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The POWER Interview: Fluence Exec Offers Insight on Energy Storage

August 23, 2022

There’s global growth in energy storage. The latest evidence is a report that BlackRock, the New York-based asset manager and a major player in energy sector, is ready to buy Akyasha Energy, an Australian company that specializes in battery storage and renewable energy projects.

BlackRock in an Aug. 16 news release said it would commit about $ 700 million to develop more than 1 GW of battery energy storage. The group said it would at a future date expand Akyaysha projects across Taiwan and Japan.

Virginia-based Fluence, a battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator launched in 2018 by Siemens and AES, and with offices worldwide, has become a global leader in the development of energy storage products and services, and also is active in the Australian market—along with helping drive U.S. adoption of storage. The company, part of some of the largest U.S. BESS installations, earlier this month said it is setting up a new contract manufacturing facility in Utah to serve the U.S.…

Thermal Storage and Heat Pumps Will be the Low Cost Peak Shaving Solution for Utilities and Users

August 3, 2022

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| Energy Jobs

We are now in a time of decreased Security of Supply (call it SOS) and utilities are continuously challenged in keeping the guarantee of delivering power on the same level. A famous Dutch newspaper NRC told that cooling equipment will come into the economic range of many people in Developing Countries and increase the peaks on the grid. In many of these countries but also in the richer..
Energy Central…

Massive Utah Hydrogen Storage Project Garners Finalized $504M DOE Loan Guarantee

June 15, 2022

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The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first official loan guarantee for a new clean energy technology project since 2014 will go to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage 1 project in Utah—one of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen energy projects.

The DOE on June 8 announced it closed on the $ 504.4 million loan guarantee for the first phase of the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project. The massive undertaking by ACES Delta, a joint venture comprising Magnum Development, Mitsubishi Power, and Haddington Ventures, seeks to create a new pathway for decarbonization of the Western U.S. grid. The agency offered the project a conditional loan guarantee commitment in April, contingent on several factors, including securing permits and financing for the $ 1 billion project.

The ACES Delta project envisions producing up to 100 metric tonnes per day of hydrogen from water and renewable energy sources using a 220-MW alkaline electrolyzer bank manufactured by Norwegian firm HydrogenPro—one of the largest deployments of its type to date.…

Zinc Batteries Power Stationary Energy Storage

June 3, 2022

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As solar, wind and other renewable resources play a larger role on the power grid, renewables’ essential partner—energy storage—must keep pace to provide power at peak hours when the sun doesn’t shine, and the wind doesn’t blow.

Rechargeable zinc batteries offer an ideal energy storage solution; they can release power back to the grid for many hours or even days at a time. With numerous chemistries and design innovations, zinc batteries increasingly meet residential, commercial and microgrid energy storage market needs and demonstrate zinc’s capabilities and benefits in stationary storage.

COMMENTARY

One of the well-developed zinc battery chemistries is zinc-bromine flow, which proves ideal for both small commercial uses and for medium to large grid-sized applications. The energy is stored in a zinc bromide solution, which flows continuously past the electrodes, where it reacts and generates electricity. This liquid-based battery is non-flammable, long-lasting, fully recyclable and tolerates a wide range of temperatures. The batteries also are scalable for medium or large-scale projects.…

Solving the Intermittency Problem with Battery Storage

May 22, 2022

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The perfect storm of crises and policy directives have converged to create the energy storage moment. Between the drive to reduce carbon output to “net zero” over the coming decades and the commodity crisis created by the conflict in Ukraine (including its impact on the supply and price of oil and natural gas), the pressure to deploy renewable resources has never been greater.

The term “renewable resources” could include wood or falling water, but policymakers tend to equate “renewable” with wind or solar generation. While wind and solar both produce electricity without carbon emissions and with zero fuel cost, standing alone, they are considered intermittent resources. Put simply, when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining, these resources do not produce electricity.

The Challenge of Intermittent Resources

The bulk power system, which powers our nation and enables modern civilization, relies on a continuous current, or uninterrupted flow of electrons, to quite literally “keep the lights on.” For decades, this problem was met through the use of baseload resources such as coal, nuclear, or natural gas, which runs continuously for long periods of time, generating a constant flow of electrons.…

Solar Developer Has Plan to Turn Oil Wells Into Energy Storage

February 24, 2022

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A California developer of concentrated solar power (CSP) systems has announced an innovation that it says combines the company’s technologies to turn existing oil wells into energy storage sites that can provide clean energy.

Hyperlight Energy on Feb. 24 said it was launching Tectonic Sun, an electricity generation technology that when paired with the company’s Hylux solar thermal solution can provide “zero-carbon electricity” from oil wells “while reducing emissions during the extraction process at enhanced oil recovery [EOR] sites.” Hyperlight on Thursday said the new system “is capable of providing emissions-free power with 80% capacity factor for use at any time of day or night throughout the year.” (Go here to view a video detailing how the technology works.)

The company has a technology demonstration project, Tectonic Sun Alpha, at a Hathaway oil drilling site in Bakersfield, California. Hathaway is an independent, Bakersfield-based drilling company that operates six oil and gas fields in Kern County, California.

Repurposing Oil Wells

“The industry is increasingly embracing the concept of cost reduction through repurposing oil wells, as shown by the Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technology Office [GTO] recently announced group of projects aiming to use old oil wells to access traditional geothermal-based heat, and Southern Company’s research collaboration with innovator Petrolern, to ‘Convert Oil Wells to Geothermal Resources’,” said John King, CEO of Hyperlight Energy.…