Listen Up: Let's Talk Solar Grid Storage

To many of us old timers, the battery storage industry looks a lot like the solar industry did ten years ago. Energy storage on the grid depends on future battery cost reductions, requires sophisticated management electronics, tricky packaging, favorable government policies, coordination with utility rates and appropriate financing. Not surprisingly, we're seeing successful solar entrepreneurs from the last decade applying their finely-honed skills and tactics to build new energy storage businesses.

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The synergies between solar and battery storage are obvious, but problems still exist in getting the economics to pencil out for customers. As in the solar industry, clever system designs and financing strategies can go a long way to improve customer economics and generate real sales. Although we'd like to see a solar array on every residential roof and two battery stacks in every garage, what is more likely to happen is that commercial customers will be the early adopters of combined solar and energy storage systems.


Tom Leyden, CEO of Solar Grid Storage, is building a business at the nexus of solar and battery storage. They have developed an elegantly packaged combination of battery storage, inverters and rooftop solar. Just as importantly, they offer flexible financing packages that effectively combine storage and solar as a service — with the economic benefits accruing both from grid support services as well as customer peak shaving and backup power. Please join me on this week's Energy Show on Renewable Energy World as Tom Leyden explains the current opportunities and customer demand for combined solar and grid storage systems.


Find more episodes of The Energy Show here.




About The Energy Show

As energy costs consume more and more of our hard-earned dollars, we as consumers really start to pay attention. But we don't have to resign ourselves to $5/gallon gas prices, $200/month electric bills and $500 heating bills. There are literally hundreds of products, tricks and techniques that we can use to dramatically reduce these costs — very affordably.

The Energy Show on Renewable Energy World is a weekly 20-minute podcast that provides tips and advice to reduce your home and business energy consumption. Every week we'll cover topics that will help cut your energy bill, explain new products and technologies in plain English, and cut through the hype so that you can make smart and cost-effective energy choices.

About Your Host

Barry Cinnamon is a long-time advocate of renewable energy and is a widely recognized solar power expert. In 2001 he founded Akeena Solar — which grew to become the largest national residential solar installer by the middle of the last decade with over 10,000 rooftop customers coast to coast. He partnered with Westinghouse to create Westinghouse Solar in 2010, and sold the company in 2012.

His pioneering work on reducing costs of rooftop solar power systems include Andalay, the first solar panel with integrated racking, grounding and wiring; the first UL listed AC solar panel; and the first fully “plug and play” AC solar panel. His current efforts are focused on reducing the soft costs for solar power systems, which cause system prices in the U.S. to be double those of Germany.

Although Barry may be known for his outspoken work in the solar industry, he has hands-on experience with a wide range of energy saving technologies. He's been doing residential energy audits since the punch card days, developed one of the first ground-source heat pumps in the early ‘80s, and always abides by the Laws of Thermodynamics.


Source: Renewable Energy World

Energy Storage: Rural Electrification’s Backup

"Energy storage represents a key element to ensure the proper functioning of any system and will contribute to the positive development of the entire industry."

The Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE)’s objective is to stimulate economic development through the promotion of off-grid renewable energy technologies for rural electrification in developing countries and emerging markets. While often grid extension is not a feasible option, decentralized solutions are often the better alternative to alleviate energy poverty: they are cost-effective over the system’s lifetime, easy-to-deploy, install and maintain and their design can be tailored to demand needs. Plus, these regions offer abundant renewable energy resources.

Despite the solid arguments to support off-grid renewables as the best solution for remote areas, there is still one open question: What happens with the electricity service when the sun stops shining or the wind doesn't blow? No doubt this is a relevant issue which may prevent local energy decision makers from including renewable energy sources in their rural electrification plans. Fortunately, present markets offer technologies that enable storing energy for its use at a later time. Many of these solutions have reached maturity and therefore are being increasingly used to improve efficiency, reliability and price-competitiveness of electricity services as well as to achieve deeper penetration of renewable energy systems.

Energy storage technologies can be applied twofold: First for off-grid systems installed in rural areas, and second for decentralized grid backup in peri-urban areas that remain under-electrified.

