The Israeli Planning Administration has approved a new set of regulations for energy storage. Set out as a national outline plan, the new regulation deals with the capacities of different energy storage facilities, where they can be built and under what conditions.

“The plan will allow the deployment of storage units next to PV plants, gas stations and houses. That will help regulate energy consumption under high demand,” the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said in a statement. “On the backdrop of the war in Gaza, energy storage can maintain energy for few hours under emergency conditions.”

According to the plan's original papers from January 2023, storage of up to 600 kWh can be built on any land, under some caveats. Bigger storage facilities of up to 5 MWh are allowed on any land, with the exceptions of agricultural land, scenic land, protected land or in the vicinity of a river.

Larger storage facilities, of up to 16 MWh, will only be allowed on land with specific uses. Among permitted lands are those for industrial use, parking lots and public buildings. More extensive storage of more than 16 MWh is not regulated in this program.

In addition, the new regulation sets environmental terms, safety terms, and water safety terms.

“Storage infrastructure improves the potential of renewable energy use,” the ministry added. “This regulation plan was made to support it, as based on it, permits for construction of such facilities can be issued.”

The Atlantic Council says that the DOE's announcement represents the most substantial public investment in US hydrogen and noted that California and Texas are the hubs of clean hydrogen activities, with a future outlook for blue hydrogen. However, the council mentioned a missed opportunity for hydrogen use in long-haul trucking. To address this, the Atlantic Council made recommendations for policymakers, suggesting a focus on cost sharing for demand-side projects within the H2Hub funding derived from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

From pv magazine USA

Enphase has announced the launch of its IQ EV charger for charging electric vehicles at home. The microinverter and home energy storage provider said that the chargers offer between 31 miles (49.8 km) and 61 miles of range charging per hour on its fast chargers.

The EV charger can be paired with Enphase solar and energy storage systems. It handles Wi-Fi connections and includes smart control and monitoring capabilities.

The devices can be coordinated to help solar and battery owners maximize electricity cost savings by charging directly from solar production. With a home battery, the Enphase system enables vehicle charging even when there is a grid power outage.

IQ EV chargers come in 32 A, 48 A, and 64 A configurations, which offer 7.7 kW, 9.6 kW, and 15.4 kW max power respectively.

Each charger has NEMA 6-50P, and 14-50P rated input cables, which are hardwired. It has a ruggedized J1772 connector for universal compatibility and a 25-foot charge cable. The device is rated for both indoor and outdoor use. They come with a five-year warranty from Enphase and is backed with a 24-7 customer support line from Enhpase.

“As a solar contractor that has installed Enphase microinverters for my customers since 2009, I’m glad to see the IQ EV Chargers join Enphase’s product ecosystem,” said Louis Woofenden, owner and engineering director, Net Zero Solar. “I was excited to try out this improved smart charger on the Enphase platform with ClipperCreek heritage. It’s so helpful to be able to easily schedule charge times, manually start and stop charging my EV, and monitor my EV energy use – all from the Enphase App on my phone.”

The 32 A device starts retail at $732 while the 64 A device retails at $1,176 on the Enphase site. Enphase is positioning its charger, microinverter and home battery as a “one-stop-shop” for home energy solutions.

“Installing an EV charger with a solar and battery system simply makes sense and can reduce overall installation costs,” said Jayant Somani, president and general manager, digital business for Enphase Energy.

Taipei’s Nangang Exhibition Center hosted another Energy Taiwan event this week, combined with Net-Zero Taiwan, focusing on reducing the emissions of the island’s many industries. The show comprised 350 exhibitors and more than 24,000 attendees over three days, which the organizers say amounts to 28% growth over last year. Simon Wang, President of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, also noted that around 20% of attendees were at the event for the first time, denoting a growing importance for companies looking at net-zero strategies and ways to implement renewable energy.

