Energy Storage

Hawaiian Electric Companies have submitted contracts for seven grid-scale, solar-plus-storage projects on three islands to the Public Utilities Commission for review. The projects are part of the largest and lowest cost portfolio of new renewable energy resources to be assembled in Hawaii.

The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada approved NV Energy's Integrated Resource Plan, which will bring 1,001 megawatts of new renewable energy projects to Nevada, including, for the first time, 100 megawatts of battery storage capacity.

Inside a bustling hangar bay at the far end of Gloucestershire airport in South West England, a team of British engineers, designers, and data specialists recruited from across Rolls-Royce and beyond have set out to make history. They're building a high-performance electric aeroplane unlike anything the world has ever seen.

Flexible, wireless electronic devices are rapidly emerging and have reached the level of commercialization; nevertheless, most of battery shapes are limited to either spherical and/or rectangular structures, which results in inefficient space use.

The on-road electric vehicle industry knows it is headed for a vicious fight to the death as the biggest category, private cars, collapses due to people moving to cities and nothing compensates for saturation of the Chinese electric bus market. In contrast, off-road EVs will be prosperous growth markets.

Neoen has revealed that its Hornsdale Power Reserve has exceeded all performance and market expectations after just one year in operation.

The world's first energy self-sufficient housing complex is located in Sweden where a block of 30 flats now runs entirely on solar energy and stored hydrogen.

Volkswagen is offering a glimpse of the company's future mobile quick charging station. It can be set up flexibly and independent of the power supply wherever it is needed: for example, in public parking lots in the city, on company premises, or as a temporary charging point at large-scale events.

The IHES project was initiated in 2015 by Geps Techno, a company located in the Pays de la Loire region, based on its own technology for harvesting wave energy from floating structures.

An additional 78,000 megawatts in clean energy storage capacity is expected to come online by 2030 from hydropower reservoirs fitted with pumped storage technology, according to the International Hydropower Association.

Researchers have developed a method to multiply the lifespan of nickel-metal hydride batteries. This means that the batteries can handle a great many more charging cycles without losing capacity. The new method also means that the batteries can easily be restored once they have begun to wear out, unlike other rechargeable batteries that must be melted down for recycling.

