Energy Storage Journal - issue 11 Winter

Issue 11: Winter 2015/2016

When dreams and reality collide California’s troubled template for the future Toys for the boys Why only utilities can play Europe’s high cost storage market

Affordable roll-outs Here come the money men! But why should ABS matter so much?

The first solar cell How the Murray Hill Three changed the world…forever

CONTENTS COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA

LESSONS FOR THE ENERGY STORAGE BRAVE

26

Point 1: Legislate distributed energy storage into existence.

Point 2: Or else. You don’t have much of a choice.

Point 3: Yes and make it profitable too.

California dreaming: where hopes and reality collide 26

California’s commitment to energy storage has become the sector to watch— as much as by the state’s relentless regulatory demands as the economic logic that seems to be showing its value. A troubled template of illusive dreams yet achievable visions.

EDITORIAL

2

The Gospel according to Blah. We do ourselves a disservice by constantly hyping up our capabilities

PEOPLE NEWS

5

Luce kicks off work at CalCharge with partnership with NAATBatt • Ken Doyle named SEPA chief operating officer • Beckley joins as new CTO as Hammond moves to tap smart grid storage market • Trojan appoints new SVP Engineering • NRG appoints three senior staff • SolarWindow appoints Sargent as VP, product development and engineering • Coomber joins board of Tempus Energy • SunLink appoints Ray as VP software engineering • 8minutenergy appoints Haubenstock as general counsel • Dulas opens up in Dublin • Adolfo Rebollo, the new Ingeteam CEO • Sanjiv Malhotra to head up DOE Clean Energy Investment Center • SunPower appoints Medina as EVP Power Plants • Alain Steven joins Advanced Microgrid Solutions as CTO • Kubis retires from EcoBat, moves to bipolar lead acid start-up Gridtential • Former GM battery head becomes LG Chem Power’s chief exec • Eisenhart joins A123 Systems as COO • Whitacre wins Lemelson-MIT prize SunLink names Schwarz new CFO • Aqua Metals appoints two to new management team • Hoppecke appoints senior staff in UK • Sonnebatterie recruits four from Tesla • Grupe new VP for sales at Digatron • Flow batteries and artificial leaf batteries awarded to Nocera

OPINION: CYBER-SECURITY

CalCharge’s Luce and NAATBatt partner up 5

17

David Roberts, president of the Battery Innovation Center in the US, warns that cyberattacks on the smart grids of the future are a clear and present danger.

EUROPEAN GRID STORAGE

Opinion: BIC’s Roberts on cyber-security 17

19

In Europe, battery storage for renewables is now a cost-effective technology — but only for utilitylevel deployment, as demonstrated by recent developments in Germany and the UK.

SOLAR UNITED

33

Global Solar Council emerges after climate change talks

US RESIDENTIAL MARKET

34

The end of net-metering spells an opportunity for energy storage.

FINANCING STORAGE GROWTH

43

The way in which solar+storage is financed has become increasingly innovative. Securitizing energy storage is the new theme — ABS will lead the high finance charge into the sector

EVENTS

The Three from Murray Hill, architects for a solar revolution 58

46

Our comprehensive listing of the must-attend conferences for the months ahead

SOLAR HEROES

58

They were known as the Three from Murray Hill — how a conflicted and brilliant trio created the first PV cells and unwittingly opened up the world to a different energy future

THE LAST WORD

63

Big Red wins China’s Friendship Award • The ultimate solar+storage test? The World Solar Challenge • Monsters Inc visits • Birth of the new solar anthem • Pot power pulls the plug • Lead ‘gigafactories’ bite back (watch out Mr Musk!)

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The Last Word: Big Red wins China’s Friendship Award 63

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 1

POWERING THE SMART GRID www.energystoragejournal.com

Meet the team Issue 8: Spring 2015

Sara Vanbruggen, Associate Editor Sara, one of the founding figures of Energy Storage Journal, has since relocated to Madrid, 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!

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+44 (0) 7792 852 337 karen@energystoragejournal.com

June Moutrie, Business Development Manager She’s our accounting Wunderkind who deals with all things financial — a kind of mini Warren Buffett.

But more fun!

Jade Beevor, Sales Executive 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.

YEARBOOKS, PUBLISHING & EVENT GUIDES All enquiries +44 (0) 7792 852 337 publisher@energystoragejournal.com

Reception: +44 (0) 1243 78 22 75 • www.energystoragejournal.com • Fax +44 1 787 329 730 Hampton Halls Associates Ltd, 10 Temple Bar Business Park, Strettington PO18 0TU, UK • Registered in England and Wales 09123491

EDITORIAL Mike Halls, editor • mike@energystoragejournal.com

The Gospel According to Blah Another day, another market research prediction.

Another press announcement, yet endless speculation.

It’s the Law of Blah, maybe even the Gospel according to Blah, the good news of endless market chatter.

We’re not cynical — far from it — but the unbounded optimism is relentless.

But unlike the good news of the Gospel from the Bible — where God loves and interacts with man — this is another kind of news. But here the good news is based on speculation, hypothesis and endless extrapolation.

Not forgetting the fluff that surrounds this all.

In this world of yak we hear persistent talk of next generation lithium batteries in our electric vehicles — neatly sidestepping the fact that first generation lithium EVs haven’t even arrived. Or not in scale and certainly not in affordability.

Every other week we hear of so-called disruptive technologies. Science that will change the world of energy and batteries forever as a New World Order arises.

As this magazine went to press the University of Maryland sent us a press release about using carbonized oak leaves as a possible research line for putting a battery together using sodium in the negative terminal.

Quoted verbatim. “Leaves are so abundant. All we had to do was pick one up off the ground here on campus … other studies have shown that melon skin, banana peels and peat moss can be used in this way, but a leaf needs less preparation.”

And the calendar doesn’t even show it’s the start of April.

So what are the six principles behind this Gospel according to Blah?

First, it’s one of endless speculation. And to make it worse, it’s unremittingly optimistic.

It’s a reworking the observations from Moore’s Law — which is actually specific to the number of transistors in an integrated circuit — and imagining that the same doubling in performance is going to apply to the world of batteries, electric vehicles and solar storage.

In this la-la land we can expect everything to be different in 20 years’ time. Problems of world poverty, global conflict and the common cold will doubtless have all been solved by then too.

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Second it’s one of endless extrapolation. Here we’re not talking so much about the strange love that green visionaries have for Moore’s law but the way, for example, that interesting results in the lab are extrapolated almost immediately to the manufacturing line.

Or at least in the popular imagination — those that work in production know that from lab to manufacturing line is more likely to take a decade.

Part of this is a fault in the way that the world of startups and the world surrounding their finance go together.

The start-up needs the oxygen of publicity to survive and get further funding.

Getting anything in print is an endorsement of credibility. So let’s also blame the journalist covering the story. The use of extrapolation for journalists is a perverse way of legitimising a story — even creating one that’s not there — as it makes a point. (Even if this point is hypothetical to the point of ridiculousness.)

Third it’s one of denial. In the battery world, the uncomfortable truths of price and performance are glossed over by both sides of the lead/lithium fence.

Denial typically takes the form of forgetting inconvenient truths. One example here. One of the big set-backs to the use of lead acid batteries at the grid level for energy storage happened when the Notrees 36MW wind power project in Texas decided to shift from lead acid to lithium batteries (most of the move takes place this year). Quite simply lead acid batteries weren’t up to the job of fast-response frequency regulation.

And it’s counterpart as any knowledgeable lead battery engineer will tell you — how can lithium be so green and friendly when we still have no environmentally or economically feasible way of recycling it?

Fourth, it’s one where everything is fuzzy. Spotting lies in corporate life isn’t easy but one of the infallible rules is that if you can’t quite understand something and the details are sketchy you’re being misled somewhere.

Fifth, Blah is a concept where the language gets confused.

At its simplest Blah requires marketing speak for press announcements to be obtuse to the point of ridiculousness. This is frequently mixed with Words That Have To Be Capitalized to show that very important things are going on.

But why do some terms being bandied around make no sense? What after all is an advanced battery? Why

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 3

EDITORIAL Mike Halls, editor • mike@energystoragejournal.com should a lithium battery be called advanced when it’s still only a battery? What is advanced lead? Is it something that just means a lead battery that’s been fiddled with?

Moreover, the language is purposefullly prolix, pompous and full of periphrastic perissology — occlusively pleonastic in other words.

Or to put that into English. Talks too much to hide meaning.

And most of the time this verbosity is just to hide the vacuity of what’s being said and give the sense of importance to something unsubstantial.

Last to add to the mix, Blah inevitably means a concentration on image rather than substance. Hype is not based on lies as such but on the plausibility of the lie. And plausibility is mostly concerned with the image of the story.

Part of the spin around EVs is the notion that by driving them “we’re doing our bit for the environment” (quite whatever that means).

So the sales pitch is rarely about the quality of the ride, which is frequently superb, but more on that driving is no longer sending clouds of super-deadly carbon dioxide out of the tail pipe.

Of course this ignores the fact that the dirty coal-fired power station out of sight is belching clouds of ash and some of that killer gas CO2. Of course the problem is that when these lies get magnified, they enter the popular culture. Silicon Valley giants such as a Apple and Google make a point of choosing to emphasise their credentials

as being environmentally friendly. They perpetuate the myth that lead batteries are harmful to the environment while lithium ones aren’t.

One of the more fascinating theories to watch is the relationship between the Gospel of Blah and the First Law of Conferences — where two or three are gathered together with a fashionable idea, expert speakers can be located, delegates found and dialogues can start.

But here just one word to the wise. Discrimination.

And the reason? The oddest thing about the Gospel of Blah is that the very same speculations, sometimes the very same fuzziness (even the denial of uncomfortable truths) can show that a larger truth is at stake. And the voices of some of these modern day prophets should not be casually discarded.

The fact is that the renewable revolution has arrived.

Distributed energy is now at a price point that makes its entry into the home worthwhile and inevitable in scale.

At a utility level PV and energy storage does pose a real and present danger to existing business models.

And out of the hot air that will inevitably be generated in the next few years, new business models as well as new technologies will emerge.

Looking around at the present conference and exhibition scene we are witnessing a huge market that is rapidly taking shape. Yes, some of the firms will stumble and fail, yes there may be huge volume of hype, until the new energy storage market settles down.

But the reality is this — a new future is being shaped around us.

Advertising manager: Jade Beevor jade@energystoragejournal,com +44 1 243 792 467

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 Let cool heads prevail +44 852 337 The7792 lead-lithium storage debate steps up a notch

Supplements editor: Wyn Jenkins, wyn.jenkins@serenglobalmedia.com, +44 1792 293 222 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

Editor: Michael Halls, Next gen integrators The new titan of lead The CEO interview mike@energystoragejournal.com Coming soon to a Ecoult’s UltraBattery, Anil Srivastava and grid near you, ready1to243 take lithium +44 782 Leclanché’s 275 bid for smart the ideal middle man on, head-to-head market dominance

Subscriptions and admin manager: Claire Ronnie, subscriptions@energystoragejournal.com admin@energystoragejournal.com +44 1 243 782 275

Associate editor: Sara Verbruggen sara@energystoragejournal.com +44 7981 256 908

Research editor: William Aslan will@energystoragejournal.com

4 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

Design: Antony Parselle aparselledesign@me.con International advertising representation: advertising@energystoragejournal.com The contents of this publication are protected by copyright. No unauthorised translation or reproduction is permitted.

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PEOPLE NEWS

Luce kicks off work at CalCharge, forms partnership with NAATBatt CalCharge, the publicprivate partnership which aims to accelerate innovation in energy storage technologies, has appointed Alex Luce as program manager. He started on December 1.

He very rapidly formed a partnership between CalCharge and NAATBatt, North America’s advanced battery trade association.

Luce previously worked at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy — better known as ARPA-E — in Washington DC. He has also worked at early-stage investment firm Prelude Ventures, and at SkyDeck, the UC Berkeley startup accelerator. (Luce earned his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.)

CalCharge’s new partner, NAATBatt, supports the commercial interests of its members by helping them identify technological and market developments in a variety of advanced battery applications.

The two organizations plan to collaborate on resources and networking opportunities to provide their members broader insights across the sector.

“We’re excited about offering CalCharge as a resource to our members and opening up NAATBatt as a resource to their members,” said Jim Greenberger, NAATBatt’s executive director. In particular, Greenberger highlights CalCharge’s unique agreement that provides streamlined access to three national laboratories.

“Gaining access to the national labs could be a huge benefit to our members, helping to accelerate the development of ideas, technologies, and com-

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Luce: new program manager hit the ground running

Greenberger: partnership benefits NAATBatt members

mercialization of advanced battery technology by the private sector,” said Greenberger.

While CalCharge draws members from around the world, it provides a unique entry point to the energystorage innovation coming out of California. NAATBatt, which focuses on the commercialization of advanced battery technology in multiple applications worldwide, aims to give its members better access to the battery technology coming out of California.

NAATBatt and CalCharge are hopeful about opportunities to collaborate on future endeavours, ranging from technical and business issues to safety concerns.

“One of CalCharge’s goals is to develop and im-

plement industry standards and training for the safe and effective installation of energy storage devices, and that requires support across the industry,” says Bernie Kotlier, CalCharge board member and executive director of sustainable energy solutions for the IBEW/NECA Labor Management Cooperation Committee, which recognized and spearheaded the NAATBatt-CalCharge

partnership.

“This partnership is the perfect way to connect the dots and get closer to standards that ensure safety across the energy storage sector.”

CalCharge was formed in 2014 and has 28 members.

These range from start-ups to multinational corporations, research institutions, national labs, and utilities.

In addition to providing streamlined access to three national labs, CalCharge co-founded Battery University with San Jose State University, the world’s first master’s program in energy storage technology.

Luce will report to CalCharge president Danny Kennedy who is also managing director of the California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF). Kennedy came to CalCEF from Sungevity, which he co-founded.

“Gaining access to the national labs could be a huge benefit to NAATBatt members, helping to accelerate the development of ideas, technologies, and commercialization of advanced battery technology by the private sector”

Ken Doyle named SEPA chief operating officer Ken Doyle, an executive with more than four decades of association experi-

ence, became executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA).

As COO, Doyle joins the non-profit’s executive leadership team and provides oversight in programmes and meetings, finance, operations, marketing, membership, human resources, and management information systems.

Doyle previously spent 34 years as the executive

vice president and CEO of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA), the trade association representing the interests of America’s leading fuel marketers.

Most recently, he was president of Doyle Association Consulting, an association consulting firm.

Doyle is chair of the National Association Executive Forum and a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 5

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PEOPLE NEWS

Trojan appoints new SVP Engineering Trojan Battery, the manufacturer of deep-cycle batteries, has appointed Michael Everett as senior vice president of engineering.

Based at Trojan’s corporate headquarters in Santa Fe Springs in California, Everett oversees the company’s product development, research and development, process engineering, technical support and various other analytical responsibilities for the company’s worldwide engineering strategies.

With more than 20 years of experience in a variety of technology industries, Everett has held senior management positions with Maxwell Technologies, 3D Systems and Industrial Tools.

In his most recent position as chief technical officer at Maxwell Technologies, the ultra-capacitor firm, Everett was responsible for the execution of the overall corporate research and technology strategy linked to the product roadmap.

During his more than 13

years at the company, Everett led a wide range of technology teams focusing on innovation, and resulting in over 100 patents/patent filings generated in the energy storage technology field.

“His diverse expertise across a wide range of industries makes him uniquely qualified to lead Trojan’s strategic product engineering roadmaps. This experience will play a key role in our business growth and market share expansion strategies.” said Jeff Elder president and

chief executive officer for Trojan Battery.

Michael Everett, senior vice president of engineering

SunLink appoints Ray as VP software engineering SunLink Corporation appointed James Ray as vice president of software engineering in December. Ray was previously founder and CEO of financial services consulting company, IdeasX, consulting for several Fortune 500 com-

panies and multi-national banking institutions.

Before that, he was the president and CEO of Size Technologies until the company was acquired by First Data in January 2007.

He continued to run First Data’s San Francisco office

after the acquisition. Previous positions include president and chief technology officer at DoughNET.com, and CTO and COO for global advertising agency Publicis & Hal Riney.

His experience working in financial security was

NRG appoints three senior staff NRG Energy and NRG Yield made three executive appointments effective in January — Gaetan Frotte, senior vice president, finance and strategy of NRG Yield, became senior vice president and treasurer of NRG; Chad Plotkin, vice president, investor relations, became senior vice president, finance and strategy for NRG Yield; and Kevin Cole going to NRG as senior vice president for investor relations.

Frotte, Plotkin and Cole report directly to Kirk Andrews, NRG and NRG

Frotte: new SVP finance

Yield chief financial officer.

Before he was head of finance and strategy for NRG Yield, Frotte was assistant treasurer of NRG. Before heading up investor relations at NRG, Plotkin led the finance organization for NRG Home Solar and previously worked in the strategy, mergers and acquisitions organization for NRG. Cole has followed and researched NRG for nearly 10 years. Most recently he was senior energy equity and credit analyst and energy sector team captain with Achievement Asset Management.

From 2007-2014, Cole was vice president on the Credit Suisse US power and utility equity research team with-coverage across the regulated utility, integrated power, and independent power producer sectors. Before that, he was

8 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

an associate with Jeffery Slocum & Associates conducting fixed income research and investment consulting services.

regarded as a plus by SunLink. “There are substantial parallels between the technology and solar sectors, and the convergence of the two will propel solar forward much faster than it is currently progressing,” said SunLink CEO Michael Maulick.

“By using his expertise in financial security technology, SunLink is able to leapfrog our development of the technology platforms our industry so desperately needs.”

SolarWindow appoints Sargent as VP, product development and engineering SolarWindow Technologies, a developer of transparent electricitygenerating coatings for glass and flexible plastics, appointed Patrick Sargent as its vice president of product development and engineering in January.

“Sargent will use his knowledge of the glass and photovoltaic industries to guide the scaleup and pre-industrial processing of SolarWindow technologies necessary for commercialization,” said the firm.

Sargent previously worked at Asahi Glass Company, a $10 billion international glass producer, as photovoltaics cover technology leader for its North American Solar Business Unit. He has also worked for Lucent Technologies and Fujitsu Network Communications.

SolarWindow recently appointed former Duke Energy veteran and power grid expert, Curtis Watkins, as vice president of energy markets and utilities.

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PEOPLE NEWS

Adolfo Rebollo, the new Ingeteam CEO Adolfo Rebollo has taken over as Ingeteam’s new CEO, replacing Javier Ojeda, who has resigned from the company. Rebollo was previously managing director of Ingeteam Power Technology, a division that brings Ingeteam’s business related to engineering, electronic systems and equipment for power conversion and control.

Over the two decades in which he has been work-

ing in the group, Rebollo has held a number of responsibilities including being head of the project to establish Ingeteam in Milwaukee, in the US from 2010-2015. During this period, he acted as the general manager of Indar, dedicated to the manufacture and marketing of wind generators for the American market.

Before that he was technical director of Indar

in Beasaín, Spain (20052010) and, during his initial years at Ingeteam, he worked in the electrical projects and industrial automation division (1996-2000), subsequently heading the creation of the Marine Systems Division (2000-2004).

Indar Electric is the Ingeteam Group company specializing in the design and manufacture of rotating electrical machines.

Hoppecke appoints senior staff in UK Hoppecke Industrial Batteries, the UK arm of Germany’s Hoppecke Batterien, appointed five managers in January as part of its restructuring programme. The new staff — a combination of internal and external appointments — follow the appointment of Jason Howlett as the new UK managing director last September.

Stuart Browne becomes service director. He has 20 years’ experience in field operations management and has worked for companies such as De La Rue and Jungheinrich.

Andy Neville joins as operations and supply chain manager. He has held senior operational management positions for more than 20 years. He will also drive Hoppecke’s ‘lean’ performance drive and ensure a safe, efficient working environment for the company’s workers.

Gus Whyte — a veteran of some 38 years spent in the motive power business — joins as a sales director.

“With a genuinely global pedigree, he has vast experience in the technology and sales of motive power batteries, chargers, battery changing systems, and electronic management systems,” said Hoppecke.

Dave Summerfield be-

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comes director of business development for the UK and international key accounts for Germany.

Summerfield has been in the battery business since 2005.

Hoppecke has previously never had a human resources manager dedicated to, and located in, the UK but that has changed with the appointment of Sarah Wheat.

Hoppecke’s CEO, Marc Zoellner, said: “We are in the process of a substantial investment programme in the infrastructure of

Hoppecke in the UK and these senior appointments

are an essential part of that policy.”

Hoppecke’s new senior management team. Left to right: Dave Summerfield, Stuart Browne, Sarah Wheat, Andy Neville and Gus Whyte

8minutenergy names Haubenstock as general counsel and vice president 8minutenergy Renewables, the US solar developer appointed Arthur Haubenstock as general counsel and vice president, government and regulatory, in December.

Haubenstock is an experienced energy attorney whose career includes extensive private and public sector work. This has involved negotiating and obtaining regulatory approval of more than 2GW of renewable energy power purchase agreements; acquisition, permitting and financing of very large-scale,

community-based and other smaller-scale renewable power projects; and assuring transmission for renewable power projects.

Haubenstock has also contributed to the development of major renewable energy regulatory and policy frameworks, including California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard and its procurement mechanisms; wholesale energy and capacity markets; and transmission and land use planning initiatives.

Haubenstock previously was vice president, regu-

latory affairs for BrightSource Energy. His professional background also includes working at Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the US Environmental Protection Agency and several national law firms.

Additionally, Haubenstock is the chair of the Utility-Scale Power Division of the Solar Energy Industries Association, is a board member of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT) and previously president of the Large-scale Solar Association.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 9

PEOPLE NEWS

Sanjiv Malhotra to head up DOE Clean Energy Investment Center The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced in January that Sanjiv Malhotra will be the first director of the Clean Energy Investment Center (CEIC), located within the Office of Technology Transitions.

The CEIC was established in 2015 as part of the Obama Administration’s Clean Energy Investment Initiative to advance private investment in clean energy technologies that address the gap in US clean tech investment.

CEIC will also increase the availability of DOE’s resources to private sector investors and potential partners in the public.

The CEIC will become a single point of contact for investors to access technical

experts, acquire the latest reports on clean energy technology, and identify promising projects.

Malhotra was most recently a consultant with the DoE’s Fuel Cells Technologies Office.

