Grid Storage News

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

OK, I'm going to start a thread for this because ...

Electric Power Monthly - December 2019 for October 2019.

Batteries

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	1,003.0	3.3	1,006.3	0.33%
YTD	852.1	154.2	1,006.3	18.10%
Rolling	768.9	237.4	1,006.3	30.88%
Plan +12mo	93.5	50.0	140.2	.

Reported utility-scale battery capacity is creeping up and passed 1GW last month. 1GW deserves recognition.
An additional 50MW has been reported for the next 12 months, bringing the total to 140.2MW.

Obviously this ignores the retail or homebrew small-scale batteries that are being deployed.

For comparison of how small scale this is currently:

Hydroelectric Pumped Storage:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	22,909.2	0.0	22,909.2	0.00%
YTD	22,830.2	79.0	22,909.2	0.35%
Rolling	22,830.2	79.0	22,909.2	0.35%
Plan +12mo	191.6	0.0	191.6	.

Note that pumped storage also stores a lot more energy.

 

[nwdiver]

OK, I'm going to start a thread for this because ...

Electric Power Monthly - December 2019 for October 2019.

Batteries

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	1,003.0	3.3	1,006.3	0.33%
YTD	852.1	154.2	1,006.3	18.10%
Rolling	768.9	237.4	1,006.3	30.88%
Plan +12mo	93.5	50.0	140.2	.

Reported utility-scale battery capacity is creeping up and passed 1GW last month. 1GW deserves recognition.
An additional 50MW has been reported for the next 12 months, bringing the total to 140.2MW.

Obviously this ignores the retail or homebrew small-scale batteries that are being deployed.

For comparison of how small scale this is currently:

Hydroelectric Pumped Storage:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	22,909.2	0.0	22,909.2	0.00%
YTD	22,830.2	79.0	22,909.2	0.35%
Rolling	22,830.2	79.0	22,909.2	0.35%
Plan +12mo	191.6	0.0	191.6	.

Note that pumped storage also stores a lot more energy.

Do you mean MWh? Not trying to be pedantic... I saw a storage report recently that actually WAS MW...

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Do you mean MWh? Not trying to be pedantic... I saw a storage report recently that actually WAS MW...

This is capacity, as reported in the Summer Capacity section of the EIA's Electric Power Monthly.

Since, unlike pumped storage, batteries are not (yet) reported in the generation statistics (whereas pumped hydro is reported as negative generation), the best we could probably do would be to back-calculate from the "Usage Factors for Utility Scale Storage".

For usage factors and capacity they only include whole-month values. It seems that the batteries that are deployed aren't being used as much.

Batteries:

Usage Factor (MW):

Value	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month Capacity	748.9	254.1	1,003.0	33.93%
Month Factor	5.0%	-1.6%	3.4%	-32.00%
Rolling 12mo Factor	5.5%	-1.1%	4.3%	-20.95%

Pumped Storage:

Usage Factor (MW):

Value	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month Capacity	22,830.2	79.0	22,909.2	0.35%
Month Factor	9.4%	-1.2%	8.2%	-12.77%
Rolling 12mo Factor	10.9%	-0.5%	10.4%	-4.43%

For Capacity Factors, the technical note says that it's:
sum(generation) / sum(capacity x time)
over generators and time periods.

For October 2019 batteries, assuming Usage Factor is the storage equivalent, and reported as negative generation as per Pumped Storage:

-1,003.0 MW x 31d x 24 h/d x 3.4%
= -25371.888MWh
= -25.4GWh

Pumped Storage was -373GWh in October 2019.

 

[SageBrush]

I routinely come across this problem of watt Vs watt*hour reporting of battery, and I don't mean simple errors in units.
I was at my local electric utility's presentation about energy storage a few weeks ago and they used power units. I suppose it makes sense for them since the primary use is load shaving and FACS.

It is typical (but by no means a given) that 4 hours of the power rating = the capacity.

 

[miimura]

I routinely come across this problem of watt Vs watt*hour reporting of battery, and I don't mean simple errors in units.
I was at my local electric utility's presentation about energy storage a few weeks ago and they used power units. I suppose it makes sense for them since the primary use is load shaving and FACS.

