tesla is not the only player in energy storage - home energy storage

Tesla Motor Launches Lithium-
Tonight, ion battery systems for homes and businesses highlight the potential of a new market in which batteries and other energy storage technologies may significantly change our century --
Old power production and delivery business.
Of course, Tesla is not the only company that is bullish on the new market.
I caught up with three companies.
SolarCity, AES Energy Storage and Sungevity-
Over the past few days, get a snapshot of the business model and projects that are emerging in this market.
I discussed SolarCity's challenges in building the energy storage business yesterday in my story.
So here I will share what I have learned from the AES Energy Storage and Sungevity executives who have been building and running large energy storage projects since 2008, a solar installation company, it is planned to provide storage with solar panels for homes and businesses later this year.
But first of all, I would like to point out why energy storage now attracts more interest from technology companies and investors.
A big reason is that energy storage will play an important role in the campaign to disrupt power generation and delivery of services.
If this is the case, it will be a lot of money. Do business.
Now, most of us rely on power plant owners and utilities to generate and deliver energy to us through a network of normally large transmission towers and power lines.
The rise of large solar power plants and roof-top solar panel installations is designed to free us from dependence on heavily polluted coal and gas power plants.
It also inspires our view of the future, where we will all produce the most electricity, if not all, at home or at work.
In this case, energy storage will play a key role in storing excess solar energy produced during the day for use when solar panels do not start the power supply.
"With the battery system, I can consume (solar energy)
When I want it
"It provides a new level of independence," said Peter Graf, Sungevity's new chief product officer . ".
For most people, however, there is still a long way to go in the future.
The credible forecast I 've seen is that by 2050, peg solar could account for a quarter of the world's electricity generation.
Less than the United States. S.
According to U. S. data, by 2040S.
Energy Information Administration
Still, lawmakers, utilities and renewable energy companies in some states have started negotiating policies and the role of utilities is expected to change --
If it's not their main job to power from one end to the other, what other way can they make money?
Maybe they will be more focused on managing a more dynamic grid, which will see the injection of solar energy (and wind)
Energy from many points on the electricity network, rather than power transmission from one end (
Traditional power plants)
To the customer.
This makes AES Energy Storage an interesting player.
The company is part of Virginia. based AES Corp.
The company has most of 35 gigawatts of fossil fuel and hydro-power plants in 18 countries.
Partly due to the financial strength of the parent company, AES Energy Storage has become a pioneer in energy storage business through construction projects in the United States. S. and abroad.
When some other energy storage project developers leave or are sold, it stays in the business all the time because the market is not growing as fast as expected or they are having trouble queuing up for project development funding
In fact, providing commercial justification for energy storage remains a challenge.
Batteries or other technologies are still expensive and large banks are still evaluating when and to what extent they are starting to provide financing.
To reduce costs, Tesla is building its own large battery plant in Nevada.
"I think the biggest suppression of debt is that the bank is not involved in the right project," said John zakhulank, president of AES Energy Storage.
"Most projects are smaller, 10 MW or less.
Most of the time, banks don't want to start financing projects until they see a lot of money.
He added: "Banks are more willing to fund large projects or small portfolio projects that need more than just $20 or $30 million.
Nearly 10 years ago, we saw this problem in solar energy.
Now, a fund of hundreds of millions of dollars is no longer rare for solar energy.
AES owns and operates 86 MW storage projects in the United StatesS.
Chile, including 32 megawatts (8 megawatt-hour)
A project in West Virginia
AES uses its own money to fund the entire project, which is generating revenue through charging and discharging energy to meet the needs of the PJM, which is responsible for a large grid in the eastern United StatesS.
PJM is ahead of other grid operators in creating a project that pays for services to energy storage owners, such as regulating voltage and balancing supply and demand, which has historically been done by natural gas power plants.
California is another promising market because California's utilities are empowered to buy energy storage services to help more and more solar and wind fill the grid.
AES using lithium
Ion batteries, under construction in the United States or close to completion of a storage project of 260 MWS.
Chile, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.
So far, the company's customers are mainly utilities and large industrial enterprises.
But its goal will be small businesses and homeowners as its parent company has just purchased a Colorado solar company, the main street power company, in these segments, zahurankk said.
This will disadvantage AES to Sungevity, a California solar company that is responsible for the sale, finance, engineers and monitoring of roof solar panel installations (
It leaves the installation work to the contractor).
Sungevity is working with German lithium
Ion battery system developer Sonnenbatterie plans to start selling solar cells by the end of this year. California-
Headquartered in Sungevity, founded in 2007 by E.
ON is one of the three largest residential solar companies in the United States. S.
According to the research of GTM.
Sungevity said last month that it had begun targeting small businesses.
The company plans to provide batteries not only in the United StatesS.
But it also includes the Netherlands, which has been operating since taking a stake in a Dutch startup in 2011.
Sonnenbatterie has sold its products in Europe and is shipping about 500 8-
Boris von Borman, CEO of sonnbatterie, said the average is 10 KW per month.
The company has a factory in Germany to assemble lithium.
Ion batteries from Sony and other electronic components to battery systems.
It's lined up at a contract manufacturer in San Jose, California.
That's what Feng Borman said.
Sungevity has not yet revealed how it plans to finance the battery system.
For solar, it offers contracts to households and business owners who do not own the equipment, but pay for electricity bills that use rooftop solar panels.
The company may offer a similar model for energy storage, without the need for expensive upfront investments from consumers.
Sonnenbatterie plans to start selling its battery systems in the United States. S.
July, so if you have money, you can have one.
The retail price of the company's battery system and installation will be from $1,600-
$2,400 per kilowatt
According to the size of the system, an hour, says von Borman.
A residential system can operate from 4 KW
Hours to 16 KW-
The number of hours a business can reach 100 KWhours or more.