical, transmission, distribution, modelling and protection engineers who address emerging issues driving this pivotal time in the battery industry. Contact Tel: +1 781 972 5400
Email: custserv@knowledgefoundation.com www.knowledgefoundation.com/next-generation-energy-storage
5th Energy Storage Europe
Argus Metals Week 2017 London, UK March 6-9 Rechargeable batteries continue to dominate and drive the base metals market but there is uncertainty whether lithium resources can meet rapid growth in demand. Unanswered questions about the future of lithium supply have prompted us to introduce the Battery Conference to the Argus Metals Week line-up. Highlights of the event include a firsthand case study of the Sonara Lithium Project from Peter Secker, the chief executive at Bacanora Mineral. Contact Email: logistics@argusmedia.com Tel: +44 20 7780 4341 www.argusmedia.com/events/argus-events/ europe/argus-metals-week
NAATBatt 2017 Annual Meeting & Conference
Düsseldorf, Germany March 14-16, 2017 Energy Storage Europe is an expo and conference event that takes place in Düsseldorf in March annually. The goal of Messe Düsseldorf, the organizers, is to further develop this young format of energy storage into a worldwide leading platform for the industry. To reach this goal, Messe Düsseldorf does not only invest financial funds but also uses its worldwide distribution network of 134 countries. Good business is done where top decision makers gather at one place – in Düsseldorf! Be part of it and revolutionize the energy storage industry with us! Contact Caroline Markowski Tel: +49 211 4560 7281 Email: markowskic@messe-duesseldorf.de www.energy-storage-online.com
Wigwam Resort, Litchfield Park, Arizona, USA • March 14-16 NAATBatt International will hold its 2017 Annual Meeting & Conference on March 14-16 at The Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park, Arizona. The meeting will feature updates on the business and technology of electrochemical energy storage across applications with a view to giving industry thought leaders better insight into general business conditions and prospects. The NAATBatt annual meeting is
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the most important networking event each year for top executives at companies that manufacture, sell or rely on advanced battery and supercapacitor technology. NAATBatt meetings are designed to help attendees gain new knowledge and build new relationships that help businesses grow and prosper. The 2017 meeting will be held at the historic The Wigwam Resort outside Phoenix, Arizona.
The meeting will feature the Advanced Battery Golf & Tennis Tournament, an outstanding Spouses/Companions Program, the Energy Storage Innovation Summit and the best networking in the industry, among many other features. Contact Tel: +1 312 588 0477 www.naatbatt.org
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS Scottish Renewables Annual Conference – Scotland’s Energy Evolution
International Conference on Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technology 2017
Edinburgh, Scotland March 21-22, 2017
Putrajaya, Malaysia April 11-13, 2017
The Scottish Renewables Annual Conference will look at the new energy strategy for Scotland, changes in the feed-in tariff and renewable heat incentive and the closure of the renewable obligation, the next allocation round for CfD, an industrial strategy and the publishing of climate change plans, as well as further clarity on the emerging shape of Britain’s likely exit from the EU — and what all this means for our sector.