From 2005-2014, he was the founder and CEO of Oorja Protonics, which was involved in the design, development, and manufacturing of methanol fuel cells. Here he attracted more than $32 million in investments from private sector equity firms, and he brought the company to profitability.

He has also been an adviser at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, worked as part of the executive management team at DCH Technology and H Power Corp,

and been as a researcher at DOE’s Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory.

Malhotra will also be instrumental in supporting Mission Innovation, an initiative that was announced at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris to accelerate public and private global clean energy innovation. This will address global climate change, provide af-

The safety of many depends

fordable clean energy to consumers, including in the developing world, and create additional commercial opportunities in clean energy.

“Malhotra’s unique experience as an accomplished scientist, entrepreneur, and businessman will be invaluable as the first director of the Clean Energy Investment Center,” said Ernest Moniz, the US energy secretary.

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PEOPLE NEWS

Beckley joins as new CTO as Hammond moves into smart grid storage market Gordon Beckley has been appointed vice-president and chief technical officer of the Hammond Group, the global producer of lead oxides, expanders, and specialty chemicals for leadacid batteries.

Beckley’s appointment comes at an exciting time for Hammond. “We have made revolutionary breakthroughs in lead acid battery charge acceptance with our K2 Expanders and have committed significant investments to serve the current and emerging requirements of our battery customers,” said Terry Murphy, president and CEO of the Hammond Group.

Beckley succeeds Achim Lulsdorf who left Hammond in December and has moved to Exide Industries, the Indian battery group.

Beckley has a long career in the lead acid business.

He spent the last 11 years as senior vice president for engineering and quality at deep cycle battery manufacturer Trojan. He developed Trojan’s T2 Technology line which introduced a T2 metal agent into the paste mix. He was also behind the development of the Traveler, Ranger and Reliant product lines.

Previous to that he spent two years as director for engineering and strategic planning for GS Battery, the US subsidiary of Japan Storage Battery Company.

From 1989 to 2002 he worked for GNB Technologies in a series of rising senior positions being in charge of its operations in New Zealand and later Australia. He became a vice

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president of engineering with Exide when GNB was taken over in 1999 and was responsible for integrating the two firms’ engineering department.

Beckley also spent two years with legendary AGM firm Gates. He also participates in research and development programmes with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and is chairman of the Deep Cycle and Electric Vehicle Battery Committee for Battery Council International.

“Gordon brings a wealth of technical and practical

experience — along with a personal passion — to Hammond’s strategy of enabling lead-acid chemistry for advanced energy storage”, said Murphy.

“His first-hand knowledge and experience in tailoring customer-specific solutions will allow us to better serve our industry in competition with Lithium-Ion for micro-hybrid vehicle and energy storage markets.”

As Hammond’s CTO, Beckley will report directly to Murphy and be responsible for all R&D efforts headquartered at Ham-

mond’s new lead-acid battery laboratory.

“Gordon brings a wealth of technical and practical experience — along with a personal passion — to Hammond’s strategy of enabling lead-acid chemistry for advanced energy storage” – Terry Murphy, president, Hammond Group

Aqua Metals appoints two to new management team Aqua Metals, the lead recycling firm that offers an alternative to smelting announced in November new hires to its management team with the appointment of Alex Laleh as special projects manager and the hire of Thomas Akright in October as a corporate controller.

Laleh’s primary responsibility is setting up the AquaRefining module production line in the company’s Alameda headquarters.

Laleh joined

from Siemens, where he was responsible for oversight of production planning and production configuration management.

Akright is responsible for building the company’s financial systems, internal controls, performance metrics and reporting capabilities.

Aqua Metals raised $36 million in a share raising called an IPO last summer. It has used the proceeds to acquire more staff in the run-up to the commercializa-

tion of its operations this summer.

Alex Laleh appointed as special projects manager

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 11

PEOPLE NEWS

Eisenhart joins A123 Systems as COO For the record, Chris Eisenhart joined A123 Systems in October as its chief operations officer. He takes over from Ed Kopkowski who left the company in May to become COO of Dexter Alex Company, Eisenhart will head A123’s manufacturing, quality and supply chain organizations globally and, in particular, oversee the company’s plan to more than double manufacturing capacity within the next two years.

Earlier last year, A123 announced a series of business expansion initiatives totalling more than $300 million in capital investments between its facilities in the US and China. The company say it is accelerating plans to reach 1.5 GWh of global manufacturing capacity.

Eisenhart started at Ford Motor Company before moving to the component supplier Spartanburg Steel Products. More recently

he headed operations in a unit of Johnson Controls.

He has also held a senior operations position at Lear Corporation.

“Eisenhart will be sharply focused on execution of our massive expansion both in terms of facilities and the organizational development to run them at world-class efficiency,” said Jason Forcier, A123 chief executive.

A123 says it will increase its total battery capacity produced annually to 1.5 gi-

gawatt hours at its plants in Michigan; Hangzhou, China; and Changzhou, China, over the next three years.

Dulas sets up in Dublin as Ireland opens up economy to renewables Dulas, the renewable energy developer, formally opened up its Irish headquarters in Dublin in February. Dulas’s new offices will provide the business with a base to offer its technical consultancy in the rapidly expanding Irish market and, the firm says, also assist its UK clients in moving into the sector.

Ireland is one of the most exciting European countries in looking to develop renewable energy. The government plans to generate 40% of electricity consumption and 16% of final energy consumption from renewables by 2020.

In 2015 just over 23% of the country’s electricity was supplied by wind energy,

while its hydro and solar markets are also expanding to meet further demand.

The Irish government recently announced plans to develop a 360MW hydroelectric power station in the south of the country, and the Irish Solar Energy Association has released data predicting that the country will have 500MW of

installed solar capacity by 2020.

“While the republic’s clean energy industry has grown steadily in recent years, more projects need to be commissioned if renewable energy sources are to make up 16% of final energy consumption by 2020,” said Phil Horton, managing director of Dulas.

Alain Steven joins Advanced Microgrid Solutions as CTO Advanced Microgrid Solutions, a developer of energy storage systems for electric utility grid support, has appointed Alain Steven as chief technology officer.

As CTO he will oversee the development and scale-up of the software and services platform that backs-up behind-the-meter storage systems.

Steven is best known for the development of largescale, real-time IT solutions for the electric utility industry. “With 30 years in executive level positions, he brings a rare combination of large organization and start-up experience,” says the firm.

He will continue to work as secretary general of the Association of the Very Large Power Grid

Operators (GO15), a notfor-profit organization composed of the 18 largest power grid operators in the world.

In his previous job he was CTO and co-founder of Viridity Energy, which specializes in advanced demand response and dy-

namic load management.

He was also CTO and vice president of the PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization serving 61 million people and operates one of the world’s largest wholesale electricity markets.

In addition, he was presi-

dent of PJM Technologies, and CEO of Alstom ESCA Corporation, a major supplier of market and grid management systems. He was formerly chairman of the University of Washington’s Electric Energy Industrial Consortium and holds seven patents.

SunPower appoints Medina as EVP Power Plants Eduardo Medina took over as executive vice president of power plants in January for SunPower Corporation, a solar technology and energy services provider.

He will be based in Lyon in France.

Medina has extensive experience with leading public and private

12 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

companies including Acciona Energia and General Electric.

Medina most recently worked as executive managing director and head of business development for Acciona Energía, a Spain-based infrastructure, energy, water and sustainable services firm.

Before this he was Acciona’s Asia director and director of Middle East North Africa and the Mediterranean region.

He has around 25 years of related experience and has held senior positions at General Electric in the Power Generation unit, Gamesa Eólica.

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PEOPLE NEWS

EnerSys’ John Craig to retire in the spring, Shaffer to take over EnerSys has confirmed that John Craig, chief executive officer will retire on March 31, 2016. David Shaffer has been named president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer effective the day after. Shaffer will become a member of the board of directors that day. The retirement and promotion of Shaffer had been widely expected.

Craig joined the company’s predecessor in 1994 and became chairman, president and chief executive in 2000 when he led the management buyout of the company forming EnerSys. Since that time the company’s

David Shaffer has been named president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer

revenue has grown from $400 million to $2.5 billion while completing 33 acquisitions.

Craig will continue as non-executive chairman of the board of directors of EnerSys following his retirement.

Shaffer joined EnerSys in 2005 and since November 2014 has worked as president and chief operating officer.

Before that he worked as president of the company’s Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) business and as president of Asia before that.

He has held positions with increasing responsibility in the battery industry since 1989.

Meanwhile, Richard Zuidema, executive vice president of the company, will retire at the end of the year.

Todd Sechrist, president EMEA, will take over from him.

Zuidema joined the company’s predecessor in 1998 and was a member of the group that completed the 2000 management buyout.

Sechrist joined EnerSys’ predecessor company in 1993 and has held several positions with increasing responsibilities with the company.

Holger Aschke, vice president Re-

serve Power sales and marketing for EMEA, takes over from Sechrist as president EMEA. Aschke joined a predecessor company in 1996 and has held a wide range of operational and sales roles in the company’s EMEA business.

From the beginning of the year Michael Schmidtlein becomes executive vice president finance and chief financial officer. Schmidtlein has worked as senior vice president finance and chief financial officer since 2010, having previously been vice president finance and chief financial officer.

SunLink names Schwarz new CFO Ken Schwarz has joined California-based SunLink as chief financial officer. For the past two years, Schwarz has worked as CFO at Sungevity, heading up corporate finance, accounting and financial partnerships including managing alliances with Sunrun and Mosaic.

Former GM battery head becomes LG Chem Power’s chief exec For the record, Denise Gray — a well known industry figure for her pioneering work at General Motors on the Chevrolet Volt — became chief executive of LG Chem Power on October 1. She succeeds Prabhakar Patil, chief executive for the past 10 years, who has retired.

Gray most recently worked as vice president of electrification powertrain engineering at AVL List, where she was responsible for AVL’s Electrification Business Unit. Before that she was a vice president at Atieva, a Californian startup developing an electric vehicle.

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But she is best known as director of Global Battery Systems Engineering at General Motors, where her team — growing from 25 to 200 — successfully developed and launched the lithium-ion battery system used in the Chevrolet Volt, working closely with the LG Chem team. She left GM in February 2010.

She had joined General Motors as an engineer in 1981 working on electro mechanical systems moving up in 1992 to work on power train software until 2000. For the next six years she worked as a director of related products, first for

Denise Gray, who found fame for the Chevrolet Volt battery system, is the new chief executive of LG Chem Power

powertrain software engineering, then global engine and transmission electronic

controls and then as global transmission controls engineering.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 13

PEOPLE NEWS

Kubis retires from Eco-Bat, moves to bipolar lead acid start-up Gridtential For the record, Ray Kubis — one of the most high profile names in the battery business — stepped down as president and managing director at Eco-Bat Technologies on October 30.

He moves to Gridtential a lead battery start-up hoping to make moves into the smart grid and automotive battery space, Kubis, citing family priorities and some other private interests to adjust to less global travel, chose to join the board of Gridtential, a start-up firm with a new bipolar lead acid battery.

He continues as a non-executive board member for Eco-Bat and also remains as an adviser. Howard Meyers, chairman of Eco-Bat and other senior management will act in an interim capacity.

“When I was approached by Gridtential I was intrigued by the firm,” Kubis told Energy Storage Journal.

“Throughout my career I’ve always been interested in new products and positioning of products, and though many of these start-ups don’t stand the test of time, some do. And Gridtential looked as if it had both a great product, a good operations process strategy, as well as great people to work with.

“Bipolar batteries have always struck me as where the greatest potential for lead acid can be found, but also the most difficult to execute — and Gridtential have come up with a product that has overcome these difficulties.”

At its simplest, Gridtential’s battery — known as the Silicon Joule technology — replaces the metal grid in leadacid batteries with a silicon substrate.

The substrate is a spin-off from the mature production of silicon cells for the solar industry, yielding cost and quality advantages. (See picture of the battery interior.)

The firm’s chief executive, Christiaan Beekhuis, says the battery has more than two times the available energy for the same weight, double the cycle life at 80% depth of discharge and twice the discharge speed but with the same efficiency.

“Gridtential is able to target a $100/ kWh installed price for its drop-in lead-based battery replacement.”

Perhaps most interesting for lead acid battery manufacturers is the fact that making the new batteries requires only minor modifications to the exist-

14 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

“Bipolar batteries have always struck me as where the greatest potential for lead acid can be found, but also the most difficult to execute — and Gridtential have come up with a product that has overcome these difficulties.” ing production line — the early processes of paste mixing and curing are unchanged as is the high investment charging or formation equipment.

“The process changes for battery makers occur in the substrate manufacturing and plate assembly, that makes the product a manageable suitable transition for a range of battery makers” says Kubis.

“With respect to the plate making and assembly I expect some of the high-end battery machine manufacturers to step up here to produce highspec, high speed lines.

“To date two battery firms are serious players that are well down the road in their evaluation of our product and four others are in the process of starting to evaluate the product.”

Gridtential’s business model is based on licensing the technology to customers which makes its initial capital requirements comparatively light.

“Initially we’re focusing on licensing firms involved in the diverse industrial

and specialty markets,” he says. “These are the ones that are easiest to bring in as adopters, and some of the markets most challenged by lithium batteries.

“But the eventual aim is to tap into the huge automotive sector. However, given the long testing times that they demand — often up to five years — this won’t be an immediate target for the firm.”

One interesting perspective of the licensing model and the fact that the Gridtential technology can be fitted into existing battery manufacturing lines in the world is that it creates the possibility of the industry as a whole providing an almost immediate counter-balance to the so-called “gigafactory” of Tesla.

Lead battery gigafactories could be just a couple of years away.

Kubis’ main responsibilities on the board will be two-fold — providing the technical and commercial expertise from a lifetime of experience in the industry as well as acting as an ambassador for Gridtential.

The fact that such a well known battery figure as Ray Kubis is joining the firm is a huge endorsement to Gridtential’s credentials. Kubis will work with the CEO — Christiaan Beekhuis, co-founders Peter Borden and Michele Klein, and other board members.

Beekhuis, joined the company in 2011. In 2003 Beekhuis was chief technology officer and founder of Fat Spaniel Technologies a provider of renewable energy performance monitoring services. In 2010, Fat Spaniel Technologies was sold to Power-One, a California-based power management company.

Borden advises on renewable energy product strategies, and is on the energy advisory board of two venture capital funds. Previously, with the company Applied Materials, he developed both silicon and thin film technologies in the Solar Business Group. He was involved in the design production of equipment now being implemented for silicon solar cell manufacturing.

The firm is a spin-off from research funded by the California Energy Commission where Borden helped develop the battery.

From 2006-2010, Klein was senior director of Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials,

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PEOPLE NEWS where she was responsible for renewable energy and energy storage. She has invested in nine new companies and has sat on the boards of seven companies, including Enphase Energy and Infinite Power Solutions.

Added to the mix is Ed Schummer as chief licensing officer who joined in August.

Schummer was one of Dolby Laboratories’ licensing pioneers and was instrumental in shaping Dolby’s firstin-kind licensing model, widely credited for parlaying a once obscure, but novel, noise reduction technology into a global quality mark.

Gridtential is also supported by an advisory board.

Gridtential says the licensed technology will take some time to mature through the existing battery companies. Yet, some products may mature as soon as late 2016 but probably more likely later than that.

Kubis says this timeline shouldn’t deflect attention from what he believes is the next big trend in the lead acid industry.

“Perhaps it’s best to put this into context,” he says. “In the past 30 years we’ve seen two major technology platforms that have had an enormous impact on the lead based battery business.

“The first has been in the huge advances in way the electrode has been developed, the casting and punching ever thinner and better components in continuous processes. The second has been the impact of the VRLA or semisealed products across all markets in the industry.”

Kubis says he sees the two fertile areas in the coming years as being: “the increasing use of additives and doping in bringing out the potential of lead acid batteries for greater power, greater cycling at partial state of charge and more.

“The second is the maturation of bipolar technology which can deliver lighter and higher performing batteries. We’re going to see a lot of further changes here.”

Kubis warns, however, that the lead acid battery business is in danger of becoming irrelevant in the face of the rapid advances made in lithium.

“In one sense,” he says, “I’m cheering for everything that is positive to do with enabling better and more effective energy storage — it’s so important to contribute so many goals around energy efficiency and sustainability for the future for us and our children — so that extends to progress being made with lithium too.

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GRIDTENTIAL SINGLE CELL

The single cell is the building block. There is uniform current density flow from cell to cell

“However, it would be a shame to see the lead battery business disappear under the onslaught from lithium. In the past year the amount of money going into lithium research is probably the equivalent of the past 20 years of research into lead. We need to correct this.”

Kubis also confesses himself worried

about the continuing emphasis that governments are placing restrictions on life — in particular in Europe the End of Life Directive which is restrictive to lead, which is more than adequately recycled — while leaving lithium unscathed, regardless its challenges around safety and recycling at end of life of use of those batteries.

Perhaps most interesting for lead acid battery manufacturers is the fact that making the new batteries requires only modifications to the existing production line FURTHER RESEARCH WITH SANDIA Gridtential has secured grants from the California Energy Commission and the US Department of Energy’s battery lab for further research and testing. In July Gridtential was selected as one of a handful of companies to pursue validation analysis at Sandia’s Energy Storage Analysis Laboratory.

The grant is designed to further the DOE’s research into grid storage and coincides with Gridtential’s completion of 140 alpha units based on its Silicon Joule technology.

Gridtential says: “Flying in the face of Tesla’s recent declaration that lead acid is dead, recent independent tests have confirmed that Gridtential’s silicon-based approach to advance traditional lead acid significantly improves

performance, while utilizing 40% less lead.

At Sandia, the test plan is designed to address two use case scenarios.

Peak shaving cycling. In compliance with Sandia’s standard test protocols, Gridtential’s batteries will run through a standard peak shaving application. Gridtential says it expects each to reach nearly 100% SOC after each charge cycle and 80-100% depth of discharge.

Partial state of charge (PSoC) cycling. To gain a view of Gridtential’s long-term performance in a PSoC environment, Sandia will charge the battery to 100% SOC and then begin cycling it at a medium rate which is designed to bring sulphation issues to light very quickly.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 15

PEOPLE NEWS Sonnebatterie recruits four from Tesla Press reports say that four Tesla employees moved to Sonnenbatterie, the residential energy storage company, in October and November. These are Philipp Schroder, the new managing director, Alan Atzberger, the new vp for direct sales and marketing, Jonas Rabe, as marketing managers and Marcel Meub as head of sales for Germany. Sonnenbatterie has not officially confirmed the appointments.

GridWise picks Hauser

GridWise Alliance has appointed Steve Hauser as its new chief executive.

Hauser replaces Becky Harrison, who retired at the end of last year. Hauser was a founding member of GridWise Alliance.

Mary Ellen Paravalos, director of strategy and performance for the federally regulated businesses of the New York-centred National Grid has been elected to the board of directors of New England Women in Energy and Environment, or NEWIEE.

manager within Aachen dealing with domestic and international contracts.

He has also acted as quality manager for most of this time.

Before Digatron he worked as service manager for T-Systems Enterprise Services.

“Friedrich, a keen enthusiast of fast cars, shall also take to the road with a direct role in getting our products’ sales information in front of clients by assuming the responsibility of direct sales within the territory of Germany,” said the company.

Grupe new VP for sales at Digatron

Flow batteries and artificial leaf batteries awarded to Nocera

NEWIEE honour to Paravalos

For the record, Friedrich Grupe was appointed vice president of sales and marketing at Digatron Power Electronics on October 1. In addition to heading up the sales team in Aachen he also became an integral member of the Aachen Executive Management Team.

Grupe has already had six years’ experience within Digatron as a project

There is an easier way to get your message across FOR FREE

Daniel Nocera, the Patterson Rookwood Professor of Energy at Harvard University, has won the 2015 Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy from the University of Louisville, which recognizes outstanding renewable energy ideas and achievements with proven global impact.

Nocera is recognized for two energy storage creations. The first is his

“Artificial Leaf,” a renewable energy device that synthetically duplicates the direct solar-to-fuel steps of photosynthesis, the process by which plants use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Artificial Leaf was named Innovation of the Year for 2011 by Time magazine.

The second is a low cost, rechargeable flow battery for scalable centralized (grid) and distributed (microgrid) energy storage at the megawatt-hour scale. Nocera’s innovations address the storage of energy until needed, the most critical challenge of widespread implementation of renewables.

In August 2014, Lockheed Martin bought the assets of his company, Sun Catalytix, including the associated flow battery invention, and is fast-tracking this technology at the MWh scale under the new venture Lockheed Martin Advanced Energy Storage. The energy storage cost using Nocera’s flow battery is half that of traditionally used vanadium-based flow batteries, the firm says.

Coomber joins board of Tempus Energy

Coomber the former CEO of the Pension Insurance Corporation and former group CEO of Swiss Reinsurance, has joined the board of director of Tempus Energy. The firm has also announced it has closed a £3.78 million ($5.4 million) funding round.

The funding was raised via high net worth individuals and existing shareholders. Combined with a seed-funding round in May, the latest round takes the total funding in 2015 to just short of £5 million.

Energy Storage Journal is always eager to hear market comment.

So much so, we’ve dedicated two areas of the magazine just for you to tell it as it is.

Speak to us!

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.

16 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

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

www.energystoragejournal.com

OPINION: CYBER-SECURITY David Roberts, president of the Battery Innovation Center in the US, warns that cyber-attacks on the smart grids of the future are a clear and present danger.

Cyber-warfare

Coming soon to a grid near you Willie Sutton, one of the more successful bank robbers from the 1920s and 30s, was once asked why he robbed banks. “Because that’s where the money is,” he famously retorted.

Mr Sutton knew what he wanted, where it was, and how to get it.

Today, there appears to be no shortage of nefarious individuals that are inspired to cause as much chaos to civilized society as possible, and they are rewriting the traditional notions of what criminals want, where it is, and how to get it.

Chances are, if you are reading this, you are already keenly aware of the tremendous risk inherent to the current US physical grid infrastructure based on our energy policy — if there actually is one.

Moreover, thanks to the rise in geopolitical tension and the number of technologically sophisticated miscre-

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ants, the vulnerability of the software systems that control the grid have become a point of potential weakness impacting a massive portion of the US population.

Utility Drive and ABB recently polled 200 utility executives regarding the physical security of their assets. Their report indicated that 49% of utilities have identified threats and vulnerabilities to critical assets, although a whopping 28% have taken no further action.

That means over a quarter of US utilities are well aware of deficiencies in their “critical assets,” yet have consciously determined to do nothing about it.

