Aiko presents ABC solar module with world record efficiency of 25.2% at Intersolar The Chinese back contact module maker said its new products rely on the company’s all-back-contact (ABC) cell technology and feature a temperature coefficient of -0.26% per C.

People on the move: Amp Energy, Deriva Energy, Atwell LLC, and more Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

Arizona’s largest energy storage project closes $513 million in financing The 1,200 MWh Papago Storage project will dispatch enough power to serve 244,000 homes for four hours a day with the e-Storage SolBank high-cycle lithium-ferro-phosphate battery energy storage solution. 

Scientists develop silver-free PEDOT:PSS adhesive for shingled solar cells Researchers from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have developed a new silver-free adhesive for shingled solar cells. The novel adhesive is based the PEDOT:PSS polymer and can reportedly reduce silver consumption to approximately 6.3 mg/W.

Longi launches ultra-black HPBC solar modules for residential applications The Chinese manufacturer said its new Hi-MO X6 Artist series has an efficiency of up to 22.3% and a power output ranging from 420 W to 430 W. The smaller version is currently priced at CNY 298 ($41.7)/m2 and the largest model is sold at CNY 268/m2.

Nextracker acquires solar foundation specialist Ojjo for $119 million Ojjo makes a unique truss system that reportedly uses half the steel of a conventional foundation and a design that minimizes grading requirements.

Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. has secured $513 million in project financing for its Papago Storage project located in Maricopa County, Arizona.

The 1,200 MWh Papago Storage, which will be the largest energy storage project in Arizona, is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2024, with commercial operations slated for the second quarter of 2025. Once operational, the project is expected to dispatch enough power for approximately 244,000 homes for four hours every day.

The Papago battery energy storage systems (BESS) project will use e-Storage’s SolBank, a containerized, proprietary battery energy storage solution designed and manufactured for utility-scale applications. SolBank, which was announced at RE+ in Anaheim in 2022, uses high-cycle lithium-ferro-phosphate (LFP) batteries with a 2.8 MWh energy capacity.

Recurrent Energy, owner of the project, secured a 20-year tolling agreement with Arizona Public Service (APS) for the energy storage project, under which the utility pays for the right to charge and discharge the battery when it needs to.

MUFG and Nord/LB acted as coordinating lead arrangers for the Papago Storage project financing. The financing includes a $249 million construction and term loan, a $163 million tax equity bridge loan, and a $101 million letter of credit facility. Joint lead arrangers for the transaction included Bank of America, CoBank, DNB, Rabobank, Siemens Financial Services, and Zions.

“Today, we are thrilled to see nearly a decade of planning culminate in the financing of what will be the largest energy storage project in Arizona,” said Ismael Guerrero, CEO of Recurrent Energy. “We appreciate the continued support from our partners Nord/LB and MUFG in our shared mission to advance the clean energy transition.”

Last April Canadian Solar rebranded its wholly owned global energy subsidiary as Recurrent Energy. This segment develops both stand-alone solar and stand-alone battery storage projects, as well as hybrid solar-plus-storage projects. To date, Recurrent Energy has delivered more than 10 GWp of solar power projects and 3.3 GWh of energy storage projects, with a global project development pipeline of 26 GWp and 56 GWh for solar and energy storage respectively, the company reports. In North America, Recurrent Energy is developing a pipeline of 6.3 GWp of solar projects and 18.9 GWh of battery energy storage projects.

Wood Mackenzie and American Clean Power released its quarterly Energy Storage Monitor report, finding that the U.S. storage market posted strong growth in the grid-scale and residential storage sector, while the commercial and industrial sector retracted significantly in Q1 2024. 

The grid-scale market installed 993 MW / 2,952 MWh of storage, with California, Texas, and Nevada responsible for 90% of the total. This was a record quarter for grid-scale storage, growing 84% year-over-year over Q1 2023. The enormous backlog of grid-scale storage with interconnection applications has grown 10% year-over-year, with 426 GW of storage in the queue nationwide. 

Costs declined considerably year-over-year, with grid scale storage averaging $1,776 per kWh in Q1 2023 and falling 39% to $1,080 per kWh in 2024. The grid-scale segment is projected to see a 45% increase year-over-year in 2024 with 11.1 GW/31.6 GWh installed, bringing total cumulative volume in the next five years to 62.6 GW/219 GWh.

About 250 MW / 515 MWh of residential storage was installed, posting a slight increase of 8% over Q4 2023. Interestingly the residential solar segment grew 48% on a MW capacity basis year-over-year for Q1. 

California tripled its number of residential storage installs year-over-year for Q1. Batteries were attached to 41% of installed solar arrays in California, suggesting there is still a lot of room for growth, said Wood Mackenzie. High interest rates continue to drag down the residential solar and storage market, increasing the amount of third-party owned systems like leases and power purchase agreements (PPA). 

Wood Mackenzie forecasts that 13 GW of distributed storage will be deployed over the next five years. The residential segment will constitute 79% of distributed power capacity installations, said the report. It said that more residential storage will come online as costs decrease and the value of exporting rooftop solar mid-day decreases as well. 

Despite growth in other sectors, the commercial, community and industrial market had its worst quarterly deployment total in years. The California market has remained stagnant as most systems installed are under Net Energy Metering 2.0, and New York and Massachusetts have had down quarters. 

“The CCI segment continues to see the highest barriers to growth in the near-term, but its strong value proposition and emerging value streams will make it an exciting growth segment in the later years of our ten-year forecast,” said Wood Mackenzie. 

Across all segments, Wood Mackenzie expects 12.9 GW / 35.8 GWh of storage to be installed in 2024. In its quarterly report, the firm raised its five-year forecast for grid-scale installations by 5% and residential sector installations by 8%. The five-year commercial, community, and industrial forecast was cut by 34% after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) made an unfavorable ruling on community solar.

Looking ahead, Wood Mackenzie expects 75 GW / 251 GWh to be installed through 2028.

“The rapid growth of the energy storage industry comes at a critical time, providing a solution to growing energy demand and increasingly variable weather conditions that are placing added stress on the grid.” said John Hensley, vice president of markets and policy analysis at American Clean Power, “A strong start to 2024 sets expectations high for the remainder of the year.”

Read more energy storage news coverage on the new pv magazine energy storage platform.

This article was amended to correct MWh to KWh in reference to declining costs.

From ESS News

U.S.-based energy solutions company Torus has announced the signing of a deal with real estate developer Gardner Group to provide its propriatery BESS and FESS technologies in one of the largest commercial energy storage projects in the U.S. state of Utah.

The deal will see 26 MWh of systems installed and supported by Torus’ proprietary software platform, enabling intelligent energy management, demand response capabilities, and seamless integration with renewable energy sources and EV charging infrastructure.

The project will also leverage Torus’ participation in Rocky Mountain Power’s Wattsmart Battery program, which supports grid resilience through the integration of energy storage resources into a VPP ecosystem. The Torus VPP platform enables predictive analytics for demand response, energy arbitrage, and frequency regulation.

Startup Giraffe Financial aims to unravel tax credit complexities for businesses Giraffe received a $1.5 million pre-seed round of funding and plans to help underserved small- and medium-sized businesses access IRA tax credits.

CATL, Gotion deny U.S. accusations of forced labor U.S. lawmakers have urged for Chinese battery heavyweights CATL and Gotion High-Tech to be immediately added to an import ban list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Both manufacturers have adamantly denied the allegations.

Bitech Technologies sells 2.4 GW of solar to focus on energy storage Bitech completed the sale of 2.425 GW of its greenfield solar projects to “a third party purchaser”. The company plans to turn its focus to its battery storage business, which it believes, could ensure better investment returns.

Hawaii’s largest solar-plus-storage facility now operational The 60 MW Kūihelani solar-plus-storage facility will generate enough electricity for 27,000 homes, with a 240 MWh battery energy storage system.

Solar represents over 80% of U.S. electric capacity additions in 2024 Combined with wind, the two technologies represent 99% of all capacity additions, according to data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Maxeon reveals minimized risk of hotspots in IBC solar panels Maxeon’s Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar panels were found to disperse heat evenly, leading to lower operating temperatures in the shade and reduced degradation.

Swift Solar closes $27 million in funding, plans perovskite solar factory Swift Solar, a specialist in perovskite tandem photovoltaics, plans to build a factory in the U.S. in the next two to three years to manufacture thin-film solar.

Hawaii has the highest average electricity price of any state at 43.93 cents per kWh, nearly triple the U.S. average, yet this project will cut that cost for many residents. Developer AES Hawaii projects that the Kūihelani Solar-plus-Storage facility will generate enough electricity for 15% of Maui’s needs at just 8 cents per kWh.

“Maui residents will soon be seeing the benefit of Kuihelani in their electric bills and the reassurance of knowing they will have reliable electrical power for their homes and businesses,” said former Maui Mayor Victorino.

Islands that are not covering their energy needs with renewables are beholden to imported fossil fuels. The energy generated by this facility will offset the need to import an estimated 2 million barrels of oil.

Situated on 450 acres in central Maui, between Kūihelani Highway and Maui Veterans Highway, the project supports the state’s goal of 100% renewable energy and decarbonization targets by 2045. AES Hawaii broke ground for construction less than two years ago, and as with most large-scale solar projects, the company sought input from the community prior to construction. As a result, AES Hawaii modified its plans.

“We reduced the size of the project site by 35%, minimizing the project’s environmental footprint, while maximizing the usage of the available land in a responsible manner,” said Sandra Larsen, Hawaii market business leader for AES.

Hawaiian Electric is the offtaker of the electricity, having signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with AES Hawaii.

Nearly 300 jobs were supported during construction of Kūihelani Solar-plus-Storage and and generated approximately $68 million for Maui’s economy, according to AES Hawaii. In addition, project area is also designed for agricultural use.

AES Hawaii more than 300 MW of renewable energy in construction or operational, enough to power 120,000 homes statewide. The company estimates that this is the equivalent of eliminating more than 175,000 metric tons of carbon emissions and more than 15 million barrels of oil consumption over the course of project lifecycles.

From pv magazine ESS News

California-headquartered renewables company Bitech is selling 2.425 GW of its total 3.840 GW solar project portfolio. According to its website, Bitech’s primary focus as owner operator is the monetization and modernization of its 1.96 GW pipeline of grid-balancing battery energy storage system (BESS) projects. Bitech says it has a combo pipeline of 5.8 GW of BESS and solar projects.

A large part of Bitech’s business model is building partnerships and M&A deals with other renewables businesses, such as Emergen, a company it purchased from Texas-based solar and storage developer Bridgelink on April 24. With this transaction, the solar assets that have now been offloaded had entered Bitech’s portfolio.

Bitech’s wholly owned subsidiary Emergen will receive $19,400,000 from “a non-related third-party purchaser”, if the projects achieve a Point of Interconnection and subsequently obtain all Necessary Land Rights and the option to return certain or all projects is not executed.

Commenting on the decision to divest…

Article continues here.

From pv magazine ESS News site

Houston-based long-duration energy storage developer Quidnet Energy has announced a major deal that could see hundreds of megawatts of its innovative technology deployed in Texas to help address ERCOT’s urgent need for energy storage.

The company has announced a strategic partnership with a $10 million investment from Hunt Energy Network (HEN), a distributed energy resources developer with experience in subsurface development.

The two Texas-based companies will collaborate on a build-transfer program for 300 MW of projects utilizing Quidnet Energy’s GES technology, which relies on well-sealed underground reservoirs for energy storage.

The partnership will pair Quidnet’s solution with HEN’s similar subsurface technologies and its capabilities in developing energy storage projects, the companies said in a release.

“Quidnet Energy’s GES technology presents a unique opportunity to revolutionize energy storage, and we’re excited to invest in a solution that purposefully transforms existing resources to expand access to long-duration storage,” said Pat Wood, III, Chief Executive Officer for Hunt Energy Network.

