Batteries for Energy Storage: New Developments Promise Grid Flexibility and Stability

Integrating variable output renewable generation into the grid means balancing supply and demand. Tildy Bayar looks at developments in large-scale battery energy storage solutions.

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Balancing power supply and demand is always a complex process. When large volumes of renewables such as solar PV, wind and tidal energy, which can change abruptly with weather conditions, are integrated into the grid, this balancing process becomes even more difficult.

The issue for power plants is flexibility. "Large amounts of wind energy are being reliably and cost-effectively integrated onto the power system today," said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), who added "Energy storage can be a valuable resource for the power system in maximising the efficient use of this resource, and add flexibility for electric utilities."

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) faced the renewable power industry's most critical issue in February 2008. With a huge wind portfolio in the state the wind died down, and ERCOT declared emergency conditions after a 1200-MW drop in production. The three-hour shortfall, accompanied by increasing overall electricity loads, very nearly caused rolling blackouts. David Crane, president and CEO of New Jersey-based NRG Energy Inc., told the Houston Business Journal that "If a system can go unstable in the winter because 1500 MW of expected wind turns into 400-MW wind and then fossil has to scramble to come online - and several of our plants had to scramble to fill the gap - that's a big issue and there's going to be a big debate."

Effective energy storage can match total generation to total load precisely on a second by second basis. It can load-follow, adjusting to changes in wind and solar input over short or long time spans, as well as compensating for longterm changes. While fossil plants may take 10 minutes or more to come online, and will consume fuel even on "spinning reserve" standby, storing renewable energy for later use effectively produces no emissions.

"Grid-scale storage is here now," says Ed Cazalet of MegaWatt Storage Farms, which develops and operates large electricity storage facilities that connect directly to the wholesale electric grid. "Storage should be deployed now at the gigawatt scale...where capacity, ancillary services and energy time-shifting are clearly needed," he adds. But each power plant faces different issues, and each requires a tailored energy storage solution.

Some well-established technologies offer significant energy storage capacity but require specific geographical features and considerable infrastructure. Others can be deployed rapidly to wherever they are required, but currently offer restricted capacity, often at high cost. One technology that is now attracting considerable interest is large-scale battery storage.

BATTERIES FOR LARGE-SCALE ENERGY STORAGE

Several types of batteries are used for large-scale energy storage. All consist of electrochemical cells though no single cell type is suitable for all applications.

Invented in 1859, lead-acid batteries use a liquid electrolyte and are still in common use. They store rather small volumes of energy but are reliable and, above all, cheap. In renewable energy systems multiple deep-cycle lead-acid (DCLA) batteries, which provide a steady current over a long time period, are connected together to form a battery bank. Indeed, banks of up to 1 MW of lead-acid batteries are already being used to stabilise wind farm power generation. For instance, Trojan Battery Company's industrial line of deep-cycle batteries is designed for backup and peak shifting in off-grid and grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) systems.

In a dry cell battery, the electrolytes are contained in a low-moisture paste. Lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries in particular are the subject of much interest as they have a high energy density, and larger-scale production due to emerging electric vehicle applications is expected to bring down their cost significantly.

A123 Systems is involved in a demonstration project with Southern California Edison which will see 32 MWh of li-ion battery capacity integrated with wind turbines in the Tehachapi region 100 miles (160 km) north of Los Angeles.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is beginning tests of a 40-foot (12 metre) long container unit housing more than 2,000 li-ion rechargeable batteries. According to the company, the system has a capacity of 408 kWh - enough to supply 100 households for three to eight hours and is designed to have a system efficiency of 90 percent. As well as grid power stabilisation, the system will be tested for micro-grid use in areas where regular grid connections are difficult, providing a stable supply of electricity from renewable sources.

Flow batteries are emerging energy storage devices that can serve many purposes in energy delivery systems. They can respond within milliseconds and deliver significant quantities of power. They operate much like a conventional battery, storing and releasing energy through a reversible electrochemical reaction with an almost unlimited number of cycles. The active chemicals are stored in external tanks, and when in use are continuously pumped in a circuit between the reactor and tanks. The great advantage is that electrical storage capacity is limited only by the capacity of the tanks.