Energy storage

Energy storage was front and center throughout the event, with companies from various background exhibiting batteries. Many of these are focused on commercial solutions for large, energy hungry industries to maximize their renewable energy uptake. And these often came with sophisticated energy management solutions –  illustrating Taiwan’s position as a leader in software development.

The show also saw plenty of talk about large-scale storage, and hopes that changes to legislation might soon drive bigger demand for residential energy storage as well. Battery suppliers were also keen to demonstrate their latest fire safety innovations, including cell level monitoring, automated water and chemical fire suppression systems and the somewhat simpler approach of encasing the whole battery system in concrete, which supplier TCC says would be able to contain fire at temperatures above one thousand degrees, and also bring other advantages in system longevity.

Taiwan will still be reliant on imports for its energy storage plans, with many players sourcing fully made batteries from abroad, or only assembling cells into packs locally. One company, Formosa Smart Energy, is looking to bring battery cell manufacturing to Taiwan. President Hui-Chi Liu told pv magazine that the company is working to bring 2.1 GWh of battery cell capacity online by the middle of 2024, with plans to later expand this to 5 GWh. At its booth in the exhibition, the company also had innovative approaches on show to battery recycling and solid-state batteries based on a mixed ceramic/polymer electrolyte.

Solar manufacturing

Taiwan’s solar manufacturing industry has seen little growth lately, faced with heavy competition from producers in mainland China. The cell and module makers at the show, however, shared a positive outlook, with expectation of more orders from domestic projects, as well as strong exports to the United States – where prices have remained high enough for Taiwan’s manufacturers to be competitive.

One manufacturer stated that it is also examining the opportunity of bringing manufacturing capacity online in the US, but sees some signs that the Inflation Reduction Act, which has brought with it a flood of factory announcements across the US, may have passed its peak. Their calculations show that the US could have 60 GW of module manufacturing capacity up and running by 2026, without much more than 40 GW of annual domestic demand to serve.

On the technology side, these manufacturers report that reliability, rather than the latest technology is the name of the game for now. All of the manufacturers pv magazine spoke with at the event are in the process of switching passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) manufacturing to the latest high efficiency tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology, by the middle of next year.

According to Siemens Energy, hydrogen is produced on site with a 1 MW electrolyzer, stored in a 1 ton tank to power a Siemens Energy SGT-400 industrial gas turbine.

From pv magazine USA

LG Energy Solutions is set to launch a new residential energy storage system in the US market in November. The enblock S products are stackable, modular lithium-ion batteries designed for easy installation. 

A list of LG installers can be found here.

From pv magazine USA

Texas-based Plus Power announced financing commitments of $1.8 billion to advance five large-scale battery energy storage projects totaling 2.76 GW/h. The company reports that the transactions will support construction and operations of the portfolio and include construction financing, term financing, letters of credit, and tax equity investments, in partnership with 11 leading industry lenders and investors.

The recent financing includes $707 million for the 250 MW Sierra Estrella Energy Storage facility in Avondale, Arizona, which is expected to be the largest standalone battery facility in Arizona once online. This financing is in addition to initial funding of $903 million.

“Over the last year, Plus Power has raised an unparalleled amount of capital for standalone storage projects from a wide range of leading energy project finance banks and investors,” said Josh Goldstein, chief financial officer of Plus Power. “This capital will support the ongoing buildout of the largest and most diverse portfolio of standalone storage projects in the US. The scale highlights our first-mover advantage in bringing high-quality projects to market as well as the tremendous work by our fantastic team.”

The Sierra Estrella facility is one of two battery storage projects the Salt River Project (SRP) announced in fall of 2022 with Plus Power, with both projects scheduled to come online by summer of 2024. The other, a 90 MW / 360 MWh project is called Superstition Energy Storage, which is planned for Gilbert, Arizona.

Norddeutsche Landesbank and Société Générale acted as coordinating lead arrangers while Mizuho, US Bank, Bank of America, CoBank, and Siemens Financial Services were joint lead arrangers.