To continue reading, please visit our ESS News website.

California transitioned its rooftop solar policy on April 15, 2023, eliminated net energy metering (NEM) and moving toward a net billing tariff (NBT) structure. The change essentially cut the rate paid to customers for exporting their excess solar production to the grid by about 80%. On year later, Lawerence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has released a report evaluating changes in the state’s rooftop solar market.

LNBL found that rooftop solar installations in California were roughly equal in 2023 to 2022. However, 80% of the systems installed were NEM 2.0 installations rushing into interconnection queues before the April 15, 2023 deadline to secure the more lucrative rate structure. To date, about 50,000 systems have been interconnected under the new NBT structure, in addition to 200,000 NEM systems interconnected over the same period.

Data from EnergySage, operator of the largest residential solar quote site in the U.S., are “suggestive of a more sustained downturn,” said the report.

Quote requests spiked during the December 2022-April 2023 window between announcement and implementation of NBT. Since then, monthly quote requests have averaged roughly 60% of historical (2019-2021) levels.

A 40% drop in historical quote requests is a “leading indicator” for market activity and “is perhaps the clearest signal yet of a substantial and sustained market contraction,” said LBNL.

A significant contraction of the rooftop solar market is not an ideal outcome for California, a state with ambitious clean energy goals and an electricity affordability crisis. Trade association leaders have warned that California is unlikely to reach its clean energy targets without robust contributions from the rooftop solar industry.

(Read the opinion piece: “We must push back on net billing“)

However, the transition to NBT has created some outcomes in California that may be desirable. The profile of an installed system has changed considerably. Pre-NBT, customers attached battery energy storage with their rooftop array in roughly 10% of installations. Now, post-NBT installations include batteries 60% of the time.

This is important for California’s grid operators, that seek to smooth out the mismatch between solar generated electricity supply and demands on the grid. This mismatch, often represented by the “duck curve,” has been deepening in California, causing pricing and grid maintenance issues, and creating a need for inefficient natural gas “peaker” plants to serve times of high demand and low generation.

The high battery attachment rate offers customers some benefits, too. While the overall sticker price goes up with a battery-attached system, the return on investment has improved relative to a solar-only installation.

Installers report a median payback period of eight years for solar systems with a battery, while standalone solar systems have a longer median payback period of about 10 years. Battery storage enables customers to store their solar production and use it when grid prices are at their highest, rather than selling it to the grid at pennies on the dollar on sunny afternoons. Solar-battery owners also have the option to be compensated for exporting power during peak demand events or emergencies, potentially creating a new stream of revenue.

Customers with batteries also benefit from having backup power during grid outages, which remains the number one reason for including batteries nationwide, according to an installer survey by SolarReviews.

“Since November 2023, residential storage installs have averaged roughly 5,000 systems per month, more than double the monthly pace over the preceding three years,” said the report from LBNL.

The Berkeley Labs report noted a change in financing options for residential solar customers. Over the final 12-months of NEM, third party ownership rates, including leased and power purchase agreement systems, averaged 26% for stand-alone solar and 11% for solar and storage systems. This jumped up to 39% for standalone solar and 52% for solar plus storage under the NBT system. Some of this change may be attributed to increased interest rates creating loan terms for customers that are more difficult to digest.

Finally, the Berkeley Labs report noted an increase in consolidation in the California rooftop solar market. The market share of the top five installers in the state rose from 40% during the last year of NEM to 51% during the first year of NBT.

One year in, it is clear that the change to NBT has drastically altered the California rooftop solar industry. However, the backlog of NEM orders being served in 2023 has made it unclear what the total effect of this policy change will bring. This sets the stage for 2024 being a critical proving ground for the health of this industry.

“These trends, and others, will no doubt come into sharper focus over the next year or so, once the NEM backlog is fully cleared and a ‘new normal’ under NBT sets in,” concluded Galen Barbose, staff scientist, LBNL.

From pv magazine Global

Enel Green Power, the renewable energy unit of Italian utility Enel, and UK-based gravity storage specialist Energy Vault have jointly announced plans to build a large-scale gravity storage facility in the United States.

The system will operate in the ERCOT market. It will also serve the Solutions Excellence Center in Texas, a research facility for innovative storage technologies that is currently under construction.

“The plant is one of the first of its kind in the world and the first in the West,” Enel Green Power said in a statement. “The validation of the technology, which has been tested on the US market, will provide our group with the basis for future projects that could employ gravitational technology for long-term storage applications.”

In March, Energy Vault completed a 25 MW/100 MWh gravity-based storage facility in China.

EVx, the Energy Vault system, demonstrated round-trip efficiency of about 75% in a pilot project installed in Switzerland in 2020. The company said it expects that to be improved to about 80%, placing it in a similar range as pumped hydro storage and even grid-scale batteries.

Energy Vault’s storage device lifts composite blocks with an electric (solar-powered) motor. The lifted blocks are stacked, which creates potential energy. As the blocks are lowered, the energy is harvested and dispatched for use.

It said the tower’s design is based on the physics of pumped hydroelectric energy storage. However, as a solid “mobile mass,” the composite blocks do not lose storage capacity over time. The composite blocks can be made cheaply, said the company, using excavated soil from the construction site, waste materials like mine tailings and coal ash, and even fiberglass from decommissioned wind turbines.

The tower is controlled by computer systems and machine vision software that orchestrate the charging and discharging cycles. A range of storage durations from two to 12 hours or longer is achievable, said the company.

California approves uncapped fixed charges on electricity bills The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to approve a controversial electricity rate rule called the Income-Graduated Fixed Charge, enabling utilities to assess an average $24 monthly fixed charge on residential bills.–roughly double the national average in the United States. It applies to all customers, regardless of how much electricity they consume. 

Cypress Creek Renewables constructs 208 MW / 80 MWh solar-plus-storage facility in Texas The site reached commercial operation on May 2, adding enough capacity to the grid to serve the equivalent of 41,600 homes in the Brackettville, Texas area. Over $11.5 million in tax revenues are expected to be generated for the county by the project, along with $11.7 million earmarked for the Bracket Independent School District.

Adena Power was the winner of the People’s Choice Award, chosen as the “best startup” by the 300 attendees at the 2024 National Renewable Energy Lab’s Industry Growth Forum.

Ohio-based Adena Power was selected out of a field of more than 210 to present its sodium-based energy storage products to investors and industry representatives at the Industry Growth Forum (IGF) held last week in Denver, Colorado.

“Adena team and I are thrilled to be selected to present at IGF this year,”said Nathan Cooley, co-founder and CEO. “Since the end of last year’s event, we have made it a goal to be requested to present at IGF. We see the NREL Industry Growth Forum as the best climate tech startup event on the calendar.”

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) hosts the IGF, now in its 29th year and considered one of the nation’s premier events for cleantech entrepreneurs and other industry experts.

The IGF is an opportunity for cleantech entrepreneurs, investors and experts from industry and the public sector to showcase innovative technologies and identify business solutions and to network. NREL facilitates connections between startups and motivated investors to drive innovation to market for impact. NREL is the only U.S. federal lab dedicated to renewable energy and energy efficiency research.

“The theme of this year’s IGF is ‘breaking ground,’ and I believe our presenters represent that well in a variety of different ways,” said NREL Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC) group manager Katie Richardson. “From batteries to revolutionary software, these presenters will help us all break ground through innovation. There is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ deployment strategy as we continue the global transition to a cleaner energy future, and that’s why it’s crucial to be in the room at IGF 2024 to learn from peers in the industry.”

Adena reports that its technology addresses all the limitations of conventional, molten sodium batteries and combines the energy density and roundtrip efficiency of li-ion batteries with the safety and lifetime of flow batteries.

With manufacturing facilities in Lewis Center, Ohio, Adena Power is in the demonstration phase of its IP-protected energy storage solution.

The company recently completed the successful demonstration of a 1 kWh battery module and reports that the test validates important components within the module and positions Adena for a larger external demonstration with a utility partner early next year.

“This successful module test finishes a very successful year for Adena Power,” said Neil Kidner, president of Adena Power. “We are looking forward to building on this result and continuing to meet our aggressive product development goals in 2023.”

Adena has been in discussions with utilities and renewable developers and is aiming to develop an energy storage solution that is safer than lithium ion, has a flexible duration and a lower installed cost. The company expects to launch our first product early in 2025.

Read about the 2023 NREL Industry Growth Forum.

Anza, a solar and energy storage procurement platform, announced it has introduced expanded capabilities and now has over 20 energy storage products on its platform.

In 2023 Anza was spun out of Borrego Solar after Borrego developed the solar and battery storage online marketplace and optimization solution. The proprietary software that drives the digital marketplace identifies the most optimized solar module and storage components based on customer-provided project details.

The Anza marketplace is designed to give procurement professionals, developers and engineers access to the data they need to evaluate storage product pricing over a project’s lifetime. With solutions for the utility-scale and distributed generation market, Anza’s Effective $/Watt analytics allows users compare products based on risk, production and installation cost.

“Project developers and procurement professionals are faced with an escalating number of factors they must consider when evaluating an energy storage project, and the lack of real-time pricing among all the different product options and configurations slows decision making and increases risk,” said Mike Hall, CEO of Anza.

The Anza platform was developed to offer engineers and procurement professionals a streamlined way to obtain product and pricing data from multiple suppliers. Anza reports that its platform enables IPPs, developers and engineers the ability to instantly compare AC and DC energy storage systems (ESS), thus saving what could amount to considerable time and money.

“The Anza platform enables us to evaluate multiple energy storage products and PCS configurations in seconds,” said James Beach, co-founder and managing partner, EnerSmart Storage. “With Anza’s specialized technical and commercial expertise, it’s a no-brainer to partner with them in this rapidly evolving market.”

In its first year as a separate company, Anza has experienced 100% growth and the platform has facilitated the assessment of more than 35 GW of solar and 75 GWh of energy storage across over 1,000 projects to date, the company reports.

Microsoft announces largest-ever corporate procurement of renewable energy The tech giant signed a power purchase agreement for 10.5 GW of renewable energy to help power its datacenters with clean energy. Cost to build is projected at more than $11.5 billion to build, according to Bloomberg NEF.

California hits energy storage milestone Batteries dominate the evening grid with 10 GW/40 GWh of capacity.

New green bank to support distributed solar and storage in the Appalachian region The Green Bank for Rural America will support community lenders in Appalachian communities to finance climate-supporting projects including distributed solar and storage. The bank and four others received a total of $6 billion in federal awards.

]]> https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/05/03/u-s-solar-industry-week-in-review-8/feed/ 0 103899 https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/04/26/u-s-solar-industry-week-in-review-7/ https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/04/26/u-s-solar-industry-week-in-review-7/#respond Fri, 26 Apr 2024 21:00:56 +0000 https://pv-magazine-usa.com/?p=103651 pv magazine USA spotlights news stories of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.]]> pv magazine USA spotlights news stories of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

Solar manufacturers want anti-dumping tariffs enforced The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, which includes First Solar, Qcells, Meyer Burger, REC Silicon, and others said the current “manufacturing renaissance” in the United States is under threat from heavily subsidized Chinese cells and modules that are alleged to be in infraction with antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) law.

SunPower to close business units, cut about 26% of workforce SunPower’s struggles reflect a market-wide retraction in residential solar, which has been battered by worsened economics from high interest rates and unfavorable policy and ratemaking changes. We did have an inkling when revenues reported last December reflected a 28% year-over-year decline, while operating expenses increased, and net income resulted in a loss of $123.9 million.