Clean energy is electric energy generated by utilizing renewable and nonrenewable technologies with zero or lowest feasible emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria pollutants and toxic air contaminants on-site. Deploying carbon-free clean energy systems is the best option to reduce pollution and tackle the issue of environmental and population costs due to increasing global energy demand. From the current cost perspective, clean energy is also capable of being permanently de-coupled from the oil and gas markets. As carbon-free energy sources, fuel cell and hydrogen energy systems can reduce fossil fuel-based GHG emissions drastically in order to make a significant impact on climate change. Challenges ahead include inefficient technologies for the current clean energy production, short supply of energy-related materials, little understanding of the fundamental processes in the chemical reactions involved, limited actions in terms of policies and R&D, and
Contact Lisa Russell Tel: + 44 141 353 4986 Email: lrussell@scottishrenewables.com www.scottishrenewables.com
Energy Storage China 2017 Beijing, China March 29-31 At ESC 2017, the 4th International Expo and Conference on Energy Storage in China, we will invite more than 6,000 global professional visitors from 18 countries and more than 120 speakers, including a wide range of industry leaders, policy makers and scholars to discuss the latest sector developments. The event will be held under the theme of “The next generation energy system”. Energy Storage China (ESC) 2016 attracted 2,186 professional visitors from 12 countries who came together to source the latest products, gather market information and attend forums and seminars to explore various energy storage business models. Energy storage is profoundly changing the world of energy across the world. The World of Energy Storage by Messe Düsseldorf, in partnership with leading partner organizations, has been growing since 2010 with the launch of Energy Storage Europe in Germany. Messe Düsseldorf offers five different events in every relevant region of the world: China, Europe, America, India and Japan. ESC has been growing alongside China’s energy storage sector, and has become a valuable platform for crosssector integration, cooperation and development. Meet at ESC 2017, China’s premier solution platform for energy storage technology and applications, and help guide the future development of energy storage. Contact Emma Shen Email: emma.shen@mds.cn Tel+86-10-6590-7101 (ext. 8604) www.ESCexpo.cn
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problems faced in large-scale adoption and implementation of more efficient, high-performing and affordable alternative technological solutions. Fuel cell and hydrogen energy systems for electricity generation and storage are among the essential elements for the transition from high-carbon, fossil fuel-based energy generation to carbon-free, clean energy power generation. They have made vast improvements and their technologies are currently in an upward move, but there is still a long way to go before they can be as cost competitive as fossil fuels. Close collaboration, cooperation and coordination between social scientists, climate and energy experts and policymakers across all sectors of the energy systems can accelerate innovation and drive the most promising ideas to the marketplace. Governments with clear, long-term and measurable goals for a carbonfree energy economy must be willing to invest in the fuel cell and hydrogen energy R&D efforts. The zero-carbon dioxide economy is achievable with fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies and crucial for transforming global energy politics. Contact www.ukm.my/icfcht2017
Energy Storage Association — 27th Annual Conference and Expo
Denver, USA • April 18-20, 2017 The Energy Storage Association 27th Annual Conference and Expo is the must-attend event in energy storage — bringing together the global energy storage industry for three days of relevant content, and unique networking and business development opportunities. Our conference this past April was record-breaking in many ways: we featured the first-ever multi-country USTDA reverse trade mission, and had more than 1,600 attendees, 130 speakers, 40 educational sessions, six site tours to cutting-edge installations and multiple workshops led by renowned experts.
ESA will continue to build on that momentum when we bring the conference to Denver this coming April. As one of the largest renewable energy markets in the country, Denver will provide the perfect location for ESA to expand the conversation about storage and renewables. The showcase will include 90,000 square feet of exhibit space and we are planning more innovative content than ever before. Contact www.27th-annual-conference.energystorage-events.org
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Showcase your energy solutions at the UK’s largest renewable energy and sustainability event 10-11 May 2017, SECC Glasgow • Meet face to face with the largest group of buyers in renewables • Develop business with 7,000+ visitors • Join 400+ leading suppliers & build your sales pipeline • Make valuable contacts at sector-specific free networking events
Contact the Sales Team today to secure your preferred stand location. +44 (0)20 8439 5560 all-energy@reedexpo.co.uk
Market sectors represented:
Learned Society Patron:
Host city:
In association with:
Organised by:
FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2017 8th Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technology
tors, as well as those involved in energy storage, heat, low carbon transport and sustainable cities solutions.