The financing for the SRP facilities includes:

• Sierra Estrella (250 MW/1,000 MW/h): $202 million of tax equity from Bank of America coupled with a $505 million construction, term loan, and letter of credit facility.
• Superstition Energy Storage (90 MW/360 MWh): $196 million construction, term loan and letter of credit facility.

The completed transactions were financings totaling $884 million to support construction of 700 MW of batteries on the ERCOT grid in Texas in the Ebony, Anemoi and Rodeo Ranch energy storage projects. Plus Power reports that while the Ebony and Anemoi projects are expected to operate as merchant resources in the ERCOT wholesale market, Plus Power executed an innovative hedge for Goldman Sachs’ commodities group for a portion of the Rodeo Ranch Energy Storage facility. The three storage facilities are expected to be operational next summer and are designed to bring stability to the ERCOT grid during high demand.

The financing for these projects brings Plus Power’s current ERCOT portfolio to 1.57 GW/h. Deutsche Bank and First Citizens Bank were the coordinating lead arrangers, with First Citizens Bank as the administrative agent and Siemens Financial Services, Inc. acting as the joint lead arranger.

The financing for the three ERCOT projects includes:

• Rodeo Ranch Energy Storage (300 MW/600 MW/h): $212.2 million of tax equity financing from Foss & Company, as well as $276 million of construction and term financing, for the Rodeo Ranch Energy Storage facility in Pecos.
• Ebony Energy Storage (200 MW/400 MW/h): $196 million of construction and term financing.
• Anemoi Energy Storage (200 MW/400 MW/h) $200 million of construction and term financing.

Plus Power expects the Ebony and Anemoi projects to operate as merchant resources in the ERCOT wholesale market, while the company reportedly executed an innovative hedge for Goldman Sachs’ commodities group for a portion of the Rodeo Ranch Energy Storage facility.

“These financings demonstrate Nord/LB’s commitment to the battery energy storage sector as the bank continues to play a prominent role financing strategic assets to support the energy transition as part of the broader mission to achieve a net neutral, carbon free grid,” said Sondra Martinez, managing director, Nord/LB. “We look forward to continuing the strong relationship with Plus Power to support both our company’s goals of decarbonizing the energy grid with high-quality projects.”

Plus Power currently has a growing portfolio of large-scale lithium-ion battery systems in more than 25 states and Canada, and the company reports that it is executing on 10 GW of interconnection capacity now in transmission interconnection queues.

North American manufacturer Ecoflow has launched a “retrofit” residential battery solution that it claims can be easily integrated with existing rooftop PV arrays.

“Unlike conventional DC-coupled or AC-coupled battery systems, PowerOcean DC Fit uses EcoFlow's PV-coupling technology to directly connect with existing home solar energy systems on the PV side – meaning users don't need to install additional storage inverters,” the manufacturer said in a statement.

The battery uses lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo4) as the cathode material and is based on a self-adaptive algorithm that the manufacturer said makes the system compatible with most of the existing solar single-phase and three-phase inverters that are already in use in existing PV installations.

“Using EcoFlow's unique PV-coupling technology, the PowerOcean DC Fit connects its batteries directly with solar panels. Users can leave the AC wiring as it is and don't have to apply for an on-grid permit,” the company stated.

The storage system measures 680 mm x 183 mm x 479 mm and weighs 59.2 kg. It has a capacity of 5 kWh and is expandable to 15 kWh. It also features an output voltage range of 150-800 V and a maximum output current of 20 A.

The new product is IP65-rated and reportedly has a lifecycle of more than 6,000 cycles.

“Each battery pack is connected parallelly and equipped with the EcoFlow BMS (Battery Management System) to prevent one battery's issues from affecting other packs,” the manufacturer said, noting that the new product comes with a 15-year warranty.

From pv magazine Australia

A team of researchers from Monash University’s Faculty of Engineering have developed a new lithium-sulphur (Li-S) battery design featuring a nanoporous polymer-coated lithium foil anode that “significantly” improves the number of times the battery can be cycled.