President Biden announced the ambition to upgrade 100,000 miles of transmission lines over the next five years  The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) program intends to fund upgrades and modernization of the transmission and distribution system to increase reliability and resilience to prepare the grid for extreme weather as well as to ensure delivery of affordable, clean electricity to all communities across the nation.

IRS issues final guidance for clean energy tax credit transferability Under a tax credit transfer transaction, renewable energy developers and owners are essentially able to sell tax credits for cash, making financing easier for new clean energy projects. The transferability option is generally open to the entities that are not covered by the direct pay option.

NREL updates interactive chart of solar cell efficiency The highest research cell efficiency recorded in the chart is 47.6%, for a four-junction cell developed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Also included is the 33.9% world record efficiency achieved in November by Longi for a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell and the 27.09% efficiency achieved by the same company for a heterojunction back contact solar cell.

From pv magazine Global

Batteries need to lead a sixfold increase in global energy storage capacity to enable the world to meet 2030 targets, after deployment in the power sector more than doubled last year, the IEA said in its first assessment of the state of play across the entire battery ecosystem. In this scenario, battery energy storage systems would account for 90% of the increase and pumped hydro for most of the rest.

In its “Batteries and Secure Energy Transitions” report, the Paris-based watchdog described batteries as critical to delivering the climate and energy targets outlined at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai. It said that growth in batteries outpaced almost all other clean energy technologies in 2023, driven by falling costs, innovation, and supportive industrial policies.

Strong growth occurred for utility-scale battery projects, behind-the-meter batteries, minigrids and solar home systems, adding a total of 42 GW of battery storage capacity throughout the world, up by more than 130% year on year. Meanwhile, electric vehicle (EV) battery deployment increased by 40% in 2023, with 14 million new electric cars, accounting for the vast majority of batteries used in the energy sector.

“Despite the continuing use of lithium-ion batteries in billions of personal devices in the world, the energy sector now accounts for over 90% of annual lithium-ion battery demand,” the IEA report said. “This is up from 50% for the energy sector in 2016, when the total lithium-ion battery market was 10-times smaller.”

In less than 15 years, battery costs have fallen by more than 90% – one of the fastest declines ever seen in clean energy technologies. Nonetheless, the report found that costs need to come down further without compromising quality and technology to globally scale up batteries.

The expectation is that further innovation in battery chemistries and manufacturing could reduce global average lithium-ion battery costs by another 40% from 2023 to 2030 and bring sodium-ion batteries to the market. The IEA said that sodium-ion batteries would account for less than 10% of EV batteries to 2030, but they would make up a growing share of stationary storage batteries, as their costs are 30% lower than those of lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.

“The combination of solar PV and batteries is today competitive with new coal plants in India. And just in the next few years, it will be cheaper than new coal in China and gas-fired power in the United States. Batteries are changing the game before our eyes,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

The cost cuts also make standalone battery storage more competitive with natural gas peaking options, the IEA report said.

In the most ambitious scenario, total spending on batteries across all applications is set to increase to $800 billion by 2030, up almost 400% from 2023. This means doubling the share of batteries in overall clean energy investment within seven years.

Global battery manufacturing has more than tripled over the last three years. While China produces most batteries today, the report showed that 40% of all announced plans for new battery manufacturing are in advanced economies such as the United States and the European Union.

“If all those projects are built, those economies would have nearly enough manufacturing to meet their own needs to 2030 on the path to net zero emissions,” said the report.

Petition filed to enforce antidumping tariffs on solar imports  A coalition of U.S. solar manufacturers submitted a request for investigation of alleged dumping of Chinese goods in four Southeastern Asian nations responsible for roughly 80% of U.S. solar panel supply.

People on the move: Urban Solar, Kilo Power, Palmetto and more  Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

NREL updates interactive chart of solar cell efficiency The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has updated its research cell efficiency chart for a range of PV technologies.

A second solar project takes off at JFK airport TotalEnergies began construction of an onsite solar-plus-storage system, providing energy to Port Authority and Con Edison, as well as community solar for area residents.

Reconductoring could enable 764 GW of transmission-connected solar by 2035  Replacing existing transmission lines, known as conductors, with advanced conductors could enable 764 GW of transmission-connected solar by 2035 even if transmission in new corridors was limited, found a study by UC Berkeley and GridLab researchers.

RFP alert: Community choice aggregator seeks renewable energy and storage  Central Coast Community Energy announces a request for proposals (RFP) for renewable energy and storage Projects in CAISO territory.

Enphase delivers revenue miss amid softened residential solar demand The company remains profitable, generating $41.8 million in free cash flow, despite a slumping market.

SunPower to close business units, cut about 26% of workforce The company announced plans to wind down its residential solar installation locations and close its direct sales unit.

TotalEnergies is constructing a 12 MW solar canopy in a long-term parking lot at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York. The solar will be paired with 7.5 MW / 25 MWh of battery energy storage to help reduce reliance on the electric grid during peak periods.

TotalEnergies will own, operate, and maintain the system, and recently signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for half the energy generated (6 MW) from the behind-the-meter portion of the project.

The other half the electricity generated is allocated as community solar, to be completed in phase two of the project. The plan is to deliver energy to Con Edison through the NYS Community Distributed Generation Program and provide guaranteed electric bill savings for 25 years to historically disadvantaged and environmentally impacted households located in nearby Queens communities.

“We applaud Governor Hochul, PANYNJ and NYPA for their leadership on this unique project, which will not only make clean power accessible to millions of travelers who pass through JFK Airport each year, but also reduce electricity costs for residents of low-income neighborhoods in Queens,” said Marc-Antoine Pignon, managing director, TotalEnergies Renewables USA.

TotalEnergies told pv magazine USA that the project will be constructed on a canopy with a custom wave design. Included will be 32,000 Sunpower solar modules and 164 SMA inverters. There will also be five Tesla Megapack battery energy storage systems.

The project is expected to be placed in service in phases during 2025 and 2026. When complete, this JFK solar carport will produce enough clean energy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 6,000 tons annually, equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 1,500 gasoline powered passenger vehicles driven for one year. It will also contribute to the Port Authority’s goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions across the agency’s facilities by 2050.

Last year another solar project was announced for JFK International Airport. The New Terminal One microgrid project will include 11.34 MW of rooftop solar with 2 MW / 4 MWh of lithium-ion batteries and 3.68 MW of combined heat and power (renewable natural gas) and hydrogen fuel cells. Electricity from this project is expected to meet 90% of the electrical needs of the terminal.

TotalEnergies has a portfolio of large-scale solar, battery storage, onsite B2B solar distributed generation and other renewable projects that are expected to generate up to 10 GW of clean power by 2025 and more than 25 GW by 2030. The company recently reached over 1.5 GW of renewable PPAs with over 600 industrial and commercial customers worldwide, of which 1.1 GW is already operational.

Qcells leads petition to revoke bifacial exemption The bifacial exemption may be revoked once again, this time by the Biden Administration following a petition by Qcells, which has a large manufacturing footprint in the United States. Reuters reported that, Qcells, the solar division of Korean conglomerate Hanwha, sent the formal petition to the U.S. Trade Representative on Feb. 23 requesting the exemption to be revoked.

Quoted solar prices decreased on the marketplace, falling 3.5% to $2.80  For the first time since 2021, quoted solar prices decreased on the marketplace, falling 3.5% to $2.80 per watt for quotes in the second half of 2023. The median system size over that period was 11.3 kW, leading to an average quoted system price of $31,640 (before any associated tax credits or incentives). These prices are the lowest since mid-2020.

DOE lays out roadmap to advance interconnections of renewables The report presents 35 interconnection improvement solutions developed through a DOE stakeholder engagement process, known as the Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) program.

Puerto Rico net metering law at risk  Central to Puerto Rico’s future success with residential solar is a law that extended the territory’s net metering policy for solar through 2031. Yet that law, known as Act 10-2024, has been challenged by the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) for Puerto Rico, a body created by federal law.

Important Q1 solar policies across 50 states  The Q1 2024 report by NC Clean Energy Technology Center finds that 43 states plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico took a total of 163 actions related to distributed solar policy and rate design. Read about what works for or against the advancement of solar energy.

Resilient Watertown, the city’s Climate & Energy Plan, outlines 61 actions to ensure the city is on its way to achieving its goal of 100% of electricity sourced from renewables by 2050.

Two elements of the extensive plan are to promote electrification and enhance and actively promote zero-carbon mobility options for travel. In fact, the city plans to not only have all registered vehicles be electric by 2050, but also has a goal of cutting in half personal vehicular travel miles.

In 2018 the Watertown Town Council passed a first-in-New-England solar ordinance requiring solar on the equivalent of 50% roof coverage for new and substantially renovated buildings over 10,000 sq. feet and 90% of parking garages.

Now the city celebrates the operation of a solar and storage project installed at 66 Galen, a brand new 224,106 square foot life science building that features purpose-built offices and laboratories.

The project was directed by Houston-based Catalyze, a national Energy Transition Partner that develops, finances, owns, and operates integrated renewable assets. Catalyze owns two proprietary technologies: REenergyze, an origination-to-operations software integration platform and SolarStrap, a proprietary mounting technology to install rooftop panels.

The Gold LEED-certified facility draws power from 252 kW solar and 125 kW storage system, covering about 10% of the buildings electricity needs. It also boasts a series of EV charging stations featuring 15 ports, located within the parking garage and are intended for use by employees and visitors.

The installation features Znshine Solar modules, a 251 kWh battery from SYL and Powercharge EV chargers. Catalyze told pv magazine USA that the battery storage system will be used to offset peak demand times, supplying solar power to the building when the cost of power from the utility provider would be at its highest.

Other sustainability features include 100% recyclable terra cotta tiles with a low-e coating on the exterior that maximize the building’s insulative properties and minimize solar heat gain; high-efficiency LED and self-dimming lighting to minimize light pollution; a variable-volume air handler system that helps reduce energy cost by 19%, according to Catalyze, compared to buildings of a similar size; and significant water conservation infrastructure that directs excess rainwater to green space.

To support this project, Catalyze participated in the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program, an incentive program that has catapulted Massachusetts into the top ten list for solar states.

The building, which is called 66 Galen, is owned by Davis and Boston Development Group, with investment by Actis and Encap.

“It’s terrific to see a multi-technology scheme such as 66 Galen which comprises energy generation from solar PV and battery storage come into operation,” said Javier Orellana, director, energy infrastructure at Actis. “It’s a perfect demonstration of the energy transition in progress.”

66 Galen is not the first solar on a commercial building in Watertown. The largest commercial solar installation is on Arsenal Yards.

The more than one million square foot mixed-use development that includes state-of-the-art life science lab space, 300 apartments, and a 146-room hotel. The 1. 1 MW of solar was installed in 2020 by Boston-based Kearsarge Energy.

Watertown is also home to the first net-zero school in Massachusetts. The Cunniff elementary school is testament to the support among municipal leaders as well as town residents. In developing the Climate & Energy Plan, the city surveyed residents, solicited comments, distributed educational materials, had conversations at five public events and invited the public to the three advisory group meetings—all to solicit feedback and support for the clean energy goals in Watertown.

Watertown intends to re-evaluate its goals and actions regularly in order to keep them on target for the 2050 goal, and also to adjust any actions to adapt to new trends and technologies.to update and adjust actions and targets to adapt to emerging trends and technologies.

California Supreme Court takes a look at NEM 3.0  The controversial rooftop solar rulemaking decision has risen to the Supreme Court of California, with the state’s highest court granting review for a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity.

Eyes were on the sky for the 2024 solar eclipse  With an estimated 6.5 GW of solar in the path of the eclipse, load balancing, battery storage and the significance of solar energy in the U.S. was brought front and center.

Texas, now the number one state for solar, is seeing a drop in use of natural gas  The Lone Star State is seeing tangible changes to its daily electricity supply, lowering the need for natural gas peaker plants, said the Energy Information Administration.