To ease the path to these solutions, ARE has launched the six-month “Energy Storage Campaign.” This initiative aims to inform decision makers in Africa, Asia and Latin America about the added value that energy storage offers to rural areas.

It’s All Happening

The success of the campaign has been built upon the expertise of a group of rural electrification experts. These nine members of the Alliance based in three different continents and with a wide experience on the topic have formed the ARE Energy Storage Task Force with the objective of shaping this initiative and to find answers to ‘What really matters!’

As a result, the ARE Secretariat jointly with the Energy Storage Task Force has developed the position paper Using batteries to ensure clean, reliable and affordable universal electricity access. This guide paper includes information and recommendations for decision makers, applications of the different types of battery technologies, as well as successful case studies from India, Bangladesh, Jordan, Peru and Mozambique. The position paper has a focus on electromechanical energy storage, in particular on four different families of batteries, as they remain the main technology applied to off-grid.

Energy storage represents a key element to ensure the proper functioning of any system and will contribute to the positive development of the entire industry:
Batteries will improve the system’s performance and lead to economic savings over its lifetime and thereby lower operational costs if properly designed and maintained. In this regard, it is of utmost importance to use certified equipment and observe international standards while designing, installing and operating the system in order to ensure its longevity.
The stand-by battery market is expanding rapidly in developing and emerging markets, which represent important growth niches for the sector. The increasing demand of batteries can facilitate deeper penetration of intermittent renewables in these regions. For example, whereas Africa represented the smallest market for European stand-by battery systems (2V cells and mono blocks) in 2011 with 3.5 percent of total sales, it was the region in the world which enjoyed by far the highest growth rates with an increase of 25 percent compared to the year before.
Batteries play two major roles in terms of energy management. Short-term: The battery regulates the system by absorbing or supplying power to maintain a balance between instantaneous power production and consumption. Long-term: Allows storing electricity at a period of peak production, thus avoiding wastage of energy at times when it is not required and supplying energy when intermittent primary energy resources are unavailable.
The remote areas where off-grid renewable energies operate are vast and diverse. Thanks to the existence of different chemical battery families, each of them with its own specific features, storage systems can be designed to play a wide range of roles perfectly fitting local conditions.

Not without the Public Sector

Energy storage applied to rural electrification is attracting a lot of attention these days. However, these are still young markets which need more explanation and promotion. The support from public authorities, particularly regulators, as well as power sector technical bodies -such as rural electrification agencies and public utilities-would certainly help stimulate more investments in the market. To enhance developments, ARE has formulated the following recommendations for decision makers:
Developing and enforcing a well fitted regulatory framework is critical to ensure the market’s sustainable development and consumer’s trust.
A well tailored framework should be complemented via awareness creation campaigns and technical assistance to the operations sector (manufacturers, installers, operators, recyclers).
Establishing policy targets for batteries, as it is done for renewable energies, could help stimulate the sector’s development.
The achievement of these targets should be stimulated with the establishment of specific support schemes and assistance to the financing sector.

Learning from the Past to Improve the Future

The kick-off of the “Energy Storage Campaign” was held at Intersolar Europe in June 2013, where ARE celebrated a successful workshop as official side event of the conference. Further promotion activities will include several webinars in collaboration with international organisations such as the United Nations Foundation Energy Access Practitioner Network, the creation of new papers on other storage technologies, as well as other workshops in international events, among others.

Thanks to the experience gained with the “Small Wind Campaign”, the expertise of the Energy Storage Task Force and the support of the industry, ARE expects to facilitate business dialogue between private and public sector on the advantages of energy storage.

This is not the first time ARE has launched such a campaign. Last year the focus was small wind power, and now it is the turn of energy storage, a technology that undoubtedly will make a difference in the long way towards achieving universal access to reliable and sustainable electricity in remote areas.





Source: Renewable Energy World

USA New Energy Storage Bill : Home owners can install their own ESS and get 30% off in tax credit !

US senators introduce energy storage bill

U.S. Senators have introduced a Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy Act for 2013. This Act, also known as the STORAGE Act, will promote the deployment of energy storage technologies in the U.S. All storage technologies are supported by the bill.