Lead researcher Declan McNamara said when compared with similar coated lithium anode systems, the polymer coating cell has exhibited outstanding performance across a range of metrics.

“This coating is a step towards highly efficient, easily manufactured Li-S batteries,” he said.

Li-S battery technology continues to prove popular among researchers and commercial developers, with the potential for the metallic lithium and sulphur combination to deliver more energy per gram than lithium-ion batteries.

The technology does however have its limitations. Typically, Li-S batteries contain a lithium anode (negative electrode) and sulphur cathode (positive electrode) with a separating layer. When the battery charges and discharges, the lithium and sulphur react which leads to the formation of polysulfides, rapidly reducing the battery performance.

“Metallic lithium is a bit of a double-edged sword,” McNamara said. “Lithium is packed full of energy, but in a bad battery, this energy is wasted on side reactions. On the other hand, if the energy is channelled correctly, it can make some incredible energy storage devices that are easier to make.”

In this new battery configuration, the researchers at Monash have coated a lithium foil anode with a nanoporous polymer which they say allows the lithium ions to move through while protecting the anode from corrosive sulphur compounds.

“The polymer contains tiny holes less than a nanometre in size, one billionth of a metre, which allow lithium ions to move freely while blocking other chemicals that would attack the lithium,” McNamara said. “The coating also acts as a scaffold for lithium, and helps it charge and discharge repeatedly.”

In their paper, the researchers said that the polymer coated anode had exhibited improved capacity retention over 275 cycles, adding that the new design reduces the amount of lithium required in a single battery and does not require nickel or cobalt, removing the need for minerals that have a significant environmental and social cost.

Mainak Majumder, from Monash’s Faculty of Engineering, said these developments are promising steps toward more widespread adoption of Li-S batteries and other lithium metal-based energy storage systems.

“The study establishes a new framework to protect Li-metal from rapid decay or catastrophic failure which has been an Achilles heel for Li-S batteries,” he said.

Netherlands-based Triple Solar BV has launched a thermal battery for residential applications.

The manufacturer said the thermal storage system can be used in combination with its heat pumps. “Compared to a traditional hot water boiler, the thermal battery is up to four times smaller,” it said in a statement.

Triple Solar sells the new product in three different sizes. The smallest battery measures 640 mm x 365 mm x 575 mm and weighs 136 kg. It features a heat loss rate of 0.67 kWh/day and its capacity is 167 l.

The medium-sized device has a size of 870 mm x 365 mm x 575 mm, a weight of 187 kg and a capacity of 217 l. It has a heat loss rate of 0.77 kWh/day. The largest product has dimensions of 1,050 mm x 365 mm x 575 mm and weighs in at 233 kg. Its capacity is 333 l and it has a heat loss rate of 0.84 kWh/day.

All products operate at a maximum pressure of 10 bars and can reportedly provide hot water at temperatures ranging from 45C to 55 C, with minimum heat source temperature ranging between 65 C and 80 C.

“Households and their homes are becoming smaller and smaller. As a result, there is often no room for a large boiler,” said the company's COO, Cees Mager. “The thermal battery is so compact that it even fits in a kitchen cupboard.”

Triple Solar began selling the new thermal battery on October 12. The Dutch company also manufactures heat pumps and photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) panels.

The second quarter of 2023 was the first quarter on record in which global residential energy storage shipments have declined year on year, down by 2%, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.

According to Taylor, inventory levels equal to around six months of installations – around 3 GWh – are seen as normal. But the levels that S&P Global calculated in Europe at the end of 2022 were far higher.

“This certainly poses a challenge for the market in the event that demand stops growing as quickly as it had been, as we've seen in the first half of 2023,” Taylor said. “Another knock-on effect from the oversupply and high inventory will be aggressive prices, similar to what is happening with residential PV at the moment, as distributors have to clear their stock.”

Despite high inventory levels, new Chinese suppliers are entering the market and scaling quickly to ship large volumes. This trend will further exacerbate high inventory levels in Europe relative to slowing demand, according to analysts.