Despite opposition, 4.95 MW agrivoltaic community solar project in Illinois moves ahead Lightstar Renewables’ Nesler Road project will grow hay along with enough solar energy to power 1,100 Illinois homes.

Renewables and storage interconnection backlog grew about 30% last year  With grid interconnection reform yet to take place, solar and energy storage wait in line for studies to be completed. The growing backlog of projects awaiting grid interconnection studies called a major bottleneck for project development, according to a recent study by Lawrence Berkeley National Labs.

A 12.5 MW solar with 50 MWh energy storage system is now operating on O’ahu, the most populated and third largest of the Hawaiian islands.

AES Hawaii installed the West O’ahu Solar + Storage system on land owned by the University of Hawaii, which will provide electricity to O‘ahu’s power grid under a 25-year power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric at a cost of $0.115 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The energy produced is expected to reduce O‘ahu’s use of fossil fuels by 750,000 barrels of oil and the associated pollution and greenhouse gases emitted over the project’s lifetime.

Hawaii launched its ambitious Clean Energy Initiative in 2008, which set a goal of achieving the first-in-the-nation 100% renewable portfolio standards by 2045. In 2022 29% of the state’s electricity came from renewables, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Of that clean energy flowing into the grid, nearly 19% comes from solar, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

“This project represents another positive step in our state’s efforts to achieve our renewable energy goals,” said Rebecca Dayhuff Matsushima, Hawaiian Electric Vice President of Resource Procurement. “Our growing portfolio of renewable power and energy storage resources work together to provide reliability and energy security on our isolated island grid,”

EIA data shows that Hawaii uses the most petroleum of any state and has the highest electric rates in the nation. Currently at 41.60 cents per kWh, Hawaii’s rates are triple the average in the U.S. The Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative is working toward transforming energy planning and delivery in the state.

“This project is one of many we welcome, as we make progress toward the Hawaiʻi Clean Energy Initiative, launched in 2008,” said Governor Green, who attended the commissioning. “We will continue the good work that is underway to make our islands petroleum-independent by the year 2045. Our administration is investing in contractor training programs to build a workforce with the technical expertise to support efforts like this.”

AES Hawaii President Sandra Larsen said that more than 120 jobs for local workers were supported during the two-year construction phase. In addition, she noted that the land is being used for sheep grazing to support the island’s agricultural and food production needs.

The West O’ahu Solar + Storage project is one a dozen projects that AES currently has in progress around the state. Collectively these installations will provide nearly 400 MW of renewable energy while eliminating more than 470,000 metric tons of carbon emissions and more than 30 million barrels of oil consumption over the course of their lifecycle, AES reports.

Texas led the United States in solar installations in 2023, and it is projected to continue its leadership through the next five years, with the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) expecting over 40 GW of capacity addition. To place this solar boom in context, the entire United States had just 40 GW of total cumulative installed solar capacity in 2016, according to SEIA.

The effect of solar on Texas’ grid is starting to have tangible effects on the daily supply of electricity, according to a report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Solar, now often paired with flexible battery energy storage, is helping serve seasonal and daily intermittent electricity demand, helping to squeeze out natural gas plants.

“With more solar capacity on the ERCOT electricity grid, we expect less use of natural gas generation during the middle of the day when solar generation displaces it,” said EIA. “We also expect less use of natural gas in the summer when electricity demand is at its highest in Texas.”

However, EIA expects natural gas to continue to play a role in the ERCOT grid. The intermittent cycles of solar and wind generation lead to an evening mismatch of supply and demand, typically around the hours of 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. This mismatch is sometimes referred to as the “duck curve,” a phenomenon familiar to grid operators in California.

“As solar power generation declines later in the afternoon, natural gas is dispatched to meet the electricity demand,” said EIA. “Wind generation also increases in the evening, limiting the need for additional generation from natural gas or other dispatchable resources.”

Energy storage is increasingly important in closing this supply and demand gap and negating the need for emissions-causing natural gas burning. Many energy storage projects being deployed in Texas today range between one to four hours of duration, serving the use case of dispatching electricity when it is needed most. Natural gas peak demand plants or “peaker” plants are among the most inefficient uses of natural gas reserves. A study from Sandia National Laboratories explores this issue and how energy storage is expected to replace natural gas peakers.

This is reflected in the capacity additions planned for ERCOT. EIA expects 13 GW of battery storage capacity to be added between the time of this report and 2025. Over the same period, 3 GW of natural gas additions are expected.

Solar generation has increased significantly over a year for Texas. In winter 2022-23 peak generation was 2.1 GWh, and in 2023-24, it reached 3.8 GWh, said EIA. Wind production remained relatively flat, though it remains a larger source of electricity than solar on the ERCOT grid. In the summer of 2022, the maximum hourly average solar generation was 3.9 GWh and increased to 5.3 GWh in the summer of 2023.

Solar generation increased 35% year-over-year in the state, and 16 GW of solar was added in 2023 alone. Developers are expected to add another 24 GW in 2024 and 2025, while wind power is expected to increase by 3 GW of capacity.

California officials call for repeal of $24 fixed rate fee Although it’s better than the proposed $128 fee, a coalition objects to the $24 fixed monthly charge that the California Public Utilities Commission approved to be levied on customers, regardless of how much electricity is used at home.

California solar distributor goes out of business AEE Solar, a California-based solar distributor owned by Sunrun, announced it is going out of business in early May and placing its remaining inventory on clearance sale before closing operations. Such closures could be the result of weakened demand for distributed solar, particularly in California, since NEM 3.0 went into effect.

The U.S.  may soon face another ongoing tariff enforcement saga Another round of antidumping and countervailing (AD/CVD) tariffs may be on the way, accord to a note from Roth Capital Partners. Not good news for the solar industry as it experienced project delays and cancellations when AD/CVD tariff enforcement threatened supply in the past.

PPAs are all the rage. Power purchase agreements (PPAs) have emerged as the go-to financing tool for commercial and industrial (C&I) solar adopters looking to avoid upfront costs and realize immediate energy savings. Read about Microsoft recently entering into two power purchase agreements for a total of 400 MW of solar energy from Texas solar plants.

U.S. DOE invests $4 million in thermal energy storage  Thermal energy storage offers a low-cost alternative to existing energy storage technologies, and DOE is providing funding for a pilot demonstration program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on a multi-day energy storage system using heated sand.

With “blackouts on the rise,” the primary cause of “our unreliable grid” is not the changing energy mix but “a failure of grid governance,” say four law professors in a white paper published by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pointing to the “correlated failures of gas and electricity supply,” the authors say policy makers should focus on distributed energy resources (DERs) such as rooftop solar, battery storage and demand response to ensure that “resources that perform during extreme weather events” are available in the future.

Solutions proposed in the paper include eliminating the ability of states to “veto” the participation of demand response providers in wholesale markets, and speeding up and enhancing regional rules for the participation of DERs in those markets.

In another set of recommendations, the authors call for reform of “overly privatized governance systems.” They say both the  North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which is responsible for writing and enforcing grid reliability standards, and regional grid operators known as RTOs, which are responsible for designing and operating the markets that ensure resource adequacy in many regions, are private membership organizations.

Both NERC and RTOs are “dominated by entrenched, large industry players” who, as voting members, select each organization’s governing board and vote on the standards to be approved by the board. “This structure produces decision-making processes and rules that favor incumbents,” the authors say, which “lack adequate input from numerous public stakeholders, who have much to gain or lose from reliability-related decisions.”

The authors recommend strengthening public control of grid reliability by enhancing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) oversight of NERC and RTOs.

They also recommend creating a public office of grid reliability in place of NERC that “might also function as the central locus of planning for new transmission lines—a process that will be critical to ensure reliability in coming decades.” In a “more modest” proposal, they call for requiring NERC and RTOs to include more public representatives across their voting sectors and boards and “better balanced authority among stakeholders.”

“Most ambitiously,” the authors say in a final set of recommendations, “Congress should vest more authority in FERC to write and enforce reliability standards.”

“Those interested in shoring up grid reliability,” the paper concludes, “should focus on these institutions and their pathologies as the first step to real and durable grid reliability in the coming decades.”

The paper’s four authors are Alexandra Klass, Joshua Macy, Shelley Welton and Hannah Wiseman. They teach law, respectively, at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University. The white paper draws from ideas first presented in two law review articles by the authors, and is titled “The Key to Electric Grid Reliability: Modernizing Governance.”

Shelley Welton has previously called for considering public control of grid operators to speed interconnection of utility-scale solar, wind and storage projects.

In related work, Harvard law lecturer Ari Peskoe has called for overhauling regional grid operators to speed interconnection of renewables.

CPUC lowers proposed fixed rate charge from $128 to $24.15

After initially saying that Californians could be assessed up to $128 on their electric bills, the commission now proposes a rate of $24.15. regardless of any energy conservation efforts or solar production at home. Along with the fixed charge, electricity rates for generation will be reduced by about 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt hour. CPUC said the move was motivated in part to decouple energy use and grid maintenance costs.

IRS releases updated guidance on energy communities

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury Department announced additional guidance for determining what a qualified energy community is. Projects in energy communities can qualify for the production and investment tax credit bonuses available within the Inflation Reduction Act, and those bonuses are offered for projects within brownfield, coal and other communities that will face challenges in the transition away from fossil fuels.

The five states with the least amount of solar installed  

PV Intel identifies the solar laggards–North Dakota, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Alaska, and South Dakota–and examines that factors to led to the low rate of solar adoption including policies, electric rates and availability of alternative emission-free electricity from wind, hydro, and nuclear.

Solar and storage to replace coal in New England

In a big win for Sierra Club, The Conservation Law Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency, the last two remaining coal-fired plants will be shut down. Both plants are in New Hampshire, and owner Granite Shore Power has committed to using the properties for solar and battery storage.

Hurry up and wait– staggering amount of solar projects queued up for interconnection

By year-end 2023, 1086 GW of solar projects awaited transmission interconnection, along with 503 GW of standalone storage, according to preliminary data from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The amount of storage in hybrid projects, such as solar-plus-storage projects, awaiting interconnection at year-end was estimated at 525 GW.

A boom in energy storage installations  With lowered costs, easing supply chains and steady demand, the U.S. is seeing huge growth in energy storage. Across all segments, the U.S. energy storage industry deployed 8.7 GW, a record-breaking growth of 90% year-over-year. The nation deployed 4.2 GW in Q4, 2023, and California and Texas installations accounted for 77% of Q4 additions, said a recent report by Wood Mackenzie.

California cuts interconnection costs if developers agree to export limitsThe California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has passed a decision allowing distributed renewable energy resources like residential solar and battery energy storage to interconnect to the grid without triggering grid impacts that require costly infrastructure upgrades.

More than $1 billion equity and debt financing for Avantus  Global investment firm KKR announced the signing of an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Avantus, marking KKR’s first U.S. investment under its global climate strategy. Following the close of the transaction, KKR and existing investor EIG, will be the sole equity investors in Avantus. Both equity sponsors secured commitments for a development financing facility alongside their equity commitments to the company, totaling upwards of $1 billion in the aggregate.

Tesla’s new power play  The first installations featuring the Tesla Powerwall 3 are currently being completed in the United States, with the company promoting a fully integrated solar-plus-storage and electric vehicle (EV) residential system, with big backup power capacity. While the first Powerwall created a new market segment, the latest iteration enters a marketplace in oversupply.

U.S. states have a lot of work to do on energy policy  The Institute for Local Self-Reliance rates states on policies related to energy democracy and accountability, and with 26 receiving failing grades, this year’s scorecard suggests that states can do far better.

Global investment firm KKR announced the signing of an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Avantus, marking KKR’s first U.S. investment under its global climate strategy.