And related to the timeliness of those that have taken action, 40% have not taken any hardening measures to limit or prevent damage to critical assets during the last two years!

Who’s keeping the lights on?

So what other issues or projects are commanding attention over the physical infrastructure of the grid that we, the people, rely upon every moment of every day?

With respect to the grid’s software systems, Ted Koppel recently co-authored “Lights Out: A Cyber-attack; A Nation Unprepared; Surviving the Aftermath,” which has received a great deal of publicity from conservative and liberal media outlets alike. Koppel clearly articulates the events that would ensue from a cyber-attack on the grid’s software with vivid detail.

In sum, the book affirms that: first, something is going to happen; second the US government is woefully unprepared to handle the aftermath or in complete denial of the eventuality; and, third the bulk of the US population has been lulled into a false sense of security that relies on government provision, so much so that there is limited or no preparation for self-sustainment.

Given his reputation as a world-class investigative reporter, Koppel’s articulation has moved the scenario from the fringe sub-culture into mainstream consciousness.

But now that the population is aware of the coming danger, what will we do to be ready?

This is the central question that individuals, communities, and core civic services are struggling with, and one that forces us all to address some of the more base and unattractive aspects of how humans could and will react when pushed into dramatic circumstances.

One solution offered in recent years is to equip individual homes, buildings, or even communities with the ability to island with a microgrid. When the larger grid is compromised, a microgrid could be erected with a localized energy generation source (for example, wind, solar, biomass or a genset), an energy storage device, an inverter, and some level of monitoring and control.

But as regulators and utilities consider the integration of microgrids with traditional structures of energy transmission and distribution, the notion of being able to safely island is more questionable than originally suspected.

The reason for this is the push to link microgrids with larger grid infrastruc-

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 17

OPINION: CYBER-SECURITY ture to create smart grids that can intelligently monitor and control energy assets at the highest level.

How smart is smart?

The meaning of the term “smart grid” itself has been debated recently. The US Department of Energy says that the term “generally refers to a class of technology people are using to bring utility electricity delivery systems into the 21st century, using computer-based remote control and automation.”

Other industry resources note that a smart grid comprises various operational control measures for energy management, such as smart meters, appliances, energy efficient resources, renewable energy generation assets, and possibly energy storage systems.

For the smart grid model to work, microgrid-capable environments and other distributed assets need to be able to communicate with a centralized control system, such as the utility company itself. With this communication link in place, the utility can then monitor and control the distributed microgrid assets in — what they determine to be — the most efficient manner.

And where there is communication, there is necessarily vulnerability to hacking and cyber-attacks.

Somewhat paradoxically, as we try to facilitate improved overall energy efficiency, efforts toward interconnectedness and smart control measures may actually be compromising grid resilience.

Building systemic resilience

The first step to establishing heightened resilience for the smart grid infrastructure is to consider prevention at the outset. One aspect of effective prevention is the advent of standards that are required for energy systems, specifically around communication protocol and operation.

At this time, though, the pace of standards development is shockingly slow. In the absence of any meaningful leadership from government, industry is forced to establish their own standards. This sort of self-policing is also inefficient, because it is done with extremely cautious steps for fear of forwarding a standard that is ultimately rejected commercially.

One possible solution may require some level of federal endorsement, perhaps in the form of an RFQ (request for quotation) that requires testing and certification per guidance from a given standard-setting body.

That is, while the government may

18 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

That means over a quarter of US utilities are well aware of deficiencies in their critical assets, yet have consciously determined to do nothing about it. act too slowly in establishing the standards themselves, they can create sufficient momentum toward an individual or set of preferred products or processes by participating on the demand side of the market.

A second step is to maintain localized control mechanisms to the microgrid while minimizing the functionality of remote monitoring and control from a centralized control centre. Such a model would still permit some oversight-type control from the utility, perhaps limited to the purpose of mitigating disruption to other microgrids and grid assets from an originating microgrid’s activity.

At the most localized level, the battery management system (BMS) of an individual energy storage system (ESS) should never be connected to the larger smart grid control structure to prevent any override of the BMS safety measures.

Doing so would prevent the ESS from becoming a destructive agent in the extreme instance.

Third, the communication system and architecture must utilize the most robust security features available. For example, a system that relies upon a SCADA architecture is ill-equipped to prevent the cyber-attacks envisioned given the current sophistication of computer programming. The list of known vulnerabilities for SCADA systems and the environments upon which they rely is long and largely ignored.

The shift from proprietary technologies to more standardized, open solutions coupled with the increased number of connections between SCADA systems, office networks, and the internet has made them more vulnerable to the types of network attacks that are relatively common.

Finally, as our parents taught us, practice makes perfect and you get what you pay for!

That is, a regimen of simulated grid outages must be implemented at every level of grid participation, with national, state, and local government participating. Moreover, utilities should work with communities and individuals to identify the possible scenarios and how to prepare.

While challenging and resource-

intensive, live simulations on actual communities would be profitable, much like the bomb safety drills raised awareness and some level of preparation during the Cold War. Further, the smart grid components themselves — including control software — should be tested for cyber-security and certified to that end before entering the marketplace. As dozens of vendors try to capitalize on the ballooning demand for microgrid assets, the risk is that some products will be inappropriate for a smart grid implementation.

The added cost of testing is a challenge, but the overall value-add proposition for validated components is sure to be realized by consumers that need to know that their investment will work when needed.

As the energy industry moves forward into the next exciting phase of distributed energy storage assets, stakeholders throughout society must recognize that those distributed assets and control systems are valuable.

And that value makes them attractive for attack, much like the banks of 100 years ago. Our reliance on energyhungry devices has created a society that has placed their trust in the grid, and today’s criminals recognize this.

If we are to survive, flourish, and enjoy all the prosperity that can come from quick, reliable access to energy, we must invest now in establishing and testing the most resilient energy assets and software systems.

Indeed, the very way we live depends on it.

David Roberts is head of the US Battery Innovation Center, business and IP counsel at Gutwein Law, and a former chief executive of EnerDel.

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EUROPEAN GRID STORAGE In Europe, battery storage for renewables is now a cost-effective technology — but only for utility-level deployment, as demonstrated by recent developments in Germany and the UK. Sara Verbruggen reports.

Toys for the big boys For Europe’s energy storage players, large and small, the US continues to represent the land of opportunity.

Utility mandates, changes to ancillary service market rules, peak electricity demand charges, scaling back of solar photovoltaic incentives — the list goes on — have all contributed to a diverse market place, where applications for energy storage in-front-of and behindthe-meter are fast-emerging.

In Germany, Europe’s largest deployment of behind-the-meter battery storage — for the residential PV selfconsumption market — has required subsidies to make such investments attractive and to dis-incentivize pure PV adoption.

However, subsidies or incentives of any kind are unlikely to be forthcoming in other austerity-gripped countries, like the UK, which is tipped to be one of the next markets for solar selfconsumption, along with Italy.

In Europe, today, energy storage technology at current prices ensures utilities are the group best able to afford it. The demand is there, as grid operators procure more capacity for fluctuations between electricity going into the grid and coming out of it, which are becoming more frequent and acute as traditional power assets are taken offline and intermittent solar and wind continues to be added. But even with reductions in costs of lithium ion batteries, the business case is tight.

Steag, one of Germany’s largest electricity producers, announced plans in

November to invest in 90MW of battery energy storage. The batteries will be used for the marketing of primary control power.

The German primary control reserve market, which was valued at €100 million ($110 million) in 2014, the same amount as Steag’s total investment in its new batteries, will provide the generation company with the opportunity to earn €3000 per MW a week (which is where current prices hover around).

“Steag won´t invest without a strong business case. We do think that battery storage systems will be an important part of the energy landscape and based on some assumptions and experiences with our pilot project LESSY we were ready to invest,” says Jürgen Fröhlich, a company spokesman. The LESSY project provided experience in areas such as availability, construction of battery assets and how the asset ages.

Unexpected fluctuations between the feed-in of electrical energy into the grid and the outflow have to be balanced out as quickly as possible. In Germany, so-called primary control power is used to compensate for such fluctuations.

Power plants that can provide primary control reserve must be able to increase or decrease their output in only a few seconds. The country’s four transmission system operators (TSOs) procure the required primary control reserve on the market via weekly tenders.

LG Chem is supplying the batteries

Nidec ASI signed a contract with Steag in Germany for the supply of a 90MW energy storage system, which the utility will use to ensure the stability of its electricity network and is are planning to deliver to the UK

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for the 90MW rollout, which will be developed as six separate plants, each 15MW in size. Milan-headquartered Nidec ASI is the main contractor for the installations. The contract is worth €70 million.

The only other organization deploying grid-level batteries in bulk, which can also leverage economies of scale, is AES Corporation, an independent power producer active globally with its own energy storage division and platform.

Last year the company was able to quote (€900/kW)/4-hour, for its technology, making it competitive with building new gas peaking plants. Based on the quoted value of the contract with Nidec ASI, this means the cost per kW is a competitive €770. However, based on Steag’s announcement that the total investment is actually €100 million this would put the cost per kW at around €1100.

“We can’t comment too deeply on costs. One factor is the battery itself but we also have to do some preparations on the location and we have to take some risk mark ups into consideration,” says Fröhlich.

To minimize costs, Steag is siting the six 15MW units at existing power plants, mainly coal-based, locations.

This allows the company to use existing grid connections and the technical infrastructure already in place. The power producer is also trying to complete the rollout in as short a deadline as is feasible, aiming for the first asset to go live in August 2016 and the rest by 2017.

“The tight timeframe would be very optimistic without using these existing locations,” says Fröhlich.

Based on AES Corporation’s experience big battery plants can be built in about six months, while the grid connection can add several more months.

For Steag, battery storage contributes to a more efficient and cleaner provision of primary control because the need for the number of thermal power plants will be reduced.

In future, the power company also expects opportunities for additional

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 19

EUROPEAN GRID STORAGE GOING FROM 1MW TO 90MW — STEAG’S BATTERY STORAGE LESSONS FROM LESSY In 2013 German power company Steag built and began piloting a battery plant at its Fenne power plant in Völklingen, Saarland.

LESSY was designed to create a buffer when more energy was generated than used. The storage system, which is housed in a shipping container, can help to stabilize the grid. The ramp-up of test operations underway will show whether lithium ion storage systems can reliably fulfil this function.

The system holds 4700 lithium ion battery cells with a storage capacity of around 700kWh and an output of types of grid services to emerge, in correlation to declining production of base load power plants.

“However, in the near future we expect both thermal power generation and stationary energy storage to be complementary. Batteries can provide primary control when they are equipped with controls to manage intelligent charging. However, we see a minimum provision of 30 minutes as necessary because they cannot deliver a continuous 24/7 provision like thermal power plants, which is necessary since there are situations where a longer, or common, provision is necessary,” says Fröhlich.

The UK perspective

In the UK opportunities for largescale energy storage are also looking rosier. In early 2016, National Grid will award contracts to successful applicants for a new 200MW enhanced frequency response market.

Following a webinar that it hosted in mid-October outlining the market, the TSO was inundated with expressions of interest, with some two thirds describing the use of batteries. “They represent a good mix of different technology types,” says Adam Sims, senior account manager, at the National Grid.

The new market will help balance the grid as thermal power generation is scaled back.

“One approach is to contract for more inertia by buying frequency regulation in bulk, or to contract for fast-acting frequency regulation, which can be provided by energy storage — which is what we have decided to do,” says Sims.

Energy storage, can act as synthetic

20 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

around 1MW. The plan is to develop this to close to 100MW. Steag’s industrial and academic partners in the research project included speciality chemicals producer Evonik, Li-Tec Battery, Digatron Industrie-Elektronik, the EWE Next Energy and Power Engineering Saar institutes, and the University of Munster.

The project was developed from research from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

LESSY is based on the lithiumion battery technology that Evonik developed for electric vehicles. inertia, by injecting power into the grid rapidly, for instance, to balance supply and demand in real time and ensuring the grid always operates within the normal frequency range.

The majority of expressions of interest range from the UK’s Big Six utilities, energy storage system suppliers and start-ups, to interconnector owners, which could also provide such a service using their spare capacity. While most applicants are UK-based companies, French and German companies also sent in expressions of interest as well as a few from Japan and the US. Based on reviewing the expressions of interest documents, National Grid has gathered information for the tender process, which took place in midDecember, and will identify main cost drivers for potential suppliers, ensure fair treatment of differing technology types and also see where technical requirements create barriers. Contracts will be awarded in late February after Energy Storage Journal went to press.

The TSO is looking for providers to use cost-effective and commercially proven technologies, which means, for example, energy storage systems based on advanced batteries such as lithium ion.

And more capacity for providing enhance frequency response is highly likely to be required as the renewable energy capacity in the UK continues to grow.

The resources will be remunerated for the service and though exact pricing structures have not been announced the current firm frequency response market pays out between £11/ MWh ($16/MWh) and £20/MWh, for a combined pumped storage hydro

(PSH) service, with the new enhanced frequency response market paying out between £22/MWh and £40/MWh. “We’re keen on grid-scale providers.

Though behind-the-meter concepts and platforms, such as using electric vehicles, are interesting we are not there yet for this first tender,” says Sims.

The capacity will be built to come online before the winter of 2017/2018.

“We’re probably looking at a delivery timescale of around 18 months in total. The systems themselves could take six to 12 months to construct but the other consideration is the grid connection timetable,” says Sims.

To enable potential providers to produce details required for this first stage of the process, the National Grid has sent operability data documents for 2014, which included forecasts for inertia requirements.

Distribution network operator (DNO) UK Power Networks, which has been operating a 6MW/10MWh lithium battery storage system in Bedfordshire on the outskirts of London, is also interested in the market. Primarily the asset will defer conventional network reinforcements, by peak shaving.

To pay for itself the asset also has to be able to generate revenues from several grid services. These include existing ancillary services programmes in the form of National Grid’s firm frequency response and the short term operating reserve (STOR) services. Participation is enabled via a third party company separate to the DNO, which is the aggregator company Kiwi Power.

Apart from some small changes to the control systems architecture that might be needed, in terms of capacity there is a sufficient amount to deliver services into the new enhanced frequency response market. “Our project is all about demonstrating the multi-purpose application of storage and stacking of value, so we welcome the development of new services into the market mix,” says Nick Heyward, commercial manager at UK Power Networks.

Because the installation has been built with £13.2 million from the Low Carbon Networks Fund the installation could afford to be more aggressive on pricing.

The cap on the maximum resource able to bid into the enhanced frequency response market is 50MW. It is likely that projects selected will include large-scale battery installations. Building 50MW of battery storage is more cost-effective than building 1MW, due

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EUROPEAN GRID STORAGE to economies of scale.

The 50MW cap may well attract power generators, looking to add to their portfolios that can leverage existing sites to build the assets on, says Andrew Jones, senior vice president of international business, at S&C. Just like Steag, this would enable them to minimize costs further by using existing infrastructure connecting to the grid.

Indeed, one of the Big Six’ utilities wants to develop two battery-based storage projects for grid services provision, which would bid into the enhanced frequency response market.

One will be up to 40MW, at one of its own sites, while the other is a 10MW plant intended for the site of an industrial customer.

During a recent energy storage conference held in London, attendees welcomed developments by the UK National Grid. “It’s something that, along with our members, we’ve been advising on for a number of years,” says Anthony Price, director of the Electricity Storage Network.

Eliano Russo, vice president energy storage, batteries, at Europe’s biggest utility Eon, sees the new services mar-

ket as an encouraging sign that energy storage in Europe can continue to develop.

However unbundling of generation and supply assets, done as part of moves to break up Europe’s energy monopolies in the 1990s, pioneered by the UK, creates challenges today for some players in the market that can potentially benefit from operating energy storage assets, the most obvious group being DNOs. For this class of licensed market players, battery storage has a valuable role to play in deferring grid works and preserving and maintaining the functions of cables and wires already in place.

But, based on current prices of the technology, only stacked revenue models provide an opportunity for battery storage to pay for itself, activities which come into conflict with the DNOs’ regulated remit.

As a by-product of legacy regulations governing the electricity sector, which separate generation, transmission, distribution and supply activities, energy storage is not recognized as an activity or asset class, apart from exceptions in the gas sector.

In the absence of an alternative option, energy storage has been treated as a type of generation asset. In the UK large-scale pumped storage hydro assets hold generation licences, while smaller scale facilities, less than 50MW, can qualify for exemption from the requirement to hold a generation licence.

UK Power Network’s Smarter Network Storage project in Bedfordshire, has been important in gaining experience in terms of designing, building and operating a grid battery asset for a provision of multiple benefits and services. The project also supports calls for changes to licensing to overcome current market barriers.

A promising option is to identify energy storage as a separate, licensed activity. Such an arrangement already exists for interconnection. This would provide clarity within the regulatory framework for storage, recognizing its distinct characteristics and enable DNO involvement to deploy energy storage as a non-generation activity.

For the time-being, however, current regulatory rules in the UK and Europe, ensure that power producer utilities are the only ones that are able to craft business cases for energy storage.

BALANCING ACT — NEW FAST RESPONSE MARKET IN THE UK

The need for a new type of ancillary grid service has come about as the UK continues to integrate more clean electricity generation.

However, resources such as wind and solar power cannot be simply dialled up and down to match demand in the way that traditional thermal power plants can.

Meanwhile, more of this dispatchable capacity is disappearing

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as thermal power plants are retired.

Within dispatchable thermal power plants every single generator’s system frequency and the speed of rotation is the same. Lots of large rotating turbines used to generate power — synchronous generation — creates inertia in the system to keep the system frequency stable at the optimal level of 50Hz, or as close to it, when there is a mismatch between

supply and demand.

Fast-acting energy storage, based on types of batteries like lithium ion, or flywheel technology, are an alternative way to meet some frequency response, instead of running thermal power plants, by providing ‘synthetic inertia’, as they can be ramped up and down rapidly to match the fluctuations, keeping the grid in balance.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 21

NEWS

2016 State of the Electric Utility Survey: an industry braced for change — but unsure how or where the advantage will be Perhaps one of the most interesting must-reads seen this year has been the 2016 State of the Electric Utility Survey released in February

by Utility Dive. The survey of US utilities paints a picture of an entire industry braced for change, looking for a variety of ways to deal with it — and overall mostly puzzled by it all.

“If respondents are largely in agreement that the utility business model is in flux, what exactly it will look like in the future is the subject of much more debate,” says a commentary on the survey.

Most fascinating of all the most pressing challenges facing US utilities was not the imminent changes to the way they did business — though 97% of the survey agree that their regulatory model and internal resistance to change and technological integration were needed for their business model — so much as legacy issues. The utilities talked about the aging of their workforces, the existing utility regulatory model, and aging of their infrastructure.

This was reflected in the uncertainties that utilities saw in capturing revenues from distributed energy resources.

“Respondents see revenue opportunities emerging around DERs but are unsure about how to build a business model to capture them. The two most popular models for deploying DERs were partnering with third-party providers and rate-based investments through a regulated utility — a strategy whose legality remains in question in most states,” said the report.

It would be unfair to castigate the respondents of the report for intellectual laziness yet when one in 11 utilities is not even contemplating tapping the new opportunities that distrib-

uted energy will bring then that implies a much larger universe of utilities that can only see minor gains to their revenue streams.

Utility Dive conducted an online survey of 515 US electric utility executives at the end of 2015 and the be-

ginning of 2016.

Although not every respondent answered every question, there were at least 300 respondents to each question in the survey.

The survey was designed as a news-oriented questionnaire to illustrate the

perspectives of utility executives toward the challenges and opportunities facing the industry and should not be considered a scientific survey.

The survey was sponsored by energy intelligence software firm Tendril.

“If respondents are largely in agreement that the utility business model is in flux, what exactly it will look like in the future is the subject of much more debate”

Maxwell announces 3V product and first MW scale, ultracapacitor-based wind farm energy storage system in the world Maxwell Technologies, the developer and manufacturer of ultracapacitors announced the newest addition to its K2 family in February with a 3V, 3,000-farad ultracapacitor cell. This it says is now available in sample quantities. It also announced a world first in ultracap wind-energy storage.

The new ultracap has 31% higher power than Maxwell’s 2.7V, 3,000-farad cell in the industry-standard 60mm cylindrical form factor. “Customers can either increase available power and energy in the same volume or cost-optimize their system designs with fewer cells or modules while maintaining the same power and energy,” says the firm.

“The new 3V cell design also incorporates Maxwell’s DuraBlue Advanced Shock and Vibration Technology to provide three times the vibrational resistance and four times the shock immunity of previous ultracapacitor-based competitive offerings. This, Maxwell says, will maximize life in demanding transportation environments such as on-

22 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

board rail, hybrid bus and other applications.

Existing K2 2.7 and 2.85volt customers can also upgrade systems using the industry-standard cylindrical cell format while maintaining the same life performance criteria as our 2.7-volt cells, says the firm.

Vishal Sapru, a researcher and manager at, Frost & Sullivan said: “Either used alone or in hybrid configurations with batteries, this new 3V large cell will help to reduce the overall cost and weight of the system and support in attaining operational efficiencies.

This product is going to be a game changer for the ultracapacitor industry.”

Wind farms

Separately, the firm announced its ultracapacitors have been selected by Beijing Huadian Tianren Electric Power Control Technology, a subsidiary of China Guodian Corporation, as the core component of a wind farm energy storage demonstration project.

China Guodian Corporation’s system is the first megawatt scale, ultracapac-

itor-based wind farm energy storage system in the world.

“The advantages of Maxwell’s ultracapacitors perfectly suit them for stabilizing short-term power output fluctuation in wind farms and cabling in largescale deployments, ensuring reliable access to windgenerated power on the grid,” says the firm. “The demonstration project has deployed 1,152 Maxwell 56V/130F ultracapacitor modules, which is the largest ultracapacitor system in wind farms across China.

“Ultracapacitors’ long cycle life and fast response capabilities can smooth power output fluctuation, allowing large-scale wind farms to connect to the grid as a more reliable power generation source,” said Yu Kang, the demonstration project leader at Beijing Huadian Tianren Electric Power Control Technology.

“We are expecting ultracapacitors, alone or in combination with other energy storage technologies, to play a more important role in the advancement of renewable energy utilization.”

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COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA California’s commitment to energy storage is catching on — as much as by relentless regulatory demands as the economic logic that seems to be showing its value. Sara Verbruggen reports.

Lessons for the energy storage brave Point 1: Legislate distributed energy storage into existence.

Point 2: Or else. You don’t have much of a choice.