It is typical (but by no means a given) that 4 hours of the power rating = the capacity.

Tesla sells 2 hour and 4 hour systems for commercial batteries.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Electric Power Monthly - January 2020 for November 2019.

Batteries added a whopping 6.3MW of capacity.
Planned 12 month capacity increased 5.8MW to 139.7MW.

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	1,006.3	6.3	1,012.6	0.63%
YTD	852.1	160.5	1,012.6	18.84%
Rolling	770.7	241.9	1,012.6	31.39%
Plan +12mo	140.2	5.8	139.7	.

Usage Factor (MW):

Value	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month Capacity	768.9	238.7	1,007.6	31.04%
Month Factor	5.3%	-1.6%	3.7%	-30.19%
Rolling 12mo Factor	5.3%	-1.2%	4.2%	-21.60%

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Electric Power Monthly - March 2020 for January 2020.

Grid batteries added 8.1MW of capacity.
Planned 12 month additional capacity increased 149.8MW to 528.6MW.

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	1,015.2	8.1	1,023.3	0.80%
YTD	1,015.2	8.1	1,023.3	0.80%
Rolling	873.6	149.7	1,023.3	17.14%
Plan +12mo	386.9	149.8	528.6	.

 

[mspohr]

Lithium-ion storage is here to stay with no ‘post Li-ion’ era in sight

A German-Israeli research group has gathered to discuss which storage technologies may outperform lithium-ion batteries in the future. They concluded that there is no such a thing as a “post Li‐ion” era in sight. They recommended a “side‐by‐side” approach for multiple technologies in different applications, as well as the hybridization of technologies.

 

[RubberToe]

World's largest battery coming online in California for CAISO:

Largest US battery resource connects to CAISO grid, signaling next phase in California's storage growth

 

[iPlug]

Only the tip of the iceberg. Biden has outlined and aggressive plan to target an emissions-free power sector by 2035. That's gonna mean orders of magnitude more batteries coming on line soon among many awesome developments.

Biden Announces $2 Trillion Climate Plan

 

[21miDay]

Is there an estimate from EPRI or another organization of how much storage would be needed for the grid as it is converted to renewables? The amount of generation that is currently gas, coal and nuclear is quite high. EIA has graphs that show the generation by energy sources. United States - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) - Real-time Operating Grid Scroll down to find the one that I am referring to.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Is there an estimate from EPRI or another organization of how much storage would be needed for the grid as it is converted to renewables? The amount of generation that is currently gas, coal and nuclear is quite high. EIA has graphs that show the generation by energy sources. United States - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) - Real-time Operating Grid Scroll down to find the one that I am referring to.

If you use 750,000MW generation as peak and assumed the pessimistic scenario that storage would have to provide all the power during the peak (which it wouldn't), and that batteries were 0.25C, then you'd need 3,000,000MWh (3TWh) of batteries to be able to meet all of that peak demand.

That might seem like a big number, but that's the equivalent of 60,000,000 50kWh batteries.

The USA has about 253 million light vehicles. So, if we can heavily electrify transportation, meeting peak demand with battery storage would be an easy task in comparison.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Drax renewable energy storage scheme approved

The proposed site would store energy for times of high demand, the company behind the scheme says.

www.bbc.com

Drax

Click here to see the latest on our battery storage proposal at Drax, Selby.

www.aurapower.com

100MWh and 100MW storage system at the Drax power station. Drax is a 3.9GW power plant so there's potential to add plenty more battery capacity in the area.

 

[iPlug]

Battery systems on the U.S. power grid are increasingly used to respond to price​

Highlights from the article:

...the capacity of utility-scale battery storage more than tripled in the United States during 2021, from 1.4 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2020 to 4.6 GW​

​

...During 2021, 59% of the 4.6 GW of utility-scale U.S. battery capacity was used for price arbitrage, up from 17% in 2019. In certain markets, price arbitrage is more common than in others. For example, more than 80% of the battery capacity added in 2021 in the California Independent System Operator service territory was used for price arbitrage. ​

​

...more than 93% of the battery capacity that came online in 2021 was co-located with solar power plants​

​

Battery systems on the U.S. power grid are increasingly used to respond to price