The investment reflects the rapid growth in solar in the U.S. In 2023, solar made up over half of new generating capacity for the first time. The report estimates that in 2023, the U.S. solar market installed 32.4 GWdc of capacity, a 51% increase from 2022. This was the industry’s biggest installation year by far, exceeding 30 GWdc of capacity for the first time.

“Solar is the fastest growing electricity source in the U.S., and along with energy storage, will serve as the backbone of a modern electric grid that is clean, reliable and resilient,” said Patrick Goff, chief financial officer at Avantus. “KKR’s investment provides Avantus the financial backing and expertise to execute on our ambitious portfolio and lead the energy transition across the Western United States.”

Founded in 2009 as 8Minute Solar Energy by Tom Buttgenbach with the intention of fighting climate change by developing renewable energy at scale. The company expanded that vision in 2022 to include what it calls an “advanced ecosystem” of clean energy products and services. With the expanded vision came the new name, Avantus, and the plan to bring to life one of the largest clean energy development pipelines in the country.

Avantus has a project pipeline of 30 GW of solar and 94 GWh of battery storage, enough to provide 20 million people with clean energy. The company has developed and sold 6.5 GW and 6.3 GWh of solar and storage projects, respectively.

Following the close of the transaction, KKR and existing investor EIG, will be the sole equity investors in Avantus. Both equity sponsors secured commitments for a development financing facility alongside their equity commitments to the company, totaling upwards of $1 billion in the aggregate.

“To support an economy-wide energy transition, there is a need to significantly expand renewable energy generation by 2050 and enable grid electrification,” said Charlie Gailliot, partner and co-head of global climate strategy, KKR. “Because of these tailwinds, we see enormous opportunity for Avantus. The company’s impressive team and development track record, coupled with its mature project pipeline, set it apart from other renewables developers.”

Following the closing of the transaction, KKR announced plans to support Avantus in creating an equity ownership program to provide all employees the opportunity to participate in the benefits of ownership of the company. Since 2011, KKR reports its portfolio companies have awarded billions of dollars of total equity value to over 60,000 non-management employees across more than 40 companies.

In its latest Energy Storage Monitor report, Wood Mackenzie outlined the continued trend of rapidly increasing battery energy storage deployments across the U.S., with data through Q1 2024.

Across all segments, the U.S. energy storage industry deployed 8.7 GW, a record-breaking growth of 90% year-over-year. The nation deployed 4.2 GW in Q4, 2023, and California and Texas installations accounted for 77% of Q4 additions, said Wood Mackenzie.

The U.S. grid-scale storage market shattered previous quarterly installation records in Q4 2023, deploying 3,983 MW / 11,769 MWh, leading to an average duration of 2.95 hours. A combination of short-duration energy storage serving acute peak electricity demand times, and four-hour grid-scale batteries are common configurations in today’s market.

The residential energy storage market reached a marginal record quarter in Q4, 2023, deploying 218.5 MW, beating the record set by Q3 of 210.9 MW. The community, commercial, and industrial (CCI) segment deployed 33.9 MW, with the most deployment occurring in California, Massachusetts, and New York, said Wood Mackenzie.

“Q4 2023 was extremely strong for the U.S. energy storage market, helped by easing supply chain challenges and system price declines,” said Vanessa Witte, senior analyst, Wood Mackenzie.

The storage boom has been supported in part by drastically lowering costs. In Q4, battery prices declined rapidly, in large part due to lower-than-expected EV demand in the U.S. and EU, and due to an oversupply of battery grade lithium raw material.

“Chinese OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are selling DC blocks at aggressively low prices, undercutting competitors in order to gain market share,” said the Wood Mackenzie report. “However, this price pressure isn’t enough for all developers to turn away from the full AC-block solution of a more traditional integrator.”

Since last summer, lithium battery cell pricing has plummeted by approximately 50%, according to Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), the world’s largest battery manufacturer. In early summer 2023, publicly available prices ranged from $0.11 to $0.13 /Wh, or about $110 to $130 per kWh. Goldman Sachs predicts that these price reductions will make electric vehicles as affordable as gasoline-powered vehicles, leading to increased demand.

While the grid-scale segment grew 98% year-over-year in terms of capacity deployment, Wood Mackenzie warns this growth curve is not likely to continue.

“Growth flattens in 2025 and 2026 as project capacity is pushed into later years of the forecast largely due to early-stage development challenges such as permitting and siting difficulties, and interconnection queue timelines,” said the report.

Meanwhile, Wood Mackenzie expects the residential segment to grow to 2.1 GW per year in 2024, while CCI is expected to install 1.2 GW annually. It said that the emergence of storage incentive programs and the transition to NEM 3.0 in California will support distributed storage growth in the coming years. It also highlighted strong distributed energy storage growth in Puerto Rico.

“Energy storage has unique capabilities to address grid resilience, with the ability to serve as generation, load, and transmission. These benefits to the grid have been evident, especially in recent years, as storage has provided reliability and stability during critical moments like historic heatwaves. With a robust pipeline, the future for energy storage deployment is strong,” said John Hensley, vice president of markets and policy analysis, American Clean Power.

Arevon Energy announced it has entered a 15-year energy storage agreement with San Diego Community Power (SDCP), providing a 200 MW / 800 MWh standalone energy storage facility to the community choice aggregator (CCA).

The Avocet Energy Storage Project is located in Carson, California. It is expected to be operational in Q2 2026. Once complete, the project is expected to support the equivalent power demand of about 45,000 homes for four hours daily.

The project will make use of Tesla Megapack grid-scale batteries. The batteries will store energy during non-peak electricity demand hours, discharging power when it is needed most during peak demand.

As the mismatch between hours of peak renewable energy generation and peak electricity demand increases, energy storage is being pursued by electricity providers to balance the grid. This mismatch, sometimes referred to as the “duck curve” has been deepening in California, leading regulators to call for more energy storage capacity.

“Energy storage systems such as our Avocet Energy Storage facility reduce air pollution and contribute to grid reliability,” said Tommy Greer, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, Arevon.

The Avocet project is estimated to create 75 construction union jobs and disburse more than $35 million in property tax payments over its lifespan.

SDCP is the second-largest CCA in California, serving nearly 1 million customers in the San Diego area. This is the second such energy storage agreement the CCA has entered with Arevon Energy, adding to the 150 MW / 600 MWh Vikings Energy Farm, which commenced construction earlier this month.

“San Diego Community Power’s mission is to provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers, and Arevon shares this commitment,” said Karin Burns, chief executive officer of SDCP. “The Avocet project will be a critical component to ensure that, not only are we adding energy storage to shift renewable generation to demand hours, but we are creating quality construction jobs that support the energy transition in our communities.”

A seismic shift may be coming to U.S. energy sector and economy: FTI Consulting released a report reviewing renewable energy merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in 2023 and provided an outlook for 2024. FTI anticipates various factors will drive an increase in M&A activity in the renewable energy sector. The report sees an uptick in corporate renewables adoption as decarbonization and electrification continues to come to the forefront, and it expects oil and gas players to actively invest in the sector.

California rulemaking signals changes in energy policy: The California Energy Center must now assess costs and benefits related to health and environmental externalities of energy generation and transmission. The rulemaking decision marks the first positive development for distributed renewable energy in California, a state that has taken numerous regressive policy actions over the past eighteen months.

What might a new administration cut from the Inflation Reduction Act?: A live podcast by Norton Rose Fulbright discussed how a Republican administration might handle the Inflation Reduction Act. The panel noted that several provisions have bipartisan support, including carbon capture, hydrogen, fuel credits and possibly domestic manufacturing tax credits. The group said repeal of the IRA may not be an all-or-nothing scenario, but a potential new administration may tweak or remove the things they don’t like.

Experts deep dive into IRA tax guidance: At SEIA’s annual Finance, Tax, and Buyer’s Seminar, key topics included tax credit transferability rules, the process of filing for and monetizing “elective pay”, domestic content and brownfield tax adders, capital structures, and the evolving finance structures. Also covered was the risk of tax credit recapture by the IRS, which can occur when solar projects fail to meet the technical requirements that initially qualified them for tax benefits.

Giant solar project in Texas secures nearly $600 million: Primergy Solar closed commitments for $588 million in debt financing for the 408 MW Ash Creek solar project in Hill County, Texas, south of Dallas. Once complete, the project is expected to generate the equivalent electricity demand of 90,000 homes per year, though it will be fully dedicated to Microsoft through a power purchase agreement.

People on the move: 247Solar, iSun, Earthrise Energy and more Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

Tandem solar cell based on cadmium telluride, iron disilicide promises 43.9% efficiency Researchers in Bangladesh have designed a dual-junction tandem solar cell with a bottom device based on iron disilicide (FeSi2), an emerging absorber material know for its high thermal stability and good optoelectronic properties. Their simulation showed the advantage of combining the larger bandgap of the top cadmium telluride cell and the smaller bandgap of the bottom FeSi2 cell.

DOE Loan Programs Office announces $72.8 million for microgrid on Tribal lands The 15 MW / 38 MWh Viejas Microgrid is the first project to be offered a conditional commitment through the Tribal Energy Financing Program.

New Mexico Supreme Court upholds Community Solar Act  A New Mexico judge upheld rules that prevent utilities from deducting transmission costs from solar bill credits received by customers.

Mitigate lithium-ion battery fire risk for manageable premiums As debate continues to rage about the best ways to deal with battery fires, a risk management professional and an insurance underwriter discuss some golden rules for project developers.

Solar asset underperformance estimated to cause $4.6 billion in preventable losses Analyzing a global dataset of 125 GW of PV systems, drone operator Raptor Maps marked a rising trend of system underperformance.

California rulemaking requires health and environment assessment in energy policy decisions The California Energy Center must now assess costs and benefits related to health and environmental externalities of energy generation and transmission.

Longroad Energy installing U.S.-made First Solar modules in Arizona solar-plus-storage plant The 220 MWdc solar and 214 MWac / 855 MWh Serrano solar-plus-storage project will also feature Powin’s BESS, Sungrow inverters, and Nextracker trackers.

Car batteries can optimize the power grid Australian researchers have found that if 10% of vehicles are electric and utilize V2G connections, they could reduce peak electricity demand at local substations by 6% and save car owners hundreds of dollars per year on charging costs.

Group challenges anti-renewables messaging of 50-state policy network The pro-renewables Energy and Policy Institute has challenged the state-level energy policy work of the State Policy Network, which reports annual revenues of $24 million and combined annual revenues across its 150 think tank members of $188 million.

Decarbonized aviation attracts venture capital Since 2016, some $2.4 billion worth of venture capital flowed to companies developing electric aviation and other air travel decarbonization technologies with a strong start in investment volume in 2024, according to Dealroom.co, a Dutch data and intelligence firm.

Gray skies over Californian solar There may be a global solar boom but a drastic revision of California’s net metering program has ruptured the industry overnight and is affecting everyone from installers to financiers to makers of power electronics, as Tristan Rayner reports.

U.S. steel solar module frames have one tenth embodied carbon of Chinese aluminum alternatives An independent study commissioned by Origami Solar and conducted by Boundless Impact Research & Analytics found that U.S.-made recycled steel module frames show a 90.4% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional virgin material aluminum module frames shipped from China.

What happens to the IRA under a new administration?  Norton Rose Fulbright conducted a live podcast with tax and legal experts who discussed what could be on the chopping block in the massive Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022.

DOE announces $9.5 million award for Iowa’s first microgrid project  The Montezuma project with a 3 MW solar installation and a battery energy storage system is expected to lower energy costs for residents by as much as 18% and to reduce transmission costs for the utility by 34%.

Primergy secures $588 million for 408 MW solar project in Texas Microsoft entered a power purchase agreement for 100% of the plant’s production.

