Tech Perspectives | AES Energy Storage

Cost of Big PV to the Grid: $3 to $8 per Megawatt-Hour

A new study shows adding hundreds of megawatts of solar could cost Nevada utility NVEnergy millions of dollars in fossil fuel-fired backup.

There’s a real minute-to-minute cost to the grid when it comes to handling lots of solar power on partly cloudy days. Out in the Nevada desert, it adds up to about $3 to $8 per megawatt-hour.

Those are the numbers churned out of a Department of Energy-backed project with Las Vegas-area utility NV Energy and Navigant Consulting, based on a computer model simulating 10 different scenarios for solar PV systems at both rooftop and utility scales. Turns out that 150 to 1,000 megawatts of intermittent PV penetration requires a lot of fossil fuel-fired backup generators to help smooth it out on cloudy days -- and that costs utilities money.

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How to compare energy storage projects

from Ucilia Wang, GigaOM Earth2 Tech

As the grid energy storage market develops, we will see more projects being completed that boast to be the world’s largest. BYD, for example, completed a battery storage installation that filled up more than a football field, and the company said the project, at 36 megawatt hours, is the world’s largest. AES Energy Storage, meanwhile, announced back in October that it had completed a 32-megawatt project that was the “largest of its kind.”

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Policymakers urged to give energy storage more attention

from Smart Grid Today

Storage needs some new policies and regulations put in place before it can reach its potential on the nation's power grid, experts said yesterday at an Energy Storage Assn event in Washington, DC. FERC Commissioner Jon Norris, who is working on a paper on storage, told the crowd that the technology could use more regulations and legislation to move it along.

Norris voted for FERC's “pay-for-performance” rule that came out during its October meeting. The commission is also looking at a change to regulations to make it easier for small storage projects to clear market power screens so that they can provide ancillary services

QUOTABLE: I don't know how you could
have a vision of tapping into our huge wealth of
renewable energy resources in this country and
not see storage as a paired technology along
with smart grid and another of other emerging
technologies.

FERC Commissioner Jon Norris

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25 battery breakthroughs for gadgets, electric cars & the grid

from GigaOM

By Katie Fehrenbacher, GigaOM Nov. 23, 2011

A lack of progress for battery technology is (arguably) the single biggest barrier for gadgets, electric vehicles and the power grid. But there continues to be innovation, like last week researchers at Northwestern University unveiled technology that can boost gadget battery life by ten and charge a battery in minutes instead of hours. And there’s hundreds of researchers, entrepreneurs, universities and large companies working on battery breakthroughs. Here’s 25 you should know about:

FERC sets new compensation method for regulation service

from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) acted today to remedy undue discrimination and ensure just and reasonable rates for providers of a service that organized wholesale power market operators use to balance supply and demand and ensure the reliability of their systems.

Today’s final rule involves compensation for regulation service, an ancillary transmission service that protects the grid by correcting deviations in grid frequency and balance on transmission lines with neighboring systems. Frequency regulation service is provided by generators and from storage technologies such as flywheels and electric vehicles, demand resources and possibly even residential water heaters. Adjusting the compensation for regulation service providers will recognize the amount of service resources provide, thus correcting the price signal for faster-ramping resources. This will allow market operators to take advantage of the capabilities of faster-ramping resources to improve operational and economic efficiency of the transmission system and reduce costs to consumers in organized wholesale markets.

The final rule requires organized markets to include in their tariffs a two-part market-based compensation method for regulation service. First, all cleared resources would receive a uniform capacity payment, to include opportunity costs, for standing ready to provide frequency regulation service. Second, each resource would receive a market-based performance payment for the service. This payment also would reflect a resource's accuracy of performance.

The final rule will take effect 60 days from publication in the Federal Register.

Texas takes major step toward energy storage

from Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA)

On Friday June 17th, Texas Governor Rick Perry recently signed into law the right for large energy storage projects – such as those using battery or flywheel technologies – to participate in the competitive wholesale electricity market, providing generation services, bringing significant grid reliability and environmental benefits to Texas.

“This bill is a good step forward and will help integrate storage into the Texas energy market,” said Suzi McClellan, director of the Texas Energy Storage Alliance and former Texas State Public Counsel.