I read in this article that Home Owners could get a 30% tax credit building their own DIY ESS, which I think is great :-)

"Home owners can also install their own storage solutions. The Act will provide for 30% tax credit for homeowners for on-site energy storage to store off-peak electricity from solar panels for use when needed during peak hours."

Maybe some americans could be interested in my DIY ESS since they could pay only 70% of its cost ... which should be close to 3,000 USD after incentive (maybe less since many components can be found in the US). Pretty cool, things are starting to move...


My DIY ESS is doing exactly this, automatically: http://diyesskit.blogspot.com




Source: PV Magazine

Fighting Blackouts: Japan Residential PV and Energy Storage Market Flourishing

San Diego, CA -- In the past, a PV system with battery storage was associated with the off-grid system — not connected to the utility grid. The battery stores the energy produced by the PV system and when the sun goes down, electricity is drawn from the battery. In Japan, the battery became attractive to store electricity from "the grid," to reduce electricity bills.

After the devastation of the Tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Mach 2011, Japan became painfully aware of the importance of both safety and maintaining a steady supply of electricity. The combination of a PV system and battery storage gives consumers the ability to produce, store and supply electricity throughout the day at their own home for power outages and emergencies. However, the system can bring economic benefits — electricity bill reduction — during normal days.

Like California, utilities in Japan offer Time-of Use (TOU) rates. How homeowners can reduce electricity bills can be illustrated by using Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) current (non-summer) TOU rates for all-electric homes with a PV system.

- Purchase and store electricity from the grid at off-peak hour (11 pm – 7 am) at ¥11.82/kWh [US $0.12]

- Sell PV-generated electricity to the utility at the FIT premium rate of ¥38.0/kWh [US $0.38]

- Use PV-generated electricity during day time, otherwise paying at ¥30.77 (10 am – 5 pm) [US $0.31] and use stored electricity between 7 and 10 am and between 5 and 11 pm, otherwise paying ¥25.2/kWh [US $0.25]

With the battery storage, PV homeowners can ultimately buy electricity at the lowest rate (¥11.82/kWh or $0.12/kWh) and sell at the highest price (¥38/kWh or $0.38/kWh).

The key domestic PV makers, Panasonic, Kyocera and Sharp, all now offer lithium-ion battery storage along with a PV home system to meet consumers’ demand. Their goal is to move beyond PV and expand into a total Home Energy Management System (HEMS3) arena.

Kyocera started offering PV plus lithium-ion battery storage to homeowners in early 2012 with a target of selling 10,000 units from April 2012 to March 2013. Panasonic also released home battery storage systems that can be connected to Sanyo’s (now Panasonic) HIT PV system. The battery has a capacity of 4.65 kWh and is priced at ¥1.218 million MSRP [US $11,984].

In April, Kyocera released the largest residential lithium-ion battery in Japan. The battery has the capacity of 14.4 kWh, which is priced at an MSRP of ¥4.45million [US $43,784]. This large capacity allows it to power a home refrigerator, TV, computers, lights and cell phone chargers for up to 24 hours.

Kyocera has teamed up with Rakuten, Inc., which operates the nation’s largest internet shopping site, to offer a PV system (poly-Si) and a lithium battery (7.2 kWh) set for homeowners at an affordable price. Rakuten provides options with different sizes of PV systems with the battery, and installed system price (after tax) varies from ¥2.94 million ($29,730) with a-2.28 kW system to ¥4.168 million ($42,153) with a 6.27-kW system. These systems are installed by one of the nation’s largest installers, Nippon Ecosystem, which is part of Itochu Corp.

Residential battery systems remain expensive to average homeowners. To solve this issue,One Energy Corp. has just begun the nation’s first residential energy storage leasing service. Like SolarCity or SunRun’s PV leasing service in the U.S., this requires zero upfront payment to homeowners. The company is a joint venture between Orix, NEC and Epco. NEC provides lithium batteries, whose technology is used for Nissan Leaf electric vehicles.

Besides the energy storage leasing service, One Energy also offers “Yanekari (PV rooftop space leasing)” service. A homeowner can lease a storage system with 5.53 kWh of capacity at between ¥3,045 ($31) to ¥5,145 ($52) a month from One Energy while offering the roof-space to One Energy, making a monthly revenue of ¥2,500 ($25). The image below illustrates how a customer could use an energy storage system to offset the high cost of purchasing energy during peak times.