Arlington, USA April 23-26, 2017
Contact Tel: +44 208 271 2179 Email: all-energy@reedexpo.co.uk www.all-energy.co.uk
The conference will feature plenary sessions, panel sessions, technical papers and tutorials by experts on grid modernization and smart grid applications and system integration. The theme for this year is “Innovative Trends in Grid Modernization” and will include an emphasis on how to economically and reliably integrate distributed energy resources in system operation, the needs for and trends in advancements of grid management technologies and systems, the seams between distribution and bulk power system operations, and approaches for planning, operations, and cross cutting disciplines to address end-to-end operational coordination and control issues, including practical application. Contact www.sites.ieee.org/isgt-2017
Group Exhibit Hydrogen + Fuel Cells + Batteries Hanover, Germany April 24- 28, 2017 Some 50 companies from 25 countries will present their products at the 5000 m² large exhibition area in Hall 27 of the Hanover Messe (conference centre) in 2017. The 15000 m² ride and drive open air site offers everyone a chance to test-drive fuel cell cars themselves. For the 23rd time international exhibitors will showcase the entire spectrum of these technologies — starting with hydrogen generation, via stationary and mobile fuel cell applications. The focal point of the Group Exhibit will be on hydrogen generation as a solution for renewable energy storage from energy generated from photovoltaic and wind systems. Contact Tel: +49 30 609 84 556 Email: info@h2fc-fair.com www.h2fc-fair.com
All Energy May 10-11, 2017 Glasgow, Scotland All-Energy has historically provided the industry suppliers, experts and thought-leaders from the renewable energy supply chain the opportunity to connect with new customers, increase their sales opportunities and expand business networks in this fast-changing marketplace. The free-to-attend annual conference and exhibition brings together the UK’s largest group of buyers from the bioenergy, solar, offshore and onshore wind, hydropower and wave and tidal sec-
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Energy Storage Innovations (ESI) Berlin, Germany May 10-11 This event focuses on future energy storage solutions, including advanced and post-lithium-ion technologies, new form factors and emerging applications. The event brings together different players in the value chain, from material and technology developers to integrators to end-users, providing insight on forthcoming technologies, material selection, market trends and latest products. The event assesses the most exciting battery technology developments from world-leading companies, start-ups and research institutes. ESI will focus on: • New form and structural factors of future batteries such as thin-film, flexible, bendable, rollable, foldable, large-area and micro-batteries • New manufacturing techniques • Promising materials for emerging battery technologies • Emerging applications including
flexible wearable devices, Internet of Things, electric vehicles and gridstorage application • Integration with other components such as displays, energy harvesters • A focus on commercialization • End users and integrators from a diverse range of markets present their needs, requirements and case studies. Network with potential adopters/end users and see the current products and state of the technology at the event exhibition. Contact Corinne Jennings Email: c.jennings@idtechex.com www.idtechex.com/energy-storage-europe/ show/en/
Renewable Energy World India 2017 New Delhi, India May 17-19 Renewable Energy World India 2017 will bring together industry experts from across the globe to exchange knowledge and share their expertise, as well as showcase the latest renewable energy technology developments that will ultimately help India transform its power generation system. Contact Samantha Malcom Tel: +44 1992 656 621 Email: samantham@pennwell.com www.renewableenergyworldindia.com/con
ees Europe — Intersolar Europe May 30-June 2, 2017 • Munich, Germany Intersolar Europe is the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and its partners. It takes place annually at the Messe München exhibition centre in Munich, Germany and focuses on the areas of photovoltaics, energy storage and renewable heating, as well as on products and solutions for smart renewable energy. The accompanying Intersolar Europe Conference consolidates selected exhibition topics and showcases international markets, financing and pioneering technologies. Since being founded 25 years ago, Intersolar Europe has become the most important
industry platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners in the global solar industry. ees Europe, Europe’s largest exhibition for batteries and energy storage systems, takes place in conjunction with Intersolar Europe. The ees Europe covers the entire value chain of innovative battery and energy storage technologies. Contact Gaby Kubitza Tel: +49 7231 58598-10 Email: kubitza@intersolar.de www.intersolar.de/en/for-visitors.html
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2017 ESC ’17 — Energy Storage China June 2017, Beijing, China Since 2012, Energy Storage China has been growing alongside China’s energy storage sector, which has become a prestigious platform for cross-sectoral integration, cooperation and development. ESC 2016 attracted 2,186 professional visitors from 12 countries to the trade fair to source the latest products, gather market information and immerse themselves in ESC forums and seminars to explore various energy storage business models. ESC 2017 — the 6th International Expo and Conference on Energy Storage in China — will invite more than 6,000 global professional visitors from 18 countries and more than 120 speakers, including a wide range of industry leaders, policy makers and scholars to discuss the latest sector developments. The event is held under the theme of Solutions for the Next Generation Energy System. China’s premier solution platform for energy storage technology and applications, and guide the future development of energy storage together. Contact Emma Shen Tel: +86-10-6590-7101 Email: emma.shen@mds.cn http://www.escexpo.cn
Australian Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition Sydney, Australia, June 14-15, 2017 This event attracts professionals from the energy industry at all levels and is for utilities, energy businesses, building management and the emerging EV markets. Contact Tel: +61 2 9556 8847 info@australianenergystorage.com.au http://www.australianenergystorage.com.au
Battery China 2017 Beijing, China June 21-23, 2017 Battery China is one of the largest and most recognized state-level industry events, and is held once every two years. Since 1997, Battery China has been accompanied by the growth of China’s battery industry for 20 years. Covering more than 20 countries and regions from China, the US, Japan, Korea, Germany, UK, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Canada, Sweden, and Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc., last exhibition covered 30,000 square metres and attracted more than 300 exhibitors worldwide.