Point 3: Make it profitable.

California — the US state with an economy worth just under the top five countries of the world — now ranks with Germany as the leader in terms of renewable energy and seems to be edging ahead in energy storage development.

Rather than wait for a new disruptive technology in the form of intelligent battery energy storage to force changes in the market; a process that

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can drag on for years, California’s policy makers and regulators have virtually shoehorned the technology into the market by a mix of mandates, incentives and rule changes.

Just over two years ago the California Public Utilities Commission announced a target for the state’s privately owned utilities to procure 1.3GW of energy storage by 2020.

The CPUC’s rationale was that en-

ergy storage is a vital part of the grid of the future, and should be deployed right away.

But, even today, as more countries cautiously turn to the technology, California’s market, measured in terms of installed capacity and projects contracted and under construction, remains the largest single market for grid-connected batteries in the world.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 23

COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA There four factors driving demand for distributed energy storage. These are the high cost of demand charges for commercial utility customers, the closing of local nuclear plants, the state-wide mandate requiring 1.3GW of energy storage by 2020 and, the Self Generation Incentive Program that provides funding for distributed energy storage resources.

— Marc Roper, chief commercial officer at Coda Energy It exceeds the eastern seaboard where the regional transmission operator PJM Interconnection is paying for energy storage to provide frequency response and dwarfs the collective markets of Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and France.

But, more importantly, California supports a variety of energy storage models, with an even spread across customer-owned, utility-owned and third party-owned projects. In addition to the multi-megawatt utility-led in-front-of-meter projects, Califor-

nia’s behind-the-meter market is the largest in the US. According to GTM Research, annual demand for solar-plus-storage in the US is forecast to reach just under 800MW in 2020 with the majority of this capacity going in behind-the-meter. Over half of this market is in California, where peak demand charges for commercial and industrial (C&I) electricity users are high compared to other parts of the country.

John Schaaf, vice president and general manager of distributed energy

storage, at Johnson Controls says California is a frontrunner in some of the states that are moving ahead of initial expectations. “California is probably the most advanced,” he says. “California’s key policy makers — the energy commission, the utilities commission and the ISO are aligned in their objectives and that has really helped facilitate the demand for energy storage.”

The behind-the-meter energy storage market, despite the growing interest, is at an early stage.

For it to prove itself commercially,

The 4MW/28MWh Yerba Buena storage plant: operational since 2013, uses molten salt batteries for reliability improvements. But also operates in an islanding mode, providing resiliency, a key benefit for one of the local area’s biggest electricity users.

24 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

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COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA

Texas’s West Coast enthusiasm for change Energy storage-friendly markets don’t have to arise from mandates and legislative politics. In Texas, the non-profit Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is in the process of rule changing. But the energy storage industry must use this window of opportunity to make its case heard.

In Texas, utilities are transmission and distribution (T&D) companies.

Similar to Europe, as part of market deregulation in the late 1990s Texas regulators unbundled generation of electricity from activities concerning supplying electricity, to end utilities’ monopolies and open up the market to competition.

Utilities in the state can build energy storage but it would be for functions solely concerned with transmission and distribution of electricity.

As utilities, such as Oncor — which has had to shelve its gridscale storage plans — cannot use the asset, under current market rules, to provide ancillary grid services or other market services.

Put simply, building batteries on the grid is an expensive way to address voltage support issues or to defer network infrastructure investment.

Unsurprisingly utilities will always opt for more cost-effective alternatives available.

Independent power producers (IPPs), or generators, are not prohibited from building storage on the grid and to use these assets to sell services or do arbitrage, but the ability to extract all the value,

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as the application of the asset is limited, again, is not quite there. Or not yet.

“As an energy storage developer, for example, you’d like to get a contract to provide network services to Oncor, such as voltage support services. But utilities are paid to build and operate assets, and there is no incentive to contract this out,” says Chad Blevins, an adviser at The Butler Firm, which has been working with ERCOT. (ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas manages the flow of electric power to 24 million Texas customers – representing 85% of the state’s electric load.)

Instead, ERCOT and its advisers have been looking at how distributed energy resources (DERs), for example energy storage, can offer services into the wholesale power market.

In the registration process it is easier for DERs to register with ERCOT once. For example, an energy storage developer that specializes in putting behindthe-meter batteries into buildings of commercial electricity users, can register all of its distributed batteries as one resource.

This single portfolio can also provide more flexibility.

While some of the individual assets may be at a low state of charge, others, elsewhere, won’t be. The portfolio as a whole can meet the amount, or demand, or services contracted for.

For many energy storage

providers, their business model relies on stacking revenue benefits.

Batteries are still too expensive to rationalize their use for just one application.

However, as companies such as Stem are proving, building owners are willing to pay them for a service that reduces their demand charge, which is tied to kW (as opposed to kWh usage) and is the high water mark for power. Energy storage batteries can help keep customers safely from breaching it and incurring excessive rates added to their bills.

These system providers can also be paid for offering back-up as a service, as many companies cannot afford to risk being without power, or experience power quality events. That leaves capacity in each battery in the portfolio, or fleet, to provide grid services enabling the developer to extract fuller revenues within the Texas market.

“Then, in time, with actual distributed storage assets sitting on various parts of the grid, developers can eventually be in stronger position to pitch for T&D type of work,” says Blevins.

“As a service as it will be easier to convince a utility that you are equipped to provide these and point to existing operating assets, rather than, say, the utility building a new substation.”

Blevins reckons the new DER market could be online by the third quarter of 2017. “If you think about it for many developers, they are already completing their pipelines for 2016, so 2017 is not that far off.”

Some energy storage providers, companies like Stem, have been involved in conversations with ERCOT about the market changes.

Blevins says: “For companies, thinking of participating in 2017, it is the language of the market reforms that is being crafted right now. I would urge potential participants, like energy storage providers, to have your say. There are a lot of companies at these ERCOT meetings, and they are all saying what how they think the market rule changes should be worded, and these are not companies that are in favour of energy storage.”

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 25

COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA

Seven decades of air pollution. The market in California today reflects the first-hand effects of exhaust emissions— even in the 1940s (top pictured) as a result of Los Angeles undergoing rapid population growth and industrialization, which also coincided with the automotive boom.

California supports a variety of energy storage models, with an even spread across customerowned, utility-owned and third party-owned projects.

In addition to the multi-megawatt utility-led in-front-ofmeter projects, California’s behind-the-meter market is the largest in the US. 26 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

energy storage systems will need to execute multiple tasks to tap several revenue streams to be economically viable.

Models being commercialized at present are occurring in the C&I market, since the high demand charges that these electricity customers pay to utilities create an economic driver for using storage.

For Johnson Controls, a global battery maker, which operates a building efficiency business, offering a battery storage system developed specifically for commercial and public institution properties expands upon the company’s portfolio of products and services.

Johnson Controls will market and sell its energy storage offering to its existing customer base, primarily made up of large institutional clients, within its building efficiency business.

“In several cases some of these have been clients of Johnson Controls for 10, 20 or 30 years. For them energy storage will be attractive as it complements existing measures to use energy more efficiency and reduce expenditure on energy but will enable them to reduce costs further through peak shaving and shifting.”

While Johnson Controls has yet to install any of its new behind-the-meter buildings storage systems in California, it has a healthy pipeline of projects in the state, says Schaaf.

“Culturally, too, Californian electricity customers in the C&I segment are more aware of energy storage, which helps, while other states in the US are starting to follow suit.”

Marc Roper, chief commercial officer at Coda Energy, which makes and operates behind-the-meter, commercial and industrial energy storage systems, lists four factors for driving demand for distributed energy storage in the state. “These are: the high cost of demand charges for commercial utility customers; the closing of local nuclear power plants; the state-wide mandate requiring 1.3GW of energy storage to be installed by 2020; and, the existence of the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) that provides funding for distributed energy storage resources.”

The company’s business is focused on providing distributed resources to help reduce California’s electricity demand during peak hours, including the aggregation of stored resources to participate in utility demand response events.

Since its introduction in 2001, the SGIP has driven deployment of clean

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COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA

A natural progression as JCI moves into behind-the-meter storage Johnson Controls announced its large-scale entry into distributed energy storage last October in a move that had been anticipated — but surprised all the same.

The system, says John Schaaf vice president and general manager of distributed energy storage, is 85%-90% produced in-house by the company, from the lithium ion battery cells up to racks and containerized units, as well as software. Only the inverters are sourced from third party manufacturers.

Johnson Controls’ offering is a natural extension to its existing building efficiency business.

Customers of the company typically own facilities such as military bases, hospitals, governmental offices and university campus buildings and have been contracting Johnson Controls to manage their energy usage in different ways.

“Our rationale for entering the market with a product was based on reviewing some earlier forecasts made by analysts a few years ago about the projected growth of energy storage, globally and within North America in particular.

The market has been developing at such a rate that many of these forecast’s predictions are materializing, in contrast to the electric vehicles market, where those projected numbers and values are taking longer than initially expected to happen,” says Schaaf.

The company has supplied its smallest sized system, which is 85MWh, to a retailer in Chicago, Merchandize Mart, which has been using it to provide frequency response services to the PJM Interconnection since summer. The second operational installation, is a grid-connected 510MWh container installed at a military base on Puerto Rico and is being used to meet ramping requirements for a solar array also installed at the base.

Meanwhile, Johnson Controls’ third energy storage project, went live in December. The 510MWh

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“The key policy makers. the energy commission, the utilities commission and the ISO, are aligned in their objectives and have helped facilitate the demand for energy storage” — John Schaaf, Johnson Controls (1MW inverter) container is being installed at a large industrial customer in Illinois, to be used primarily for providing frequency regulation services into the PJM Interconnection and for power factor correction, ensuring that the customer’s voltage quality is maintained at all times.

By being an almost vertically integrated producer of energy storage systems— bar the PCS hardware — Johnson Control has several options in which to

be a player in the market as it continues to evolve. The hardware and controls could be adapted, potentially, for other segments like residential.

“In terms of MW volumes residential will not be as big as utility or C&I markets for storage but it will still be a significant market in the US,” says Schaaf.

“Especially as costs reduce and battery capability enhances. It’s an intriguing market, as utilities become more comfortable with storage, especially coupled with residential PV, as it can bring all kinds of benefits.”

The cell chemistry used in the company’s batteries for stationary storage is the same as those for its electric vehicles battery business, achieving a balance between both power and energy values.

However, the cell formats are larger for stationary storage. The cells and batteries are produced in Michigan.

Within a large, established business the energy storage team led by Schaaf operates within the company as a distinct entity, reporting directly into the corporate level. This enables it to move relatively quickly in true start-up fashion, while being able to benefit from the company’s longevity and reputation — a 130 year history — something which start-ups in the industry do not have and have to rely on lithium battery OEMs to provide.

The first three projects have been financed with capital by the customers, but Johnson Controls is evaluating other financing models.

This is an area the company will issue more clarity on in future.

“But, yes, we see it as a necessity that, to win business, alternative leasing or third party financing may be required.”

Schaaf has been working at Johnson Controls for 25 years, for the first 17 in the building efficiency business and for five in power solutions, giving him insight into how both businesses can mutually benefit each other.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 27

COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA

Troy Miller: over three years costs have reduced by a factor of three almost. Most of this is via reductions in lithium ion battery prices

distributed energy resources such as wind turbines and fuel cells and facilitated their integration into California’s grid.

Funding for the incentive scheme, which had been amended to include storage, was set to expire at the end of 2014. But a new law passed maintains funding at the current annual

level of $83 million through 2019 and the programme’s operation through 2021. In 2013, energy storage projects accounted for the majority of SGIP applications. It is, without doubt, a crucial incentive for behind-the-meter storage in the state.

While California is leading the way, other states are starting to follow suit.

For example, both Texas and New York are going through grid evaluation proceedings that are creating new energy storage opportunities in the future, which will help to facilitate distributed energy storage.

In California, Coda Energy has been informing utility and state energy storage policy through being a member of the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) and participating in proceedings with the California Public Utilities Commission.

The company is the first commercial energy storage provider to be chosen for Southern California Edison’s Preferred Resources Program. The initiative is focused on increasing distributed storage in the Orange County region.

“The international understanding of California as the most dynamic and fast-growing market for energy storage technology is changing. There’s a huge amount of catch-up starting to happen across the country. You wouldn’t expect it to be homogenous, and it’s not, but it’s signalling a possible explosion of business yet to come.”

28 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

“Given the infancy of the industry, we have dedicated time to hone best practices in energy storage safety, interconnection and installation education, including customers, municipalities (cities and AHJs [Authorities Having Jurisdictions]) and California non-IOU utilities,” says Roper.

Green energy, a 1940s legacy

Since California issued its mandate a handful of others have also moved to issue their own, including Oregon, which sets out a target of 5MWh by 2020. In other places, like Hawaii and New York, utilities have announced storage solicitations. But none match the scale of California’s mandate.

But, the market in California today is borne out of a state that experienced first-hand the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, even in the 1940s as a result of Los Angeles undergoing rapid population growth and industrialization, which also coincided with the automotive boom.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a product of decades of previous legislative development, set the stage for the state’s transition to a sustainable, low-carbon future and tackle climate change. The act set out a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

California has also experienced a broken electricity system, when following deregulation during 2000 and 2001, energy company Enron was able to manipulate market prices by shutting down pipelines to artificially decrease supply leading to an 800% increase in wholesale electricity prices.

It led to Pacific Gas & Electric’s bankruptcy and many businesses experienced rolling blackouts — the sorts of potential problems that grid operators in Europe are only just starting to have to get their heads around.

California continues to proceed with its clean energy focus. Last October, the state expanded on its 33% by 2020 renewable portfolio standard (RPS) policy, with governor Jerry Brown signing into law a bill requiring utilities procure 50% of their electricity from renewables by 2030.

Within this context, issuing a mandate for the state’s public utilities to procure 1.3GW of energy storage by 2020 seems reasonable given the size of California’s economy, the historical efforts by the state to decarbonize its environment, from cars to energy production, and embrace renewables, while trying to maintain a secure and reliable electricity supply.

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COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA CPUC commissioner Carla Peterman said: “The desire is to keep growing the renewables capacity but also address the oversupply issue, so storage is a tool that can help with that.

Storage devices can store that power at times when it is less valuable and move it to times of high demand.”

In terms of meeting their procurement targets the state’s three investorowned utilities, PG&E, Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) exceeded these early on. “They were against storage, initially, but have now begun to embrace it. They evaluated the benefits with pilot projects and when the request for offers came in they were attractive, the first test of cost-effectiveness,” says Janice Lin, executive director of CESA. SCE has procured 216MW, while PG&E has just announced it has signed contracts for 75MW of energy storage as part of its obligations to the mandate.

“The third party model has proved popular and will likely continue because utilities are very bankable offtakers and at the same time might want to leverage storage benefits without making big investments in such assets. So, California has used policy heft but the point is that other markets are opening up using a variety of different approaches,” says Lin. The largest project for SCE went to independent power producer AES, which was awarded in 2014 a 20-year power purchase agreement by the utility, to provide 100MW of batterybased energy storage, able to produce up to 400MWh of energy.

The investment is to help meet the shortfall left by the retired San Onofre nuclear power station. Other options in submitted bids that AES went up against, included thermal generation, demand response as well as preferred resources.

combined cycle power plants.

Projects like the one with SCE show how comfortable utilities today have become with large-scale energy storage. They have been piloting the technology for a number of years to understand how such assets integrate into existing infrastructure.

California has kick-started developments, agrees Troy Miller, director of the grid solutions arms at S&C Electric Company.

“California is a highly competitive market for energy storage and over three years costs have reduced by a factor of three almost. Most of this is via reductions in lithium ion battery prices,” says Miller.

The company’s customers include utilities and S&C has worked on larger-scale energy storage projects in the US, including four installations in California.

As with behind-the-meter energy storage, grid-scale projects can achieve acceptable payback if they can stack revenues or provide several different functions or services.

One of these is the 4MW/28MWh Yerba Buena storage plant, operational since 2013, which uses molten salt batteries. S&C served as the lead engineering, procurement and construction contractor on the project.

Yerba Buena’s main application is for reliability improvements. But it also operates in an islanding mode, providing resiliency, a key benefit for one of the local area’s biggest electricity users, a PG&E commercial customer in the semiconductor industry.

The installation has also bid into the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) ancillary services market, which has changed its market rules to enable technologies like battery-based energy storage to provide frequency regulation services.

The Vaca Dixon installation, in Vacaville, is a 2MW/14MWh system used for load shaping, renewables integration, and ancillary services, which has been live since 2012. The plant was initially built to provide peak shaving but now provides ancillary grid services into CAISO.

“Policy is every bit as important to market development as technology and market solutions are.

It creates the rules by which the market can play” — Janice Lin, CESA

Utility-scale storage

The battery plant, which will come online by 2021, is a cost-effective alternative to a new gas peaker. The 100MW acts as both generation and load, enabling more than twice the flexible range of a traditional peaker plant on the same transmission infrastructure.

AES develops battery storage systems through its energy storage division and is able to offer the technology as part of a portfolio of options that it can make available to utilities for new capacity, which also include

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Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 29

COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA

“The desire is to keep growing the renewables capacity but also address the oversupply issue.

— Carla Peterman, CPUC commissioner

One of S&C Electric’s first energy storage projects in California was the Santa Rita jail microgrid. The 2MW/4MWh lithium ion energy storage system is connected to inverters, solar PV, some small wind, diesel generation and fuel cells. With the storage system and the power controls, the high security jail has electricity even when there is an outage.

Since the microgrid began operating, the solar PV resource has been expanded, from 1MW to almost 3MW of PV. The 4MWh energy storage system gives up to two hours of backup power, and in case of an outage, provides spinning reserve and onsite renewable energy generation shifting, allowing the jail’s microgrid to use as much onsite renewable energy generation as possible while also ensuring reliability.

The most recent Californian project completed by S&C was for a large utility, in the San Diego area. The 1MW/2MWh installation, which uses lithium ion batteries, was originally

The progress so far with the 1.3GW mandate California’s big three are procuring storage to comply with the state’s 1.3GW mandate. In late 2014 SCE announced it had procured 261MW of energy storage as part of its first tranche of targets to meet its total 580MW share of the 2020 mandate broken down as: AES Energy Storage Stem Advanced Microgrid Solutions Ice Energy Holdings NRG Energy

100MW 85MW 50MW 25.6MW 0.5MW

Once deployed, the systems will provide a number of services to SCE’s power grid, including ensuring adequate available electrical capacity to meet peak demand.

The majority of the technology deployed is based on lithium ion battery storage.

Last December, PG&E unveiled its first bunch of storage contracts, which amount to 75MW, as part of its overall target of delivering 580MW by 2020. The first of these comes online in May 2017. The utility put out request for information

30 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

(RFIs) a year ago.

In addition to third-party owned storage offers, PG&E issued a list of five distribution substations where it would like to consider energy storage projects on distribution circuits to defer distribution investments.

PG&E also identified three sites where it owns and operates solar PV facilities, where energy storage could be added. The projects are all battery-based except one flywheel — a first for the utility.

Amber Kinetics (flywheel)

20MW

Hecate Energy (lithium ion battery) 10MW Next Era Energy (lithium ion battery) 30MW Convergent (zinc air battery)

10MW

Western Grid (zinc air battery)

3MW

Hecate Energy (lithium ion battery)

1MW

Hecate Energy (lithium ion battery)

1MW

SDG&E has to procure 165MW by 2020, since it has the smallest load of all three and has yet to announce any awarded contracts.

When it issued its RFI in 2014 SDG&E called for a minimum of 25MW of storage, but allows for a maximum of 800MW of energy

awarded three years ago.

A recent report published by the Rocky Mountain Institute, titled The Economics of Battery Energy Storage, extols the benefits of distributed energy storage.

However, Miller believes not all grid challenges are best dealt with by aggregating lots of behind-the-meter batteries.

“An issue that is looming in North America, which energy storage can address, is localized capacity constraints, which are eased by assets bidding into a resource adequacy market, a 24 hour market,” he says.

This issue is beginning to show its head and will continue as more power plants are shut down and more renewables are added.

“The question is whether behindthe-meter energy storage, such as aggregated individual distributed assets, is the best approach. If, say, 3MW is required, will a hundred 3kW systems aggregated be best or is it better to site three 1MW assets situated on mid-

storage systems that could be procured.

To reach the 1.3GW mandate, targets for the three utilities will escalate over time.

The next will be later this year and the last in 2018. The utilities’ targets are also divided within different places on the grid network: transmission-connected, distribution system-connected storage and for customer-side (behindthe-meter) storage.

This provides flexibility in terms of compliance as the storage deployed must prove to be cost-effective. This is defined in terms of the benefits outweighing the costs of energy storage installation over the duration of the system’s operation. Bids that do not meet those standards can be deferred by utilities, for up to 80% of the target, to the next period.

There is also flexibility to allow the utilities to shift between the target categories to see where storage makes most sense on the grid. The mandate allows for different ownership models for storage. The overall target can be no more than 50% utility-owned but within a particular category this percentage can be higher, to ensure third party participation and competition.

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COVER STORY: CALIFORNIA way feeder points, assets which are owned by the utility?” says Miller.

S&C has delivered such a project in Ohio, a 7MW/3MWh system for providing frequency regulation services to PJM Interconnection, while also deferring costly grid works. “For eight to 10 days of the year it is required for peak shaving and PJM is looking at energy storage for easing localized capacity constraints,” says Miller.

A fast market

Behind-the-meter storage has helped to launch start-ups, many based in California, developing energy storage systems that integrate hardware components, including batteries and inverters, controlled by advanced software.

Meanwhile traditional utility supply chain companies, like S&C, are more likely to be found supplying and building grid-scale in front-of-meter storage.

However, longer term the prospects for distributed energy storage look increasingly optimistic, compared with previous forecasts.

Behind-the-meter energy storage can technically provide the largest number of services to the electricity grid at large, even if storage deployed behindthe-meter is not always the least-cost option.

According to modelling done by CESA, using California’s grid services market, even small increments of energy storage can have large impacts on the grid.

CESA’s modelling runs use CAISO’s 2014 RPS scenario of 40% for longterm procurement planning. The modelling aimed to understand how grid emissions, unit starts, and curtailment would change with energy storage.

Modelling spanned several scenarios, including one with no energy storage, and three with storage, in each assuming 60% round trip efficiency.