Vanadium Redox Batteries (VRBs) are a particularly clean technology, with high availability and a long lifecycle. Their energy density is rather low - about 40 Wh per kilogram - though recent research indicates that a modified electrolyte solution produces a 70 percent improvement in energy density. Vanadium prices are volatile, though, with the increased demand for battery use likely to stress supply. Prudent Energy has installed a 1-MWh VRB energy storage system, sized at a rated power of 500 kW and a peak pulse power of 750 kW, for the China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI) in Zhangbei, Hebei province. Research group the Fraunhofer Institute is developing a giant 20-MWh flow battery. A 20-kW facility is planned to be operational next year; and the research team hopes to cross the megawatt threshold within five years.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University are using iron to create a scalable energy storage system that can service a single home or an entire community. Robert Savinell, professor of chemical engineering at Case Western, calls it the rustbelt battery. Since the cost of iron is as little as 1 percent of that of vanadium, the iron-based battery is estimated to cost US$30/kWh, well below a $100/kWh goal set by Sandia National Laboratories. A large-scale 20-MWh iron-based flow battery would require two storage tanks of about 250,000 gallons (950 m³), and could supply the power needs of 650 homes for a day. The US Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability is funding the research with a grant of some $600,000.

Molten salt batteries (or liquid sodium batteries) offer both high energy density and high power density. Operating temperatures of 400-700°C, however, bring management and safety issues, and place stringent requirements on the battery components. In 2010, Italy's Enel opened the 5-MW Archimedes solar farm, the first in the world to use molten salt technology.

Ultracapacitors (or supercapacitors) store energy electrostatically by polarising an electrolyte, rather than storing it chemically as in a battery. Ultracapacitors have a lower energy density but a higher power density than standard batteries: they store less energy (around 25 times less than a similarly sized li-ion battery) but can be charged and discharged more rapidly.

Although ultracapacitors have been around since the 1960s, they are relatively expensive and only recently began being manufactured in sufficient quantities to become cost-competitive. Ultracapacitors have applications in 'energy smoothing', momentary-load devices, vehicle energy storage, and smaller applications like home solar energy systems where extremely fast charging is a valuable feature.

The US Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-e) sponsors a number of interesting energy storage projects currently in the research and development stage, including metal-air ionic liquid (MAIL) batteries, planar sodium-beta batteries, high energy density lithium batteries, zinc-manganese oxide batteries, a liquid metal battery called Electroville and thermal energy storage with supercritical fluids. Each of these research projects promises to deliver low-cost, sustainable, high density energy storage for renewable energy applications.

COMPARISONS AND PREDICTIONS

The US Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) paper entitled Electricity Energy Storage Technology Options states that sodium-sulphur batteries (a variety of molten salt battery) are currently the third most widely used energy storage solution, with 316 MW installed worldwide.

The Electricity Storage Association (ESA) compared energy storage technologies for high power and high energy applications, as illustrated in Table 1 (below). Each technology has inherent limitations or disadvantages that make it practical or economical for only a limited range of applications.

Frost & Sullivan's analysis of the European utility-scale battery market found earned revenues of $126.4 million in 2010 and the company says it expects this to increase to $564.9 million in 2015.

Meanwhile, Lux Research's report entitled: Off-grid: A Modest Meal for Starving Storage Developers argues that li-ion technologies are expected to see small, steady growth in diversified markets.

Li-ion batteries will grow from $795 million in revenue in 2011 to $2.2 billion in 2016, the report states, adding that thanks to its improved cycle life and energy density over lead-acid batteries, li-ion will see narrow penetration into the high-end datacenter market. If li-ion developers can trim costs 33 percent to $400/kWh and demonstrate improved lifetimes, the technology could usurp further market share.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/08/batteries-for-energy-storage-new-developments-promise-grid-flexibility-and-stability

Military Tightens Its Belt, Goes Green

It may seem ironic that the largest military in world would be one of the most enthusiastic advocates of alternative energy, but it’s true, writes MoneyShow.com contributor Gregg Early.

To cynics, it’s likely unsurprising as budget cuts get bigger and the economy seems to be teetering on another recession that the Department of Defense (DoD) is redoubling its efforts in green energy.

They may figure that this is precisely the kind of boondoggle that the politicians should be cutting out of the budgets. But nothing could be further from the truth.

And the spinoff technologies that DoD supports now will be the next leg up in energy independence for the US.