In the United States, supply and demand is more balanced. However, S&P Global has also tracked quarter-on-quarter declines in residential storage shipments to the US market since the fourth quarter of 2022.

“This is due to a couple of reasons,” Tiffany Wang, an analyst for S&P Global, told pv magazine. “High interest rates are the main driver, which makes the financing for storage systems looks less appetizing. Marketwise, a backlog of NEM 2.0 solar-only installations, plus decreases in electricity prices in central US means that people are delaying storage installations.”

Battolyser Systems has developed an energy system to store and supply electricity as a battery and produce hydrogen via electrolysis. It is an optimization of the nickel-iron battery patented by Thomas Edison at the turn of the 20th century. 

The company, which recently started production of its patented dual battery-electrolysis system in the Rotterdam area, currently produces systems up to a couple of megawatts. It aims to manufacture 50 MW systems in its production facility by 2024, and 200 MW by 2025. 

“The technology is based on nickel-iron electrodes. They are combined with alkaline electrolysis technologies that are commercially available today, with a proven track record of 20 to 30 years lifetime,” said Geert Wassens, fundraising associate at Battolyser Systems. “Integration of these technologies remarkably improves performance, lowers cost and increases uptime.”

The electrodes are in a conductive electrolyte circulated through the cells. In the first electrochemical reaction, the electrodes are charged and store electrons, acting as a battery. When one keeps charging (overcharge), hydrogen and oxygen are formed in a subsequent reaction. Gaseous hydrogen is produced at the negative electrode (cathode) and oxygen at the positive electrode (anode).

The company said the system could hit a lower LCOH of around €1.50/kg in the most appropriate locations by 2025. 

“In the most favorable geographies, the Battolyser is able to offer ~€2/kg by 2025. An important note to this analysis is that it does not yet include the positive economic impacts of discharging electricity from the Battolyser to the grid, it only considers revenue from producing hydrogen,” Wassens told pv magazine. “Therefore, the advantage in LCOH of Battolyser over competing alternatives will be even greater. Including this value, the LCOH is near to €1.50/kg.”

Battolyser Systems said the battery function can monetize daily power imbalances, while the hydrogen can monetize seasonal power imbalances and provide feedstock to industries that cannot be electrified. It said it can reach up to 85% system efficiency and up to 90% at stack level.

Battolyser Systems has signed a deal to develop a second production facility in the Rotterdam area. In 2026, the production facility, co-owned by the Rotterdam port authority, will be commissioned to add 1 GW of production capacity.

Battolyser Systems and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have also signed a €40 million financing agreement in Rotterdam during World Hydrogen Week.

“The financing will enable the company to scale its production facility in Rotterdam towards mass production of its combined electricity storage and electrolyzer stack system,” said Battolyser Systems.

The company said it does not use any critical raw materials, resorting only to nickel and iron, in line with the recent normative and political developments at the European level, including the RED II and the Critical Raw Materials Act. 

“We have a number of hydrogen projects in the pipeline that we are looking to sign in the near future, although perhaps not necessarily still this year,” an EIB spokesperson told pv magazine. 

From pv magazine Germany

Germany experienced another accident involving a battery storage system on Oct. 6.

“At around 2 p.m., the fire safety department of the Wernges district was alerted of smoke coming from a two-family house,” Police Chief Inspector Andre Müller of the East Hesse Police Headquarters told pv magazine.

From pv magazine Australia

Queensland Hydro said geotechnical exploratory drilling which will help inform the environmental impact statement (EIS) process has started at the site of the Borumba Dam pumped hydro project. The AUD 14.2 billion ($8.96 billion) project is expected to provide 2 GW of dispatchable generating capacity and approximately 48,000 MWh of large-scale storage to the National Electricity Market.

State-owned Queensland Hydro also said the state’s coordinator-general has declared the project, being developed at the 46,000 megaliter Borumba Dam near Gympie, a coordinated project, enabling an assessment of social, economic and environmental matters to begin.