In the first energy storage scenario but with the least capacity, the modelling assumes 412.5MW of two-hour energy storage based on behind-themeter and distribution-sited installations spread across each of the investor owned utilities’ territories plus the SGIP’s target.

This is equivalent to 0.5% of California’s total generation capacity.

CESA’s modelling found that savings of over 203,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions are possible, along with a reduction of nearly 3000 unit starts across the system, which is a 6.4% reduction in total annual fossil

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Behind-the-meter storage has helped to launch startups, many based in California, developing energy storage systems that integrate hardware components, including batteries and inverters, controlled by advanced software. fuel unit starts.

The 412.5MW of two-hour energy storage also reduced renewable curtailment by 8.1% equating to shifting 299,002MWh of renewable energy that would have otherwise been wasted and helping to ensure California’s RPS portfolio target is reached costeffectively.

Other states are seeing the advantage of adapting their electricity networks to accommodate more distributed energy resources, including behind-themeter storage.

But, the will of the market alone cannot ensure that energy storage finds its way into the grids to help alleviate the challenges that operators and utilities are facing.

The Rocky Mountain Institute report’s promising findings come with a caveat, that regulatory barriers must

be overcome.

Lin says: “Policy is every bit as important to market development as technology and market solutions are.

It creates the rules by which the market can play.”

Since California issued its mandate, other US states are beginning to move toward energy-storage friendly grids.

“The international understanding of California as the US leader and the most dynamic and fast-growing market for energy storage technology is changing,” says one industry commentator.

“We’re now thinking that there’s a huge amount of catch-up starting to happen across the country. You wouldn’t expect it to be homogenous, of course, and it’s not, but it’s signalling a possible explosion of business yet to come.”

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 31

Linking the Solar Power Generation and Energy Storage Technology Value Chain Are you ready to be connected?

www.solar-united.org

SOLARUNITED MEMBER NEWS

Global Solar Council emerges after climate change talks A new body — the Global Solar Council — emerged following the COP21 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) talks in December in Paris. The organizers say it marks a new era in the development of solar energy on its path to become the world’s largest source of electricity generation.

“Today the solar power sector has united to fight climate change,” said Bruce Douglas, chairman of the GSC in December. “There is consensus that solar power will become the principal source of electricity generation. It has a hugely important role to play in the international efforts to ultimately eliminate carbon emissions from the power sector.”

The principal members of the organization are national and regional solar associations from established and emerging markets, including the world largest markets of China, Europe, India, Middle East, Australia, South America and the US. “The GSC will provide a coordinated, international voice on behalf of these organizations,” said John Smirnow, secretary-general of the GSC. Eric Ast, head of SOLARUNITED, said that “Joining forces under the GSC, will help our Industry to spread the message that from a technology point of view and more generally cost competitiveness perspective, Solar Generation has to be included in plans to fight against climate changes. Giving future generation the best possible world is a necessity.”

The intention is to establish the secretariat and legal entity in the US and headquarters in China. Membership is open to any association active in solar power.

The board members are: Chair: SolarPower Europe, Bruce Douglas Co-chairs: Asian PV Industry Association (APVIA), Gongshan Zhu; China PV Industry Association (CPIA), Jifan Gao; Italian Solar Industry Association (Italia Solare), Gianni Chianetta; National Solar Energy Federation

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of India (NSEFI), Pranav R. Mehta; and Spanish PV Industry Association (UNEF), José Donoso.

Secretary: Green Energy Association of Israel, Eitan Parnass Treasurer: SOLARUNITED, Bryan Ekus Secretary-general: John Smirnow Other board members are: Argentinian Renewable Energy Association, Marcelo Alvarez; Australian Solar Council, Steve Blume; Brazilian Photovoltaic Solar Energy Association (ABSOLAR), Rodrigo Lopes Sauaia; French Renewable Energy Association (SER), Cyril Carabot; German Solar Association (BSW), Jörg Mayer; International Solar Energy Society, David Renne; Middle East Solar Industry Association (MESIA), Imtiaz Mahtab; Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), Rhone Resch; and, Taiwan PV Industry Association (Chinese Taipei), Peng Heng Chang.

Founding supporting members of the Global Solar Council so far include: Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association, Meglena Russenova, GUNDER (ISES Turkey), Faruk Telemcioglu; Polish Society for Photovoltaics, Stanislaw Pietruszko; Solar Energy Development Association (SEDA Egypt), Khaled Gasser; Solar GCC Alliance & Saudi Arabia Solar Industry Association, Browning Rockwell; Svensk Solenergi, Jan-Olof Dalenbäck; and, Swisssolar, David Stickelburger.

Meyer Burger Meyer Burger Technology announced at the end of January the conclusion of two contracts worth a total of Sfr22 million ($22.2 million) with existing photovoltaic customers in Asia. Meyer Burger also reported unaudited net sales of Sfr323.6 million, incoming orders of Sfr418.9 million for 2015 and an order backlog of Sfr257.5 million as of December 31, 2015.

WELTEC Group acquires biogas plant Nordmethan, a subsidiary of the manufacturer WELTEC BIOPOWER, bought a biogas plant in Falkenhagen, Germany this January. Following the modernization, the decommissioned plant should resume operations towards the end of 2016. Upon golive, the plant with its five digesters, five post-digesters, five digestate storage units and six combined heat and power plant will generate 3.3MW of electricity. The power will be fed into the public grid, and the exhaust heat from the CHP plant is to be used for the digestate drying process.

The plant had been built in 2007 and commissioned in 2008.

Singulus signs $22m contract for solar production line Singulus signed a contract late December for the delivery of a production line with a customer in India, which plans to invest into the manufacturing of crystalline solar cells. The financing of the project in the amount of approximately €20 million ($22 million) is still open and is expected later in the year.The contract is still under restriction of the approval of the relevant committees from SINGULUS.

ONE FOR THE DIARIES — June 22, EU PVSEC Munich, Germany SOLARUNITED (formally known as International Photovoltaic Equipment Association, IPVEA) and the 32nd EU PVSEC (32nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition) present the PV Production, Quality, and Innovation Forum 2016, which will be held in the frame of the EU PVSEC 2016 in Munich, Germany on Wednesday, June 22, 2016.

The 32nd EU PVSEC will host the global PV community at the ICM International Congress Center, in Munich, from June 20 to 24, 2016.

The PV Production, Quality, and Innovation Forum 2016 addresses best practices and case studies that can assist production management, and supply chain managers, on how to increase throughput and efficiency, and on how to save money in their production fabs.

This educational meeting will feature presentations, arranged around several focal topics, including future photovoltaic module and cell production, the significance of using quality materials, as well as PV recycling considerations.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 33

NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET

End of net-metering spells opportunity for energy storage

34 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

www.energystoragejournal.com

NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET

P

Providers of energy storage systems have been working with solar PV installers, but now utilities want a cut of the action.

By Sara Verbruggen.

assing fad. In a nutshell that was the attitude of energy utilities towards rooftop solar PV technology eight to 10 years ago in the US. In contrast to Europe, where residential uptake has formed the core of solar markets like Germany and the UK, only recently has residential PV demand in the US started to meaningfully contribute to the market’s growth as utility and commercialscale PV have done.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) found the US residential PV market is growing strongly with year-on-year increases of around 70%. Today around a million homes in the US have solar panels installed.

Falling costs have certainly contributed to this growth. But there are also other factors at play.

Across 43 states, encouraged by law, the roll out of net metering programmes has also encouraged PV takeup. Utilities pay out retail prices for surplus solar electricity that those commercial or residential customers, with panels installed, export to the grid.

Solar City, Sun Edison and other installers have cornered the residential solar PV market, offering no-moneydown systems, blowing demand wide open.

In California, most solar installations in the residential segment are financed through leasing deals and other third party arrangements, with other states, such as Georgia, recently following suit.

What started as a passing fad has morphed into something else. Incentivizing solar PV has made the technology popular but the projected cost of maintaining and expanding the grid to allow lots more distributed power plants send electricity back up the wires means net metering is no longer a viable option.

Meanwhile, the solar industry itself signals a threat since installers are in a strong position to pitch an alternative option to customers concerned about rising energy costs and energy

“Tesla has made energy storage a must-have gadget. It has made a battery in the house desirable in the way that Apple made desktop computers desirable” www.energystoragejournal.com

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 35

NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET RESIDENTIAL ENERGY DEBATE REKINDLED IN HAWAII TAKE-OVER

“Only in Hawaii is it economically attractive to install storage for selfconsumption. The only other places, worldwide at this stage, are Germany and Australia.”

The proposed take over of Hawaiian Electric Industries, the US state’s largest public utility by NextEra Energy, are coming to the closing stages this spring as hearings from the Public Utilities Commission draw to a close.

In December 2014 NextEra agreed to merge with HEI in a deal valued at around $4.3 billion and with NextEra taking on $1.7 billion of HEI debt and with the separate spin-off of ASB Hawaii, effectively the parent company for a banking subsidiary.

Since then the take-over has been the subject of much public debt, most particularly over the issue whether NextEra can deliver the state government’s plans to reaching Hawaii’s goal of 100% renewable energy in 2045. Also whether it can achieve nearly $465 million in customer savings and $500 million in economic benefits over the first five years of operation.

Last July Hawaii state governor David Ige announced that he opposed the deal as did two state agencies, Hawaii’s Office of Planning and the Department of Business, Economic Development and

36 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

Tourism.

NextEra Energy — which is in effect part of utility Florida Power and Light — has offered additional commitments to help sweeten the deal.

As another part of the deal, NextEra agreed to expand HEI’s smart-meter pilot programme to almost all of its 450,000 customers over the next two years. The programme would also include time-of-use rates, giving customers greater visibility into and control over their electricity usage.

NextEra also agreed to donate at least $2.2 million in corporate donations each year for a minimum of 10 years if the deal is successful.

This would match HEI’s 2014 charitable giving.

Opposition to the take-over includes doubts over Florida Power and Light’s commitment to residential solar where uptake has been relatively poor. FPL points, however, to the fact that the case for PV adoption in Florida is poor as the economic case is hard to make given that the price of electricity costs much less than in Hawaii.

efficiency.

Germany has showed how, in practice, battery storage was the missing jigsaw piece that, combined with solar PV, puts residential electricity customers in charge of energy that they generate and use.

Utilities are playing catch-up to understand the technology.

“For utilities, smart energy storage becomes compelling, especially if they are able to control or manage these distributed energy resources (DERs),” says Ken Munson, chief executive and co-founder of Sunverge. “Also they don’t want to be caught flat-footed, potentially losing customers to solar companies that are able to swoop in and supply energy storage on a largescale by offering a cleaner and more cost-effective energy alternative.”

Sunverge, headquartered in San Francisco, provides smart energy storage systems, which includes advanced software as well as battery storage hardware.

And, despite the shortcomings of its product offering, detailed in press coverage, the launch of Tesla’s Powerwall has further promoted energy storage in consumers’ minds.

Ryan Wartena, founder of specialist energy storage software developer Growing Energy Labs Inc (GELI), says: “Tesla has made energy storage a must-have gadget. It has made a battery in the house desirable in the way that Apple made desktop computers desirable.”

That has been the case even if, in places like California, the need for storage among residential electricity consumers is for resiliency and backup.

“Only in Hawaii is it economically attractive to install storage for selfconsumption. The only other places, worldwide at this stage, are Germany and Australia,” says Wartena.

GELI has developed specialist software for energy storage, which the company describes as an energy operating system. The technology manages and underpins lots of different hardware inputs, be they batteries, solar PV, electric vehicles, air conditioning units, energy efficient lighting, for example, in the same way that a computer operating systems allows other hardware devices and software to plug in.

“We recognize that this is not going to be a market dominated only by the ABBs and the GEs, but by the electronics and white goods firms. They all have a relevant offering, not just

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NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET “Utilities … don’t want to be caught flat-footed, potentially losing customers to solar companies that are able to swoop in and supply energy storage on a large-scale by offering a cleaner and more costeffective energy alternative” — Ken Munson, Sunverge home batteries, but electronics and appliances,” says Wartena.

One of the company’s partners is Japanese inverter and energy storage system producer Tabuchi Electric.

Net metering

The popularity of residential PV has led to many utilities calling for changes that in effect de-incentivize net metering, reducing the payback by, for instance, applying fixed charges.

Utilities argue such schemes absolve solar customers from paying their share of costs that go towards maintaining and upgrading the grid, which is unfair. (After all, these customers are making use of the infrastructure to export their excess energy to the grid.)

In 2013 the California Public Utili-

ties Commission published a net metering study that predicted by 2020, non-solar customers in the state would be footing a bill of over $350 million annually. The study pointed out that most residential solar PV is installed by higher income earners — who tend to use more energy than their less well-off neighbours — effectively putting the cost of going green on to lower income earners.

The state’s utilities also fought hard to restrict grid interconnection of PV plus energy storage systems. This was because these systems could store cheaper night-time electricity and could ring up net metering payments by later injecting it back into the grid.

In Hawaii over 10% of the island’s roofs have solar panels, the highest

penetration of any state. It also has the most ambitious renewable portfolio standard (RPS) mandate of any in the US, requiring utilities to procure all of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2045.

To meet this target, net metering has to ensure that all customers benefit from continued growth in distributed energy — not just those who have the ability to install solar PV. Utilities, despite having to ensure the security of electricity supply and that

THE EVER SPEEDIER ROAD TO RICHES

Typically a new technology such as intelligent energy storage, goes through several stages on the pathway to commercialization.

Technical evaluation proves the technology works in practice. This is followed by evaluation in the field, the point at which end user

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cases are tested and the system undergoes further adjustment and refinement, before moving into customer evaluation, or pilots.

The period between field evaluations and customer pilots may have taken two or three years before, but Sunverge’s Ken Munson

says: “This period is compressing.

Market players, such as utilities and energy companies want to move faster to customer evaluation, to begin to rapidly understand what sort of service they should offer to the market and to get their offering right.”

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 37

NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET the grid functions properly — as well as increasing regulatory pressure to integrate renewables into the grid — are challenging incentive schemes that encourage adoption of solar.

However, the solar industry represents the only real alternative choice for energy customers wishing to switch to clean electricity and lower bills.

Or does it have to be like that?

In the North American residential energy storage market a growing number of utilities and energy providers are piloting storage technology with their customers. And energy storage players are obliging with products and offerings that address concerns among utilities.

The projected cost of maintaining and expanding the grid to allow lots more distributed power plants send electricity back up the wires could mean that net metering is no longer a viable option.

ENDING NET METERING, A BATTLE HARD-FOUGHT ON BOTH SIDES

Two years ago, a report ‘Disruptive Challenges: Financial Implications and Strategic Responses to a Changing Retail Energy Business’, published by the Edison Electric Institute advocated that utilities, to recover costs, should be able to levy fixed monthly charges on solar panel owners. An alternative was to revise the net metering buy-back rates paid to these customers to be based on wholesale as opposed to the much higher retail electricity rates.

The report’s author Peter Hind, a veteran of investment banking, specializing in utility and power sector finance, has since changed his stance, and his revised views can be read in report published in October 2015 by Ceres, a nonprofit that directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of institutional investors with collective assets totalling more than $13 trillion.

In Pathway to a 21st Century

38 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

Electric Utility Hind thinks that penalizing technological advancement with fixed charges is not in the best interests of energy consumers or society as a whole.

It will slow progress but it won’t kill it. And, while adopting monthly fixed or demand charges systemwide might reduce financial risk for utility revenue collections for the immediate future, as a long-term strategy it is flawed.

Nevertheless, utilities in a growing number of states, where distributed PV generation uptake is high, have trained their sights on net metering.

Predictably, such proposals have proved controversial among solar advocates.

In October, Californian solar supporters gathered outside the offices of Pacific Gas & Electricity (PG&E) to protest against the utility’s proposal of a policy to replace net metering once caps are reached. These include moving solar customers to time-of-use rates, a monthly demand charge of a few dollars per kilowatt and calls for PV system owners be credited at a lower rate than retail electricity.

Solar proponents argued such proposals will curb rooftop solar PV adoption in the residential segment.

PG&E’s proposals for rolling back net metering followed similar moves in Hawaii, where regulators have published new rules for selfconsumption. The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has issued a ruling that closes net metering to new applicants that are customers of the island’s utility Hawaiian Electric.

Customer pilots

One such player is Tabuchi Electric, the number five solar inverter supplier globally. The company, with a few others, won over Japan’s conservative utilities in its home market. After the 2011 earthquake, the tsunami and related nuclear crisis at Fukushima the Japanese government incentivized the uptake of renewables by one of the most generous feed-in tariff schemes in the world, proving an immense headache to the local utilities.

Tabuchi developed an inverter technology that put control of how much solar electricity is exported to the grid in the hands of utilities.

From PV inverters, Tabuchi moved developments on to an all-in-one battery inverter, using its hardware integrated with Panasonic’s batteries. The company has sold about 2,000 all-inone inverter-battery products in Japan and has shipped small volumes to Hawaii, California and Ontario, following the release of a North American version of its system in mid-2015.

Drawing on lessons learned in Japan, Tabuchi’s products de-risk, from the utilities’ point of view, the integration of distributed solar energy into the grid. This makes it easier to directly manage distributed energy resources in the form of PV plus storage systems and optimize energy use across the grid. Functions include the ability to set a limit on how much electricity can be exported to the grid.

The company has a nifty patent to help the utilities monitor where the residential energy pumped into the grid is coming from. The 10kWh capacity system, which includes a 5.5kW solar inverter with a bidirectional DC-to-DC battery power converter, allows for separation of the solar PV array and the battery to distinguish if the output is from the panels or the battery.

Ontario

In Ontario, the only Canadian province with a FiT (feed-in-tariff) subsidy for solar PV, the utilities are concerned about how coupled battery systems’ ability to inject cheap off-peak grid electricity back into the grid for subsidized prices.

In 2014 Tabuchi announced a solar and storage pilot with Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation in Ontario, in Canada, which was funded by the Japanese government’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). In the pilot, 30 homes in Oshawa are be-

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NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET ing fitted with solar panels as well as Tabuchi’s energy storage systems.

Each of the homes can choose if they want to store, sell or use the electricity generated by the solar panels.

Stored electricity could be used during a power outage, or residents could use power stored during overnight offpeak hours during the day when electricity is more expensive.

Another key aspect of the pilot is to see how the storage systems perform in Canada’s cold winters and its suitability as a back-up power source during outages. This is achieved by isolating the power of the household.

Sunverge has also supplied a pilot in Ontario run by Powerstream, one of the province’s energy suppliers.

The trial, comprising 20 residential customers of Powerstream with rooftop solar panels and Sunverge’s 11.4kWh battery systems installed, forms part of a plan by the utility to reduce overall power consumption in its service area by 535MWh by 2020.

This is the equivalent of taking more than 62,000 homes off the grid. Powerstream, which is community-owned, by the cities of Vaughan, Barrie and Markham, has nearly 400,000 customers based north of Toronto and in the centre of the province.

Using Sunverge’s software the separate batteries are managed by Powerstream as one aggregated resource — a virtual power plant — at the point of load.

Again, the project will allow the utility to see how the lithium ion batterybased systems operate in cold temperatures and function as a reliable back-up source of electricity for the homes.

According to Munson, Powerstream and other progressive energy providers and utilities see distributed energy resources, based on PV coupled with storage, as a technology that can potentially be rolled out to large numbers of individual customers, helping them manage their electricity consumption.

“But, when aggregated together as a single large-scale multi-MW resource, behind-the-meter energy storage is able to provide grid balancing services such as frequency control instead of building new peaking plants, or lets a utility defer expensive upgrades on portions of the distribution infrastructure,” says Munson.

At the regulatory level, changes — Ontario’s proposed net metering programme, which is scheduled to go into effect by at least early 2018 — will

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make self-consumption attractive, financially, helping to drive demand for residential PV and storage systems.

For Powerstream, the detailed, realtime insights concerning the virtual power plant and the local distribution system’s performance will allow the utility to make more informed decisions about how the storage assets are managed when the decision is taken to commercially roll out energy storage.

This could mean that some utilities will be entering full-scale rollout of storage technology among their customers in 18 or even 12 months from now.

Munson co-founded Sunverge with Dean Sanders, the chief technology officer and founder of another company, called Inertia Engineering, to develop a utility-friendly tool for managing loads on the grid, in other words electricity usage focused on customers, both residential and commercial.

“We have a background in energy storage technology as it relates to distribution electric utilities. By understanding this environment we’ve designed a product as a utility would look at a traditional asset on the network, like transformer equipment or diesel generation sets,” says Munson.

“What we see mainly in the market is companies with a battery in a box or a sophisticated inverter integrated with a battery product. We can offer the whole solution — the hardware, controls and the software. What’s more, we can also lay our software over energy storage systems from other hardware providers, so they can

“All the initial customers also place value on backup power, clean energy at night, advanced technology, or the desire for greater independence from the grid and utilities.

It is not purely a return on investment decision” — Neil Maguire, Juice Box operate their energy storage systems with the same level of granularity that we already know utilities and power companies are happy and comfortable with.”

STACKING THE BENEFITS UP Behind the meter energy storage systems can provide up to 13 different services and benefits, according to Rocky Mountain Institute.

But, under current cost structures, batteries deployed for only a single primary service generally do not provide a net economic benefit.

In other words the present value of revenue over the system’s lifetime does not exceed the present value of lifetime costs (except in certain markets under certain use cases).

Since the provision of primary services, like self-consumption or back-up, only requires up to 50% of a battery’s lifetime capacity,

using the remainder of the capacity to deliver other services to customers and the grid shifts the economics in favour of storage.

Customer services • Time-of-use bill management • Increased PV self-consumption • Demand charge reduction • Backup power Utility services • Resource adequacy • Distribution deferral • Transmission congestion relief • Transmission deferral ISO/RTO services • Energy arbitrage • Frequency regulation • Spin/non-spin reserves • Voltage support • Black start

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 39

NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET Northern exposure: Sunverge has a pilot with Ontario utility Powerstream to test its energy storage systems coupled with solar PV among Powerstream’s household customers, with the view to managing each individual system as a virtual power plant to provide grid-level benefits while allowing customers in the pilot to choose whether to sell or consume their own PV generated electricity and providing back-up.

Sunverge’s software is compatible across different products coming to market and can serve the needs of the utilities’ various customers, as well as the utilities themselves.

“Selling our integrated energy storage system will always be our top priority, however we recognize that to encourage overall market growth, we need to support other systems,” says Munson.

It is a shrewd strategy. When a utility plans a commercial rollout of energy storage, across thousands or tens of thousands of customers, they will want to use more than one provider, to spread the risk that is inherent in depending on a single supplier.

