Energy Storage

While the Hornsdale Power Reserve “is doing its job” and is performing as expected, owner Neoen has urged market observers not jump to conclusions as to its profitability based on its arbitrage trading over the short term.

The proposed 50,000 home virtual power plant launched by the South Australian state government, in partnership with Tesla, is a big deal. But it does beg a number of questions as to how it will be realized and what the implications of the project could be.

South Australia could play host to the world’s largest deployment of residential solar+storage in the form of a virtual power plant. The scheme, announced by SA Premier Jay Weatherill on the election campaign trail, could see 250 MW of rooftop PV and 650 MWh of battery storage added to 50,000 homes over 4.5 years.

Issuing a call for action, a report commissioned by the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies outlines Australia’s opportunity to expand along the estimated $2 trillion lithium chain in the next two years.

The Austrian inverter specialist is launching a new version of its Energy Package upgraded with storage units from LG Chem.

The head of the Chilean Economic Development Agency (Corfo), Eduardo Bitran says that Tesla may partner with local lithium producer SQM in the construction of a factory. The Chilean government and SQM have recently settled a dispute that began in 2014.

The number of battery storage systems being installed alongside PV doubled in 2017. The latest data from the Clean Energy Regulator shows that 3,763 battery storage systems were installed alongside a small-scale PV array, up from 1,566 in 2016.

An academic event held last week in the U.K. presenting the results of two major research projects on energy storage provided an update on the current and future directions of battery storage technology and development.

Victorian homebuilder Porter Davis has announced its plans to equip 50 new knockdown rebuild homes in Victoria with the Bradford Solar ChargePack, which comes with free solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall 2 battery, offering a chance to new home owners to insulate their households against rising power prices.

The territory government announced on Friday that it has paid more than $3 million in grants to six companies. The money will support the roll out of storage installations in homes and businesses across the capital territory, in the form of rebates for customers buying energy storage systems.