Actually, the military has been one of the most farsighted organizations when it comes to repositioning itself for a world where energy security is a top priority. DoD’s shift has been under way for many years.

The armed services are keenly aware of the logistical and operational challenges involved in being overly dependent on oil. In Iraq, many suicide-bomber and roadside-bomb casualties were transport personnel or lead vehicles in transport convoys, moving gasoline to forward bases for their operations.

A few years back, they tracked the costs of getting gasoline to a northern base in Afghanistan from the port at Lahore, Pakistan. All in, it was costing the about $100 per gallon to move fuel to where the troops needed it.

People are always talking about $100 toilet seats. How about a $100 gallon of gas?

But instead of just spending it and writing it off as yet another cost of war, the armed services decided to look for options. And not simply because of cost or the desire to lower its carbon footprint.

Tactically, it’s crucial to have a secure power supply that has a minimal chance of disruption, especially when you’re engaged in active operations. It’s also advantageous if you can increase the energy independence of forward bases, so they can operate with limited dependence on outside supplies.

Another key advantage of many alternative energy sources is stealth. Electric motors are much quieter than diesel generators; solar power and wind are also silent energy producers relative to their fossil fuel alternatives.

Also, in combat zones you can’t expect the energy infrastructure to be operational or consistent. These days, with all the technology deployed with even the lowliest Infantry grunt, a steady source of electricity is crucial.

So there are certainly strategic and tactical advantages of alternative energy. And there’s no doubt that there are huge security advantages in securing your energy supply chain as efficiently as possible.

The next question is whether there is enough commitment for DoD to be a long-term driver of US alternative energy development.

When you’re dealing with a $670 billion annual budget, there’s usually a few million in the sofa cushions for some important R&D work. But more important, the armed forces have already begun requiring new equipment to be designed with renewables in mind.

For example, the Navy’s newest and most modern ship, the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Freedom, built by Lockheed Martin (LMT) doesn’t have propellers (screws to you nautically inclined), and has a hybrid drive motor that enhances stealth and fuel consumption. It also has an impressive array of unmanned vehicles that keep sailors out of harm’s way until absolutely necessary.

In March, the Air Force flew an F-22 filled with biofuel manufactured in the US. Two companies to watch in this space are Dyadic (DYAI) and Solazyme (SZYM), two US firms that are doing some impressive work in the biofuels space.

The US Army has inked a deal with Clark Energy Group to build a $2 billion, 500-megawatt solar farm in the Mojave Desert to power Fort Irwin and support its 5,000 personnel. The cost to the Army? Nada. Zilch. Bubkus. S

The deal is, Clark will build the facility, sell the power to the Army...and then has the right to sell the surplus energy, which is enough to power another 100,000 homes.

Not to be outdone, the US Marine Corps has begun to convert Twentynine Palms in California to energy independence from the civilian grid. It’s built a solar farm, wind farm, and a co-generation plant that recycles waste heat into energy.

(Page 2 of 2)

Who are the winners in this shift? US companies that are working in these sectors and have the technologies to deploy.

Some good companies have been swallowed up in the grinding economy of the last 3 years, when green tech almost made it into the private sector...but was kicked to the curb as lending dried up and spending was slashed on every level.

The survivors may well get a lifeline from the US military, and then be in prime position to expand quickly when the economy stabilizes. Here are the firms to watch:

In the biofuels space, as discussed above, Dyadic and Solazyme have a great deal of promise.

In renewable energy, American Superconductor (AMSC) stock was decimated by troubles selling to China’s Sinovel, but it has projects across the globe and would be a logical supplier of wind equipment to the military. Plus, its superconducting wire business is gaining popularity with “secure grid” projects at Homeland Security and various utilities.

I don’t think solar panel builders are the best way to buy into solar. The next-generation panels are coming out now and there will likely be a game-changing technology—an iPad for solar panels—but until that happens, there’s not a lot of money in it and the client side is unstable.

Two other interesting plays are AeroVironment (AVAV) and Clean Energy Fuels Corp (CLNE). Both offer alternative energy distribution systems that will have increasing value as the military and civilian sectors incorporate alternative energy vehicles into the mix.