This approach is already being adopted by utilities when changing over their traditional meters to smart meters.

However, the utility might specify that all the systems it procures are compatible with one software platform. In the same way that organizations don’t want to have to use multiple accounting applications to manage their finances, they are not going to want to use multiple platforms for managing their disparate distributed energy resources.

“They want one view into all the DERs on their grid, regardless of which vendor made the DERs,” says Munson.

Multiple benefits

Juice Box’s energy storage system packs enough power to provide electricity for most of a typical American home’s loads.

The system works by feeding all the energy from the rooftop PV panels into the PV inverter, supplied in this case by Solar Edge, which connects to the storage inverter, supplied by Schneider Electric. The inverter is programmed to either pass the electricity through to the loads or charge the battery.

When the grid fails, this configuration allows the battery and Schneider’s inverter to provide the necessary voltage and frequency to emulate the grid and keep the Solar Edge inverter alive to continue to use solar for the protected loads panel

40 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

and to recharge the batteries in preparation for the next night.

The company provides both DC and AC configured energy storage, with the DC-coupled solution ideal for new PV with storage installations, as it is simpler and cheaper. The best part about the AC-coupled configuration is that it can be used with existing installs for microinverters and grid tied inverters without anyone having to get on the roof to re-wire it.

The company is looking at high voltage batteries and more integrated solutions. “But the modular approach has a lot of flexibility in terms of where it is installed and allows us to support other inverters in the future,” says CEO Neil Maguire.

By being closer to the end customer on the grid network energy storage can provide multiple benefits. The muchdiscussed revenue stacking model is still more of a concept than a reality with most installations having just one, two or three functions.

However, according to ‘The Economics of Battery Energy Storage’ a report published by the Rocky Mountain Institute last October, distributed energy storage assets can provide up to 13 different services, across three stakeholder groups; electricity end customer services, independent system operator (ISO)/regional transmission operator (RTO) services and utility services.

To better serve utilities and grid operators with various services or benefits that range from frequency regulation to distribution deferral and transmission congestion relief, multiple batteries popping up all over the grid are more useful if they can be aggregated and controlled as one asset.

Under current market rules, not all of these possible services are yet ap-

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NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET plicable. Still, utilities are interested in future-proofed goods.

According to Neil Maguire who founded Juice Box which is headquartered in California, public utility Pacific gas & Electric likes his company’s product because it can do peak shaving, load-shifting and back-up power as well as be programmed to avoid exporting to the grid during peak solar generation.

Like Sunverge’s system, Juice Box’s systems have enough gas in the tank to ensure that residential customers get maximum benefit too. The 8.6kWh energy storage system has 5.5kW of power — in comparison, Tesla’s 7kWh and 10kWh Powerwalls both have 2kW of continuous power — plenty to power some of a typical household’s appliances and loads at once, without tripping any breakers, including, microwaves, refrigerators, garage door openers, lighting and wifi outlets, during peak times.

However, Maguire says: “Right now, for residential customers, energy storage systems are still too pricey if the only value considered is peak shifting to save money via time-of-use rate structures. All the initial customers also place value on back-up power, clean energy at night, advanced technology, or the desire for greater independence from the grid and utilities. It is not purely a return on investment decision.”

Juice Box has chosen to focus on solar installer channels through which to distribute its system and now has 60 installers on board. The company has been running training sessions for installers to ensure they are able to sell and install a system in a predictable, profitable and reliable way.

“Our aim is to make a storage product that is simple and straightforward for small, two man, installation crews to install for their customers. All systems are set up by default to do peak shaving then adjusted according to local requirements and rate structures.

A deep integration with the inverter allows the installer to simply press a button to commission the system,” says Maguire.

Juice Box expects to ship some 1000 units in North America this year and has been taking enquiries from Europe and is also exploring options for Australia. The projection is in line with other manufacturers of energy storage systems that are supplying the North American market.

The company’s intellectual property is around the system’s software controls, its ability to optimize battery

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A view in the round Energy Storage Journal spoke to three chief executives — Boris von Bormann (pictured far left) of Sonnenbatterie, Ken Munson at Sunverge (centre) and Neil Maguire from Juice Box.

Where are you seeing strongest demand for your energy storage systems in the North American market?

Von Bormann: We have a very strong demand out of Hawaii and the north-east as well as California.

If I had to rank these I’d say Hawaii first, California second and the US north-east third.

Munson: States where we are seeing most demand are Hawaii, then California, New York and Massachusetts, while states like Texas, Arizona and Nevada are emerging.

Maguire: Our systems are installed in homes and buildings in California, Hawaii and in New York state. From 2016, Juice Box will be expanding its rollout to more states, including Arizona, Nevada and Maine, in the north-east.

What are the key drivers for storage adoption in the US residential market in these places?

Von Bormann: The key function in California is definitely back-up power, which is a primary driver for residential products. In addition there are some programmes evolving around demand response and for time of use arbitrage, however both these applications are minimal at the moment in California.

The other states that are emerging have usually a self-consumption driver, which helps market acceleration.

This is the same for Georgia, where net metering is almost non-existing and where storage is the only way to connect solar systems to the grid.

So the two key drivers for the US at the moment in the residential market are back-up power and selfconsumption, the latter emerging in markets such as Hawaii, Georgia, Tennessee, and others where net metering is about to change or has changed.

Maguire: In the north-east, where one of the advantages for homeowners of having an energy storage system installed, is to provide backup during severe weather, such as ice storms.

In Arizona, different drivers exist.

The state is one of the most aggressive in terms of its utilities’ commitment to replacing net-metering for residential solar PV with rate charges, based on their peak power demand each month, which could add a few hundred dollars to the average solar customer’s annual electricity expenditure.

Munson: For customers’ bill optimization — reducing electricity spending — is one factor. Consumers are warming to the idea of energy storage, thanks to progress of other technologies, from EVs to home energy management systems, smart thermostats and, of course, solar PV. Intelligent energy storage systems bring together all of these different technologies, enabling a home to generate and consume most of its own electricity.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 41

NORTH AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL MARKET “We want to provide the picks and shovels in an automated sense to the solar installers and the developers. There are many companies that can deliver solar and storage, but they don’t have the necessary tools to bring everything together” — Ryan Wartena, GELI

life, aggregate a network of distributed devices and also allow for the systems to be configured, depending on local factors that change state-by-state and utility-by-utility.

For example, in Arizona, solar dropoff patterns would differ to a region in the north-east. The software configures the system for operation in various regions or states, due to different tariff structures, grid regulations, utility requirements as well as seasonal changes.

Juice Box’s software developments also allow systems to be updated and repaired in situ without turning the system off and affecting the homeowner.

Market strategies

Like Juice Box, German energy storage system supplier Sonnenbatterie has arrangements with solar companies as distribution partners. The most recent of these is Atlanta-headquartered Hannah Solar. The state’s Free Market Finance Act of 2015 has created a market where third party ownership of solar is allowed. Georgia is one of the fastgrowing solar states in the US. Sonnenbatterie’s other solar partners include Sungevity.

The company is also working with utilities and energy retailers in North America, with the view to doing customer pilots.

“Similar to Europe where we have relationships with the utility RWE and green electricity supplier Lichtblick, we are looking to implement similar schemes in the US and are in talks with utilities and energy retailers for pilots,” says Boris von Bormann, who runs the US division of Sonnenbatterie, based in California.

42 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

He sees that changes in net metering rules that are occurring in the US, will only help to accelerate the growth of solar PV and storage. “It is similar to the German market where we are almost exclusively servicing the self-consumption model because of a spread of the FiT to the retail rate.”

The company is supplying energy storage systems in substantial volumes, mainly in Germany, where it has sold around 8,000 systems and has set up a contract manufacturing partnership to serve the US market.

GELI too is also partnering with companies active in the solar PV industry. One of these is Rexel-owned Gexpro, a national electrical distribution company with a solar PV division. “We want to provide the picks and shovels in an automated sense to the solar installers and the developers,” says Wartena. “There are many companies that can deliver solar and storage, but they don’t have the necessary tools to bring everything together.”

Balancing act

Future growth of solar PV in the residential market in North America is going to be dependent on energy storage, that much is true. But at present there are few places where a definite economic rationale exists.

Payback remains outside of eight years, which limits the market to technology savvy first adopters, or energy

customers that are significantly affected by power outages and those keen on being less dependent on the grid.

The exception is Hawaii where the island’s Public Utilities Commission’s recently proposed alternatives to net metering, such as a self-supply tariff, will create demand for energy storage systems, coupled with solar PV to manage zero export. Other states, like California, Nevada and Arizona look set to follow.

The details — how rules will change state-by-state — paint the same big picture. Net metering is being rolled back, making PV and storage, to enable self-consumption, a compelling proposition and one that the solar industry is in a strong position to sell, hence various tie-ups including Sunverge and Sonnenbatterie, Sunpower and Sunverge and others.

But, energy storage also provides a way for utilities to adapt to the challenges brought by distributed generation. It offers utilities a way to remain relevant to customers that increasingly see technology as an effective means to hedge against energy price rises, generate clean electricity and control electricity consumption. At the same time, it provides utilities with an adaptable tool for grid resilience and services, one that cannot be gamed.

The challenge for energy storage providers is managing the expectations of both groups.

Future growth of solar PV in the residential market in North America is going to be dependent on energy storage, that much is true. But at present there are few places where a definite economic rationale exists.

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FINANCING STORAGE GROWTH The way in which solar is financed has become increasingly innovative.

But as the sector marches on developing new asset classes — including the rapidly growing market in solar asset-backed securities — energy storage may not be far behind and may ultimately also benefit.

Securitizing energy storage — ABS to lead high finance charge into the sector As the race to develop ever more efficient forms of renewable energy heats up, so too has the speed with which new methods of financing such projects have been developed.

The banks, finance companies and even wealthy individuals have all got in on the act, funding different forms of renewable energy and making a return on either government or statebacked tariffs that exist or the savings on energy or a mixture of both.

The pace of innovation has been fast in the world of solar energy particularly photovoltaics, especially in the US where a new asset class seems to be emerging in the form of asset-backed securities (ABS). These are being used as a source of low-cost capital to fund the construction of large solar projects.

An asset-backed security is a simple financial instrument. It is the way that a company can issue debt (a bond) that is guaranteed by a revenue stream. This stream could be anything from rents from property owned, receivables from sales to loan repayments.

An unusual example of this is the issue of a security — the process is called securitization — by David Bowie, the rock star, in 1997 who raised $55 million on the strength of the royalties he was expected to earn over the next 10 years. At the end of 10 years, investors got their money back and earned interest of 8% over the period.

The principle — effectively an upfront loan guaranteed by future revenues — is perfect for a business that would have cashflow problems to expand.

Perhaps the best thing about assetbacked securities is that the debt issued is not on the firm’s balance sheet.

It is put into a ring-fenced vehicle that is separate from the firm until the debt is repaid.

In many ways large solar projects are

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“Usually, investors only consider, what are the loans backing a deal and what is the credit risk? With these deals, they must also consider how much power will be produced and factors such as asset level stressing” perfect customers for ABS. Once the project is on-stream, say a solar farm, and a power-purchase agreement — better known as a PPA — has been made with a utility to buy the electricity, then the revenues can be put into an ABS and the project company can move on to new work But as this asset class takes off, parallels are being made with the potential for the use of such methods of financing in the world of energy storage. Some experts expect the first securitizations in this sector to take place in 2016 potentially heralding a boom in the financing available for such projects.

In terms of solar financing, rooftop leasing firm SolarCity has led the way.

SolarCity has been a leading provider of residential solar power in California since 2007, its first full year of operation, according to the California Solar Initiative and was the number one residential solar installer in the US in 2013, according to GTM Research.

From its original leasing operations in 2008 SolarCity has a reputation as being at the cutting edge of looking at financial engineering to expand its growth.

It issued the first solar ABS ever in 2013 and recently completed its fourth such deal, a private placement

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 43

FINANCING STORAGE GROWTH which raised more than $120 million.

With serial entrepreneur and innovator Elon Musk as its chairman, SolarCity’s deals grabbed the headlines in the US with some predicting a new asset class was set to emerge.

There were other deals in 2015, including several firsts, which backed this thesis. Sunrun, another rooftop leasing firm, issued a $111 million ABS while AES Distributed Energy became the first utility company to complete a deal which is backed by a portfolio of 15 projects totalling 43MW of municipal, commercial and residential leases and power-purchase agreements.

This latter deal was especially significant in the context of the market’s potential given the fact that the power company boasts some $17 billion in annual revenues and owns operating power generation resources of more than 35GW, including 8GW of renewable generation.

In total some $560 million has now been raised using this financing technique.

A market on the brink

Benjamin Cohen, the chief executive of T-REX, a boutique that focuses on securitization for the renewable energy industry, is bullish about the prospects of this sector and is working on a healthy pipeline of deals for different issuers.

He stresses the importance of the deals that emerged in 2015 and be-

An unusual example of this is the issue of a security — the process is called securitization — by David Bowie, the rock star, in 1997 who raised $55 million on the strength of the royalties he was expected to earn over the next 10 years. At the end of 10 years, investors got their money back and earned interest of 8% over the period.

lieves the market could have turned a corner.

“Last year was important for this asset class in that we saw two new issuers come to market including a utility company raising money in this way as opposed to just issuing corporate debt. It has been very telling in informing us what investors are looking for and what the market is willing to bear,” he says.

He adds that the AES deal is also significant because it is largely backed by

commercial installations as opposed to residential ones.

Cohen says the development of the market has been driven by a number of factors.

First, he praises the work of rating agency Kroll, which, though only formed in 2010 he claims has been a pioneer in developing a cutting edge methodology around how these deals can be rated. “They are quick, progressive and their analysis robust.

They have helped develop this market,” he says.

Second, Cohen claims that turbulence in other, related, investment markets, have boosted solar ABS. The fall from grace of ‘yieldcos’ — companies formed to own operating assets that produce a predictable cashflow primarily through long term contracts — last year meant investors sought new opportunities and had money to put to work elsewhere.

“People were throwing money at those things. But since that bubble has burst, combined with the equity value of some renewable investments also plummeting, it has allowed the securitization of these assets to come back to the fore,” Cohen says.

These deals also have many attractions for investors. These include their long-term yielding cashflows and, once the assets are built, little risk around construction. He says investment-grade solar debt yields range from 3.5% to 5%.

AND TAX EFFICIENCY TOO …

According to T-REX research, the solar ABS market has had a number of meaningful developments, including the presence of a variety of tax equity structures.

“In SolarCity’s first two transactions,

44 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

the systems were owned by SolarCity. This changed with 20142, which incorporated the inverted lease tax equity structure into the transaction. In an inverted lease structure, the developer owns the

project and enters into a lease with the investor, who then enters into an agreement with an off-taker,” says the research.

“Once the lease has completed, the investor exits from the deal, and the developer receives payments directly from the off-taker. SolarCity’s first transaction in 2015, 2015-1, featured the partnership flip tax equity structure in the transaction. In the partnership flip structure, there is the risk that tax equity investors must potentially forego a portion of the tax benefits during the recapture period.

“This risk was mitigated through a creative policy in the structure that provided insurance to the tax equity investor. As solar ABS investors become more comfortable with tax equity, we expect to see more creative structuring solutions to mitigate some of the risks posed by complicated tax equity structures.”

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FINANCING STORAGE GROWTH Investors in the deals tend to get their payments primarily from the power purchase agreements with developers for buying electricity generated by solar panels.

He admits that these deals have a level of complexity that investors need to grasp which is greater than other forms of ABS they are used to. “Usually, investors only consider, what are the loans backing a deal and what is the credit risk? With these deals, they must also consider how much power will be produced and factors such as asset level stressing. These are more complex than CMBS or student loans, for example.”

Yet he believes this is not a big hindrance to the market’s growth, however, because the level of analytics and the sophistication around this market is increasing all the time. He says the analytics T-REX can factor in all the moving parts of such deals to give investors confidence in the product.

“From what I have seen, there is little issue around the appetite of investors for these,” Cohen says. “Every investor I have spoken to would take five times the volume they have now if they could. The bigger problem is a lack of issuance.”

That could be on the way to changing, however. He says he is working with a number of would-be issuers including a bank with a concentration of solar on its lending book looking to offset some of the risk, and a third rooftop leasing firm, One of these deals, he says, could also include solar renewable credits in US states with a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires power companies to buy a share of their power from solar generators. However, the prices of solar renewable credits can fluctuate and they can also differ markedly between states.

But Cohan is bullish. He believes the solar ABS market could reach $1 billion in 2016 but it could be bigger. He says several issuers with the potential to do substantial deals are looking at the market. After that, he believes it will reach $3 billion to $4 billion in 2017 and as much as $10 billion in 2018.

Another meaningful development in the solar ABS market is the nature of the underlying collateral. In SolarCity’s most recent transaction this January — this was the first of its kind as there has never been a solar loan ABS securitization — the collateral base is different from that in previous solar securitizations, in that the cashflows

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SolarCity, Copper Ridge School

“Every investor I have spoken to would take five times the volume they have now if they could. The bigger problem is a lack of issuance” are backed not by solar leases or PPAs, but entirely by SolarCity’s loans.

“Not only is this a reflection of financing trends in the industry, but it is also significant because it is the first time that the industry has seen solar loans of any form in an ABS structure,” says Cohan.

“As investors become more comfortable with solar loans, we expect to see more deals with loans as the underlying collateral in the structure,” he says.

“As a result, the base of issuing companies will diversify to include regional banks lending to solar developers.

With the extension of the ITC, it is also likely that tax equity will play a larger role in the capital structure of solar ABS deals.”

The move to storage

But the securitization of solar could pave the way for other forms of renewable energy and energy storage to follow suit.

Cohen says that while energy storage is in its infancy in terms of the types of financing available, some packages are emerging that package solar with storage and the natural end game for financing these packages could well ultimately be securitization.

“We are working with a few clients looking at finance options for the solar and storage side,” he says. “Initially it will likely be just bank loan finance but the goal is within a year to get to bank loans backing storage plus solar or solar plus storage. I believe

that could happen as a securitization within a year or so. It has already been discussed.”

SolarCity could again be at the fore of such deals. Last year, the company unveiled a new package that offers a storage and solar package as part of its Homebuilder Program, a scheme set up in 2011 that offers new build homeowners the opportunity to add a solar power system to their home without increasing the property’s purchase price.

SolarCity will begin pairing its solar offering with a storage solution comprising the Tesla Powerwall, advanced hybrid inverter, monitoring and control systems and a warranty and service agreement.

SolarCity has also backed a new utility-scale solar project with battery storage will supply power to the island of Kauai, Hawaii, helping to meet peak demand after sunset.

SolarCity will construct a 17MW photovoltaic solar array on 50 acres adjacent to an existing power plant owned by Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC). The installation will include a 52MW/hr battery system.

SolarCity will sell power from the project to KIUC under a 20-year power-purchase agreement.

With such packages increasingly coming online and with the solar ABS market seemingly set for growth, it may only be a matter of time before the first ABS deals incorporating energy storage also come to market.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 45

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 2016 NAATBatt Annual Meeting & Conference Indian Wells, California • February 29-March 3

EV and battery storage technologies towards a low carbon society”.

The show is the best place to seek the latest and quality technologies, products, network and catch the latest trends of rechargeable batteries.

Contact: Tel: +81-3-3349-8519 Email: bj@reedexpo.co.jp www.batteryjapan.jp/en/

The 2016 NAATBatt Annual Meeting & Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells, a four star resort in one of the most attractive communities in the Palm Springs, California area. You will not want to miss this program.

The 2016 Annual Meeting will build on the great success of the 2015 Annual Meeting recently concluded in Phoenix, Arizona.

Like the 2015 Meeting, the 2016 Meeting will include a summit on emerging battery technologies, giving industry participants a first look at new technology coming on to the market.

The meeting will also include talks about emerging trends in the advanced battery business and presentations about emerging applications for battery technology that will create new opportunities for advanced battery manufacturers.

The 2016 Annual Meeting will also mark a new direction in NAATBatt’s approach to industry meetings. NAATBatt has decided that it has no interest in running just another one of many large trade shows in the battery industry. NAATBatt cannot compete, and has no desire to compete, with the professional conference companies that, directly or indirectly, run major trade shows such as The Battery Show, AABC, ESNA or ESA. The industry does not need NAATBatt to produce another trade show.

What the industry does need is a meeting each year where the real decision makers in the industry get together, talk about emerging trends, get a good look at interesting busi-

7th Int’l Rechargeable Battery Expo — BATTERY JAPAN Tokyo, Japan March 2-4

46 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

ness opportunities for electrochemical energy storage technology, and build high quality personal relationships in the industry that will be the basis for business growth in the year ahead. That is what the NAATBatt Annual Meeting will be, because that is the kind of meeting that the industry needs.

Consistent with this new approach to its annual meeting, NAATBatt has decided to limit registration for the 2016 Annual Meeting to 300 persons. Employees of NAATBatt member firms will be given priority. But our goal is to limit attendee numbers and increase the quality of the attendee experience. This will not be another trade show. But those who attend will get real value, as that is NAATBatt’s mission in the industry.

Also, don’t forget the Advanced Battery Golf & Tennis Tournament, which will be held on Monday, February 29, at the Indian Wells Golf Resort next door to the Hyatt Regency.

The Indian Wells Golf Resort, which recently underwent an $80 million renovation, is one of the top golf venues in the United States, playing host, among other things, to the PGA TOUR’s Skins Game.

The Advanced Battery Tournament will, like the 2016 Annual Meeting, aim to help our members build new and better business relationships in the industry in a setting which, in late February in the California desert, should be close to perfect.

Contact Jim Greenberger Tel.: +1 312 588-0477 BATTERY JAPAN is the world’s largest rechargeable battery show held annually in Japan. Various components, materials, devices, finished batteries for rechargeable battery R&D and manufacturing will be showcased.

A new featured exhibit area for Battery Management Systems will be launching this year where the latest BMS for enhancing of safety, longer life and power efficiency of batteries will be exhibited.

The Keynote will be led by Nissan Motors, LG Chem and Tesla Motors Japan to discuss “The latest trends of

Monetising Solar + Storage EU Milan, Italy March 3

This is the first European conference focusing on financing and business models for Solar + Storage. Join us in Milan this March and enjoy a unique and high-level conference focusing on business models and financing structures in the grid-connected Solar + Storage industry.