Solar profits drying up The Invesco Solar exchange-traded fund (ETF) under-performed the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) stock indexes in January 2024. Jesse Pichel, a managing director at Roth Capital Partners, attributes this to logistics and apparent cashflow problems for some solar companies.

Iowa State researchers and utility Montezuma Municipal Light & Power submitted a proposal to the Department of Energy (DOE) that called for a federal investment of roughly $9.5 million and a cost-share of $2.4 million from both University and Montezuma sources.

The project to be built in Montezuma would include a 3 MW solar installation with a battery energy storage system as well as two electric vehicle charging stations. The plan for the microgrid is to replace aging substations, load monitoring and control systems. The utility expects that the microgrid will lower energy costs for residents by as much as 18%. It is also expected to reduce transmission costs for the utility by 34% and reduce its energy purchases.

Montezuma, population 1,400 is a manufacturing and farming community and, according to Anne Kimber, director of the Electric Power Research Center and a co-leader of the project, “people depend on it for city and county services, schools, health care, shopping, and employment”.  She noted that during a major wind storm in 2020, the town used diesel generators to keep the power on. The microgrid solution, however, will be a clean energy solution.

Kimber said the design of this project design being replicated by other communities. There’s also an educational and training aspect as the Research Center will use a digital twin of the microgrid that will be tested with partners that include schools and an area Tribal Nation. The hope is to “build an energy workforce that can design, build and operate other resilient systems like this,” Kimber said.

“This project will make the entire town of Montezuma the very first utility-scale microgrid in Iowa with the best reliability and resilience,” said Zhaoyu Wang, project leader and a Northrop Grumman associate professor at Iowa State. “The Montezuma microgrid will revolutionize and modernize the Montezuma Municipal Light and Power system by integrating smart grid technologies. It will be a model for other rural utilities.”

The $9.5 million from the DOE is part of the Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas program managed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. The program recently announced total funding of more than $366 million for 17 projects across 20 states and 30 Tribal Nations and communities.

This funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is intended to support community-driven energy projects, such as microgrids for community health centers, which strengthen energy security and delivers economic opportunities in rural and remote regions.

Clean energy investment and green jobs: Since passage of the IRA, over $240 billion has been invested in clean energy manufacturing and infrastructure projects. This includes over $86 billion invested in nearly 300 new solar, wind and battery energy storage projects, according to a recent report from Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North America. In addition, over 170,000 direct jobs have been created since IRA and the Intersolar report forecasts as many as 1.5 million new jobs in clean energy can be expected by 2030.

Battery prices tumble: From July 2023 through summer 2024, battery cell pricing is expected to plummet by over 60% due to a surge in EV adoption and grid expansion in China and the U.S. Driven by these price declines, grid-tied energy storage deployment has seen robust growth over the past decade, a trend that is expected to continue into 2024. The U.S. is projected to nearly double its deployed battery capacity by adding more than 14 GW of hardware this year alone.

Another California misstep: California missed another opportunity when the California Public Utilities Commission asserting in its proposed decision on the Community Renewable Energy Act that the Net Value Billing Tariff outlined in the Act “conflicts with federal law and does not meet the requirements” of the bill. Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA, a national trade association and the bill’s sponsor, said the CPUC missed an opportunity to become a national leader in community solar.

IRS final guidance on elective pay for clean energy tax credits: The IRS issued its final guidance on the elective pay rules for clean energy tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act. The guidance removes any temporary regulations and enacts the final rules. The IRS provided updated elective payment frequently asked questions, which includes a step-by-step guide on how to become eligible for direct pay or credit transfers, and how to file these transactions.

New York bill would increase rooftop solar tax credit to $10,000:  Senate Bill S3596B aims to increase the maximum state income tax credit for those who install residential solar projects at their residence. Since 2006, New York’s Solar Tax Credit has been capped at $5,000 per household installing solar. The new bill would double that cap to $10,000, allowing customers to offset state income taxes with a credit. For eligible low- to moderate-income residents, the tax credit would also be available to be collected as a tax refund.

Massachusetts expands net metering: Bucking the national trend of squashing net energy metering, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts instead expanded access, showing a commitment to distributed energy. It used to have an exemption for small systems of 10 kW or less, but this cap is now lifted to 25 kW, and behind the meter systems over 60 kW, and up to 2 MW are now exempt from the cap. The Department of Public Utilities expects to save ratepayers $10 million with the regulatory change.

Bloom Energy teams up with Shell to look at large-scale hydrogen projects  The companies are aiming to develop large-scale solid oxide electrolyzer systems to generate hydrogen for use by Shell.

A look at the great transformer shortage affecting U.S. utilities  An NREL team finds that lead times for transformers has grown fourfold in three years, with orders sometimes taking two years. Additionally price increases of four to nine times have been reported in the past 3 years.

Massachusetts initiative assists affordable housing adoption of solar The Massachusetts STAR program announced its fourth phase of program participants.

Policy recommendations to support U.S. rooftop solar installation Rooftop solar has the technical potential to serve 45% of electricity demand, based on 2022 demand levels, said a report from Environment America. As of that year, it served about 1.5% of electricity consumed.

Texas manufacturer signs onto three-party power purchase agreement  A 2.6 MW solar project in Seguin, Texas will supply about 13% of electricity needs of Vitesco Technologies, an automotive supplier.

When President Biden signed the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act into law in August 2022, the U.S. solar industry was given the green light for takeoff, and it has shattered records—adding 32.4 GW of new electric generating capacity last year, or 51% since 2022. According to the U.S. Solar Market Insight, Year-in-Review 2023 by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, this is the first time in 80 years that a renewable electricity source has accounted for over 50% of annual capacity additions.

“If we stay the course with our federal clean energy policies, total solar deployment will quadruple over the next ten years,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “The Inflation Reduction Act is supercharging solar deployment and having a material impact on our economy, helping America’s solar module manufacturing base grow 89% in 2023. We must protect and optimize the policies that are driving these investments and creating jobs, and the stakes in the upcoming election couldn’t be higher.”

According to report estimates, total U.S. solar capacity is expected to grow to 673 GW by 2034, or enough to power more than 100 million homes.

With this growth comes some challenges including high interest rates, tax credit financing, U.S. supply chain, and interconnection. Coupled with uncertainty around the possibility of a new administration in 2025, the report includes high- and low-case forecast scenarios that show how policy and economic factors could impact the solar market over the next ten years, with a 200 GW difference two forecasts.

The Bull case is based on the possibility of overcoming many of the existing challenges, for example, interest rates decline and then stabilize, that more corporations become tax equity providers, that there are fewer supply chain restraints and that interconnection issues are resolved. The Bear case flips these assumptions, resulting in what report authors estimate could be a “200 GWdc swing in solar installations over the next decade based on various political and economic outcomes”.

“A high case for U.S. solar with increased supply chain stability, more tax credit financing, and lower interest rates would increase our outlook 17%,” said Michelle Davis, head of global solar at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report. “A low case with supply chain constraints, less tax credit financing, and static interest rates would decrease our outlook 24%. Various policy and economic outcomes will have big implications for the U.S. solar industry.”

Supply chain

One of the challenges of rapid growth in the U.S. solar industry is procuring domestic content and reducing reliance on imports from China and other countries. U.S. module manufacturing grew from 8.5 GW to 16.1 GW last year, and established manufacturers have bold plans for future growth. For example, First Solar produced a record 12.1 GW of solar modules, growing 33% over 2022 totals. By the end of 2026, the company expects to have 14 GW of U.S. solar capacity and 11 GW internationally, reaching 25 GW of global solar module production. Additionally, Qcells recently expanded its solar module factory in Dalton, Georgia where it added 2 GW of solar capacity, bringing the factory’s output to more than 5.1 GW. Canadian Solar set up a manufacturing facility in Texas and expect to produce 5 GW of TOPCon modules annually.

However, a few headwinds are facing module manufacturers hoping to set up shop in the U.S., including high interest rates coupled by record low prices for modules from overseas.

Market segments

According to the WoodMac SEIA report, every segment saw year-over-year growth in 2023, bringing total installed solar capacity in the U.S. to 177 GW. The utility-scale sector alone added 22.5 GW of new capacity. Despite challenges in the residential sector including changes in net energy metering (NEM) policy and high interest rates, nearly 800,000 Americans added solar to their homes.

Partly in response to cuts to NEM policies and partly to ensure resiliency, energy storage was added to 13% of residential installations and 5% of non-residential. That figure is expected to jump to 25% of new residential installations this year and will double to 10% of non-residential.

Leading states

Solar has been on an upswing across the nation, with more than half the states with 1 GW of total installed solar capacity. While California stood far ahead of the rest of the country in terms of installed solar capacity, Texas leads for the second time in the past three years with 6.5 GW of new solar installations with 6.5 GW. California’s residential solar market was woefully hurt by NEM changes, and the report authors project a  36% decline across all segments in the state. Colorado, Ohio and Wisconsin are rising stars in U.S. solar, entering the top 10 solar states in 2023.

Looking forward, the Year in Review report expects solar to nearly quadruple from 177 GWdc installed at year-end 2023, to 673 GWdc installed by 2034 and by 2040, it
is expected to make up the largest share of electric generating capacity in the US.

Achieving compatibility between solar project developers and mineral estate holders How to play in the sandbox: Understanding the interplay of the mineral estate and the surface estate and strategies for successful surface project development in Texas, California and elsewhere.

Baltimore Gas and Electric installs battery storage system to manage winter peaks The 2.5 MW/9.74 MWh Hitachi Energy facility helped the utility avoid distribution upgrade costs and also participates in the PJM Interconnection.

Module prices steady as market mulls price hikes In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Debunking solar myths: What about nuclear? Part three of Dan Shugar’s series on replacing fiction with facts about solar, when the proverbial Uncle Bob comes to dinner.

Massachusetts expands solar net metering, bucking a national trend Massachusetts expanded access to net metering, showing a commitment to distributed energy. The Department of Public Utilities expects to save ratepayers $10 million with the regulatory change.

Maryland’s largest utility, Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), has turned to a 2.5 MW/9.74 MWh battery energy storage system to meet high electricity demand during the winter months in Fairhaven, located just south of Annapolis.

The battery system, which is installed at the Fairhaven substation near Chesapeake Bay and began operating in November, is built largely with Hitachi Energy products. It has two battery containers with 48 racks of lithium-ion batteries, the company said, as well as a control system and two new distribution transformers. 

The Fairhaven energy storage system was installed to solve a very specific reliability challenge in BGE’s footprint – unlike the rest of Maryland, which tends to see peak electricity demand during the summer, Fairhaven experiences a winter peak due to the usage of electric heaters. Because of this, the area’s total electricity load sometimes topped the capacity of the 34.5kV line in the region. 

The new storage system helps address that issue by absorbing energy during times of low electricity demand and then discharging it back to the grid when demand increases. The battery system also allowed BGE to avoid the costs of upgrading some 10 miles of electric distribution infrastructure, according to Hitachi. And after the winter months, when it’s most needed, it can also participate in regional transmission organization PJM’s footprint.

“Participating in these sorts of markets can also help companies align with broader energy goals. Battery projects like the Fairhaven BESS contribute to grid stabilization, offering rapid response capabilities that are crucial for balancing supply and demand,” a Hitachi Energy spokesperson told pv magazine USA. 

More broadly, energy storage plays an important role in ensuring reliability throughout different U.S. markets, including the PJM region, which includes 65 million people spread across 13 states and the District of Columbia, the spokesperson said. 

“As the energy landscape evolves, the strategic deployment of [battery energy storage] technologies not only optimizes existing infrastructure but also fosters a resilient grid capable of adapting to changing demands, unforeseen events such as extreme weather, and the increasing prominence of renewable energy sources,” they added. 