AVAV worked with GM on the charging system and charging stations for the EV-1, and has continued in the business since then. It is the approved charging station for the Nissan Leaf, and when Toyota commercial equipment dealerships sell customer fork lifts, etc., they also recommend the AVAV charging system. If there’s an American company with an established pedigree for build electric-vehicle charging systems, it’s AVAV.

What’s more, AVAV also builds some of the most popular unmanned aerial vehicles in service today. These aren’t the big ones, but the ones used by special forces and Marines on the vanguard—a very good niche indeed.

CLNE is partly owned by oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, and is the sharp part of his stick regarding converting the US from foreign oil to domestic natural gas. CLNE is a veteran of natural-gas filling stations in the US and Canada. The recession and recovery have kept natural-gas prices low, so the stock hasn’t done much yet.

But Pickens is a smart guy, and at 83, he’s fond of saying “I don’t buy green bananas.”

Another interesting fact in his favor: electric motors aren’t powerful enough to run tractor trailers. There are a lot of tractor trailers in North America.

At the time of publication, Gregg Early may or may not own positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this column.

http://www.moneyshow.com/investing/article/1/GURU-24241/Military-Tightens-Its-Belt-Goes-Green/?aid=guru-24241&iid=GURU&page=2

Beacon Power’s Spin on Energy Storage: It’s a Service

Selling frequency regulation services instead of flywheel energy storage hardware.

Energy storage is widely referred to as the holy grail and linch pin of our renewable energy future.

That's debatable. There are certain countries and grids that have managed to incorporate high penetration of renewables without the benefit of storage.

And for now, almost all energy storage technology has questionable economics, unproven reliability, and exists in a fuzzily defined regulatory framework.

Here's Vinod Khosla giving his compelling viewpoint on energy storage.

Still, a few energy storage firms have managed to show signs of viability with a rational business plan.

Beacon Power is one of them. Despite its money-losing ways, small market capitalization, and battered stock price.

Beacon (Nasdaq: BCON), a public firm since 2000, develops flywheel energy storage using a rapidly spinning cylindrical rotor which serves as a kinetic battery. The CTO of the firm compares energy storage to data storage. Some storage, like RAM, is accessed very frequently while other storage media, like a DVD, are accessed infrequently. Beacon is more like RAM with frequent access and high throughput. And Beacon's payment is based on throughput. Beacon claims a significantly longer cycle-life compared to electrochemical storage solutions such as batteries or regenerative fuel cells -- which is important for utility capital costs.

I spoke with Bill Capp, the CEO, about Beacon's business. The firm actually started out applying their technology to the telecom market but soon moved into the frequency regulation sector of the utility energy market. Beacon estimates the frequency regulation market as well in excess of $500 million and about one percent of load.

And although Beacon designs and manufactures the flywheel storage systems, the firm now utilizes its flywheels in its new role as an Independent regulation services provider or IRSP (pronounced IRSP). We've covered this transition from energy storage hardware supplier to energy storage service provider before. Beacon has taken advantage of deregulation and now has the ISOs as their customers, rather than the utility.

Beacon was just granted $5 million for construction of a 20-megawatt flywheel energy storage plant in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania and was a recipient of a $43 million DOE loan guarantee for a New York-based storage farm, now in operation. Beacon has raised approximately $125 million through the sale of stock but will have to raise considerable more funding to fund operations and begin construction of its next plant. Obviously this financial situation implies that energy storage is still in early days.

The market for storage is counting on receiving regulatory support. FERC has proposed rules for paying rapid-response assets for their performance advantage over fossil fuel generators in frequency regulation markets. This pay-for-performance (PFP) regulation market tariff-in-the-making could be the catalyst for energy storage firms and an incentive to accelerate deployment of this type of technology.

Capp reckons that although Beacon is more expensive than lithium-ion batteries on a capital cost, the firm is cheaper on a per cycle basis. Capp also sees the growing wind power resources in the ERCOT territory, California, Denmark, and Ireland as creating more demand for Beacon's products and regulation services.

There is a growing market ahead for Beacon of hundreds of megawatts of potential -- if it can raise sufficient capital to grow and if it can continue to scrub out cost from the flywheel technology.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/beacon-power-a-new-spin-on-energy-storage/

Energy Storage Industry Grows To Integrate Wind, Solar

Energy storage has long been touted as the silver bullet needed for widespread renewable energy adoption but costs have remained high. Today, several projects hold promise.