International Conference on Lead-Acid Batteries — LABAT’2017
Varna, Bulgaria • June 13-16, 2017 LABAT’2017 conference offers a unique opportunity to lead-acid battery manufacturers and suppliers of equipment, technology and materials to the battery industry to hear about the latest, cutting edge innovations in this chemistry. This event brings together the international lead-acid battery academic and technological community to: • share fundamental knowledge achievements • present results from recent research studies • discuss development trends, challenges and opportunities ahead • demonstrate new products and
Power and Energy Conference and Exhibition Charlotte, USA June 26-30, 2017 ASME Power and Energy brings together ASME Power Conference, ASME Energy Sustainability Conference, ASME Energy Storage Forum, ASME Fuel Cell Conference, ASME Nuclear Forum and the co-located International Conference on Power Engineering (ICOPE). ASME Power and Energy focuses on power generation
equipment for lead-acid battery manufacture • report new technological methods in recycling • present innovative ideas for future development • establish and develop successful networking with colleagues and friends Contact Mariana Gerganska Tel: +359 2 8731552 E-mail: gerganska@labatscience.com www.labatscience.com/conference2017/4_1.html
and energy sustainability and showcases industry best practices, technical advances, development trends, research and business strategies, presented by a broad range of qualified professionals. You’ll also gain access to our 2017 co-located events, TurboExpo, the must-attend event for turbo-machinery professionals and ICOPE, the International Conference on Power Engineering (co-sponsored by ASME, JSME, and CSPE). ICOPE is focused on both fundamental and applied topics in power engineering.
Contact Ms Yan Tel: +86 10 87765620 Email: batteryfair@163.com www.bhoec.com/batterychina
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Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017• 59
FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2017 Energy Storage North America
EES North America
San Diego, USA August 8-10 Energy Storage North America is North America’s largest energy storage conference and exhibition, recognized and recommended for its focus on projects, customers and deal-making. More than 2,000 attendees from dozens of countries will come together to learn, strategize, network and ultimately shape this fast-growing market. Contact Inga Otgon Email: iotgon@mdna.com Tel: +1 312 621-5820 www.esnaexpo.com
Intersolar South America 2017
San Francisco, USA • July 11-13 Covering the entire value chain of innovative battery and energy storage technologies, ees North America is the ideal platform for all stakeholders in the rapidly growing energy storage market. It takes place in the epicentre of the US storage market: California. Co-located with Intersolar North America, North America’s most-attended solar event, ees North America provides the best opportunity to explore energy storage systems in combination with PV and beyond.
