Energy Storage

Victoria’s Labor government this morning announced it will target 2.6 GW of renewable energy storage capacity by 2030, and 6.3 GW by 2035.

A new $8 million large-scale, network-connected battery at Tanby on Queensland’s Capricorn Coast is expected to help facilitate the continued integration of renewables, including rooftop solar PV, into the state’s energy system.

United Renewable Energy has energised a 15 MW/15 MWh battery energy storage system connected to a 150 MW solar park located near the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan.

Indonesia will have to get to work installing more than 24 GW of solar this year – and every year – if the region is to achieve the 2.1 TW to 2.4 TW of photovoltaics the International Renewable Energy Agency has estimated it will require to achieve a net zero carbon energy system by 2050.

The Northern Territory government has signed an agreement with Taiwanese battery company Aleees and Western Australia-based miner Avenira to develop a battery cathode manufacturing plant in Darwin.

A Tesla Megapack battery caught fire at PG&E’s Elkhorn large-scale battery storage facility in Monterey County, California, in the early hours of Sept. 21. The fire was brought fully under control by the late afternoon, and its cause is under investigation.

The two batteries have a storage capacity of 13 and 19.5 kWh, respectively. Both lithium-ion systems use LiFePO4 as the cathode material and have a round-trip efficiency of over 86%.

Energy Vault’s EVx storage system is comparable to pumped hydro, using grid-scale renewable energy when supply is abundant to drive motors and raise 30-ton blocks on a six-arm crane tower, rather than water, up to a height. When power needs to be discharged back to the grid, the blocks are lowered, harvesting the kinetic energy.

Solar PV technology manufacturer Canadian Solar plans to quadruple its battery manufacturing capacity by the end of 2023. A part of that strategy is a new 2.8 MWh lithium-ferro phosphate battery which will be unveiled at the RE+ conference in California this week.

Prime Infra recently acquired a 500 MW pumped storage hydropower project in Rizal province in the Philippines. The company is also developing a 1.4 GW facility in the country.