Texas, USA -- Grid-scale energy storage is gaining momentum as batteries, flywheels and compressed air systems begin proving they can regulate frequency and ancillary services with the same efficiency of "spinning reserves" from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

“We still hear people say storage isn’t ready for primetime, but that isn’t the case because we already have 20-MW storage plants being built all over the country,” said Brad Roberts, executive director of the Electricity Storage Association (ESA).

As more renewable energy hits the grid, generators and independent system operators are looking to new storage systems to provide emissions-free backup and regulation when intermittency interrupts solar and wind power.

“We are interested in the potential of battery storage to be a game changer in our industry in both regulated utilities and commercial businesses,” said Greg Efthimiou, spokesman for Duke Energy, which operates more than 1,000 MW of wind farms.

Duke Energy is installing the country’s largest battery storage system, a 36-MW unit, near its 153-MW Notrees Windpower Project. The system will regulate frequency and store excess energy for use during peak demand. In Texas, where nearly 11,000 MW of generation comes from wind farms, grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas relies on standby gas turbines and steam coal generators to ramp frequency up or down as wind generation changes.

The Notrees battery system is funded by a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and matching funds from Duke Energy, which will use Austin-based Xtreme Power’s proprietary dry cell technology.

Investment, Policy Gains

ESA’s Roberts said the $158 million in stimulus earmarked by the DOE for storage research generated $780 million in investments for battery, compressed air, flywheels and other systems.

The storage industry has been calling for creation of an ITC to further stimulate growth. With passage of Assembly Bill No. 2514 in September, California began the process of developing a portfolio standard for energy storage.

Storage technology pulled in $150.3 million in venture capital during the second quarter, according to Ernst & Young. General Compression received the largest percentage, with $54.5 million. The company plans to use General Compression Advanced Energy Storage (GCAES), a unique heat transfer technology, to compress air in underground caverns. Investors include ConocoPhillips, US Renewables Group, Duke Energy and Serious Change L.P.

Compressing air underground has the potential for storage in excess of 100 MW but there are only two such projects in the world: A 290-MW facility built in Huntorf, Germany in 1978, and a 110-MW facility completed in 1991 in McIntosh, AL. And in July Iowa officials and the DOE scrapped the Iowa Stored Energy Park, a facility intended to store up to 270 MW of wind energy in a limestone cavern 3,000 feet underground. Studies showed limitations with air permeability in the site’s geology.

CAES Winners, Losers

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) utilizing man-made, above-ground storage tanks has also gained traction with DOE funding. Startup SustainX, Inc. is working with AES Energy Storage to demonstrate a one-hour, 4-MW storage system. SustainX was founded in 2007 by engineers at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. It received $5.39 million DOE grant.

The Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (azRISE) at the University of Arizona has been developing a CAES solution for three years. DOE funds will enable azRISE to scale up a 10-kW proof-of-concept prototype (image, below) that will be grid-tied to a 1.6-MW solar power plant.

SOLON Corp., the solar plant’s developer, is working with azRISE and Tucson Electric Power (TEP) to demonstrate a variety of storage projects, including lithium ion batteries.

“As we see more integration of solar, we want to control storage for our utility customers,” said Bill Richardson, SOLON’s director of research and development. “The ultimate goal is to make renewable energy plants look like traditional plants with dispatchable energy.”

Joseph Simmons, azRISE director, said storage prices are high, particularly for battery systems, but he predicts a breakthrough will come with “intermediate size” compressed air systems that use off-the-shelf storage containers and have capacities of up to 100 kW. The institute’s concept, he said, can be scaled up to 1 MW with a coiled natural gas pipeline buried underground.

“I like batteries but they are very expensive,” Simmons said. “We expect to see more of a combination of batteries and compressed air storage.”

Heat transfer is another issue associated with CAES since air cools when it expands and warms during compression.

The azRISE system removes heat from a compressor then stores it in fluid. The system recovers electricity when heat returns to the compressed air before entering an expander. SustainX manages heat by uses an isothermal system to cycle air in hydraulic cylinders.

