Tag: utility

Please review our corporate presentation to learn more about our services and background information regarding stationary energy storage.

Download: Cellution Company Introduction (English)

Worldwide more than 5% of all Li-Ion batteries are being recycled. This low amount is due to the fact that recycling of Li-Ion batteries as today is not an economical feasible business case. Even though raw material prices raise in the past years (especially Cobalt) but still there is no break even point reached in this process. Additionally the responsibility for the disposal or recycling is shifted from the battery manufacturer to buyers in Europe. This is an important point in the negotiation with a battery manufacturer that should be looked at closer and not be forgotten in a n economical analysis of the whole lifetime of a battery system.

In the future due to new recycling methods more batteries surely will be recycled and hopefully we will reach 100% recycle rate one day. According to an article of energy-storage.news and a Canada-based recycler a 100% recycle rate of Li-Ion batteries is achievable.

At the Intersolar Summit Spain 2019 in Barcelona this week on the 18th of June the Solar community got together and discussed the national plan for energy and environment. This plan includes the target of Spain having 74% renewable electricity supply in 2030 which will include new PV installation of 28GW from 2020 to 2030. This means an installation of 2800MW of Solar in average each year from 2020 to 2030. Compared with the installation in 2018 of roughly 260MW this will be a huge increase for the next 10 years in Spain.

Most Common Business Model – PPA

Together with increased PV installation the opportunities for energy storage will rise. In Spain are great opportunities for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) according to Bruce Douglas, Deputy CEO and COO at SolarPower Europe. Within a PPA most commonly a price for the electricity purchase is fixed over a certain duration. But as presented within the Intersolar Summit there are many different possibilities for PPAs as presented by Nicolas Gourvitch (Founder of Green Giraffe).

Opportunities for Energy Storage – Merchant and Energy Shifting

Merchant

For example, together with PPAs, energy storage can bring benefit to Solar energy providers by storing energy in case the electricity price at EEX (European Energy Exchange AG) is lower than the contracted PPA price. This energy can be traded at the EEX in case the current price index is above the contracted PPA price. This is just one example for an application of a battery system combined with PV.

Energy Shifting

According to Raúl Morales (CEO at Soltec) there will be an overproduction of Solar energy during the midday, which results in an electricity price of zero or even negative values. This scenario will get more and more important with the raise of Solar power and brings huge potential for energy shifting with storage solutions like batteries. This statement was backed up by the Spanish TSO Red Eléctrica (presented by Paula Junco, Tecnico de la Dirección de Operacioines) for the winter months. There is a big potential for energy shifting although in the summer months the solar power will match the electricity demand in the near future.

Wind + Storage in Germany is not an easy business case at the moment to develop. Projects like the one below from EWE only work due to big investment from the Japanese Organization NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization). In case the production of electricity by the wind park is too high for the grid or the prices at the stock are negative, the operator has to turn down the power or even completely shut the whole wind park down. The problem is that the operator gets paid the whole amount he lost due to being prevented to produce electricity. This regulation erases one major benefit a combination with energy storage would offer. Nevertheless cellution is working with wind project developers in Germany on the development of economical feasible business models that combine a broad variety of revenue streams a battery can offer to a wind park. Get in contact with us to discuss opportunities for wind+storage in Europe and we will support you during the evaluation of the business case.

Example of Wind + Storage in Germany

Operation and Maintenance is a critical factor in energy storage systems as availability is key to a successful business model and often required by contractual circumstances with customers or grid operators. Not only is non-availability lowering the revenue of a plant, it can as well causing liquidated damages or even harm business relationships on a ling term.

An battery energy storage system is complex and consists of many parts which in total requires a interdisciplinary team to cover all upcoming problems during O&M. From my time at Vattenfall in the maintenance of conventional power plants I experienced that the maintenance is limited nowadays to reactive maintenance. When a part has a failure, the asset manager reacts and mostly replace the part. In case of battery systems this methodology will not succeed on a long term as availability is a crucial factor. Here we will experience the advantages of predictive maintenance with machine learning and big data analysis to lear more about battery operational behavior and failure prediction.

Read an interesting article from energy-storage.news here

According to the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE), Large-scale solar and wind power projects may already be able to compete in Europe’s wholesale electricity market in 2025. Lower capital costs for large-scale wind and solar projects, and much higher fossil fuel and carbon prices could lead to renewables becoming self-financing by 2025. If these conditions do not materialize, more auctions and tenders may still be needed.

In our opinon at cellution battery technology can help developing more economical models for wind and solar energy in the future and may enable renewables even befor 2025 to compete with conventional energy applications.

Read the full article on PV Magazine

Wind, solar could be self-financing by 2025 under current European electricity market design

Fortum announced that it will install the newest 5MW/6.2MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at Forshuvud hydropower plant. It is one of dozens of hydropower plants Fortum owns and operates running off the Dalälven river’s catchment area through central Sweden. As with the Järvenpää battery, the Forshuvud battery will provide frequency regulation services. Forshuvud is a 44MW plant generating around 209.8GWh of electricity annually and is 88% owned by Fortum.

Read the full article on Nergy Storage News: https://www.energy-storage.news/news/nordic-regions-largest-battery-will-assist-44mw-hydropower-plant-as-it-bala

We support you on tasks such as development of tender documents with detailed technical specification and requirements for your battery storage project or review offers you get from system integrators. It is a difficult task to have proposals comparable and identify, which is the best offer. We can help you with this challenge and support you even further with contarcts for product or performance. As you may know, a Li-Ion battery for example looses 20-30% of its capacity over the lifetime. Thats why it is important to have a warranty that covers this loss of asset to be able to plan your business accordingly.

Cellution can support you on a broad variety of tasks related to stationary utility scale battery storage projects and is looking forward to get in contact with you!