In 2016, more than 100 energy storage exhibitors and 18,244 visitors participated in the co-located events. ees North America is part of the ees global exhibition series. Together with ees Europe in Munich and ees India in Mumbai, ees events are represented on three continents. Contact Dorothea Eisenhardt Tel: +49 7231 58598-174 www.ees-northamerica.com
Battery Tech 2017 — 2nd International Conference on Battery & Fuel Cell Technology
São Paulo, Brazil August 22-24 Intersolar South America focuses on the photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies. With 11,500+ visitors, 1,500+ conference attendees and 180 exhibitors, Intersolar has become the most important platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers, investors and partners of the solar industry. Contact Banu Bektas Email: bektas@solarpromotion.com Tel: +49 7231 58598-211 www.intersolar.net.br
Battery Congress Frankfurt, Germany September 12-13
Rome, Italy • July 27-28 Battery Tech 2017 will prove to be an attractive event to meet and network with those involved in the research and development of battery and fuel cell technology. The conference also includes essential topics on technologies related to batteries and fuel cells, especially on what has been accomplished so far and what is likely to happen in the future. Our conference is going to deliver numerous keynote sessions,
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plenary speeches and poster presentations by eminent scientists and students in the field of batteries and fuel cells. Through this we can achieve greater knowledge of the latest advancements in batteries while also emphasizing the current challenges we face in battery and fuel cell technology. Contact Email: batterytech@enggconferences.org www.batterytech.conferenceseries.com
The aim of this congress is to provide a forum for engineers, managers, scientists, academic researchers and industry executives to exchange advances in battery technology and applications and management systems. This forum will address key topics and issues related to OEMs, suppliers (all tiers), component manufacturers, governmental and non-governmental agencies. It will also provide a network to support educational research and publish technical findings in conference proceedings and technical magazines. This forum provides a conference, exposition and publication dedicated to the research integration of new battery technologies in vehicular and other energy system applications. Contact Email: jacobd@gamcinc.org Tel: +1 734 997 9249 www.gamcinc.com/conferences/batterycongress
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North America’s leading advanced battery exhibition & conference launches in Germany in 2017
Sindelfingen, Germany
4 - 6 April, 2017
Featured exhibitors include:
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2017 The Battery Show
Solar Power International
Novi, Michigan, USA • September 12-14
Las Vegas, USA September 12-15
Taking place September 12-14, Novi, Detroit, Michigan, The Battery Show 2017 is the premier showcase of the latest advanced battery technology. The exhibition hall offers a platform to launch new products, make new contacts and maintain existing relationships. With more qualified buyers and decision makers than any other event in North America, The Battery Show 2017 is the key to unlocking your future business opportunities. The Battery Show is attended by engineers, project managers, technical leaders, buyers and senior executives concerned with advanced energy storage and will host the very latest advanced battery solutions for electric & hybrid vehicles, utility & renewable energy support, portable electronics, medical technology, military and telecommunications. The Battery Show 2017 will colocate with Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, the premier showcase for electric and hybrid vehicle technology and innovation. The show is a free-to-attend manufacturing and engineering exhibition and will be attended by leading automotive and off-highway vehicle engineers, business leaders, technical experts, consultants and R&D professionals, all looking for greater efficiency and safety while reducing the overall cost of e-mobility. It is co-locating for the second time at 2017 Critical Power Expo, welcoming decision-makers from data centres, utilities, telecoms, healthcare, financial services, energy
62 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017
and industrial sectors along with the entire critical power supply chain. The Battery Show is America’s biggest free-to-attend exhibition for advanced batteries. The very latest battery technology will be on display for a number of applications, from EVs to utility storage, through to bespoke mobile power applications, personal electronics and healthcare. If advanced battery technology is key to your products and services, The Battery Show will help your company stay ahead. The Battery Show is also a supply chain event, where the latest solutions from raw material and equipment suppliers, to materials and testing and recycling services are available. If it happens through the life of a battery, the services to support this will be on display. A must attend event for battery manufacturers, from junior engineer to CEO level, The Battery Show will enable you to attain better battery performance, safety and cost. Visitors to The Battery Show 2017 will also have free access to the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, the premier showcase for electric and hybrid vehicle technology and innovation, as well as Critical Power Expo, showcasing the latest backup power solutions. Contact Caroline Kirkman Email: caroline.kirkman@smartershows.com Tel: Europe: +44 1273 916300 Tel: US toll free: +1 855 436 8683 www.thebatteryshow.com