Price Points Still High

In just three years, the storage industry has grown rapidly from a handful of prototypes to revenue-generating corporations, Roberts said. Current battery technology has a long way to go before renewable energy can be stored and dispatched in meaningful amounts. Meanwhile, revenue is limited to ancillary services, critical observers say. And then there’s the price: At $43.6 million, the 36-MW Notrees system costs $1,211 per kilowatt. Others are down to $400.

“But the price is still way too high for this market,” said Donald R. Sadoway, Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT.

The leading battery systems are based on lithium ion or sulfur-sodium (NaS) power cells. A multiple-megawatt storage system using these technologies can require thousands of cells.

Sadoway co-founded Liquid Metal Battery Corp., a startup that uses pizza box-sized power cells made with liquid metal and molten salt. Sadoway is banking on his batteries to provide game-changing, cost-effective power storage capacity.

“Storage will have to be below $200 per kilowatt if we’re going to be major players in the long-term storage firming in renewables without government subsidy,” he said.

Pumped-hydro, which accounts for 20 GW of the country’s energy storage, can provide 1,000-MW storage systems for $100 per kilowatt-hour, according to The New York Times. It requires massive reservoirs that cost more than $1 billion and take years to construct with ideal geography and abundant water resources. That pretty much rules out the arid Southwest, so researchers like Simmons and Sadoway look to alternatives. (For a primer on Energy Storage Costs, see Sidebar: Understanding Energy Storage Costs, below.)

Sadoway’s company received a $6.9 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) as well as seed money from Total, an oil company, and Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates. Sadoway said the size of his batteries will broaden grid-scale storage capacity since more liquid will be present per cell than conventional cells.

Lithium Ion Still Popular

“We’re starting to see prices come down as we scale up each project,” said John Zahurancik, AES Energy Storage vice president.

AES Energy Storage is installing a 32-MW lithium ion storage system to regulate the 100-MW Laurel Mountain Wind Farm in West Virginia. Since it was founded in 2007, AES Energy Storage has completed more than 32 MW of storage, and it claims to have 500 MW “in the pipeline.”

“We are starting to demonstrate the real commercial competence of storage,” Zahurancik said.

Storage is attractive to generators – parent company AES Corp. operates 132 power plants worldwide – because it provides “fuel-free” power during peak hours, Zahurancik said. Large-scale battery storage is still years away, so revenue streams are limited to ancillary services, which represent a small piece of all sales on the electricity market. The ESA and American Wind Energy Association are lobbying utility regulators who oversee electricity sales to create markets that recognize a premium for emissions-free storage and regulation.

Some systems are growing outside of ancillary services. AES is installing an A123 Systems battery unit capable of providing 20 MW of spinning reserve for 15 minutes in Northern Chile.

“We’re moving out of the lab and into large production facilities,” said Chris Campbell, vice president of marketing for A123 Systems’ Energy Solutions Group.

He said A123 Systems European customers are interested in 100-MWh to 500-MWh storage systems that will help them meet clean air goals. Zahurancik said battery storage devices in the next three years will offer two to four hours of storage for that can transfer nighttime wind energy for peak use.

“We’re already seeing our market grow like the solar and wind industries,” he said.

---

Sidebar: Understanding Energy Storage Costs

Energy storage systems are typically quantified in terms of capacity (kilowatts or kW) and generation (kilowatt-hours or kWh), but there are some exceptions.

“In the case of energy storage costing, dollars per kilowatt-hour can be very misleading,” said Brad Roberts, executive director of the Energy Storage Association.

Battery storage is growing rapidly, but costs remain high, so the industry is striving for average prices to dip below $500 per kWh within three years.

“Technologies like lithium ion need to see huge price declines in the next few years which may be possible as electric transportation grows,” Roberts said.

The approximate cost of a 1-MW, 6-hour sodium-sulfur (NaS) battery is $3,000 per kW. That translates to a cost of $500 per kWh ($3,000/ 6 hours = $500), Roberts said.

Xtreme Power Chief Development Officer Darrell Hayslip said battery costs are expressed in dollars per kWh when considered “stored energy.” Xtreme Power often quotes prices in terms of dollars-per-kilowatt because it markets its dry cell products as a “generating or supply resource,” Hayslip said.

Xtreme Power’s 36-MW Notrees project is funded by about $22 million U.S. Department of Energy grant and $22 million in matching funds from Duke Energy, which Hayslip said brings the cost to $1,211 per kW ($43.6 million/36,000 kilowatts = $1,200).

