Improvements in lithium ion (Li-ion) battery technology are helping to accelerate the worldwide market for electric vehicles (EVs). In the last few years, automakers have shifted from nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries to Li-ion batteries. This shift represents a major endorsement of Li-ion chemistry and its ability to perform consistently in an automotive environment. According to … Continue reading Worldwide Capacity of Lithium Ion Batteries for Electric Vehicles Will Multiply More than 10-Fold by 2020
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Top 11 Things You Didn
Zero Emission Bay Area (ZEBA) — a group of regional transit agencies in Northern California — operates twelve, zero-emission, fuel cell buses in real-world service throughout the Bay Area’s diverse communities and landscapes. 11. Similar to a battery, a fuel cell is a device that produces electricity through an electrochemical reaction — a chemical reaction … Continue reading Top 11 Things You Didn
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Energy Storage for Ancillary Services
Ancillary services are the auxiliary services required to balance the grid in order to reliably maintain the electricity grid. Such applications include frequency regulation, voltage support, spinning reserve, electric supply reserve capacity, and load following. Over the next 10 years the market for ancillary services, and the energy storage systems that enable them, will be driven … Continue reading Energy Storage for Ancillary Services
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Smart grids and energy storage determine solar energy growth
Solar energy will not become an integral part of the energy supply system in Europe until suppliers, including private residences, have unlimited access to the energy grid. In practice, this would mean that they could supply their self-produced solar energy to the grid at a profitable rate 24/7. This is not yet the case today, … Continue reading Smart grids and energy storage determine solar energy growth
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NREL study values Concentrated Solar Power with thermal energy storage above PV
The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL, Golden, Colorado, US) has released a new report which quantifies the value that concentrating solar power (CSP) with thermal energy storage can add to California’s grid. “Analysis of Concentrating Solar Power with Thermal Energy Storage in a California 33% Renewable Scenario” puts the value of … Continue reading NREL study values Concentrated Solar Power with thermal energy storage above PV
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Smoothing Renewable Wind Energy in Texas
The Notrees Wind Storage Demonstration Project is a 36-megawatt energy storage and power management system, which completed testing and became fully operational in December. It shows how energy storage can moderate the intermittent nature of wind by storing excess energy when the wind is blowing and making it available later to the electric grid to … Continue reading Smoothing Renewable Wind Energy in Texas
Continue readingResearchers develop energy storage system
Canadian researchers have developed a ground-breaking method which may ultimately enable excess energy created by wind turbines and solar panels to be stored for later use. Two researchers at the University of Calgary report in the journal Science that they have invented a relatively inexpensive way of using rust to act as a catalyst for … Continue reading Researchers develop energy storage system
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Altairnano Lithium Titanate Energy Storage System Commissioned at Vestas Wind Farm
Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. (Altairnano) (NASDAQ: ALTI) has commissioned a 1.2 megawatt (MW) ALTI-ESS lithium-titanate battery system at a Danish wind farm supplied by Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Vestas), a global leader in wind power. The demonstration project is one of several initiatives currently using Altairnano’s energy storage technology to advance renewable power integration. Headquartered in … Continue reading Altairnano Lithium Titanate Energy Storage System Commissioned at Vestas Wind Farm
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Parliament gives go-ahead to energy infrastructure package guidelines
The European Parliament yesterday gave its green light to the guidelines for the EU energy infrastructure package, which sets out corridors for Europe-wide energy infrastructure, seeks to speed-up permits and identifies priority projects, including an offshore electricity grid in the North Sea.
Continue readingGalaxy Resources produces 99.9% grade lithium
Galaxy Resources (ASX: GXY) is now producing a lithium carbonate of minimum 99.9% purity, registered by Galaxy as EV Grade, which is used specifically in the manufacture of electrolyte solution for lithium-ion batteries. Commercial production has now been achieved from the company’s wholly-owned Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Plant in China. What is so important though for … Continue reading Galaxy Resources produces 99.9% grade lithium
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Cowessess First Nation’s wind energy project first of its kind
Construction of Cowessess First Nation´s wind farm, includes erection of an 800 kW Enercon E53 wind turbines connected to a lithium ion battery with 740 kWh of electrical storage. Construction of a wind power project – the first of its kind in North America – is underway on Cowessess First Nation land four-kilometres east of … Continue reading Cowessess First Nation’s wind energy project first of its kind
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Where Has All the Ice Gone?
As the earth warms, glaciers and ice sheets are melting and seas are rising. Over the last century, the global average sea level rose by 17 centimeters (7 inches). This century, as waters warm and ice continues to melt, seas are projected to rise nearly 2 meters (6 feet), inundating coastal cities worldwide, such as … Continue reading Where Has All the Ice Gone?
Continue readingEnergy Storage Systems for Ancillary Services
Ancillary services are the services required to maintain safe, reliable, and secure transmission of energy on the grid. Designed to respond to the technical challenges of generating, transmitting and distributing electricity, these services are required to balance the grid regardless of the structure of the electricity market. It can be challenging for a new technology
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Transition to low carbon future takes decades
The transition to a low-carbon and renewable energy future could take decades, and require changes in the electricity industry, a new study says. The report, presented at IHS CERAWEEK 2013, an international conference on energy issues, examined major energy transitions over the past 250 years. It also analyzed the factors that may drive changes in … Continue reading Transition to low carbon future takes decades
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Virtual Power Plants
Pike Research defines a virtual power plant (VPP) as a system that relies upon software systems to remotely and automatically dispatch and optimize generation, demand-side, or storage resources (including plug-in electric vehicles and bi-directional inverters) in a single, secure web-connected system. VPPs can provide extraordinary value and services to transmission and distribution (T&D) grid infrastructure, … Continue reading Virtual Power Plants
Continue readingFossil Fuel Subsidies Topped $620 Billion in 2011
The energy game is rigged in favor of fossil fuels because we omit the environmental and health costs of burning coal, oil, and natural gas from their prices. Subsidies manipulate the game even further. According to conservative estimates from the Global Subsidies Initiative and the International Energy Agency (IEA), governments around the world spent more … Continue reading Fossil Fuel Subsidies Topped $620 Billion in 2011
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LED-Based Street Lighting Market to Surpass $2 Billion by 2020
Dramatically falling costs and improvements in efficiency are driving increased sales of light emitting diode (LED) lamps for street lighting. Costs have fallen as much as 50 percent over the past two years, and are expected to continue falling. According to a new report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant
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Clever Battery Completes Stretchable Electronics Package
Northwestern University’s Yonggang Huang and the University of Illinois’ John A. Rogers are the first to demonstrate a stretchable lithium-ion battery — a flexible device capable of powering their innovative stretchable electronics. No longer needing to be connected by a cord to an electrical outlet, the stretchable electronic devices now could be used anywhere, including … Continue reading Clever Battery Completes Stretchable Electronics Package
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Commercial Building Energy Storage Systems Will Expand More Than Five-Fold by 2022
The market for energy storage in commercial buildings includes one mature segment – energy storage systems for uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems – as well as two relatively nascent segments: electrical energy storage (EES) systems and thermal energy storage (TES) systems. In certain cities and regions where local utilities and governments allow building owners to … Continue reading Commercial Building Energy Storage Systems Will Expand More Than Five-Fold by 2022
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Nuclear power revives… in Iran
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced Saturday that the Islamic republic plans to construct 16 nuclear power plants in different parts of the country, Press TV reported. “Following months of efforts, 16 new sites for nuclear power plants have been designated in coastal areas of the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Sea … Continue reading Nuclear power revives… in Iran
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