Energy Management Systems

Vehicle-to-grid functions could soon become increasingly important. While policymakers discuss the necessary regulations in other nations, the Netherlands government is motoring ahead with the technology.

Two solar farms with 80 MW of generation capacity tendered in 2017 are being built and will be commissioned this year but another two, allocated at the same time, are no nearer construction. Kenya, however, has been touted as the site of Africa’s first wind-solar-storage hybrid project.

The managing director of London-based energy infrastructure company Statera has told pv magazine a clean energy grid in the U.K. will require as much flexible gas plant capacity as battery storage.

The Chinese company is ramping up R&D efforts to try and fast-track commercialization of the more productive – and more expensive – battery tech. The news was announced as part of an uninspiring first-half update thanks to falling lithium salt prices.

A tribute to Guy Sella has hailed ‘a brilliant man’ and ‘a revolutionary trailblazer’ who was ‘vibrant and energetic’ yet ‘down-to-earth and approachable’.

The Emirati utility and the Chinese communications giant and inverter maker have discussed how they can work together to roll out solar and storage in Dubai as well as collaborating on cyber security and the use of AI to analyze cyber threats.

An energy conference in West Bengal heard of a proposed 800 MW solar project in the state on top of a 900 MW scheme being carried out with Japan. But the chairman of power giant NTPC said artificial intelligence and digitization should be used to extend coal burning for decades.

The power company has launched three procurement auctions for a total of 2.9 GW of power generation capacity. Renewable energy companies are among the bidders to have expressed interest in providing electricity.

A new report from analysts at Wood Mackenzie forecasts 6.6 GWh of residential energy storage to be installed across Europe by 2024. The economics of the technology are at a tipping point, increasingly reaching grid parity in European markets. With rising electricity demand and falling battery system costs, the trend will further spread across the continent and fuel an uptick in demand.

Energy analysts from the United Kingdom have found that many of the world’s largest car manufacturers that are launching EVs, or looking to launch EVs, are engaged in an “unprecedented” level of collaboration in order to share the costs and risks inherent in EV development. Cornwall Insight found that the collaboration could see a major boom in supply from the early 2020s.