Maryland is aiming to deploy 3,000 MWh of energy storage resources by 2033, and the Fairhaven project is part of this goal, per the 2019 Maryland Energy Storage Pilot Project Act. BGE also deployed a separate battery project in the region – a 1 MW/2 MWh battery located in Chesapeake Beach – in January, 2023, also aimed at shifting energy to times when electricity demand is highest, especially in the winter months. 

Both residential and grid-scale energy storage installations are growing across the U.S. A recent report from Wood Mackenzie and American Clean Power Association (ACP) found that the industry installed 13.5 GWh of storage in the first three quarters of 2023, compared to 12 GWh for all of 2022. This figure that could have been much higher, were it not for some 80% of projects in the pipeline being delayed. 

Two unique power plants with high-capacity factors, one using wind and the other using solar, are set to come online. These facilities are designed to maximize the value of their interconnection (IX) connections by transmitting as much electricity as possible to the grid.

Nearly two years ago, a Portuguese project by Energias de Portugal (EDP) highlighted the enduring value of owning an interconnection (IX) location. In a grid connection auction, EDPR won the project by agreeing to pay the electrical system €4 for each megawatt-hour generated by their floating solar plant over 15 years.

Eland Solar

Eland Solar’s development team, Arevon Energy, recently announced that it closed on $1.2 billion in financing for the construction of Eland 2, the second phase of the project, located in California. This phase includes a 200 MWac/374 MWdc solar power facility paired with a 150 MW / 600 MWh energy storage system.

Initially, when the project hit the news, its former owner, 8Minutenergy, stated that the facilities would have a 60% AC capacity factor. This claim was noteworthy because the sun is only above the horizon for 50% of the time annually.

The Eland Phase 2’s high-capacity factor is at the inverter and IX level – meaning it is based on an output of 200 MW, not the solar panel volume. The solar plant’s modules total 374 MW of capacity, which is a 1.87 module to inverter ratio, much higher than the average, which is closer to 1.25 to 1.3.

For a 200 MW facility to reach a 60% capacity factor, it would need to generate an average of 2,880 MWh daily. Given that the plant is equipped with a 600 MWh battery, the solar plant would need to produce 2,280 MWh each day during sunlight hours.

Given that a 200 MW plant is limited to generating a maximum of 2,400 MWh over a 12-hour period, the Eland 2 solar facility would need to operate at full capacity for 11 hours and 24 minutes, or 95% of the day. This means it would have to start producing maximum output just 18 minutes after sunrise and continue until 18 minutes before sunset.

In a November 2022 interview with Investment Reports, the CEO of Avantus, formerly known as 8Minutenergy, reaffirmed that the facility operates with a 60% capacity factor:

We also created the Eland Solar & Storage Center, the first large-scale solar power plant with a 60% capacity factor — twice the natural capacity factor of the sun. We found optimal economics hovered at around a 60% capacity factor and designed a power plant to meet the customer’s needs.

Skeleton Creek

In 2019, NextEra announced the Skeleton Creek Energy Center, located in Oklahoma. This wind-plus-solar hybrid power plant combines a 250 MW wind farm, a 250 MWac solar power plant, and a 252 MW / 1.008 GWh battery, all connected through a single 250 MW interconnection point.

Last summer, BayWa r.e. told pv magazine USA, “These days, the name of the game is ‘maximizing sites.’” The company is boosting the output at wind sites by integrating solar and batteries, optimizing the energy flow at each IX point. BayWa’s strategy involves prioritizing wind energy, followed by charging batteries, and curtailing solar output as necessary.

When first announced, NextEra projected the Skeleton Creek facility’s annual output at 1.8 million MWh, translating to an 82% capacity factor for the 250 MW interconnection (IX). For comparison, a 250 MW facility operating at 100% capacity factor would produce 2.19 million MWh/year.

The combined hardware capacity exceeds 1.5 GW, all funneling into the 250 MW IX.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, the hybrid Skeleton Creek Energy Center is listed with a 250 MW power plant capacity in its 860M report.

Local reporting from the Enid News indicates that NextEra has presented plans to local planning boards, suggesting that construction will commence soon, with completion expected in 2025.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced more than $366 million for 17 projects across 20 states and 30 tribal nations and communities, to build resilience and energy security in rural and remote areas across the country.

This funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is intended to support community-driven energy projects, such as microgrids for community health centers, which strengthen energy security and delivers economic opportunities in rural and remote regions.

Rural and remote communities face a unique set of energy challenges and often have higher electric bills, unreliable energy supplies and some have no access to electricity at all. For example, 21% of Navajo Nation homes and 35% of Hopi Indian Tribe homes remain unelectrified, according to a 2022 report by DOE’s Office of Indian Energy. Low-income residents consistently face an energy burden three times higher than other households, according to the DOE.

The projects are part of DOE’s Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) program, which is managed by the DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED).  The selected projects cover a range of clean energy technologies, from solar, battery storage systems and microgrids to hydropower, heat pumps, biomass, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Of the 17 funded projects, 12 are solar and 11 of those include energy storage. At least 12 projects will support tribal communities, such as the Navajo and Hopi Nations, who plan to install solar and battery energy storage systems to provide electricity for 300 homes. Another project expects its proposed tribal clean energy projects to save every Taos Pueblo household in its service area an estimated $700 per year by transitioning to clean energy.

Examples of projects selected for award negotiation include:

• The Solar + Storage Microgrids for Rural Community Health Centers Project: (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee): The CHARGE Partnership plans to build energy resilience in Community Health Centers to improve access to reliable health care in low-income, rural communities across eight states in the southeast. The clean, resilient energy systems developed through this project will benefit up to 175 health center sites, ensuring energy reliability and continuity of care during emergencies and power outages. DOE estimates that participating health centers could save up to $45 million in energy costs, avoid millions in losses due to closures, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and create a scalable, replicable model for remote health care providers, strengthening the resilience of vulnerable communities.
• Resilience and Prosperity in Rural Northern Wisconsin (24 sites across Red Cliff Band Tribal Lands and Bayfield County, Wisconsin): This project seeks to increase regional energy reliability with the deployment of 23 microgrid systems. Wisconsin’s Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy (OSCE) will promote local workforce development. OSCE also aims to deploy solar power, battery storage, smart controls to enable islanding, and electric vehicle charging stations.
• Energizing Rural Hopi and Navajo with Solar Powered Battery-Based Systems (Navajo and Hopi communities in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah): This project plans to install 2.5 kW off-grid solar and battery storage systems to electrify 300 tribal homes, enhancing energy resilience and increasing electrification rates within the community. The project lead, Native Renewables Inc., is committed to an Indigenous-led workforce and has developed a program to increase the number of tribal solar-installation professionals. They will also host training and education for participating households on solar electric energy systems and best practices to ensure the longevity of battery storage systems. his electrification project will fulfill essential household power needs.

Learn more about the 17 projects selected for award negotiation here.

Utility-scale energy storage company Energy Vault has begun constructing what will be the largest green hydrogen long-duration energy storage project in the U.S., located in Northern California.

The green hydrogen and battery storage facility, which will be able to provide 293 MWh of energy, is being built in the city of Calistoga, in utility Pacific Gas & Electric’s service territory. Calistoga is especially prone to public safety power shut-offs – that is, proactive outages that the utility deploys when weather conditions increase the risk of wildfires caused by its power lines. PG&E’s infrastructure has been linked with multiple wildfires in Northern California and in 2019, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of these liabilities.

The Calistoga Resiliency Center, as the project is called, is expected to be completed by the end of Q2 2024, at which point it will be “the first-of-its-kind and the largest utility-scale green hydrogen energy storage project in the United States,” according to Energy Vault. The facility will essentially replace the diesel generators that PG&E currently uses to maintain back-up power in the region during wildfire-related outages. It will be able to power downtown Calistoga and the areas immediately around it, including critical facilities like fire and police stations, for up to 48 hours.

Since this project is a first-of-its kind, it required specific design and engineering capabilities, according to Marco Terruzzin, the company’s chief product officer.

The new facility’s “innovative design is an example of two proven technologies – hydrogen fuel cells and batteries – being used in concert on a single site to provide high-quality emission-free power,” Terruzzin told pv magazine USA.

The facility will operate independently from the wider grid, meaning the fuel cells and batteries must work together to provide a ‘grid-forming’ electricity supply which must reach instantaneously to the demands of the Calistoga microgrid and increase or decrease power output accordingly, he added.

“Deploying cost-effective, next-generation energy supply and long-term storage technologies is essential to ensuring grid reliability and to achieving PG&E’s goal of a net zero energy system by 2040,” Mike Delaney, PG&E’s vice president of utility partnerships and innovation, said.

Under the companies’ 10.5-year agreement, Energy Vault will own and operate the center, providing PG&E with dispatchable power. The company plans to use its energy management system, dubbed VaultOS, to optimize the project’s operations.

The California market is particularly appealing to Energy Vault when it comes to ultra-long duration energy storage solutions because of the increased risk of prolonged wildfire-related shutoffs, Terruzzin said.

More broadly, the company is seeing an increased interest in the use of green hydrogen in utility-scale microgrids from utilities looking for configurations similar to the one being constructed in Calistoga, as well as from the public and private sectors interested in multi-day resiliency solutions, he added.

“We expect that interest to increase as customers shift their focus from simple [power purchase agreements] to 24/7 PPAs that match their electric power hour-by-hour with the electricity being generated in the region in which the customer’s electric load is located,” he said.

The Fence Post solar + storage project, developed by Enel North America, will soon bring 297 MW of solar coupled with storage to the Texas grid.

The solar portion of the Fence Post solar project began operations in December of 2023, while the 86 MW storage system is undergoing final commissioning.

Enel North America signed a 12-year 22 MW virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Polaris, under which Polaris will purchase the electricity and associated renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated by a 22 MW portion of the project. This matches what Polaris says is about 40% of its electrical needs in the U.S. Coho Climate Advisors advised Polaris on this VPPA and supported the company in its project selection, analysis, negotiations and deal execution.

Enel estimates that the project will provide $35.6 million in local tax revenue to benefit the Navarro County community.

Completion of the Fence Post project brings Enels’ portfolio to over 9.7 GW of utility-scale renewable capacity, 690 MW / 1,036 MWh of utility-scale energy storage and 97 MW / 216 MWh of distributed energy storage capacity.

Texas Solar Nova

Clearway Energy Group announced completion of the 452 MW Texas Solar Nova projects in Kent County, Texas. Completed in two phases, Clearway estimates that the projects will generate enough electricity to power over 190,000 homes each year.

Offtakers for the project include a VPPA with Verizon and REC purchasing agreements with SKF and Toyota Boshoku America (TBA). TBA reported that, beginning in 2026, the REC agreement will offset 100% of annual electricity consumption for facilities in the United States and Canada.

Clearway said the project represents an investment of $660 million. Additionally the project employed more than 400 craftworkers who contributed more than 500,000 hours of injury-free labor, the company reported. The project is built on approximately 5,000 acres of land with over 1.1 million solar panels. The project will contribute to the local tax base, starting with an estimated $5.4 million in property taxes and wages to be paid in the first year.

Clearway and its construction partner, Mortenson, supported several local organizations during construction, including the Texas Leadership Charter Academy-Secondary campus, the Spur Texas Community Food Bank, school supply drives, and fundraisers for local community parks.

In connection with the construction and operation of these facilities, Clearway assembled a bank consortium consisting of Natixis, DNB, MUFG, NordLB, and Societe Generale for a total of approximately $700 million of construction financing commitments and $182 million of term loan commitments. Clearway arranged tax equity for the project, as well as cash equity from HASI in partnership with Clearway Energy, Inc.

Along with its public affiliate Clearway Energy, Inc., Clearway reports it owns and operates 10 GW of renewable and conventional energy assets across the U.S.

