When Tesla announced the release of new battery products to the media, people were talking about putting batteries into solar cells --
Home power supply, so the dependence on the grid is much smaller.
But the other side of the story, maybe bigger
A very large battery or battery pack can help the grid itself by storing a large amount of solar energy for evening or evening use.
The final effect may be to replace the electricity generated by coal or natural gas and to convert an inherent "intermittent" renewable energy sourcesolar —
Become a more stable one.
Is that the case?
The answer seems to be yes.
2015 has seen several key announcements, completions, or experimental grids-
Large-scale projects of batteries and solar photovoltaic panels.
"In the past few months, we have seen the frequency of these project announcements rise," said Ravi Manghani, energy storage analyst at GTM Research . ".
Manghani added that while pioneering initiatives and pilot projects were already in place prior to this, this solar storage technology appears to have begun to emerge. [
The growth of solar energy is very, very fast.
Just not fast enough.
Actually, SolarCity-
Hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk
I have just announced plans to bring this combination to Hawaii, which continues to lead in solar and battery adoption due to its high power costs, the highest in the country.
SolarCity and kaua Island I Island utility co-op jointly announced last week that they have signed a solar purchase agreement and SolarCity will provide 20 years of power from a52-megawatt-
The hourly battery installation will be able to deliver up to 13 megawatts of power to the island's power grid.
The battery will get power from the included solar array.
The biggest news is the time of energy supply: evening.
"What makes this exciting is basically that it is schedulable solar energy that can be used at night," said Peter Rive, chief technology officer at SolarCity . ".
The system is expected to run by the end of 2016 and may use Tesla batteries as an energy storage component, Drive said.
Once this happens, solar energy will no longer be limited to use when the sun is shining, at least on Kauai island.
Instead, its use will be transferred to other times of the day due to storage --
Eliminate one reason why power plants often use various fossil fuels (
Diesel in Kauai Island)
Of course, it can burn at any time.
Hawaii came first for obvious reasons: cost.
"Because of the high energy prices, you always see these technologies being adopted first," said Ryff . ".
"But we expect the price decline to continue, which is feasible in the near future.
SolarCity said the facility was "considered the first utility --
Scale systems in the United StatesS.
Offering schedulable solar power means utilities can rely on power supply when needed, even hours after the sun goes down.
Manghani of GTM Research said: "However, this is not the first time that energy storage is used on a grid or utility scale.
Nevertheless, Manghani says the installation proposed by solarcity is unique in two ways --
The first one is its size.
"If this passes, it will make it the largest solar storage system in terms of megawatt-hour storage capacity," he said . ".
Another difference, he says, is that it really changes the time it takes to use solar energy --
When solar energy rises earlier in the day, or drops at night, it's not just using energy storage to help alleviate the problem.
"What will this particular system do, it will transfer the solar output completely to the evening.
So the situation is different in this respect . "
But, elsewhere, pairing energy storage with solar arrays is also happening, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.
Other interesting projects include the Stafford mountain solar farm in Vt Latran.
This is "the first Micro
Power grid built using solar and battery only-
According to USA Today, there is no other fuel, "and it has just been launched.
Manghani said there is also an anahola solar project on Kauai island, which is expected to be completed soon and will also be equipped with battery storage.
Finally, the southern Corporation and the Institute of Electric Power (EPRI)
This week, an energy storage demonstration project will be launched in Cedar town, Georgia ".
Pair 1 MW of lithium-ion batteries with 1 MW of solar photovoltaic equipment.
Kimberly Green, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Southern, told the Post in a statement that the company and EPRI "are working on battery storage technologies that will help shape the future of the United States.
Development of cost-
Effective energy storage is essential to give full play to the potential of renewable energy for the benefit of the families we serve.
"There are other interesting advances in storage space.
For example, advanced micro-grid solutions and SunEdisonrecently recently announced that they have signed up to provide 50 MW of energy storage capacity for Southern California Edison in the form of a "hybrid building, at the peak of energy demand, it will be able to get out of the grid and transfer to the battery.
This is another time shift.
Not necessarily with solar energy (
Although it may be)
But just to avoid using grid energy at the most expensive time.
According to manghani's research and other industry watchers, energy storage is a small market in general, but it will grow rapidly.
"What we're seeing is that active stock players invest money and like to return the performance of archives and storage systems," said David finimar, a managing director who is engaged in mergers and acquisitions in the renewable energy sector.
"Now we're starting to see lenders really wake up and get excited, and when that happens, you know you have something that goes through digital testing.
"That's what energy storage means --
It eliminates the need to use electricity immediately and provides flexibility when you use electricity from different sources.
Once we break through this obstacle, the consequences will be revolutionary.
Also in terms of energy and environment: 40 years later, there are 3 trillion trees in the world. S.
May lift the ban on oil exports.
What you need to know is that the Arctic sea ice is "far from recovering" and has just reached the fourth --
At the lowest level of RecordFor more, you can register our weekly newsletter here and follow us on Twitter here.