Malta Inc, a pioneer in electro-thermal energy storage, today announced it has raised $26M in a Series A round of funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures with participation from other investors including Concord New Energy Group and Alfa Laval. Malta, which started as "Project Malta" at X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory, is now an independent company outside of Alphabet called "Malta Inc". "Our investors share our vision to create a scalable storage solution that will facilitate further expansion of renewable energy while improving grid stability and resilience across the globe. Beyond capital investment, they are truly partnering with us to build a first-of-a-kind product. We appreciate their confidence in our strategy and in our team's ability to execute on it," said Ramya Swaminathan, CEO of Malta Inc. The Malta energy storage system stores energy in the form of a thermal differential between hot and cold storage media. It is based on well-established principles in thermodynamics for a system that stores electricity as heat in high temperature molten salt and cold in a low temperature antifreeze liquid. While incubated at X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory, the project underwent a rigorous evaluation and de-risking process. Malta Inc will work in collaboration with industry partners to turn the detailed designs developed and refined at X into industrial-grade machinery for its first pilot system. Malta's system can store electricity for days or even weeks, until it's needed. The electricity can come from any source (i.e. wind, sun, or fossil fuels) in any location. Malta has the potential to make existing capital investments in both fossil and renewable generation more productive while dramatically improving power grid stability and resilience. "A lack of affordable, reliable grid-scale energy storage is currently limiting the shift to renewable energy. Malta's technology gives us a shot at storing all the renewable energy we create cheaply and reliably. With X having done our part to bring Malta's technology as far as we can take it, we're excited to hand the baton to the Malta team for the next phase of product development and deployment," said Raj Apte, PhD, Science Adviser at X, the Moonshot Factory. "Solving the intermittency problem of renewable energy is a critical part of delivering inexpensive and reliable clean energy, which is why storage is an important area of investment for BEV," said Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures. "Malta's energy storage system is a different and promising approach from conventional batteries, using existing components and inexpensive resources to store energy as heat - and that makes the system cost-effective to scale. We're also excited about this investor syndicate, pooling our unique resources to bring this technology to market." "With the rise in electricity being generated from renewable resources, the demand for energy storage has become higher, and innovation in energy storage technology will become critical for using clean energy effectively. Malta's energy storage technology can be widely applied to various energy storage markets such as grid peak load shifting, auxiliary services, distributed energy resources, business and industrial parks, and more, with considerable development potential. Our investment in Malta Inc. has strategic significance for the further development of our energy project investment operations and technical services business line and benefits the interests of our company and shareholders as a whole," said Mr. Liu Shunxing, the Chairman of Concord New Energy Group. "We believe that Malta is a very interesting initiative, with great potential," says Susanne Pahlén Åklundh, President of Alfa Laval's Energy Division. "We will bring our unique expertise within heat transfer technology, including design and production of heat exchangers, to the invaluable knowledge and resources within the group of investors in Malta Inc. We are excited to partner with them to bring this innovative new approach in energy storage to the market." About Malta Inc Malta is a provider of industrial-grade, grid-scale energy storage solutions. The Malta system collects and stores inexpensive and abundant renewable and fossil energy, and dispatches it as needed to the grid to enable the affordable and reliable delivery of electricity on demand. Incubated at X, the Moonshot Factory (formerly Google [x]), and funded by leading venture capital and commercial power industry companies, Malta is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visit www.maltainc.com. About Breakthrough Energy Ventures Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) is a for-profit, investor-led fund created to accelerate the world's transition to clean energy. BEV has more than $1 billion in committed capital to fund scientific breakthroughs with the potential to deliver affordable, reliable clean energy. The fund prioritizes investments across the five grand challenges that contribute most to greenhouse gas emissions: electricity, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and buildings. BEV was created by the Breakthrough Energy Coalition in 2016 and is backed by an investor group that includes many of the world's top business leaders. For more information visit www.b-t.energy/ventures/ About Concord New Energy Group Limited Concord New Energy Group Limited (CNE) is an integrated utility scale wind, solar, and energy storage project developer and operator. The company currently owns over 1,900 MW of operating capacity in China and the United States and is focused on developing, operating, and servicing energy projects that can help transition the world into a cleaner energy future. CNE was formerly known as China WindPower Group Limited and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock symbol 0182. More information can be found at www.cnegroup.com/en About Alfa Laval Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling. The company's equipment, systems and services are dedicated to assisting customers in optimizing the performance of their processes. The solutions help them to heat, cool, separate and transport products in industries that produce food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol. Alfa Laval's products are also used in power plants, aboard ships, oil and gas exploration, in the mechanical engineering industry, in the mining industry and for wastewater treatment, as well as for comfort climate and refrigeration applications. Alfa Laval's worldwide organization works closely with customers in nearly 100 countries to help them stay ahead in the global arena. Alfa Laval is listed on Nasdaq OMX, and, in 2017, posted annual sales of about SEK 35.3 billion (approx. 3.6 billion Euro). The company has about 16 400 employees. www.alfalaval.com.

FuelCell Energy Inc announced the signing of the first of three long-term power purchase agreements under the Fuel Cell Resources Feed-In Tariff IV program administered by PSEG Long Island.

Tiny, disordered particles of magnesium chromium oxide may hold the key to new magnesium battery energy storage technology, which could possess increased capacity compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries.

The brand new IDTechEx report 'Electric and Hybrid Boats and Ships 2019 - 2029' expects investment to accelerate after 2020. Since the early 2010s, sales of pure electric and hybrid vessels have grown steadily, mainly driven by the need to reduce local pollution of NOx, SOx and particulate matter in a handful of emission control areas (ECA) that are local to coastlines.

Australian oil and gas company Santos will begin converting the pumps on their oil wells to solar and battery power, as part of an Australian-first trial that will reduce emissions from oil production.

New York State Public Service Commission approved two initiatives to dramatically increase New York's energy efficiency and energy storage targets to combat climate change. The new energy efficiency target for investor-owned utilities will more than double utility energy efficiency progress by 2025, reducing the state's energy consumption by the equivalent of fueling and powering 1.8 million homes. The energy storage initiative sets New York on a trajectory to achieve 1,500 megawatts of storage by 2025, enough electricity to power 1.2 million homes, and up to 3,000 megawatts by 2030.

Faraday Motor, or Fara, is an electric motorcycle manufacturer based in Taiwan. IDTechEx Technology Analyst Nadia Tsao interviewed Faraday Motor's CEO Mr Ming-Shyong Hsu on 29 Aug 2018.

Advancements in material science and material processing will always play a central role in any technological progression. IDTechEx has been providing leading market analysis on a broad range of advanced materials and their technology analysts have given their pick of the key news stories from 2018.

Hyon AS has been awarded grants under the PILOT-E scheme for the development and realization of two maritime projects; a high-speed ferry and a short-sea freighter. The ambitions of both projects are to realize zero-emission propulsion via fuel cells using cost-efficient hydrogen produced from electrolysis based on renewable energy.