The project involves building a new dam wall at Lake Borumba that will increase the dam’s storage capacity to 224,000 megaliters. A new dam will also be created at a higher altitude with the two reservoirs connected by an underground power station. Water will be pumped to the upper dam during periods of surplus renewable energy and low demand, and then released back to generate electricity during times of high demand.

Pending successful planning and environmental approvals, the project is targeting first power in 2030.

Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said the project, the first of two large-scale long-duration energy storage projects planned by the Queensland government, will play a key role in the state’s renewable energy transition.

“Pumped hydro is proven technology, ready to go now,” he said. “Borumba will allow us to replace expensive fossil fuels with Queensland’s sun, wind, and water, putting the Sunshine State on the map as a global renewable energy hub.”

The Queensland government is aiming to have 70% renewable energy by 2032 and 80% by 2035, up from about 25% of total power generation at present.

De Brenni said the Borumba project will be subject to Queensland procurement policy with the state government looking for Sunshine Coast companies and tradespeople to be part of the build. At peak construction, the project is expected to deliver an estimated 2,300 jobs.

From pv magazine USA

Northvolt has announced plans to develop a fully integrated lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Quebec, Canada. The The Northvolt Six facility, just outside of Montréal. will be similar to the sustainability-centered design of Northvolt’s other facilities to accommodate 60 GW/h of annual cell manufacturing capacity.

The Swedish battery manufacturer produces lithium-ion cells based on Lingonberry lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide or NMC. They come in cylindrical and prismatic formats. The 2170 cylindrical cells are available in three formats: Energy, Power and Life.

Alternatively, prismatic cells are custom-made. The company assembles cells into battery systems for customers in energy storage and industrial markets.

From pv magazine Australia

The project is to be located on a 90-hectare site in Plumpton, 25 kilometers northwest of Melbourne. It is owned by Equis Development, with backing from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board.

Initially, Equis was aiming for the MREH to go into operations by 2024. The MREH website currently says that a “notice to proceed for construction is planned for late 2023 with commercial operations expected to commence in 2025.”

To continue reading, please visit our pv magazine Australia website. 

From pv magazine Germany

It was then submerged in water in a steel container outdoors and cooled. The residents were not at home at the time of the incident. In this case too, no people were harmed.

A third incident occurred on Sept. 26 in Ehrenfriedersdorf, Germany. The fire department provided medical care to two individuals and a nearby highway had to be shut down as a result. It did not disclose any details regarding the origin of the storage unit.

From pv magazine India

NHPC has launched a tender to select developers to set up interstate transmission grid-connected renewables projects coupled with energy storage systems to supply 1.5 GW of firm, dispatchable renewables. The projects can be developed anywhere in India, on land identified and arranged by the developers. These are to be set up on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis.

From pv magazine India

Loom Solar showcased its Atlanta series of all-in-one energy storage solutions for homes and businesses at the recent REI Expo 2023 in Greater Noida, India. The systems are designed for commercial and residential applications.

The systems are based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. These are available in energy storage capacities of 5 kWh and 10 kWh, with MPPT-based high-frequency solar inverter modules of 5 kW (single-phase) and 10 kW (single- or three-phase), respectively. Battery charging time for both the models is two hours. 

Bslbatt, a Chinese storage system manufacturer, has released MacthBox HVS, a residential battery that can operate at an elevated voltage level ranging from 204.8 V to 716.8 V.

“It integrates seamlessly with multiple inverter brands such as Solis, Hypontech, Solplanet, and Deye, enabling homeowners to maximize clean energy and reduce their carbon footprint,” the company said.

The batteries feature individual battery modules with voltage s of 102.4 V. They can be stacked in series with two to seven battery modules.

“MacthBox's modular design simplifies installation and allows for scalability. A single battery module is 5.32 kWh and weighs 50 kg. Homeowners can start with a basic setup and then expand as energy needs grow,” Bslbatt said.