Cutting-Edge Energy Storage In Spotlight

Creating energy from renewable sources is just one part of the challenge. Storing the energy so it can used how and when it’s needed – that’s every bit as important. Which is what led the California Energy Commission to recently award $845,894 to two projects dedicated to energy storage advancement.

The first project, headed by EnerVault of Sunnyvale, received $476,428, supplementing a $4.76 million grant that came courtesy the 2009 stimulus, and $4.29 million of privately raised capital. That all adds up to $9.53 million, which will pay to install and evaluate the company’s novel flow battery technology for commercial viability. This test will be done with a 150-kilowatt photovoltaic power system in the state’s Central Valley.

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The hope is that EnerVault can succeed in offering safe, economical and adequate storage options for utility-scale renewable energy projects, whose intermittent production makes them sometimes difficult to integrate with the grid. Current battery technology tends to be too expensive to meet utility-scale needs, and overheating can be a concern, as well. EnerVault uses an iron-chromium redox system, in which, according to NASA, “electricity is generated when pumps move the electrolytes into separate sections of a reaction chamber. Electrodes collect that charge, and the electrolytes can then be recharged from an outside power source.”

The second project is from Fremont-based Amber Kinetics. The company received $369,466 for the research, development and demonstration of a utility-scale flywheel energy storage system, which they hope will boost the use of such technology due to its high efficiency and low cost. In a flywheel system, energy is stored as rotational energy as a rotor, or flywheel, spins at a very high rate. The faster the wheel spins, the more energy is stored, and as energy is taken out, the wheel’s speed decreases. Amer Kinetics also received $3.7 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, and comes in with $5.94 million of its own capital toward the total $10 million project cost.

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CEC Awards Funding To Energy-Storage Research

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has shown its support for energy storage by awarding $845,894 from its Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program to energy-storage research projects.

EnerVault Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., will receive $476,428 to demonstrate the commercial viability of the company's latest battery energy-storage system with a dual-tracking photovoltaic system. The project will develop a battery system that will be expandable to utility-scale applications and integrate with renewable energy resources.

EnerVault will also work with other project partners to install and evaluate the system in Snelling, Calif. The total cost of the project is $9.53 million. The CEC’s grant will supplement a $4.76 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) award that EnerVault, along with project partner Ktech Corp., received from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). EnerVault is providing $4.29 million for the project.

In addition, Fremont-based Amber Kinetics Inc. will receive $369,466 to research, develop and demonstrate a utility-scale flywheel energy-storage system. The project's total cost is $10 million. The CEC’s grant is the cost share for the company's ARRA award of $3.7 million from the DOE. Amber Kinetics and other partners are contributing $5.94 million for the project.

"As we strive to reach the state's renewable energy goals, research in energy-storage systems will reap significant benefits for California,” says CEC Chairman Dr. Robert Weisenmiller. “Energy-storage systems will improve efficiency and reliability in the electricity supply and facilitate the integration of clean, intermittent, renewable resources such as solar and wind.”

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