Image: Tucson Electric Power.
May 20, 2021: Mobile energy storage and power-as-a-service startup Moxion wants to replace generators in the construction industry
Investors, including Energy Impact Partners, contributed to a $ 10 million Series A financing round completed by Moxion Power, a US manufacturer of mobile energy storage systems.
Targeting industries such as construction that rely on portable outdoor power systems, Moxion expects its equipment, which customers can rent, will help replace fossil fuel generators.
Generators that use diesel and other fossil fuels not only make a negative contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, but also create air and noise pollution that harms not only surrounding communities but also their dependent workers.
Moxion Power's business model, “Power-as-a-Service”, is intended to enable the company to rent everything up to large fleets of electrical devices and energy storage devices. The company has launched pilot rental programs with California-based general contractors.
May 19, 2021: The location search for the 12 GWh US lithium-ion battery factory of KORE Power is narrowed down
KORE Power has narrowed its search for a new production facility for 12 GWh lithium-ion batteries to three US states.
The Idaho-based manufacturing and systems integration start-up is currently building products in factories in China, but has announced that a million-square-foot factory in the US will enable the creation of a “reliable and independent supply chain” within the country.
The factory will be located in Arizona, Florida or Texas. The executives at KORE Power have examined the three locations and will make a final decision based on numerous factors including monetary analysis and assessment of the location from state, regional and specific location perspectives.
The company currently has 2 GWh production facilities in China, which will be ramped up to 6 GWh. The Mark 1 battery module and units have completed UL9540A tests for thermal runaway propagation, the company said in March.
“We are delivering critical capacity in a deprived market as we help the US and global communities become greener. Because we use proprietary software in our battery management systems, safeguard our intellectual property rights in battery cells, and control our minerals and materials process, we can serve customers quickly and ourselves in an environment where reportedly many others are being sold adapt to changing needs by 2022, ”said Lindsay Gorrill, CEO of KORE Power.
Mid-May 2021: Ørsted switches on its first US solar plus storage hybrid on a large scale
The Danish utility giant Ørsted announced the completion of its first Solar Plus storage system on a utility scale in the USA earlier this month.
The Permian Energy Center in Andrews County, Texas, consists of a 420 MWac solar PV system and 40 MWac battery storage. The project was developed with around 1.3 million PV modules from the major Chinese PV manufacturers Jinko Solar and JA Solar, who employ around 300 people during the construction phase.
It's not the only project Ørsted is working on in Andrews County. Last month, the company signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the pharmaceutical company MSD for a 200 MW solar park in the region.
The Danish developer laid the foundation stone for the solar storage hybrid project at the end of 2019 and welcomed Mads Nipper as the new managing director at the beginning of this year.
Mid-May 2021: Tucson Electric Power switches on the Solar-Plus storage system, as 1,400 MW storage is expected in its grids by 2035
The Arizona utility company Tucson Electric Power (TEP) switched on its Solar Plus storage project at the Wilmot Energy Center at the end of April.
TEP combines 100 MW solar with a tracking system with 30 MW battery storage, making it the largest system of its kind in the utility's power grid to date. The battery system is charged by the 314,000 on-site PV modules during peak solar production hours, and energy is fed into the grid in the afternoon when customer demand is for power peaks.
Christopher Lynn, TEP supervisor for automation, measurement and production technology, said that the energy storage system can not only integrate variable generation from the solar array, but can also carry out several other grid-supporting applications such as voltage support.
The utility said battery storage will play an “important role” in its plan to increase the share of solar and wind in the generation mix to 70% and reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2035. He expected the energy storage resources in his network to increase from 50 MW by then to 1,400 MW in his latest Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) document. In addition to the Wilmot Energy Center, TEP currently has two 10 MW battery systems that offer frequency control and other network balancing services.
The first story first appeared on PV Tech, written by Edith Hancock.