Solar Power International is powered by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). SPI held its inaugural show in 2003 and was designed to serve and advance the solar energy industry by bringing together the people, products, and professional development opportunities that drive the solar industry and are forging its bright future. This event focuses solely on creating an environment that fosters the exchange of ideas, knowledge and expertise for furthering solar energy development in the US. Designed and produced by Solar Energy Trade Shows, our events supply your company with solutions that further your success. Offering superior networking, visibility and value, Solar Energy Trade Shows events are important to any company active in the solar market. Unlike other solar conferences, all proceeds from SPI support the expansion of the solar energy industry through SEIA’s and SEPA’s year-round research and education activities, and SEIA’s extensive advocacy efforts. SPI’s primary mission is to deliver on the missions of both SEIA and SEPA in a way that strengthens the solar energy industry domestically and globally, through networking and education, and by creating an energetic and engaging marketplace to connect buyers and suppliers. Contact Tel: +1 703 738 9460 www.solarpowerinternational.com
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2017 17th Asian Battery Conference 5th International Secondary Lead Conference
EES/Intersolar Middle East 2017 Dubai, United Arab Emirates September 25-27
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • September 19-22 Over the years, the ABC conference content and its drivers have of course changed - from a very technical and scientific format to one that now also addresses the commercial and socio economic aspects of a growing, developing industry. The emerging markets created from renewable generation — particularly solar and wind — have opened up exciting new possibilities for residential storage of power as well as opportunities with both utilities in the grid market as well as in the commercial and industrial business segment. At the time of 1ABC, back in 1988, the world lead tonnage consumed was 5.5 million tonnes with 65% entering the battery market. Today we consume more than 11 million tonnes with 85% being converted to batteries. The range and types of batteries we now produce have also changed during this period with VRLA a standard product and designs for stopstart vehicles becoming commonplace. It’s a far cry from 2ABC, when the market was dominated by the use of antimonial alloys and when many Asian producers were only starting to think about converting the negative into a calcium alloy and producing
Interbattery 2017 Seoul Korea September 27-29 InterBattery, sponsored by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and directed by the Korea Battery Industry Association and Coex, is Korea’s biggest secondary-cell battery convention. It was first launched in 2013. InterBattery is Korea’s only battery industry exhibition that simultaneously accommodates the fast-growing mobile market, automobile industry and ESS and
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their first ‘hybrid’ battery. So it is with this history and background that we have great pleasure in welcoming all delegates to the 17ABC in Kuala Lumpur, which aims to deliver an enhanced knowledge and a greater appreciation of our wonderful and growing industry. The ABC conference is preceded by the 4th Secondary Lead Conference. The aim of this conference is to share and increase knowledge over all segments of this vital industry, as we all know producing more than 65% of the world’s lead supply. No other metal industry comes close to our mark. We will bring together all aspects of secondary lead smelting; discussing plant design, smelting regimes, refractories, burner design, slag formation and structures, pollution and environmental control, amongst other presentations. It is a further aim of the conference to open up for discussion all aspects of plant operations and control as to give not only operators but people interested in secondary smelting a better understanding of the processes involved in the industry. Contact Email: events@conferenceworks.com.au EV markets, and allows for the buyers and manufacturers to naturally and most efficiently interact while learning about the newest products and trends. Furthermore, the global meetings of “The Battery Conference” will be in session at the same time, allowing for the opportunity to listen to international opinion leaders, exchange influential ideas and estimate the future of the industry. Contact Tel: +82 2-6000-1393 Email: lucykim@coex.co.kr www.interbattery.or.kr
The organizers of Intersolar, the world’s leading exhibition and conference for the solar industry, have been active in the Gulf region for the past three years. In 2016 the organizers teamed up with DMG Events Middle East and Asia to organize Intersolar Middle East with GulfSol, which took place at the Dubai World Trade Center. With Dubai, Intersolar Middle East has secured the ideal venue to reach all of the Gulf states as well as emerging solar markets such as Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. The event’s exhibition and conference both focus on photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies. Since being founded, Intersolar has become the most important industry platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners of the global solar industry. Intersolar Middle East offers you the best possibilities to network with policy makers and government officials from the MENA region. Increase your profits at one of the most lucrative emerging solar markets and benefit from direct access to key buyers from across the Middle East and Northern Africa! Contact Susanne Bregazzi Email: bregazzi@intersolar.us Tel: +49 7231-58598-0
