Energy Storage

  • A subsidiary to the parent company of DPL Inc. is making an approximately $20 million investment in the Dayton area, building a battery array at a local generating station to stabilize power service to the region and beyond.
  • Jun 18, 2013 | Kristopher Settle
    One of the biggest concerns with many forms of renewable energy is their inability to store active energy during times when the sun isn't out, or when the wind isn't blowing.  With these energies gaining popularity and growing at an impressive rate, it seems as though establishing an efficient form of energy storage is a foregone conclusion for the future.
  • A consortium of leading energy companies is to develop safe, lightweight and robust solar energy storage systems for the military around the world and will also be adapted for the commercial and residential market.
  • May 22, 2013 | Eric Hahn P.E.
    In February of this year the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center - Coastal Hydraulics Lab (ERDC-CHL) reported that it had deployed the largest Wave Energy Converter (WEC) in the US at their Field Research Facility in Duck, NC. According to their posting, their facility hosted a wave surge actuated device (a system in the "onshore systems" category of pendulor devices, as described by the Department of Energy). The Navy has also tested a wave energy device (more in the general DOE category of "offshore systems") at Marine Corps Base Kaneohe (MCBH). According to a Navy Times posting of last year, the intent is to provide wave produced power to Marine Corps Base Kaneohe, HI by 2014.
  • May 20, 2013 | Kathleen Wolf Davis

    Brad Roberts, executive director of the Electricity Storage Association, gives his opinion on the growing importance of storage in the grid equation as the Association meets in California this week for its annual conference.

  • Mar 26, 2013 | Kathleen Wolf Davis

    Dan Sowder, a senior project manager with Duke Energy, gives us an inside look at the utility's award-winning Rankin substation and its interesting utility-scale battery technology.

  • Mar 01, 2013 | Davis Swan
    On January 23, 2013 Duke Energy announced that it had completed the Notrees Battery Storage project in Texas which now represents the largest capacity battery facility in North America. Providing backup power for the Notrees Windpower project, this facility is able to produce 36 MW of power on demand whether or not the wind is blowing.
  • ScottMadden, Inc., one of North America's leading energy consulting firms, recently released The Energy Industry Update. This semi-annual publication features ScottMadden's view of significant events and emerging trends in the industry.
  • ScottMadden, Inc., one of North America's leading energy consulting firms, is pleased to join forces with Energy Central to present an interactive webinar, "The State of the Energy Industry," on Friday, March 8, 2013, from 12:00-1:00 PM EST. To learn more about the webinar or to register, please click here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/767445185
  • Feb 06, 2013 | Harry Valentine
    The St Lawrence River has for decades served the needs of the energy and transportation sectors. Ships have carried towers and turbine blades for the wind energy sector, while a new hydroelectric installation is being completed on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. The waterway is home to several hydroelectric power installations and it serves as the heat sink for several coal-fired and nuclear-thermal power stations as well as 3-ethanol plants.
  • Jan 29, 2013 | Bill Ash

    Transmission and distribution systems were not historically engineered to accommodate energy storage, but a surge in rollout of the technology appears inevitable over the next decades. To help enable this aspect of the transition from the legacy to the next-generation electricity grid, standards development around energy storage has intensified.

  • General Motors and ABB today showed the next stage in battery reuse, the repackaging of five used Chevrolet Volt batteries into a modular unit capable of providing two hours of electricity needed by three to five average American homes.
  • Oct 25, 2012 | Harry Valentine
    While there is much interest in developing various forms of energy storage at the present day, the popular contemporary technologies involve high capital cost. Many researchers have actively been seeking alternative mobile and stationary technologies that involve lower capital costs. Part of this research has revolved around increasing the energy storage capacity of classical thermal energy storage technologies.

  • Det Norske Veritas (DNV) is pleased to announce that its project forexploring the outer limits of battery operations has been selected by the US Department of Energy to receive funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E).
  • SCE and Duke Energy discuss what they’re learning
  • Southern California Edison lauds recent, proposed decision

    Jul 30, 2012 | Phil Carson

    Comments from Southern California Edison and the Clean Energy Storage Alliance on California regulators' "proposed decision" on how to evaluate storage's applications on the grid, how to value them and how to improve the regulatory framework were both positive.

  • Needed: applications, alternatives, regulations, markets

    Jul 25, 2012 | Phil Carson

    California regulators' struggle to respond to legislation mandating energy storage has led them to adopt a framework for analysis that will address applications, alternatives, cost effectiveness and the regulatory and market frameworks that must include storage if it is found to have useful, cost-effective applications. It ain't easy and it ain't simple.

  • Jul 10, 2012 | Harry Valentine
    A large segment of the population that lives in and around large metropolitan areas such as New York City depends on easy access fast and reliable mass transit services. As is the case with other cities, a large percentage of the transit network uses electric power

  • Leading utilities share thinking on their projects

    Jul 08, 2012 | Phil Carson

    Energy storage works, but the bigger question is whether there's a business case for it. Southern California Edison and Duke Energy both are implementing demo projects to test applications and value propositions to determine whether storage has an attractive cost-benefit ration versus alternatives. Here's a glimpse, ahead of our webcast this Wednesday.

  • E-Energy pilot projects a research priority

    E-Energy in Germany
    Jul 05, 2012 | Kate Rowland

    In the course of basic energy reform, Germany is vastly changing the structure of its supply system in the coming decades. A recent report details the interim results of Germany's E-Energy pilot projects, moving toward what it is referring to as the Internet of Energy. We review the highlights.