Joseph Simmons, director of Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (azRISE), estimates a 10-kW compressed air storage system with a $50,000 price tag can generate 30 kilowatt-hours, or three hours of electricity at 33 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Calculations for the University of Arizona system call for use of a 1,000-gallon storage tank. He said the system could be scaled up to 10 MW using coiled pipeline to create 1 million gallons of storage space. Such a system would generate 30 MWh, but price is unknown at this point, he said.

--RC

http://is.gd/ryqAUh

Happiness is a military microgrid

Fort Bliss moving on premise, self-sufficiency = security

Phil Carson | Aug 15, 2011

When it comes to a sense of urgency, there's nothing like the armed services of the United States. As previously documented in this space, the U.S. Department of Defense "gets it" when it comes to energy efficiency and self-sufficiency: they add up to energy independence and that means security. (See "Military Microgrids: a Journey.")

While civilian populations continue to debate the status quo versus implementing standards for wise use of energy, the military is simply going about its business pursuing security through energy efficiency and self-sufficiency.

That explains Fort Bliss' new "Request for Information" (RFI) on commercial partnerships that could result in a Fort Bliss microgrid with a net zero energy profile. Fort Bliss sprawls over 1,700 square miles of the westernmost tip of Texas and southeastern New Mexico, a U.S. Army installation second in size to nearby White Sands Missile Range. I'd guess that there's plenty of solar and wind resources at that location.

The military was not first out of the gate, of course. But it has since caught up with its civilian counterparts - led by the state of California - which early on established and have continued to tweak practical approaches to similar goals.

Why a column on military microgrids? They are the partners of public, "smarter," modernized grids that can play a symbiotic role with centralized power systems and microgrids are essentially scale models of how large-scale smart grids can and should operate. (See "Central and Distributed Power: Symbiotic?" and "Smart Grid and the Military: Meet the First Adopter.") And military grids are a great example of what is possible when a sense of urgency is brought to bear.

The military's rationale in the Fort Bliss RFI basically articulates very similar drivers for many public programs in California, particularly the California Energy Commission's Renewable Energy Secure Communities (RESCO) efforts.

The qualities being sought for Fort Bliss aren't much different from the communities involved in the RESCO program, a comparison pointed out yesterday to me by Byron Washom, director of strategic energy alternatives (aka a microgrid) at the University of California San Diego. (We wrote about UCSD's highly successful microgrid in "Big Picture Thinking: lab to market!" and the imaginatively titled "Big Picture Thinking, Part II."

Check out two statements in the RFI. First: "The Army energy security mission is to make energy a consideration for all Army activities to reduce demand, increase efficiency, seek alternative sources and create a culture of energy accountability while sustaining or enhancing operational capabilities."

And this: "Fort Bliss has positioned itself to lead the Army in these aspects and continues to lead with aggressive pursuit of energy security. In its role as an Army energy leader, Fort Bliss has established the goal of becoming a Net Zero Energy Installation (NZEI) by 2015. To do this, Fort Bliss must aggressively conserve energy and also generate as much renewable energy as it consumes, measured over the course of a year."

Further: "The legislated energy mandates and changes to the cultural initiatives support Army-wide goals of improving its resiliency and endurance as a military force. These include:

• Surety: preventing loss of access to power and fuel resources;
• Supply: accessing alternative and renewable energy sources;
• Sustainability: promoting support for the Army's mission, its community and the environment;
• Sufficiency: providing adequate power for critical missions; and
• Survivability: ensuring resilience in energy systems.

The Army proposes to give vendors the opportunity to build on Army land and the Army in turn will sign a power purchase agreement for the energy supplied.

In its general outline, of course, this sounds a lot like FortZED, which is the Zero Energy District in Fort Collins, Colo., now a college town with no role in national defense. See both "Smart grid's grass roots," and "Local smart grid with global implications."

To me, the military effort reflects the dual drivers of security and cost. Fort Bliss figures it will save money and increase security. Funny, you don't hear the same naysaying and questioning of motives in the military's efforts to achieve energy efficiency, maximize renewable energy and integrate systems to achieve energy security as you do when, say, a town such as Boulder, Colo., looks to do the same thing.

