Solar Energy Storage and Battery News

Scientists at the U.K.’s Faraday Institution have been able to observe degradation mechanisms at the lithium metal anode in a solid state battery, and made several discoveries which could improve the performance and design of future solid-state lithium-ion batteries.

ENGIE Storage will supply and operate a 19 MW / 38 MWh portfolio of six energy storage sites that will contribute to the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target Program and be active in ISO-New England wholesale markets.

“Everybody’s been talking about this, but this is it,” Engie Storage CEO Christopher Tilley tells GTM.

The Palo Alto company says it has improved its large scale battery offering with the new product in the wake of the success of its Powerpack-driven big battery in Australia. The Megapack can be deployed at a 250 MW/1 GWh clean energy plant four times faster than a fossil fuel alternative, claimed the business in a blogpost.

When the minister of environment and energy announced a ceiling tariff of €45/MWh, analysts speculated the price would be too low as it undercut average bidding prices in the region. Preliminary, unconfirmed results of the exercise show, however, companies are happy to bid for two-cent solar in Europe.

2019 is supposed to be “the year of the solar roof,” but Tesla’s solar business continues to wither.

Renewable sources of energy such as wind or photovoltaic are intermittent. The production peaks do not necessarily follow the demand peaks. Storing green energy is therefore essential to moving away from fossil fuels. The energy produced by photovoltaic cells is stored during the day and by wind-power when the wind blows to be used later on when needed.

Batteries power our lives: we rely on them to keep our cell phones and laptops buzzing and our hybrid and electric cars on the road. But ever-increasing adoption of the most commonly used lithium-ion batteries may actually lead to increased cost and potential shortages of lithium - which is why sodium-ion batteries are being researched intensely as a possible replacement. They perform well, and sodium, an alkali metal closely related to lithium, is cheap and abundant.

A low-cost, high-performance battery chemistry developed by University of Colorado Boulder researchers could one day lead to scalable grid-level storage for wind and solar energy that could help electrical utilities reduce their dependency on fossil fuels.

Energy storage system manufacturer Dynapower has announced its involvement with a new energy storage financing program. Partnering with Lease Corporation of America, Dynapower will offer financing to system integrators and energy storage system buyers.

Corporations are buying up batteries and investing in their companies like it’s going out of style.

2019 is supposed to be “the year of the solar roof,” but Tesla’s solar business continues to wither.

Elon Musk’s EV and energy company is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the rooftop solar market, but battery sales are booming.

Recent battery plant blazes and a hydrogen station blast have again raised questions about the safety of energy storage technologies.

After my recent article about solar electric vehicles (EVs), I came across something I didn’t expect to see so fast. Since the prices of both used EVs and solar panels have fallen so much, the price is now where DIY tinkerers are willing to break out their Dremel tools and make a go of it themselves.