ALTERNATIVE CHEMISTRY NEWS

ESS to deploy 2GWh iron flow battery systems with SB Energy

ESS Tech, the iron flow battery manufacturer, announced today that it had entered into a framework agreement with SB Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group, to deploy 2GWh of ESS batteries through 2026.

The first ESS system has already been delivered to an SB Energy location in Davis, California, and will be commissioned in the month ahead. SB Energy plans to install additional ESS flow battery systems to complement its expanding portfolio of solar power projects in Texas and California, two of the fastestgrowing markets for longduration storage in the US.

The announcement of this framework agreement will enhance the attractiveness of ESS ahead of its Nasdaq listing as a public company through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, ACON S2 Acquisition Corp. SB Energy is already a major investor in ESS.

ESS’s iron flow batteries are manufactured using commonly available ingredients of iron, salt, and water.

Separately, on September 23 ESS announced that it had closed an order with Enel Green Power España to deliver 17 ESS Energy Warehouse iron flow battery systems. The ESS systems will have a combined capacity of 8.5MWh.

The long-duration batteries will be used to support a solar farm in Spain as a part of a broader EUwide engagement, providing resilience for the local power grid.

Pasquale Salza, head of long-duration storage and hybrid systems for Enel Green Power, said the project aimed to “assess and validate the ESS flow batteries, which we selected due to their combination of long-duration capacity, long-life performance, environmental sustainability and safe operation”.

Eric Dresselhuys, CEO of ESS, said the firm’s sys-

tems had already passed a six-month technology and company readiness assessment, “meeting Enel’s stringent performance, durability and cost requirements to become an officially qualified global vendor”. “Another key factor in Enel’s decision is that our batteries are covered by a comprehensive insurance plan underwritten by Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company,” he said. ESS says it is working with several key partners on this project, including Loccioni, a global systems integrator with projects in more than 45 countries, and Enertis, an international consulting and engineering firm headquartered in Spain.

RES and Octopus Energy agree $4.1 billion deal to build hydrogen plants

RES, which claims to be the world’s largest independent renewable energy company, will boost the UK’s green hydrogen capacity in a partnership with Octopus Energy’s Octopus Renewables division to spend £3 billion ($4.1 billion) on new plants across the UK, the firms have confirmed.

The firms said the hydrogen they produce will be aimed at industrial businesses ‘who want to be leaders in decarbonization’.

“RES is the largest independent renewable energy company in the world based on our total global capacity of projects,” says the company. “We’ve delivered more than 22GW of projects worldwide and also support an operational asset portfolio exceeding 7.5GW.”

Octopus Renewables, which manages more than 300 solar, onshore wind and biomass projects, was brought under Octopus Energy in July. Octopus Energy was launched in 2016 by parent firm Octopus Group.

Honeywell steps into storage technology with flow battery

Technology giant Honeywell has entered the energy storage sector with a trial 400kWh flow battery that will be field tested in North Carolina by Duke Energy, the firms announced on October 26.

Honeywell did not reveal details of the battery technology other than to say it ‘uses a safe, nonflammable electrolyte that converts chemical energy to electricity’.

The flow battery, which will be delivered to Duke Energy’s facility in Mount Holly in 2022, will work with wind and solar generation sources and can store enough energy to be discharged for up to 12 hours, Honeywell claims.

If the trial is successful Honeywell aims to install a utility-scale pilot project of 60MW in 2023.

Ben Owens, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions. Said: “By partnering with Duke, we can implement this energy storage technology at scale and bring to market a revolutionary flow battery to meet growing energy storage demands while assisting companies in meeting their carbon neutral goals.”

Over the next five years, Duke Energy plans to install almost 400MW of battery storage capacity in its service territory. Plus Power on November 9 announced it had closed a landmark credit facility for its 185MW/565MWh Kapolei Energy Storage project in Hawaii.

The battery is on the island of Oahu, and is the largest selected by the utility Hawaiian Electric.

It will provide load shifting and 50MW of fast-frequency response, as well as virtual inertia and blackstart capabilities.

Plus Power has a pipeline of 7GW of projects across more than 20 American states, it says.

“Plus Power’s transmission-scale standalone energy storage systems provide capacity, energy and ancillary services, shifting lowcost renewable energy delivery to match demand,” the firm said.

“Standalone energy storage can be sited precisely to deliver services that enable accelerated decarbonization by integrating onshore and offshore utility-scale renewable energy as well as distributed renewable resources.”

The Kapolei project was approved by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission this May and on completion, the island’s coalfired plant will be closed down.

The financing was led by Mizuho Securities and Keybank, and were joined by Silicon Valley Bank and CoBank.