Distributed Storage

At present, China accounts for almost 75% of global lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity and this share is set to increase through the short term with its build-out of new facilities. And although the US and Europe are enacting policies to encourage domestic battery production, there has been a distinct lack of support for investment in the supply and refining of the raw materials to achieve this. In China, the opposite holds true. 

The rush to deliver energy storage solutions to support Australia’s electricity grid continues apace with Meridian Energy Australia receiving approval to install a 20 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) alongside the Hume Hydroelectric Power Station in regional New South Wales.

Chip Breitenkamp, of Nanograf, discusses American battery manufacturing, how to ensure a resilient and equitable supply chain, and how to create jobs.

Dutch transmission system operator Tennet, which also serves Germany, is planning to create flexible electricity demand and reduce grid congestion by promoting the use of smarter heating systems and heat pumps that can also be powered by solar and wind energy. According to its experts, intelligent control of heat pumps may result in the creation of between 0.5 and 1 GW of temporary grid flexibility by 2030.

Western Australia’s government has today announced plans to construct what will be the state’s largest VPP to be hosted in the Perth suburb Southern River.

Australian battery casing company, Vaulta, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Quickstep, an Australian aerospace composites manufacturer, to develop smarter technology for renewables. The partnership will likely explore integrating battery casing technology that reduces the number of parts needed to house the batteries in electric vehicles.

Western Australia’s government-owned utility Horizon Power and electrical engineering company Ampcontrol have today announced their joint venture Boundary Power, supercharging the state’s standalone power system rollout and broader industry. To mark the occasion, Boundary Power has also unveiled its new, modular SPS Gen 2 and announced a $10 million deployment of another 45 off-grid systems across the state.

In an earnings call this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk boldly claimed that the company will soon be “the market leader in solar.”

OpenSolar’s latest capability makes unsecured loans from a reputable fintech accessible to consumers, and frees solar sales reps to focus on the main game.

Of the myriad tensions upon the energy transition to renewables it is perhaps the ability of solar and energy storage to be distributed among the people that has threatened the powers that be most overtly. And so, in NSW’s northwest where the federal government has pushed through Santos’s Narrabri coal seam gas project, perhaps it is community green energy non-profit Geni.Energy that is best able to show just how unnecessary such a project is.