Battery Storage

Swell Energy today announced that it has raised $120 million to grow its virtual power plants (VPPs). Virtual power plants allow clean energy to be quickly added to the grid to address frequency and voltage imbalances, local disruptions, and keep the grid stable.

Zero-carbon industrial heat company Rondo Energy has launched two commercial models of its Rondo Heat Battery, which uses electric heating elements, like in a toaster or oven, to turn clean power into high-temperature heat. Rondo says its heat battery is a drop-in replacement for fossil-fired boilers.

New clean energy communities are coming to California. Leading homebuilder KB Homes announced Wednesday it has established what it calls the first all-electric, solar-and-battery-powered microgrid community in the golden state.

In an interesting plot twist, the same Ford plant used to make vehicle engines is now using the technology that powers EVs to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint.

Meet Crimson Storage, the world’s largest single-phase battery, which is now live in the California desert.

The Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam West Loch Annex just broke ground for the Kūpono Solar Project, a solar-plus-storage system in O‘ahu, Hawai‘i.

Italian startup Energy Dome yesterday announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Danish wind giant Ørsted. Together, they will run a feasibility study on the deployment of a 20 megawatt (MW)/200 MWh energy storage facility using Energy Dome’s CO2 Battery technology at one or more Ørsted sites.

Italian startup Energy Dome has now begun to commercialize the world’s first CO2 Battery, which was launched earlier this month in Sardinia, Italy. The battery uses carbon dioxide to store renewable energy on the grid, and Energy Dome says the technology can be quickly deployed anywhere in the world.

Capistrano Volkswagen/Mazda, a car dealership in San Juan Capistrano, California, has partnered with San Diego-based solar and battery installation company Stellar Solar to offer EV customers solar, battery storage, and EV connectivity to power their cars with clean energy.

A 10.5 gigawatt (GW) solar and wind farm will be built in Morocco’s Guelmim-Oued Noun region, and it will supply the UK with clean energy via subsea cables. The twin 1.8 GW high voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cables will be the world’s longest.

Power plant developers and operators are expected to add 51 gigawatts (GW) of new solar and battery storage projects to the US power grid from 2022 to 2023, which will make up 60% of new generating capacity, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

2021 was a record-breaking year for investment in and deployment of clean energy, battery storage, and EVs in the US, according to the “2022 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook” published today by BloombergNEF (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE).

Toronto-headquartered global energy transition platform Amp Energy is going to build what will be known as the Scottish Green Battery Complex. They will be the two largest grid-connected battery storage facilities in Europe.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed paper-thin biodegradable zinc batteries. Once the batteries are expended, they break down in soil within weeks.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Bighorn Solar is now powering a Colorado steel mill almost entirely with solar.
• sonnen and Rocky Mountain Power pioneer a new battery storage and solar program.
• Shell’s solar platform Silicon Ranch acquires Clearloop.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Hexicon’s tilted towers floating wind power platform earns a European patent.
• The Solar Energy Industries Association launches a new diversity certification program.
• The Argonne National Laboratory is offering a free 15-minute webinar about threats to rare earth minerals.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

US large-scale battery power capacity grew by 35% in 2020 and has tripled in the last five years, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

While legislators battle over federal infrastructure bills, some US states are out of the gate when it comes to adopting clean energy.

The Florida Power and Light (FPL) Company’s Manatee Energy Storage Center, the world’s largest solar-powered battery system capable of powering Walt Disney World for around seven hours, is now 75% complete.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Here are 3 ways clean energy is boosting grid resilience right now in the face of extreme weather.
• Massachusetts announces $1.6 million in grants to support offshore wind workforce training.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

One of the US’s largest energy companies, Con Edison, has announced a contract with Centrica Business Solutions to transform a lot in Brooklyn, New York, into an energy hub complete with 18 350kW EV chargers and a battery energy storage system (ESS). Con Edison claims this will be the first hub in New York City that combines both energy storage and EV charging.