Longroad Energy announced it is on track to complete the construction of its Sun Streams 4 solar and storage facility in Maricopa County, Ariz.

First Solar will provide Longroad with 800,000 Series 6 Plus solar modules. The cadmium telluride bifacial panels have a 455- to 480-watt capacity and offer up to 19% efficiency. Nextracker will supply its NX Horizon trackers, which have been configured to withstand Arizona’s extreme heat and overall climate. Sungrow’s utility-scale inverters feature an integrated current and voltage monitoring function that allow remote analysis and troubleshooting.  

Powin, a U.S.-based energy storage system manufacturer, will provide a battery energy storage system (BESS) with a duration of 1200 MWh. It will include SMA inverters and cells from the Automotive Energy Supply Corporation, a Japanese lithium-ion electric vehicle battery developer. 

Powin says its modular and scalable Centipede Energy Storage platform arrives at the field built, pre-integrated and performance-tested in an outdoor enclosure, reducing installation time by 50%. The BESS has built-in emergency features that detect hydrogen levels and activate ventilation when necessary. 

U.S.-based national construction business McCarthy Building Companies Inc. is providing engineering, procurement and construction services for this project, which is the third Sun Streams 4 complex in the area. Other Longroad plants include Sun Streams 2, a 200 MWdc solar plant that began operations in mid-2021, and Sun Streams 3. The facility consists of a 285 MWdc solar array and BESS with a 215 MWac capacity and 860 MWh duration. The project, which is still in development, is expected to start commercial operations next year. 

McCarthy said it plans to hire over 250 people during Sun Stream 4’s peak construction phase, expected to run through July of next year. McCarthy is paying prevailing wages and leveraging over 65 registered operators and carpenter apprentices per Inflation Reduction Act tax incentive requirements. McCarthy states it is paying apprentices 70% to 95% of the project’s workers in the same occupation and receiving the Investment Tax Credit as a result. 

“Longroad is proud of the solar workforce we are helping to build and support in Arizona through our partnership with McCarthy,” said Paul Gaynor, CEO of Longroad. “Sun Streams 4 is one of our first projects to incorporate provisions from the IRA.”

The solar and storage facility is expected to generate over $100 million in revenue for Arizona schools and communities through long-term leases with the Arizona State Land Department and tax remittances. 

Longroad will collaborate with Powin and NovaSource Power Services, a solar O&M service provider, to manage Sun Streams 4’s long-term operations. 

Grid-scale energy storage has quickly grown from a fledgling industry to an essential part of an increasingly renewables-powered grid. Through the first three quarters of 2023, 13.5 GWh of storage was installed, more than the 12 GWh installed in all of 2022.

One of the major U.S. companies operating in this space and riding this growth trajectory is Powin, provider of lithium-ferro-phosphate grid-scale battery services. The company’s sales have exploded from $200 million in 2021 to $2.2 billion in 2022.

pv magazine USA was joined by company president Anthony Carroll to learn what the company has been up to in this high-growth environment.

Powin has deployed over 3,200 MWh of battery systems worldwide, with another 11,900 MWh under construction as of Q4 2023. It typically installs batteries of two- to four hours of duration that provide grid arbitrage services, peak demand shaving, and storage-as-transmission services.

The company has had a busy past two years, including acquiring power electronics company EKS and then selling majority stake to Hitachi Energy, securing a massive project with Akaysha Energy, which is owned by major investment group Blackrock.

In 2023, Carroll said the company moved its focus toward building and delivering on the booked orders it received in 2022. It is ramping up manufacturing and has active sites in China and Mexico and is ramping up operations at a Vietnam plant. The company also set up contract manufacturing operations in the United States in Utah.

Carroll said Powin’s investment in research and development, including expanded efforts at its Portland, Oregon lab, have given it a leg up in its U.S. operations.

“Once of the exciting things that has happened in 2023 is the confirmation on the data analytics and how we are using software to predict battery performance better,” said Carroll. “We doubled down on the investment in the lab, we doubled down on tracking performance at the cell level.”

Carroll said there are three aspects that make their battery service different. First, the company made the investment in advanced sensors to track battery cell temperature, voltage, performance. This helps ensure optimal operations and helps Powin set a performance guarantee for its products. Second, the extra visibility into the cell level offers millions of datapoints that are used to drive Powin’s battery operation software and allows the company to develop predictive analytics for grid operations.

Third, its acquisition of power electronics company EKS gave the company a direct roadmap on how to integrate storage with the grid.

“The EKS acquisition will give us direct access to an industry-leading team, their power conversion technology, advanced controls, and decade’s worth of experience; enabling Powin to offer a fully wrapped solution to further enhance the customer experience,” said Powin strategic advisor and board member Geoff Brown.

Powin has since sold majority stake of EKS to Hitachi Energy, but remains partnered with the company, giving it a leg up in grid integration.

When asked about the Inflation Reduction Act’s impact on Powin’s business, Carroll noted the legislation has driven demand for U.S.-based products and support teams. Today, he is seeing customers willing to ink deals with Powin that are two or three percentage points more expensive than foreign competitors. Powin has a dedicated staff of over 80 U.S.-based people in its project success team and other 60 U.S. employees in its services department, and customers have been willing to pay to have local expertise.

As it relates to supply, grid scale batteries have had to compete with the EV industry for lithium carbonate, the essential material in conventional storage. Grid-scale storage only represents about 3% to 5% of overall demand, placing it at the mercy of EV battery demand when it comes to supply.

However, Carroll said conditions have improved. Shipping and logistics costs have come down from their extreme Covid-era highs. The global supply of lithium carbonate is ramping up considerably, and recent unexpected dips in EV demand have offered buying opportunities. Now, grid-scale storage is increasingly being viewed as an essential service, and Carroll said it has grown enough to carve out its own steady supply.

Lithium-ion batteries continue to be the most bankable solution for grid-scale storage, but Carroll recognized that alternatives could still emerge over time. Sodium, vanadium, and other long-duration energy storage chemistries may emerge. Carroll said Powin is flexible and able to change with emergent technologies. By leveraging its partnerships, focusing on software and analytics, and investing in teams of U.S.-based experts, the company is poised to adapt to an ever-evolving industry.

Solar workers furloughed days after unionizing  EmPower Solar executives have furloughed 21 workers citing a market slowdown. Furloughed team members say that these firings are retaliation for a pro-union vote taken just one week earlier by 49 workers.

First Solar opens manufacturing plant in India  India’s first fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing plant will produce First Solar’s Series 7 solar PV modules developed at the company’s research centers in the U.S. The facility employs 1,000 workers.

Acculon launches production of sodium-ion battery modules, packs  U.S.-based Acculon Energy has announced series production of its sodium-ion battery modules and packs for mobility and stationary energy storage applications. Scaled production of 2 GWh is scheduled to start in mid-2024.

Hawaiian utility to balance grid with 565 MWh battery  Curtailment, or deliberate reduction in output, will be reduced in Hawaii by a large grid-scale energy storage project comprised of Tesla Megapacks.

Commercial solar lender Sunstone Credit acquires Orka Finance The company offers financing for small to medium-sized businesses investing in solar. 

Plus Power announced it has begun operations for its Kapolei Energy Storage (KES) facility on Oahu, Hawaii, helping the state in its transition from fossil fuels to solar and wind. 

The KES project adds 135 MW / 540 MWh to the Hawaiian Electric grid, with an additional 50 MW / 25 MWh of additional “fast frequency response” to support grid stability.

The advanced battery has “virtual inertia” to replicate the power-smoothing function of a conventional spinning turbine. It has “black start” capabilities, which supports grid recovery in the event of a blackout. 

“It’s the first time a battery has been used by a major utility to balance the grid: providing fast frequency response, synthetic inertia, and black start,” said Brandon Keefe, executive chairman, Plus Power. This project is a postcard from the future — batteries will soon be providing these services, at scale, on the mainland.”   

Located on 8 acres of industrial land on the southwest side of Oahu, the project is comprised of 158 Tesla Megapack 2 XL lithium-ferro-phosphate batteries, each about the size of a shipping container. 

The battery can serve as a grid “shock absorber,” serving a role normally performed by combustion-powered plants. It can respond to grid signals in 250 milliseconds, far faster than the several minutes that conventional power plants take to fire up. 

“Energy storage technology that responds quickly to constantly changing conditions is an essential tool for us to use to manage the grid and operate it as efficiently as possible,” said Jim Alberts, senior vice president and chief operations officer, Hawaiian Electric. 

Solar power has become abundant, leading Hawaiian Electric to have to curtail, or turn off, large volumes of utility-scale solar and wind to keep the system in balance. The new energy storage capacity is expected to allow the utility to reduce renewable energy curtailments by 69%. It is also expected to enable 10% more new utility-scale renewables on the grid than previous models allowed. 

Hawaiian Electric said it expects the battery to save its customers on electricity bills. The utility estimates the battery will reduce electric bills by $0.28 per month over its 20-year contract life. 

The KES battery plant is interconnected near three of Hawaiian Electric’s critical power generation facilities, enabling a rapid reboot of those power plants in the event of an island-wide emergency. This is known as “black start” capability. 

The batteries will help replace grid capacity formerly provided by an AES coal-fired power plant less than a mile away. The plant used to provide about 20% of Oahu’s electricity, home to nearly one million residents. The plant closed in September 2022. 

Project developer, owner, and operator Plus Power has a development portfolio of over 10 GW of projects in transmission queues across 28 states and Canada. It has over $1.8 billion in project financings announced as of October 2023. The company expects to be operating seven additional large-scale energy storage plants across Arizona and Texas, adding 1325 MW / 3500 MWh of storage by June 2024. 

“Our projects, like KES, help our customers provide affordable, reliable, clean electricity on hot summer afternoons and cold winter nights, while enabling the decarbonization of the electric grid,” said Keefe.

Battery energy storage system (BESS) developer Plus Power LLC is constructing Cross Town, the 350 MWh facility located at Gorham Industrial Park in Gorham, Maine, just outside of Portland.

The project is intended to enhance the New England grid, adding 175 MW of storage and stimulating a faster and more extensive integration of renewable energy into the six regional states. Plus Power also states that Cross Town will help Maine meet its decarbonization goals of generating 80% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, followed by 100% by 2050.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, as of September 2023, New England had about 330 MW of operational BESS, primarily comprised of small projects with up to 5 MW of storage. However, completing the Cross Town project pushes the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE) a step closer to ensuring the region meets its reliability needs.

According to ISO-NE, these requirements are centered around ensuring the continuous build-out of transmission infrastructure to sustain power system reliability through scaling an efficient wholesale electricity marketplace.

ISO-NE’s Forward Capacity Market is a yearly auction that verifies that the New England power system will have enough electricity resources to meet future demands. It focuses on promoting economic investment in crucial supply and demand capacity resources needed three years in advance. Each year, suppliers compete to obtain a capacity supply obligation (CSO) for upcoming projects. Those who clear the auction, receive capacity payments in exchange for a commitment to provide resources when called upon.

In 2021, Cross Town cleared the ISO-NE Forward Capacity Market, securing a seven-year CSO to provide energy storage for ISO-NE. The site is located just outside of a flood plain, and Plus Power received a permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) stating that the project met applicable standards regarding the reduction of negative impacts on stormwater management, groundwater protection, infrastructure, wildlife and fisheries, noise, and unusual natural areas.

With approval from the Town of Gorham, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, MDEP, a National Resources Protection Act permit, among others, Plus Power began constructing Cross Town in Fall 2023. The site is expected to start commercial operation in Fall 2025.

This project is part of Plus Power’s growing portfolio of utility-scale lithium-ion BESS across 25 states and Canada. The company says it has 10 GW of interconnection capacity in transmission interconnection queues.