Energy 2017 (part of UK Construction Week) NEC Birmingham, UK October 10-12 Energy 2017 is the industry trade event dedicated to renewables, innovation and power solutions. Uniting all the key business players in the industry such as architects, project/energy managers, engineers and developers, this event provides the perfect platform to unite the energy sector and the wider interconnected industries. Energy 2017 is part of UK Construction Week, which works with key industry leaders and organisations to address policy issues, develop skills and personal development, and seek out, recognise and reward talent and ability. Alongside the largest product showcase in the industry, UK Construction Week provides a platform to network and open new business opportunities like never before. Bringing together nine shows under one roof, UK Construction Week is the biggest construction trade event the UK has seen in years. The event unites more than 650 exhibitors with an audience of more than 30,000 visitors. Contact Email: info@media-ten.com www.ukconstructionweek.com
Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017• 63
FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2017 Batteries 2017 Nice, France October 4-6
Intelec 2017
For the past 18 years, the Batteries event has been one of the world’s most attractive events and the meeting place of energy storage technologies (lead acid, NiMH, Liion Post), applications (from micro batteries to large format batteries) and the value chain (chemists OEMs and end users). Over the three days, the conference will gather 70 speakers and internationally known experts. Contact Corina Orphanou Email: corina.orphanou@recystempro.com Tel: +33 1 43 20 21 38 www.batteriesevent.net
World of Energy Solutions Stuttgart, Germany October 9-11 Discover at the trade fair how battery and storage, fuel cell technologies and hydrogen technologies will affect future energy industries. Contact Silke Frank Tel. +49 711 656960-55 Email: silke.frank@messe-sauber.de www.world-of-energy-solutions.com/Review
Energy Storage Innovations Santa Clara, USA November 16-17 The event brings together different players in the value chain, from material and technology developers to integrators to end-users, providing insight on forthcoming technologies, material selection, market trends and latest products. The event assesses the most exciting battery technology developments from world-leading companies, start-ups and research institutes, new form and structural factors of future batteries such as thin-film, flexible, bendable, rollable, foldable, large-area and micro-batteries. New manufacturing techniques — promising materials for emerging battery technologies; emerging applications including flexible wearable devices, the Internet of Things, electric vehicles and grid-storage application; and, integration with other components like displays, energy harvesters, etc. A focus on commercialization — End users and integrators from a diverse range of markets present their needs, requirements and case studies. Network with potential adopters/end users and see the current products and state of the technology at this exhibition. Contact Corinne Jennings Email: c.jennings@IDTechEx.com www.idtechex.com/energy-storage-usa/ show/en/
64 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2016/2017
Gold Coast, Australia • October 22-26 INTELEC is an international annual technical conference which, for the past 38 years, has been the premier forum for the science and engineering of energy systems for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). It occupies a unique position in the confluence of power, energy storage and mission-critical powering infrastructure. Research and technical papers explore the needs and trends in the subject areas of power conversion, energy storage and high-reliability. Topics include DC power plants, powering architectures, converters, inverters, batteries, fuel cells, grounding, physical and thermal designs, building and equipment cooling systems. Over its history, INTELEC has been held in Washington, DC, London (England), Tokyo (Japan), New Orleans, Munich (Germany), Toronto (Canada), Stockholm (Sweden), San Diego, Florence (Italy), Orlando, Kyoto (Japan), Paris (France), Vancouver (Canada), The Hague (Netherlands), Boston, Melbourne (Australia), San Francisco, Copenhagen (Denmark), Phoenix, Edinburgh (Scotland), Montreal (Canada), Yokohama (Japan), Chicago, Berlin (Germany), Providence, Rome (Italy), and Incheon (Korea). INTELEC conferences now provide a venue for operators of telecom, datacom, wireless and cable television systems and vendors of energy systems and related power equipment. A typical conference has technical papers and exhibits covering: • Power systems for enhanced services for wireless communications. • Energy storage systems electrochemical and alternative systems. • Smart Grid Systems. • Powering Large Information Communications Technology (ICT) fa-
cilities and networks. • Distributed generation: renewable and alternative power generation and energy storage. • Energy efficiency. • Integrating the diverse power requirements of cable, wireless, and the Internet. • Outside plant infrastructure. • Disaster preparation, impact analysis and recovery. • Cable system operation, administration and maintenance. • Power for cable TV. • DC power plants rectifiers, distribution, computer supervision, remote monitoring, and control. • Power system architectures. • Fuel cell energy and backup systems. • DC/DC converters topologies, design and simulation. • AC power supplies inverters, UPS, power supplies for computer systems and terminals. • Engine-alternators diesel and turbine. • Building and environmental system design energy conservation techniques. • Physical and thermal design energy-efficient design. • Electromagnetic compatibility EMI, ESD, EMP. • Grounding and bonding of equipment, systems and building. • Standards and specifications. Recent conferences have included tutorial sessions in addition to the technical sessions. Experts in the subject matter conduct the tutorials, and attendees earn continuing education credits (CEU). Future conferences will undoubtedly cover new technologies to meet the evolving needs of the participants. Contact www.intelec.org
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