Meet and discuss with utilities, energy storage system providers, project developers, financiers and investors for an interactive, networking-filled event resulting in a commercial vision for the energy transition, your storage solution or storage need.

Contact Eveline Jansen, project manager Tel. +31 10 280 9198, eveline@solarplaza.com www.monetisingstorage.com

The Wall Street Green Summit New York March 14 The 15th Annual Wall Street Green Summit is the longest running and most comprehensive sustainable finance event in the industry. Launched in 2002 by Peter Fusaro, the Wall Street Green Summit covers cutting edge content, industry developments and features the practitioners and the leaders of tomorrow.

The emergence of the so-called ‘Impact Economy’ is where main street investors team up with corporations, entrepreneurs and government to solve environmental and social problems while generating financial returns.

Contact Tel: +1 212 316 0223 www.wsgts.com

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LAUNCHING IN GERMANY

4 – 6 April, 2017 // Sindelfingen, Stuttgart, Germany

CONTACT US TODAY FOR EXHIBITING OPPORTUNITIES INFO@THEBATTERYSHOW.EU

Co-located with

europe 2017

www.thebatteryshow.eu

info@thebatteryshow.eu

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 Metal Air Batteries International Congress Santander, Spain March 8-10 This congress organized by Albufera Energy Storage is aimed to create a meeting point between students, researchers and companies that are immersed in the world of the batteries, and more specifically in metal-air systems.

All aspects from the electrochemical level to technological applications will be presented and discussed.

Metal-air batteries are one of the most promising energy accumulators since they exhibit very high energy densities, volume and weight reduction and low cost. The main advantage over classic batteries is the not energy limitation in the cathode of the battery, being the metallic anode the limiting factor, contrary to other accumulators.

This is because the use of oxygen in the positive electrode, coming free from the air, and so the specific energy of the battery can be as high as that of the anode.

Metals like lithium (11140 Wh/kg), aluminium (8140 Wh/kg), magnesium (6460 Wh/kg), calcium (4180 Wh/kg), etc. present theoretical energy densities that could be able to compete against the nowadays most used energy source for propulsion, gasoline (12200 Wh/ kg theoretical; 2080 Wh/kg practical).

Contact Maja Jousif Gavovic Email: maja.jousif@albufera-energystorage. com

IBA 2016 Nantes, France • March 20-25

Recent successful IBA Meetings were held in Hawaii (2010), Cape Town (2011), Hawaii (2012), Barcelona (2013), Brisbane (2014), and Hawaii (2015). The series of IBA meetings has a great tradition and unique style of blending fundamental research with practical applications in the field of advanced battery materials and systems.

Leading scientists come from around the world to share their recent progress and stimulate discussions on interdisciplinary battery research and development.

The organizing committee invites you to present your recent work in this coming event.

In this meeting will be highlighted the crucial thematic of interfaces and inter-phases, including metal (Li, Na, Mg) interfaces. Of course, communications on all present issues of batteries are welcome and will include: • New electrode and electrolyte materials, new electrode designs, new concepts and new chemistries for improved energy, safety and eco compatibility.

• In-situ and operando characterization of transport and degradation mechanisms of materials, in-

10th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference (IRES 2016) Dusseldorf, Germany • March 15-17

Outstanding scientific presentations, exciting discussions, renowned speakers, international (expert) audience and the newest insights into research and developments with these factors the IRES-conference has established as the leading venue

48 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

in the international storage world. In its anniversary year, EUROSOLAR and WCRE will organize the International Renewable Energy Storage conference for the 10th time.

The conference program will feature 21 sessions focusing on the on the potential of storage from technical, political, legal and social perspectives. The eye-catching poster exhibition displays theoretical and practical examples.

Contact Tel: +49 228 362 373/375 Fax: +49 228 361 279/213 Email: info@eurosolar.org www.eurosolar.de/en/index.php/iresconference-series

terfaces and devices.

• Hierarchical multiscale experiments and modeling.

• System design for micro-devices, electronic devices, electrified transportation as well as stationary applications for renewable energies.

A special session will be dedicated to Michel Armand to honour his contribution sto the field.

The event features plenary conferences, keynote lectures and invited talks, all corresponding speakers being invited by the International Advisory Committee. For efficient discussions around posters, poster sessions will be scheduled every day and all posters will stay displayed all week long.

IBA 2016 will gather about 200 world-class researchers, technologists and industrial participants, representing the best laboratories in the field, who will communicate on their latest advances and breakthroughs. It is a great opportunity to enjoy successful exchanges, to set up new collaborative projects and for students to make contacts for further job opportunities.

The meetings are supported by the US Argonne National Laboratory, the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), the Argonne Center for Collaborative Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Contact www.iba-2016.sciencesconf.org/ Email: iba2016@cnrs-imn.fr

Solar Asset Management North America San Francisco, California, USA March 16-17 Now in its third iteration, Solar Asset Management North America is the world’s largest event dedicated to operations and maintenance, asset management and all other technical and financial topics in the operational phase of solar plants and portfolios.

Joined by 400+ leading developers, investors, O&M service providers, IPPs, utilities, monitoring and data companies, legal and financial advisers, Solar Asset Management North America is the place where to learn everything you need to know to optimize performances and maximize financial returns of your PV assets.

Contact Stefano Cruccu Tel: +31 10 280 9198 Email stefano@solarplaza.com www.solarassetmanagement.us

www.energystoragejournal.com

MONETISING SOLAR + STORAGE EU

3 MARCH 2016 /// MILAN, ITALY

1st European Conference Focusing on Financing and Business Models for Solar + Storage Join Monetising Solar + Storage EU (3rd of March, 2016, Milan), a unique and high-level conference focusing on business models and financing structures in the grid-connected Solar + Storage industry in Europe. Meet and discuss with utilities, energy storage system providers, project developers, financiers and investors for an interactive, networking-filled event resulting in a commercial vision for the energy transition, your storage solution or storage need.

The only European event to focus specifically on monetizing strategies for solar+storage businesses

Gain insight in commercial energy storage business opportunities

Maximum networking time with 20+ utilities, 15+ speakers and 150+ high-level attendees

Obtain invaluable leads through top-executive round table discussions, exclusive networking dinners and one-on-one meeting facilities

REGISTER NOW: WWW.MONETISINGSTORAGE.COM

SOLAR ASSET MANAGEMENT

16-17 MAR 2016

NORTH AMERICA

SAN FRAN CISCO

6-7 APRIL SOLAR FINANCE 2016 SOLUTIONS JO’BURG, SOUTH AFRICA AFRICA

The most complete conference focused on the operational phase of solar (and storage) plants

The only event in Africa dedicated to the financing of Solar and Energy Storage in the C&I segment

• The must-attend event fully dedicated to the operational phase of PV assets • 400+ attendees • 50+ leading experts • 30+ sponsors and exhibitors

Together we will engage to:

Register now: www.solarassetmanagement.us

Register now: www.solarfinancesolutions.com

• lower the threshold to invest in solar & storage • increase the trust of (local) banks • include third-party investment opportunities to scale the market rapidly.

USE THIS PROMO CODE ESJ FOR A 10% DISCOUNT ON YOUR CONFERENCE TICKET! 10%

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 33rd International Battery Seminar & Exhibit Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA March 21-24 Since its debut in 1983, the International Battery Seminar & Exhibit has established itself as the premier event showcasing the state of the art of worldwide energy storage technology developments for consumer, automotive, military, and industrial applications.

Key thought leaders will assemble to not only provide broad perspectives, but also informed insights into significant advances in materials, product development, manufacturing, and application for all battery systems and enabling technologies.

As the longest-running annual battery industry event in the world, this meeting has always been the preferred venue to announce significant new developments, announce new product announcements, and showcase the most advanced battery technology.

The 2016 program plans to unite 500+ battery industry professionals from around the world with particularly strong representation from China, Japan, and Korea.

The audience profile includes presidents, CEOs, COOs, CTOs, EVPs, directors, managers, researchers, and Scientists from battery manufacturers, users, OEMs, equipment/material/component suppliers working in R&D, business development, chemical and materials, energy systems/storage, product design & development, emerging products, regulatory affairs, safety & compliance, systems and cell engineering, technology, marketing, law, sales, and investments.

Spanning four days, this expanded meeting agenda now includes seven preconference workshops, three parallel conference tracks, two post-conference symposia, 75+ technical presentations, an exhibit hall of 55 companies, breakout discussion groups, and dedicated poster viewing and networking sessions.

Thought leaders will present best practice case studies and joint partner presentations relevant to the technologies, research, and regulatory issues of battery technology advancements.

The agenda will feature compelling talks, significant new developments, and important announcements.

Attendance increased more than 30% in 2015 and we expect this number to grow even more in 2016 and beyond. The 33rd International Battery Seminar & Exhibit provides the perfect venue to share information and discuss enabling technologies that are driving the new era of battery technology.

Contact Sherry Johnson Tel: +1 781-972-1359 Email: sjohnson@cambridgeenertech.com

50 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

Intersolar Summit USA East New York, USA March 24 Great growth is being expected in the eastern US solar and energy storage markets, especially now the solar investment tax credit (ITC) has been extended for another five years and governor Cuomo has announced New York State’s approval of a $5 billion Clean Energy Fund to encourage renewable sources of electricity such as solar on January 21.

The market acceleration for New York alone is expected to reach 3,000MW by 2022.

Intersolar Summit USA East gives its attendees a chance, to stay on top of latest policy developments, opportunities and key issues impacting the US East Coast solar and energy storage markets. Officially supported by the New York State Senate represented by senator Kevin Parker, the conference and networking event is one of the most informative and connectionbuilding events for solar and Contact Susanne Bregazzi Tel: +49 7231-58598-0 Fax: +49 7231-58598-28 www.intersolarglobal.com/en/summits/usaeast.html

cuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns, practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted in the field of Lithium Batteries.

ICLB 2016 has teamed up with the Special Journal Issue on Advances in Lithium Batteries. A number of selected high-impact full text papers will also be considered for the special journal issues.

Selected full text papers will be published free of charge.

Contact https://www.waset.org/conference/2016/03/ miami/ICLB

2016 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit Phoenix, Arizona March 28-April 1 Symposia include the following topic areas: • Characterization and modelling of materials • Energy and the environment • Electronics and photonics • Materials design • Nanotechnology • Soft materials and biomaterials • Frontiers of materials research Contact Email: info@mrs.org Tel: +1 724 779 3003 Fax: +1 724-779 8313

ICLB 2016: 18th International Conference on Lithium Batteries

Intersolar Summit Turkey

March 24-25 Miami, Florida, USA

The Turkish solar market holds a tremendous potential for the international photovoltaic industry. While constantly increasing energy prices and growing energy demand make energy from conventional sources more and more expensive, the country has superior solar radiation.

The Intersolar Summit Turkey is a one-day conference and accompanying exhibition. Attracting more than 200 domestic and international solar industry experts, it is a must-attend event

The ICLB 2016: 18th International Conference on Lithium Batteries aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of lithium batteries.

It also provides the premier interdisciplinary forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and dis-

Istanbul, Turkey April 6

www.energystoragejournal.com

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 for organizations seeking to establish a foothold in the promising Turkish solar energy market and its neighbouring countries.

The Intersolar Summit Turkey is characterized by a strong regional focus where delegates can benefit from first-hand expertise about the current business climate, latest policy updates as well as technological innovations presented by opinion leaders and key stakeholders from the solar industry in Turkey.

Delegates will benefit from a multitude of advantages including: • Meet face-to-face with 200+ relevant solar industry stakeholders along the entire value chain • Packed schedule of high-level discussions and expert presentations on current topics • Latest technological advancements for the regional solar industry presented by speakers and exhibitors • Top-notch networking and business matchmaking opportunities Contact Susanne Bregazzi Tel: +49 7231-58598-0 Fax: +49 7231-58598-28 www.intersolar-summit.com/turkey

Solar Finance Solutions Africa Johannesburg, South Africa April 6-7 The Solar Finance Solutions conference, in April, will be the only event in Africa dedicated to the financing of solar and energy storage in the commercial and industrial segment.

Regarded as the answer to Africa’s need for energy, capital is the last hurdle to leverage the possibilities of this abundant form of energy. The event will bring together bankers, lenders, investors, solution providers and project developers to discuss current funding instruments and what is needed to solve the energy needs of C&I businesses in Southern Africa.

Together we will engage to: lower the threshold to invest in solar and storage; increase the trust of local banks; include third-party investment opportunities to scale the market rapidly.

Contact Rik Teeuwen Tel: +31 10 280 9198 rik@solarplaza.com) www.solarfinancesolutions.com

3rd Lithium Battery International Summit (LBIS) Shenzhen, China April 9-12 Leaders representing the world’s foremost academic institutions, lithium battery producers, battery materials

52 • Batteries International • Winter 2015/2016

producers, EV manufacturers (Nissan, BYD, ATL, Toyota, Daimler, Ford, GM), as well as CE and ESS manufacturers, will present their most recent R&D challenges and progress at this 3rd LBIS. The conference will be a great opportunity for science and technology exchanges between academic leaders and industrial leaders from around the world. Together we can discover and discuss new breakthroughs, opportunities, and possible cooperations that could advance the future of energy storage systems and contribute to a better world.

Contact www.lbis.net

Africa Energy Investment Summit Washington, DC, USA April 10-12 The summit will bring together expert participants from governments, multilateral organizations, infrastructure development organizations, energy sector experts, academics, policy and law makers, and members of the energy regulations boards in Africa, to address new initiatives in the energy sector, share innovative practices, and discuss investment opportunities and future projects.

Contact Tel: +1 813 546 6938 Email: info@nkmevents.com

Renewable Distributed Generation Forum Lausanne, Switzerland April 13-15 The Renewable Distributed Generation Forum will examine the very latest technology advances and business models for increasing the penetration of renewable energy while optimizing the business model for stakeholders across the energy ecosystem.

Co-organized by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Energy Center and the Smart Grid Observ-

er, the programme will help attendees meet growing requirements for renewable energy penetration, connect with top financial professionals and project investors, and envision a new ecosystem that is market-based and which enables secure, sustainable energy with a high percentage of renewables.

Both grid-connected and off-grid (microgrid) scenarios will be examined.

Contact www.distributed-generation-forum.com

Next Generation Energy Storage 2016 San Diego California, USA April 18-20 What’s next for battery power? Breakthroughs in new battery chemistries, novel electrode and electrolyte materials, system integration for mobile, and portable and stationary applications have paved the road toward an emerging market with unlimited potential.

Will lithium-ion and alternativechemistry batteries deliver on the promise of power, energy, cost and safety in commercially available energy storage systems?

The Knowledge Foundation’s 6th Annual Next-Generation Energy Storage 2016 convenes leading experts in the fields of battery materials, systems design and integration, manufacturing and commercial applications who address emerging issues driving this pivotal time in the battery industry.

Contact custserv@knowledgefoundation.com, Tel: +1:617 232 7400 Fax: +1 617 232 9171

ESA 28th Annual Conference and Expo Charlotte, North Carolina USA April 25-27 Contact http://energystorage.org/events/esa-26thannual-conference-expo

Africa Utility Week — Clean Power, Africa Cape Town, South Africa • May 17-19 African Utility Week, co-located with Clean Power Africa, has enabled global suppliers and investors to build long-lasting partnerships within the African utility sector and has also played a significant role in providing the industry with valuable knowledge and case studies to help develop the sector and close the funding gap to support Africa’s economic growth.

Contact Spintelligent (Pty) Ltd Tel: +27 21 700 3500 Fax: +27 21 700 3501

www.batteriesinternational.com

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 All Energy 2016

12th China International Battery Fair

Glasgow, Scotland • May 4-5

Shenzhen, China • May 24-26

All-Energy is the UK’s largest renewable energy event, allowing the entire spectrum of the renewables industry to showcase their energy solutions.

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 and wave and tidal sectors, as well as those involved in energy storage, transmission and onsite generation.

Since its launch in 2001, All-Energy has 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 fastchanging marketplace.

Contact Email: all-energy@reedexpo.co.uk Exhibitor enquiries Tel: +44 208 439 5560 Visitor enquiries Tel: +44 208 271 2179 www.all-energy.co.uk

The technical conference of CIBF 2016 will be call “China International Conference on the Frontier Technology of Advanced Batteries, CIBF2016” and will mainly focus on the latest progress on R&D and applications of advanced batteries for electric vehicle and energy storage, in particularly advanced materials for next generation xEV battery and energy storage.

CIBF2016 will set parallel sessions for “Energy Storage”, which not only cover battery energy storage (BES-Chemical Energy Storage), but also cover physical energy storage. In this case, such a session will be named as “BESS session of China International Conference on the Frontier Technology of Advanced Batteries, CIBF2016, jointly with the 6th China International Energy Storage Application Congress.”

All arrangements will be shown in the Program of CIBF 2016, but this part will be jointly organized by CIAPS and China Energy Storage Network.

It is estimated that more than 800 people from 50 countries will attend the conference to share the latest development on batteries, battery materials and integrated power systems for electric vehicles, micro-grids and smart-grids.

There will be also more than 20 business seminars held by the national and international suppliers during the conference.

Contact CIBF2016 office Tel: +86 22-2395 9049/9269 www.cibf.org.cn Lu Hui or Liu Yihan Email: luhui@ciaps.org.cn Email: liuyihan@ciaps.org.cn

Solar Power Southeast Atlanta, Georgia, USA May 25-26 The inaugural regional event was located in Atlanta Georgia last May. Contact Tel: +1 703-738-9464

Australian Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition Sydney, Australia • June 1-2 Energy Storage is emerging as an essential element in driving the change to a cleaner energy future. It is key to areas such as on-grid and off-grid energy management, micro grids for remote and mining communities, as well as electric vehicles and advanced systems for managing the energy of buildings.

Contact Australian Energy Storage Tel:: +61 2 9556 8847 Fax: +61 2 9556 7979 Email: info@australianenergystorage.com.au www.australianenergystorage.com.au

www.batteriesinternational.com

Solar Asset Management Asia (Japan) 2016 Tokyo, Japan June 2-3 Solar Asset Management Asia 2016 is the second iteration of the first ever Asian conference dedicated entirely to all technical and financial aspects of PV assets and portfolios in their operational phase.

The first event attracted 150+ participants and eight industry leading sponsors, and was acknowledged as “a fantastic event to meet with the key players in the Japanese solar industry”, representing a “unique opportunity to learn about Solar Asset Management and O&M” , providing a “space for high-grade discussion among fellow professionals.”

The event complements Solarplaza’s international series of Solar Asset Management previously organized in the US and Italy only.

• The must-attend event is fully dedicated to operational phase of PV assets • 200+ attendees from across Asia, representing the value chain from service provider to asset manager and investor • 30+ expert speakers on stage sharing their vision, expertise and experience • International sponsors and exhibitors profiling themselves and their leading products and services Contact Stefano Cruccu Email: stefano@solarplaza.com Saori Minamino Email: saori@solarplaza.com www.solarassetmanagement.asia/

229th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society San Diego, California, USA May 29-June 3 2016 Contact http://www.electrochem.org/ecs/staff.htm

Solar Power Southwest San Antonio, Texas, USA June 7-8 Part of Solar Power’s events series and focused on Texas and the southwest of the USA. This will be the first time it is in Texas for a regional event.

Contact www.solarpowerinternational.com/about/ calendar-of-events/

Batteries International • Winter 2015/2016 • 53

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 2016 International Flow Battery Forum

Advanced Automotive 18th International meeting on lithium batteries Chicago, USA June 19-24

Karlsruhe, Germany • June 7-9 We invite you to join us at the seventh International Flow Battery Forum at Karlsruhe, Germany, bringing together all those interested in research, development, commercialisation and deployment of flow batteries.

The 2016 meeting will also include an industry day for manufacturers, developers, users and investors to address the specific issues relating to the market opportunities for flow batteries in the increasingly competitive energy storage market place, and an industry visit.

There will be an exhibitor area, inside and outside the conference area for suppliers, manufacturers and developers to display their products and services. Our introductory session will be of interest to newcomers to the industry.

We welcome exhibitors and sponsors. Working together in partnership not only allows us to achieve a successful conference, but allows us all to achieve greater visibility within market place, and create new busi-

ness opportunities and ventures. We are delighted to announce that our host for 2016 will be Fraunhofer ICT and we will visit their flow battery installation on the hills at the edge of the Black Forest during IFBF. Schedule June 6 (optional introductory seminar on flow battery essentials).

June 7: Industry day commercialization, marketing, financing and operational experience for flow battery? evelopment with invited presentations and discussion sessions, with evening reception and visit to the new flow battery installation at Fraunhofer ICT. June 8 and 9: Scientific, technical and commercial papers on flow battery research, development, demonstration and deployment Contact Aud Heyden Email: aud@flowbatteryforum.com

EUROBAT AGM & Forum 2016 Berlin, Germany • June 16, 17

The great and the good of the European battery and energy storage scene meet for the annual general meeting, networking dinner and forum.

54 • Batteries International • Winter 2015/2016

Contact Rene Schroeder, EU Affairs Manager Tel: +32 2 761 16 53 Email: eurobat@eurobat.org

IMLB 2016 is the premier international conference on the state of lithium battery science and technology, as well as current and future applications in transportation, commercial, aerospace, biomedical, and other promising sectors. Convening in the heart of downtown Chicago, the conference is expected to draw 2,000 experts, researchers, and company representatives involved in the lithium battery field.

On behalf of the International Organizing Committee, we invite you to participate in IMLB 2016. This international meeting will provide an exciting forum to discuss recent progress in advanced lithium batteries for energy storage and conversion. The meeting will focus on both basic and applied research findings that have led to improved Li battery materials, and to the understanding of the fundamental processes that determine and control electrochemical performance.

The meeting will cover a wide range of topics relating to lithium battery science and technology including, but not limited to: • General and national projects • Anodes and cathodes • Nanostructured materials for lithium batteries • Liquid electrolytes and ionic liquids • Polymer, gel, and solid electrolytes • Issues related to sources and availability of materials for Li batteries • Li battery recycling • Electrode/electrolyte interface phenomena • Safety, reliability, cell design and engineering • Monitoring, control and validation systems • Manufacturing and formation techniques • Primary and rechargeable Li cells • Industrial production and development for HEVs, PHEVs, and EVs • Latest developments in Li battery technology Contact The Electrochemical Society Tel: +1 609 737 1902 ext 121 Email: imlb@electrochem.org

www.batteriesinternational.com

EUROPE’S LARGEST EXHIBITION FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

JUNE 22–24, 2016 MUNICH GERMANY

CHARGING THE FUTURE ENERGY STORAGE MEETS NORTH AMERICA'S MOST-ATTENDED SOLAR EVENT! INDIA’S LARGEST SOLAR EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS ENERGY STORAGE INNOVATIONS

JULY 12–14, 2016 SAN FRANCISCO USA OCT 19–21, 2016 MUMBAI INDIA

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION SERIES FOR BATTERIES AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

www.ees-events.com

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 The event’s exhibition and conference both focus on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage systems and solar thermal technologies. Since being founded, Intersolar has become the most important industry platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners in the global solar industry.