The Fort Bliss's of the world establish that all this can be done. Whether it shall be is simply a question of self-determination. And in that area, civilian America is lagging way behind.

http://www.intelligentutility.com/article/11/08/happiness-military-microgrid

The US Army Has the 'Land and the Demand' for Renewable Energy

exas, United States -- The U.S. Army wants you, private investors, to install large-scale renewable energy projects on its lands to meet a goal of drawing 25% of electricity from clean sources by 2025.

“(It’s) the right thing to do for the environment – certainly in this age of diminishing resources the right thing to do for the federal taxpayers and, most importantly, the right thing to do for our soldiers,” Secretary of the Army John McHugh said during a media call at the GovEnergy conference.

On Wednesday, McHugh announced that the Army will open an Energy Initiatives Office (EIO) Task Force on Sept. 15 to serve as a “one-stop shop” for the private sector to find opportunities for partnerships in a variety of renewable energy projects. Unsolicited proposals are welcome.

The Army estimates it will need $7.1 billion in private investment to generate 2.1 million megawatt-hours of clean power annually. The EIO approach will help the Army aggressively add multiple megawatts of clean energy by 2025 while saving tax dollars.

Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, said the Army is looking for average power plants to be 10 MW or greater. The U.S. Department of Defense recently granted the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment authority to approve long-term contracts of up to 30 years for power purchase agreements (PPAs). The 30-year PPA had been limited to geothermal energy.

“We’re not saying all projects will need 30-year authority, but it’s something we’re going to be working on [on] a project-by-project basis,” Hammack said.

McHugh said the approach could be attractive to investors because the Army will be “a guaranteed customer,” while there are also opportunities to sell surplus energy back to the grid.

“In short, we have the ‘land and the demand’ and we think that’s a good catchphrase,” added Jonathan Powers, director of outreach for the Energy Initiatives Office.

The Air Force used long-term PPAs to spur development of a 15-MW solar array at Luke AFB in Arizona and a 14-MW solar plant at Nellis AFB near Las Vegas. The Army built upon that business model for a 500-MW solar plant at Ft. Irwin base in California.

Powers said the Army has completed 126 renewable projects, while another “20 are in the hopper.” Lessons learned from those projects, he said, will help the EIO provide future investors with development assistance on legal, technical and policy issues.

The office will be working closely with Fort Bliss, which released a request for information this week seeking industry input to help the El Paso, Texas, base become the first large-scale “net zero” military installation.

The EIO is part of a greater effort by the military to use renewables to enhance energy security inside the continental United States and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Last spring, the DoD said its Operational Energy Strategy would pursue alternative fuels and electricity generation to help secure warfighters overseas.

NPR reported that the military spends about $20 billion on fuel for air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fuel delivery trucks have been a regular target of enemy combatants, so the military is exploring use of renewable energy to enhance security of troops.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/08/the-us-army-has-the-land-and-the-demand-for-renewable-energy

Bloom Boxes Powering NTT Data Center

NTT America, a subsidiary of Japanese telecom giant NTT, has selected Bloom Energy Servers to power its new Silicon Valley data center. A natural gas pipeline delivers biogas from a California dairy farm to power the innovative fuel cell technology and deliver clean energy to the data center in San Jose.

NTT said it installed five of Bloom Boxes, which are priced between $700,000 and $800,000 each. The five servers have a total generating capacity of 500 kilowatts (kW), or enough to power 500 average homes or five 30,000-square-foot office buildings. NTT said that these cells will produce 4.2 million kW annually and will reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emissions by 1.6 million pounds, the equivalent to planting approximately 4,000 trees each year.

image via Bloom Energy

Bloom’s fuel cells, which generate power as a result of a chemical reaction rather than the burning of fossil fuels, are typically more expensive than drawing power directly from the grid. However, modern data centers require large amounts of reliable power, which the Bloom servers provide. Recently, many large companies, such as ATT, Adobe, Walmart, Google and Ebay have opted for Bloom’s clean, reliable energy

Besides adding reliability and reducing green-house gas emissions, having Bloom’s servers on site also brings companies what’s known as distributed generation. Distributed generation means electricity is generated where it will be used, allowing a company to reduce the amount of energy loss due to transmission across power lines, increasing efficiency and trimming costs.

http://is.gd/b9GcxK