One Energy currently offers this leasing service in the TEPCO region only and is planning to expand to the Kansai region by the second half of this fiscal year and eventually expand nationwide.

NEC started mass production of residential storage systems in February. Besides partnering with One Energy, the company sells home batteries directly to homebuilders and building material distributors with the goal of selling 15,000 units during this fiscal year.

The company stated that PV homeowners will start storing PV electricity in batteries even more as the FIT rate gets lower in the future, creating a more self-sufficient and less grid-dependent environment.

It is declining, but the national government provides upfront, capacity-based rebates (¥15-20/kW) and a net FIT of ¥38/kWh on excess electricity generation for 10 years) for PV home systems. The government also currently provides a subsidy for lithium-ion battery storage for homeowners. The subsidy is one third of the installed system cost or up to ¥1 million ($10,823).

The hot and humid summer is approaching in Japan. Some of the nation’s utilities have just raised electricity rates and many of them will request that consumers limit and/or shift electricity consumption from peak to off-peak to control raising fossil fuel cost caused by the shutdown of nuclear power plants. With PV + battery systems, homeowners are moving to take energy matters into their own hands in defense against rolling blackouts and rising electricity bills.

Source: Renewable Energy World

The Growing Market for Energy Storage

19-May-2012
Balqon Companies Make a Move into Energy Storage

Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, like Balqon Corporation (OTCBB: BLQN), are starting to make a move into the energy storage business dominated by companies like A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) and Valence Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: VLNC).

The move could mean new opportunities for EV manufactures, particularly as many energy storage pure-plays are struggling. In this article, we’ll take a look at Balqon’s entry into the energy storage industry, as an example, and how it compares to pure-plays in the sector.


The Growing Market for Energy Storage

Solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable energy sources are growing in popularity, driven by rising energy demand around the world. Higher electricity prices have made these alternative energies more economically competitive relative to fossil fuel.

But unlike fossil fuels, these energy sources generate an unpredictable amount of power at different times during the day. Companies are therefore turning to high energy density batteries that allow uses to store the power generated during off-peak hours.

Currently, the majority of the demand in the energy storage industry is focused on the telecom and data backup industries, in addition to off-grid applications in large industrial plants and commercial buildings where the systems can be used to save money.

Diversifying into Complementary Industries

Many electric vehicle manufacturers have exclusive agreements with battery manufacturers in order to provide them with an additional competitive advantage. With these agreements in place, EV companies are leveraging these agreements to expand into complementary industries.

For instance, Balqon Corporation’s exclusive distributor agreement with SOL, a large format lithium battery manufacturer, has enabled it to enter into the mid level energy storage market, with a focus on replacing large installations of lead acid batteries, according to its 10-K filing.

Ultimately, these agreements have helped EV companies like Balqon increase their revenues and diversify away from a sole focus on electric vehicles. For investors, this increasing diversified revenue is a positive sign that could justify higher price-earnings multiples.

A Brief Revenue Growth Comparison

Many energy storage pure-plays have been suffering from lower-than-expected demand for numerous end markets. For instance, some companies in the industry have seen double-digit revenue declines over the past quarter alone.

In contrast, many EV manufactures focused in niche markets, such as Balqon Corporation, have seen their revenues jump significantly. Balqon reported a 159% increase in its revenues year-over-year, which could be partly attributed to entry into the energy storage business.

Despite this outperformance, Balqon trades at a significant discount to energy storage companies. Many companies trade with market capitalizations in the high tens to hundreds of millions, with no revenues, while Balqon trades at just a $12.47 million valuation.

Looking Ahead

Electric vehicle companies with exclusive agreements with battery manufacturers are in a unique position to expand their revenues. With the added diversification, investors may soon turn to these companies as the preferred investments in the alternative energy space.

Source: Balqon press release, May 19th 2012

All time high record for a liter of gas in Paris today : 2 Euros !!

I just saw this in the news during lunch:

The price for a Liter of gasoline has reached 2.02 EUR this morning in Paris

With this kind of prices, I guess people are going to look at EVs in a different way, considering that the price of electricity is really going to make them save a lot of money ...