RE+ Tech Supp to POWER September 2023 - 16

EMPOWERING CLEAN ENERGY
ENERGY STORAGE
Tennessee, are expected to qualify for
incentives under the IRA. The company
also in late December announced the
opening of a Technology and Testing
Center in Timnath, Colorado, near Fort
Collins, as part of its expansion.
" The customer response to our re3.
Conceptual rendering of a battery energy storage project. Texas-based Microvast is expanding its domestic
manufacturing of solar power and storage equipment, including its battery cells and energy storage
container solution. Courtesy: Business Wire
facility, which Blake Nixon, president of
National Grid Renewables, said is the
group's " first utility-scale energy storage
project, as well as our largest solar
energy project to date. "
The Home Depot and NRG Energy
have each executed individual 100-MW
solar PPAs with the Noble project, and
The Hershey Company has contracted
on a 50-MW solar PPA. The project utilizes
Fluence Energy's sixth-generation
Gridstack product for energy storage.
Steury noted the importance of PPAs
to project deployments. " Total commercial
solar installations are expected to
double again over the next three years
with nearly 27 GW of off-site projects
with corporate off-takers scheduled
to come online by 2025. We've already
seen companies across every industry
establishing ESG [environmental,
social, and governance], and net-zero
goals, and showing clear progress with
solar-plus-storage pilots. Now, with
[the] IRA unlocking critical incentives
and removing some of the historical
risks, we'll see broader adoption of solar-plus-storage
assets beyond the bigger
brands and early adopters. "
" With the extension of tax credits for
solar, we expect to see more deployments
in the distributed space, " said
Toomey. " As market rates dictate, solar
will create a mini 'duck curve' for the
individual system owner, adding justification
to add storage to mitigate the
demand charges that are now a shorter,
more predictable period in the day. "
Toomey told POWER, " The largest
savings by co-locating storage with a
solar farm comes in the form of shared
development and equipment costs. A
standalone storage project would need
to go through separate permitting, interconnection
filings, and in many cases
a costly transformer. By incorporating
with solar, the cost of storage is reduced
to land, which is largely de minimis
compared to the land requirements
of solar, and the equipment costs up to
and including medium voltage. "
Policy Supports U.S.
Manufacturing, Installations
Growth in solar-plus-storage also is
being driven by incentives in the IRA,
which support U.S. manufacturing of
solar and storage equipment, along
with new projects.
" The proliferation of new solar-plus
projects in the interconnection queues
due to favorable economics-solar-plus-storage
is a cost-effective
solution based on the cost of materials-and
the IRA act is encouraging new
solar projects through the next two or
three decades, " said Kevin Kohlstedt,
director of Business Development at
Energy Shares, a group that provides investors
direct access to U.S. renewable
energy development projects. " Solar
panel manufacturing and battery manufacturing
is coming back to the U.S.
Thanks to the IRA, the production tax
credits plus the huge demand from U.S.
projects is driving U.S. manufacturing. "
Microvast, a Texas-headquartered
group with operations in the UK, Germany,
and China, along with the U.S., in
December said it would supply its BESS
ME-4300 container solution (Figure 3) for
a 1.2-GWh battery energy storage project
co-located with a solar installation.
The exact location was not disclosed.
The company said its battery cells manufactured
at its factory in Clarksville,
16 Supplement to POWER & RE+ 2023
cently launched ME-4300 solution has
been extremely promising and we are
excited to be selected as a key supplier
for one of the largest energy storage
projects in the United States, " said Zach
Ward, president of Microvast Energy.
" This project will help position Microvast
as a leader in the utility-scale energy
storage market while reducing carbon
emissions and assisting the local utility
in meeting its growing electricity needs. "
DSD Renewables (DSD) and Black
Bear Energy late last year announced
they had begun installation of onsite
rooftop solar systems, totaling 554 kW,
at two Signature Center office buildings
in Pleasanton, California. The systems
will include energy storage.
" It has been great to work with trusted
partners and see the teams come
together on the first two rooftop solar
systems that exemplify a commitment
towards a cleaner future, " said Jason
Chiang, senior director of Commercial
Origination at DSD. " With long-term savings
in mind, the solar systems paired
with battery storage will help stabilize
energy costs over the next 20 years. "
The projects will be built and owned
by DSD Renewables, and facilitated by
Black Bear Energy. They are the first in
a series of four office campuses that
will include rooftop solar, carport solar,
and energy storage. The projects when
complete will total about 3 MW of solar
and 3.8 MWh of battery storage.
Maxine Ghavi, senior vice president,
Head of Grid Edge Solutions for Hitachi
Energy, said power structures based on
demand charges and time-of-use rates
will help drive the solar-plus-storage
market. Ghavi in a recent POWER Interview
noted, " Solar-plus-storage has
been recognized as one of the key solutions
towards ensuring more affordable,
secure, and sustainable energy. "
-Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).

https://twitter.com/powermagazine

RE+ Tech Supp to POWER September 2023

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