Specifically, the law (Senate Bill 943 by Carona) clarifies the right of storage resources to interconnect to the grid, and to sell energy or ancillary services to the wholesale competitive market (ERCOT).

“This policy will encourage the development of storage projects to enhance the efficiency of the state power grid,” said Chris Shelton, president of AES Energy Storage, a TESA member. “Energy storage projects are able to provide a fast, flexible and emissions-free solution to grid operator requests for power – leveling the variability of generation and demand on the grid, reducing operating costs and providing for the integration of renewable sources.”

Energy storage can enhance the reliability of the electric grid by regulating frequency or by storing excess energy during periods of low demand and releasing it when demand is high. These functions will also allow more sources of energy, such as wind, solar, and nuclear to be reliably integrated onto the grid.

“Energy storage is an emerging technology that has the potential to bring significant benefits to Texas” said McClellan. “It is a key part of the future electricity system.”

“The passage of this bill will contribute to the State’s continued leadership in clean energy,” commented Carlos Coe, CEO of Xtreme Power, a recipient of state Emerging Technology Funds, and an Austin-based storage system manufacturer with over 100 employees in central Texas. Xtreme Power will provide a 36 MW Dynamic Power Resource, the largest battery energy storage system integrated with a wind farm in the world, at the 153 MW Duke Energy Notrees project in our home State of Texas.

Project: Energy Storage Technology Advancement Partnership

ESA and AWEA Release Joint Principles for Clean Energy

from ESA and AWEA Release Joint Principles for Clean Energy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Electricity Storage and American Wind Industries Release Joint Principles for Clean Energy

San Jose, California, June 8, 2011 – The Electricity Storage Association (ESA), the preeminent trade association dedicated to fostering the development and commercialization of energy storage technologies, and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the national trade association representing wind power project developers, equipment suppliers, services providers, parts manufacturers, utilities, researchers, and others involved in the wind industry – have released joint principles crafted by the two industries to create a level playing field for the deployment of clean energy technologies.

Both ESA and AWEA have strongly advocated for public policies that level the playing field and remove barriers to market entry for clean energy technologies, allowing them to compete with traditional energy resources. The jointly agreed-upon principles recognize the value of energy storage across the utility industry, the benefit of storage as a source of ancillary services, and the need to strategically utilize storage on wind farms.

“ESA feels strongly about advocating for the use of energy storage to modernize the power grid,” said Brad Roberts, Executive Director of ESA. “Our policymakers need to understand the potential for these resources to improve our electric grid reliability, while creating jobs and stimulating American innovation and manufacturing. While wind energy makes our grid cleaner, energy storage makes our grid more flexible and reliable.”

“Large amounts of wind energy are being reliably and cost-effectively integrated onto the power system today,” said Denise Bode, CEO of AWEA. “Energy storage can be a valuable resource for the power system in maximizing the efficient use of this resource, and add flexibility for electric utilities. We look forward to working closely with ESA on regulatory policy that will enable these growing industries to fully benefit both consumers and the economy of the U.S.”

Specific policies supported by ESA and AWEA include:

Wholesale energy markets and ancillary services markets should be created and expanded, and barriers to entry into those markets eliminated.
Market and operating rules should be based around the type of service needed, and any technology that is able to reliably provide a needed service should be able to provide it. In many cases, previously bundled services should be disaggregated.
Low cost grid operating reforms that will create more competition and make the grid operate more efficiently, such as greater balancing are coordination and faster generator dispatch intervals, should be implemented as soon as possible.

About ESA

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the ESA is a 501(c)(6) trade association, formed in 1996.ESA’s membership is comprised of a diverse group of electric utilities; energy service companies (ESCOs); independent power producers (IPPs); energy storage technology developers and suppliers; and those in the energy storage research community.The ESA Advocacy Council currently has ten founding members, including: A123 Systems, Inc., AES Energy Storage, Altairnano, Aquion Energy, Beacon Power, FIAMM, Prudent Energy Corporation, S&C Electric Company, Saft America, Inc., and Xtreme Power.

About AWEA

AWEA is the national trade association of America's wind industry, with more than 2,500 member companies, including global leaders in wind power and energy development, wind turbine manufacturing, component and service suppliers. AWEA sponsors the world's largest wind power trade show, WINDPOWER, to be held next in Atlanta, Georgia, June 3-6, 2012. AWEA is the voice of wind energy in the U.S., promoting renewable energy to power a cleaner, stronger America.