A total of 530 exhibitors and 17,473 trade visitors participated in Intersolar North America in 2014.

EES Europe

Munich, Germany Exhibition: June 22–24 • Conference: June 21–22 This is the most-attended of all the renewable energy events in Europe.

Over 40,000 visitors are expected to see EES Europe and Intersolar Europe.

The areas of focus are rechargeable batteries, energy storage systems, charging technologies and battery production equipment and related materials as well as battery production equipment and materials The visitor profile consists of: manufacturers and systems providers of the batteries and energy storage sector; manufacturers and systems providers of the renewable energies sector ; systems integrators for batteries, energy storage systems and E-mobility; utility companies; grid operators; municipalities and pub-

6th Annual New Energy Forum Kintex, Goyang-si, South Korea June 30-July 3 With the reduction of traditional fossil fuels and increasingly serious global environmental degradation and health dangers, we are ready to meet a new age of energy production. While human demands for energy will not decrease, the largest shifts are the increase in the renewable energy share and the decline in the traditional energy share. New energy occupies an increasingly important position in the whole energy system.

New sources of energy, aided by improved technology and productivity, underpinned by large-scale investments make a significant contribution to supply growth.

Entering its 6th year, New Energy Forum has been grown substantially, NEF-2016 will provide a perfect opportunity to researchers from academia and professionals from industry, as well as government regulators to tackle energy challenges, and exchange best practices about improved new energy technology and cooperation.

56 • Batteries International • Winter 2015/2016

lic Institutions; energy trading firms; RE power plants operators; planners and installers; equipment and materials manufacturers; planners and operators of UPS and back-up power systems; manufacturers of specialpurpose vehicles; OEMs in the automotive industry, and researchers The exhibitor profile consists of manufacturers; suppliers; distributors; service providers; project developers/EPCs; system integrators; research institutes; and, battery production equipment and materials professionals Contact Solar Promotion Tel: +49 7231 58598-0 Fax: +49 7231 58598-28 The forum has been successfully held in the past five years. This year we have selected the best programme yet which involves six professional parallel forums. We believe it will set off a new upsurge of cleanness and sustainability energy again.

Contact Ms Lynn (BIT Group Global) Tel: +86 411 8479 9609-801 Fax: +86 411-8479 6897 Email: linhui@bitlifesciences.com

Intersolar North America 2016 San Francisco July 11-13 conference July 12-14 exhibition Since its establishment in 2008, Intersolar North America has become the most attended solar event and the premier networking platform for the North American solar industry. Colocated with SEMICON West, it takes place annually at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, the United States’ pioneering solar market.

Contact Susanne Bregazzi Tel: +49 7231-58598-0 Fax: +49 7231-58598-28 Website: www.intersolar.us

Intersolar South America 2016 São Paulo, Brazil August 23-25 The South American solar market is one of the most promising in the world. As energy consumption shoots up, businesses, governments and consumers are looking for ways to make power and heat generation more affordable. Decision-makers at all levels are prepared to start working with more future-ready solutions to quench the region’s new thirst for energy.

The Brazilian solar market shows enormous potential, being globally ranked as one of the most promising future markets within the solar industry. Brazil’s government plans to add photovoltaic systems delivering a total 3.5GW, to the country’s electricity supply by 2023.

With 9,000 visitors from 34 countries and over 800 conference attendees, Intersolar South America 2015 attracted more than double its expected attendance, making it South America’s largest solar exhibition and conference.

Some 115 exhibitors from 11 countries showcased their products in 2015 – an increase of 60% over 2014 – and gave highly positive feedback in their testimonials.

Combining local and international expertise, Intersolar South America brings together the PV sector to discuss the current status and trends strategic to South American PV markets, as well as technology innovations and new business opportunities.

The event is an important meeting ground for professionals along the entire PV value chain, and is all the more relevant given the recent strong growth in the Brazilian and other South American PV markets.

Contact Susanne Bregazzi Tel: +49 7231-58598-0 Fax: +49 7231-58598-28 www.intersolar.net.br

www.batteriesinternational.com

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2016 access to key buyers from across the Middle East and Northern Africa!

Contact Susanne Bregazzi Tel: +49 7231-58598-0 Fax: +49 7231-58598-28 www.intersolar.ae

Intersolar India 2016 Mumbai, India October 19-21

Solar Power International 2016 Las Vegas • September 12-15 Solar Power International (SPI) generates success for solar energy professionals and the global solar industry. SPI is ranked #109 in the Top 250 Largest Trade Shows (by Trade Show News Network), making SPI the largest solar show in North America.

In addition, SPI is a Gold 100 trade show (as ranked by Trade Show Executive), making it the only solar show to make both lists.

• SPI is North America’s premier business-to-business event for professionals in the solar energy and related fields.

• More than 15,000 solar energy industry professionals from 75+ countries attend.

• More than 600 leading manufacturers, service providers, and vendors on the exhibition floor.

10th Energy Storage World Forum Melbourne, Australia September 12-16 Dufresne, the event management groups, started researching this event in 2009 and The Energy Storage World Forum was the first three day dedicated conference on stationary storage to take place in Europe and in Asia since 2010.

Over 2000 delegates (in total) and a total of 340 speakers, including more than 80 different utilities/TSOs/DSOs/ DNOs from 28 countries have attended our past seven Energy Storage World Forums.

These events took place in Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Rome and London bringing together an international array of speakers combined with local knowledge.

Contact Tel: +44 208 09 016 13 www.energystorageforum.com/asia

Intersolar Middle East 2016 Dubai, United Arab Emirates September 19-21

www.energystoragejournal.com

SPI brings the full range of industry ideas, experts, professionals, and information together in one comprehensive event that delivers: • Peer-led educational programming designed to exchange ideas, share lessons learned, and provide solutions for your business.

• Unique networking opportunities that allow you to solidify your current relationships and build new ones.

• Connections with industry vendors and professionals from the US and around the world as they showcase their newest products and services.

Contact www.solarpowerinternational.com/

The MENA region is predestined as a location for solar energy production.

With some of the highest solar irradiance levels in the world, large open spaces and an increasing demand for energy, experts verify the high growth potential of the region’s solar industry.

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 are teaming up with DMG events Middle East and Asia to organize Intersolar Middle East in conjunction with GulfSol. 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 the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies.

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

Intersolar India is the country’s largest exhibition and conference for the solar industry. It takes place annually at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai.

The event’s exhibition and conference both focus on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage and solar thermal technologies.

In 2015, 200 international exhibitors and around 11,000 visitors attended Intersolar India. Some 100 speakers and about 680 attendees discussed current industry topics and shed light on the conditions surrounding technological, market and political developments at the accompanying conference.

Contact Susanne Bregazzi Tel: +49 7231-58598-0 Fax: +49 7231-58598-28 www.intersolar.in

Solar Asset Management Europe 2016 Milan, Italy November 9-10

Solar Asset Management is Solarplaza’s flagship event and widely considered as Europe’s leading conference dedicated to optimization of the operational phase of PV plants and portfolios For the third year in a row, Solar Asset Management Europe will bring together the leading investors, owners and service providers in the European PV industry. The event provides an unparalleled networking opportunity, as well as the best way to learn about innovations and best practices for optimizing performance, management and financial returns of PV assets.

This must-attend event is fully dedicated to the operational phase of PV assets. It will contain: • 400+ attendees, representing the value chain from service provider to asset manager and investors • 50+ leading experts on stage sharing their vision, expertise and experience • 30+ sponsors and exhibitors profiling themselves and their leading products/services Contact Stefano Cruccu Email: stefano@solarplaza.com Shushan Khachatryan Email: shushan@solarplaza.com

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 57

HEROES OF SOLAR Scientific advancement, argued philosopher Karl Popper, is less about following a set plan to reach a goal but the importance of our ability to learn from our mistakes. Batteries historian Kevin Desmond reports on the genius — and accidental discovery — behind the first solar battery.

The three from Murray Hill

It sometimes happens that scientists from entirely different backgrounds come together to form the catalyst behind a great invention. And perhaps the most revolutionary of thinking was finding the way of turning the power of the sun directly into electricity and creating the first so-called “solar battery”.

Our heroes this time? A mix of an engineer, a physicist and a chemist — three middle-aged boffins called Chapin, Pearson and Fuller working at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey.

Hero number one: Daryl Chapin an engineer. Following his Masters at Washington University in 1929, he started at Bell Labs by investigating magnetic materials. During World War II, he evaluated underwater acoustics. Following three years of work on magnetic recording, he turned his attention to special projects such as magnetic measurement, simulated speech, miniaturization, and pulse code transmission.

Hero number two: Gerald Pearson a physicist. Following his Masters degree at Stanford University in 1929, he was hired by Bell Labs and began to research noise in resistors, vacuum tubes and carbon microphones. Having worked on military projects during World War II, in 1945 when science groups at Bell were reorganized, Pearson was put into a lab dedicated to studying solid state physics. From then on he concentrated on semiconductor research. In this field he had been concerned with thermistors, transistors and silicon reflectors.

Hero number three: Calvin Fuller a chemist. Following a PhD at the University of Chicago, he joined Bell in 1930 and began by researching organic insulating material. Several years later, Fuller turned his attention to the study of plastics and synthetic 58 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

Gerald Pearson, Daryl Chapin and Calvin Fuller, a 1954 photo checking a sample device in this demonstration. Photo: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc

In early 1953 an accidental collaboration behind these three produced a momentous invention — and something that potentially could lead (eventually) to the future energy salvation of the human race. Just possibly anyway. rubber, including investigations of the molecular nature of polymers and the development of plastics and rubber for telephone and associated apparatus. From 1948, Fuller had been concentrating on semiconductor research and the development of semiconductor devices.

But in early 1953 an accidental collaboration behind these three produced a momentous invention — and

something that potentially could lead (eventually) to the future energy salvation of the human race.

Just possibly anway.

It started with Daryl Chapin who had been trying to develop a source of power for telephone systems in remote humid locations, where dry cell batteries degrade too quickly. He had investigated several alternative energy sources, and settled on solar power www.energystoragejournal.com

HEROES OF SOLAR as one of the most promising. His research had led him to using selenium solar cells, but he found them too inefficient. He was unable to surpass a minimal level, 1% or so, of efficiency.

However, in another part of Bell Labs, professors Pearson and Fuller had been working on a separate project: that of controlling the properties of semiconductors by introducing impurities. One day Fuller gave Pearson a piece of silicon containing gallium impurities. Pearson dipped it in lithium, creating a p-n junction. Pearson hooked up an ammeter to the piece of silicon and shone a light on it.

To their surprise, the ammeter jumped significantly.

Pearson, who was aware of Chapin’s work, immediately told his friend not to waste any more time on selenium solar cells, and Chapin switched to silicon.

The silicon solar cell may mark the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of one of mankind’s most cherished dreams–the harnessing of the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization” — New York Times

Silicon solar cells

The three worked for several months together on improving the properties of their silicon solar cells. One problem was the difficulty in making good electrical contacts with the silicon cells. Another problem was that at room temperature, lithium migrated through the silicon over time, moving the p-n junction farther away from the incoming sunlight. To solve that problem, they tried different impurities, and eventually settled on arsenic and boron, which created a p-n junction that stayed near the surface.

They also found they were able to make good electrical contacts with the boron-arsenic silicon cells. Fuller devised a special furnace and a melting process to get rid of the impurities in silicon.

After making some other improvements to the design, they linked together several solar cells to create what they called a “solar battery”.

Many years later, Fuller’s oldest son Robert Fuller would recall: “In 1954 I was home from vacation from college to visit my parents. That night my father, Calvin Souther Fuller, came home with something that looked like a quarter with wires sticking out of it.

This was a device that connected to a small electric windmill that stood on the table.

“He shined a bright flashlight on the quarter-like object, which was actually silicon solar cell, and the blades of the windmill started turning. It was so exciting to see the flashlight power the tiny windmill. While this device looked like a quarter to anyone else, www.energystoragejournal.com

D.F. Ciccolella, Bell Laboratories engineer, compares the electrical output of the battery with the total energy availability from the sun, as measured by a pyrheliometer. Photo: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc

1955: The Bell Solar Battery, being used in experiments, in Georgia, to develop more and better rural telephone service. A Southern Bell cable repairman is adjusting the device to pick up the prevailing light Photo: AlcatelLucent USA Inc

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 59

HEROES OF SOLAR it was actually the world’s first silicon solar battery — a device that later become known as the silicon solar cell.”

A historic press release reads:

“News from Bell Telephone Laboratories. For Release at 6pm, Sunday, April 25, 1954. A solar battery — the first successful device to convert useful amounts of the sun’s energy directly and efficiently into electricity — was demonstrated today at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

“Scientists there, with an amazingly simple-looking apparatus made of strips of silicon, showed how the sun’s rays could be used to power the transmission of voices over telephone wires. The Bell solar battery also used energy from the sun to power a transistor radio carrying both speech and music. Bell Laboratories reported that it was able to achieve a 6% efficiency in converting sunlight directly into electricity. This compares favourably with the efficiency of steam and gasoline engines, in contrast with other photoelectric devices which have never been rated higher than 1 per cent.

“A demonstration of the revolutionary new solar energy battery will be given by Bell Laboratories at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, Monday, April 26.”

Following this demonstration, the New York Times wrote that the silicon solar cell “may mark the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of one of mankind’s most cherished dreams–the harnessing of the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization.”

On May 3 Time magazine published the following: “Turning the sun’s energy directly into electricity has long been a goal of scientists. In Washington last week, the Bell Telephone Laboratories demonstrated a solar battery which can convert sunlight into usable electric current without costly intermediate steps. The Bell Solar Battery resembles a miniature xylophone.

It is made of wafer-thin strips of specially treated silicon, linked in series.

Silicon is a semiconductor, i.e., under certain conditions it can be made to carry electricity. The battery is far more efficient than other photoelectric devices (eg the cells used in light meters), produces enough electricity— 50 watts per square yard of exposed surface — to power small radio transmitters, record players and the like.”

Soon after, the solar three published 60 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

Gerald Pearson Photo: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc

www.energystoragejournal.com

HEROES OF SOLAR After making some other improvements to the design, they linked together several solar cells to create what they called a “solar battery”.

Calvin Fuller Photo: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc

Daryl Chapin Photo: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc

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a paper in the Journal of Applied Physics. It was called “A New Silicon p-n Junction Photocell for Converting Solar Radiation into Electrical Power”.

A new era in energy storage and creation had been formalized.

AT&Ts film unit now made a 13-minute documentary about the “Bell Solar Battery”. While shooting at Murray Hill took only six days, the script had been in preparation, undergoing various revisions, for several months. The three inventors — Chapin, Fuller and Pearson were each photographed in typical laboratory locations as they talked briefly about their work.

To place the solar battery in a broader context, over in the UK at Cambridge University, British physicist Francis Crick and US biologist James Watson unveiled their famous double helix model of DNA. Meanwhile, Marilyn Monroe is starring in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and is also on the front cover of the very first issue of Playboy, and Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” is being played in juke boxes around the world. The wealthiest in America were watching some of the first colour televisions and cooking with the earliest Teflon nonstick pans.

Daryl Chapin and his colleagues then had to prove that, although work was still in the laboratory stage, the actual practical use of the solar battery in the telephone business was a strong possibility. They were eager to show that silicon solar batteries could be used as power supplies for lowpowered mobile equipment, as a sunpowered battery charger which could be used at amplifier stations along a rural telephone system.

That first demonstration was not to take place until the autumn. The site chosen was the rural town of Americus, Georgia. And on October 4, 1955, County Commission chairman, George Mathews made the world’s first solar-powered telephone call, in the 28th District, near Bethel Baptist Church. We do not know to whom he phoned or what was said.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 61

HEROES OF SOLAR Just over three weeks later, William Henry “Bill” Gates was born in Seattle, Washington.

In 1957, Chapin, Pearson and Fuller were awarded US Patent No 2780765 for a “Solar Energy Converting Apparatus”. During the next three years, Bell scientists continued to improve the solar battery, increasing its efficiency from 6% to 11%. The team responsible included KD Smith, EJ Stansbury, CJ Frosch and DF Ciccolella. Another company, Hoffman Electronics, was also working on more efficient panels.

Very soon, the US Department of Defense realised an extremely valuable application of this device as it deployed self-sufficient, power to vehicles and satellites in space. So it was that the earliest significant application of solar cells was as a back-up power source to the Vanguard I satellite launched on March 17, 1958.

The initial 1.4 kg spherical Vanguard satellites were built at the NRL, and contained as their payload seven mercury cell batteries in a hermetically sealed container, two tracking radio transmitters, a temperature sensitive crystal, and six clusters of solar

The US Department of Defense realised it could deploy self-sufficient power to vehicles and satellites in space.

The earliest significant application of solar cells was as a back-up power source to the Vanguard I satellite launched on March 17, 1958. cells on the surface of the sphere. The latter allowed Vanguard 1 to continue transmitting for over a year after its chemical battery was exhausted.

The successful operation of solar cells on this mission was duplicated in many other Soviet and American satellites; for example, in 1962, Telstar, the first communications satellite, was powered by 3,600 solar batteries. Seven years later, Bell scientists adapted these principles to translate electronic data into light energy. This led to the charge-coupled device, or CCD, now used in digital cameras and the internet.

And as for the three pioneers.

With a total of 33 patents to his name, Fuller eventually retired to Vero Beach, Florida, although he spent his time travelling around the US in a Silver Stream Camper with his wife. He

died aged 92.

As early as 1958, Pearson had returned to Stanford University where he set up a solid state electronics programme which put his old university in the forefront of the universities in this field. He continued researching into his 79th year.

In 1959, Chapin simplified the solar-cell making process. It became a widely used science experiment for advanced high school students, who used Chapin’s accompanying textbook “Energy from the Sun”. On the afternoon of his death in January 1995, aged 88, in Naples, Florida, Chapin was working with a friend on a new board game for the blind.

On May 2, 2008, posthumously, the three were elected to the US National Inventors Hall of Fame for their invention of the “Silicon Solar Cell.” n

Bell Laboratories in the late 1950s — a photo now seemingly redolent of a distant and more innocent age Photo: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc

62 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

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d r o w t s a l e Th Bob is sixth to the left of centre in the first row standing. Next to him is his wife Susie.

Big Red wins China’s Friendship Award It’s another honour for Bob Galyen — better known across the battery industry as the Big Red. The nickname — historically it applies to the colour of his hair and his height and not his political views — makes a convenient link to receipt of his latest accolade: the Chinese government’s Friendship Award.

This is the highest prize granted to foreign experts in recognition of their outstanding contributions in the fields of society, economy, technology, education and culture.

For Bob it’s his work for AVL that

is being honoured. AVL is one of a new generation of lithium ion pack manufacturers and as chief technical officer Bob’s been responsible for helping develop a containerized energy storage system that is sweeping the country.

Each year 50 winners are invited to the award ceremony in Beijing and received by the government leaders here — Chinese vice-premier Ma Kai and premier Li Keqiang Bob said: “The awards bestowed by the Chinese are humbling to receive.”

Pot power pulls the plug It’s the law of unintended consequence magnified by 10.

Who would have believed that the power crisis hitting the US is now being exacerbated by a new generation of marijuana growing?

And with a wave of everything from pot warehouses being built across the west coast to special closets being sold for growing weed in Washington DC, a new industry is emerging.

At a recent joint panel in Austin one expert estimated that a $35 billion a year industry was emerging — of which one third was picking up the electric bill. “This isn’t even a high one,” another panellist quipped. “And it’s such a new industry we’re getting blitzed by the demand.”

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Lead ‘gigafactories’ to bite back It’s easy to knock lead but it’d be foolish to write it off. Even Elon Musk’s famous disparaging remarks about lead didn’t stop him adding a second battery (lead acid) in the Tesla.

Now lead’s biting back with a company called Gridtential which promises to double most of leads specs in terms of power, PSOC and cycle life with the addition of a solar substrate plate that could fit into lead battery manufacturing lines across the world.

“The lead gigafactory could just be around the corner,” says one commentator.

Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016 • 63

d r o w t s a l e Th The ultimate solar+storage test?

The World Solar Challenge The monotonous in pursuit of the unachievable.

That was our foolish prejudgment of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge — the 3022 kilometre epic journey across Australia that happens every two years as a squad of solar-powered vehicles drive from Darwin in the barren wastes of the north to the barren wastes of the south — aka Adelaide.

Foolish? We mistakenly thought watching some glorified solar panels drifting in a straight line through a desert would be boring.

Far from it.

According to Dan Varidd, our race commentator: “Within an hour the first casualty had emerged. Perhaps the most high profile was Malaysia’s entry from the University of Technology — it caught on fire. And humiliation on humiliation the high-tech battery pack had to be replaced by the clearly more reliable lead acid batteries.

The winner was the Dutch Nuon 8 which arrived in the desolate Adelaide suburbs having averaged a speed of 92km/hr.

Monsters Inc visits It’s the ultimate in renewables. Why bother with solar or wind when you’ve got a voice? Why bother with energy storage at all? You’ve got a voice haven’t you?

Screams extracted from the population of Britain, as per the Pixar film Monsters Inc could generate enough energy to power the UK, according to the University of Leicester.

By multiplying the average person’s daily energy usage in Britain (125 kWh) by the 64 million population you can estimate the energy needed to meet Britain’s requirements.

The UK would need everyone to scream 2,800,000,000 times a day at the highest volume humanly possible (129 dB).

Deep breaths everyone!

That’s the word for it.

To those ne’er-do-wells without a full academic certification in dead languages, it means “relating to the sun”.

But it’s also the term that’s going to applied to a new anthem about to hit the battery market charts— and already showcased this year at the ABC opening meeting and the Solar Challenge race.

The music was composed by Toby Rand, the Ozzie pop star, and whose father is better known as David ‘Pompey football is not dead but sleepeth’ Rand.

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64 • Energy Storage Journal • Winter 2015/2016

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