Contacts:

Allyson Groff, 202-457-1110, agroff@qga.com

Peter Kelley, 202-249-7354, pkelley@awea.org

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California PUC Announces Scoping Sessions Related to Energy Storage Rulemaking

from Link to CA PUC Energy Storage Scoping Sessions Memo

CA PUC issued a scoping memo in the Storage OIR. It identifies the issues to be considered in the proceeding, sets a procedural schedule, determines the category of the proceeding and the need for hearings. First, it reiterates that the purpose of the OIR proceeding is to:
(1) review, analyze and establish, if appropriate, opportunities for the development and deployment of energy storage technologies throughout California’s electricity system;
(2) remove or lessen any barriers to such development and deployment;
(3) review and weigh the associated costs and benefits of such development and deployment; and
(4) establish how those costs and benefits should be distributed.

A. Phase 1 – Policies and Guidelines
The first phase will consider the following issues:

1. How are energy storage technologies currently being used? To what extent are these current uses indicative of how energy storage should be utilized on a going forward basis? As the Commission is developing a generalized view towards energy storage, what lessons learned should the Commission consider, both in terms of successes and failures?

2. What policies are needed to encourage effective energy storage that will: reduce greenhouse gas emissions; reduce peak demand; defer and/or substitute for an investment in generation, transmission or distributions; and improve reliable grid operations?

3. How can energy storage technologies be best integrated into the utilities’ existing portfolios?

4. How could energy storage technologies be integrated with the Commission’s loading order, such as energy efficiency, demand response, renewable procurement, distributed generation and other items in the Commission’s loading order? What about other overarching policies like smart grid?

5. Are there current state or federal policies that impede the ability of energy storage technologies from being utilized more widely or serve as barriers to the development of energy storage systems? What, if anything, can be done to remove these impediments and barriers?

6. Is it possible to develop a single unifying policy for energy storage when storage has a wide variety of uses?

7. Regardless of the technology used, are there certain energy storage applications/attributes that should be encouraged? To what extent do the costs and benefits associated with these different applications/attributes differ?

8. How should ownership model of energy storage be considered? Do the current value streams favor one type of ownership model over another?

It is anticipated that Phase 1 may be resolved through a series of workshops, along with written comments and replies, with the first workshop set for June 28. A final decision is expected by the Administrative Law Judge in the first or second quarter of 2012.

Phase 2 – Cost-Benefit Analysis and Allocation
The policies and guidelines developed in Phase 1 of this proceeding will influence the analysis of Phase 2 of this proceeding. Therefore, Peevey does not establish a precise scope or schedule for Phase 2, although he does say that the second phase will consider, at a minimum, the following issues:
1. How should energy storage applications/attributes be valued?
2. What are the costs for the various types of energy storage applications?
3. What should be taken into consideration to determine whether energy storage technologies are cost effective? Should they be compared against the other types of resources currently being procured by the utilities? How should the benefits associated with energy storage technologies be taken into consideration when determining cost-effectiveness?
4. How should the costs and benefits associated with energy storage technologies be allocated among retail end-use customers A subsequent Phase 2 scoping memo shall be issued to provide further detail on this phase of the proceeding.

FERC proposes rule to integrate variable energy resources

from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Article Overview The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proposed reforms to its rules to lay the foundation for integrating the rapid growth of variable energy resources into the nation’s power grid while ensuring reliability and bringing potential savings to customers.

The proposed rule would reform the Open Access Transmission Tariffs (OATT) and the Large Generator Interconnection Agreements filed by public utility transmission providers to require them to offer services that will allow for a more efficient integration of variable energy resources such as wind, solar and hydrokinetics into the grid system. Read full article

NYISO Spotlights Energy Storage

from Business Wire

Article Overview “Energy storage can play a valuable role in the continued development of New York’s renewable power resources. For example, the variable nature of wind generation poses special challenges to grid operators, such as the NYISO, that must constantly balance the supply of and demand for electricity on the grid. Flywheels, batteries and other energy storage systems expand our ability to address those needs,” said Stephen G. Whitley, NYISO president and CEO. Read full article