Sadly, it has now hit mainstream media headlines – for the fallacious causes – on account of native authorities discovering shortcomings within the challenge’s security administration planning.
First lined by our colleagues at Photo voltaic Energy Portal again in 2017, as introduced by co-developers Hive Vitality and Wirsol, it was thought-about “large” and “pioneering”, with a photo voltaic PV technology capability in extra of 350MW.
It could nonetheless be among the many UK’s largest photo voltaic PV crops, however since then, the Hive-Wirsol SPV has added 150MW/700MWh of battery storage to its design.
Whereas within the intervening years that battery storage system sizing has develop into much less eye-catching within the context of among the different very large tasks world wide, it stays a landmark challenge when it comes to what it might imply for UK clear power infrastructure growth.
Nevertheless, on the finish of February, native residents held a protest over the perceived fireplace and explosion threat of Cleve Hill’s lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.
A prolonged debate ensued, and a committee of the native council of Swale Borough within the county of Kent, the place the challenge might be sited, refused its battery security administration plan.
Cleve Hill had already been granted planning permission all the way in which again in 2020, which went by means of regardless of an earlier try by Swale Borough Council to overturn the choice. Building on the solar energy plant started in April final 12 months, and investor Quinbrook has come on board.
The newest buffer it has hit is maybe a brief impediment slightly than a complete halt to proceedings, however it nonetheless doesn’t give vastly encouraging indicators that neighborhood engagement and native authority acceptance of lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery power storage system (BESS) tasks are going easily.
We’ll be wanting on the subject of fireside security and stakeholder engagement on fireplace security in some depth for an ESN Premium article subsequent week. In it, we communicate to system integrator and BESS producers Trina Storage and Wartsila, in addition to battery analytics firm ACCURE about what the business is doing from a know-how standpoint, in addition to what’s being achieved when it comes to educating native authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) and by extension, native communities.
After the 2017 fireplace and explosion on the McMicken BESS in Shock, Arizona, US, which many thought-about a watershed second, placing collectively security response plans and speaking them with first responders and neighborhood members has develop into an business greatest observe.
Whereas we don’t know precisely how the Cleve Hill plan was assessed, the story does indicate that some degree of standardisation in response plans, in addition to necessary facets that will put native planners’ minds at relaxation, could be fascinating.
We’ve already seen that occur in California final 12 months, and we are able to doubtless anticipate it to be the case in New York quickly too.
There’ll at all times be challenges related to gaining acceptance of recent power applied sciences, however in the end, the business must get forward of this problem and present management earlier than it turns into an much more thorny one.
This week on ESN Premium
Market reacts to falling BESS costs
We heard from system integrator, developer and EPC delegates on the Vitality Storage Summit EU in London concerning the implications of falling BESS costs.
As Vitality-Storage.information reported final month, world costs for battery power storage techniques (BESS) have been on a downward development since early 2023, having shot up in 2022.
Clear Vitality Associates (CEA) took a deep dive into BESS pricing and the dynamics underlying the latest falls in the newest version of Photo voltaic Media’s quarterly journal PV Tech Energy, which in fact, you possibly can entry in full as a part of your subscription to ESN Premium.
Powin growing extra energy-dense, higher-power BESS product to compete with China
System integrator Powin is engaged on a brand new grid-scale BESS product to compete with more and more aggressive merchandise from China, senior VP Danny Lu instructed us.
In an in-person interview, Lu additionally mentioned different subjects, together with the Waratah Tremendous Battery challenge in Australia, fireplace security and manufacturing technique.
Lu stated the brand new Powin Vitality battery power storage system (BESS) product could be a better energy and better power density various to its present Centipede modular grid-scale platform in a response to a query about competing with China’s present and rising world BESS suppliers.
Extremely technical topic of battery analytics is ‘now one thing for the CFO to consider’
Kai-Philipp Kairies, CEO of analytics agency ACCURE, discusses among the areas through which battery analytics can have probably the most influence on battery power storage system (BESS) challenge success.
Kairies says that whereas analytics might beforehand have been thought-about the area of the extra technical members of a battery storage challenge workforce, their influence on the underside line means it’s more and more “a subject for the CFO”.
Final 12 months, Kairies contributed the article: ‘Utilizing battery analytics to assist BESS commissioning: A technical deep dive,’ which ran in Vol.35 of our journal PV Tech Energy, alongside the companion piece, ‘Cloud-based analytics for de-risking BESS deployment and operation ‘from Dr Stephan Rohr, Sebastian Becker and Dr Matthias Simolka at TWAICE.
On this article, we take a extra casual have a look at the position of analytics at totally different levels of the BESS growth and life cycles.
Gigafactory agency Morrow Batteries targets lower-lead time ESS market with first-phase manufacturing
Andreas Maier, COO of one of many few power storage-focused lithium-ion gigafactory corporations in Europe, Morrow Batteries, talked to Vitality-Storage.information concerning the agency’s go-to-market technique and what the longer term holds for Europe’s gigafactory house.
The corporate goes to start operations at its first lithium-ion gigafactory in Arendal, Norway, this 12 months, with an preliminary annual manufacturing capability of 1GWh with three later phases geared toward rising that to 43GWh by 2028 (all at one web site).
Like its fellow Norwegian-founded peer Freyr, Morrow is – at the very least with its first section – primarily promoting into the power storage system (ESS) market. It’s promoting lithium iron phosphate (LFP cells) to system integrators working within the industrial and industrial (C&I) and residential software segments.
Eos, ESS Inc and Vitality Vault slim losses and decrease prices on lengthy ‘path to profitability’
Eos Vitality Enterprises, ESS Inc and Vitality Vault have elevated their revenues and narrowed losses, in keeping with monetary outcomes from the three ‘non-lithium’ power storage corporations.
The trio, which all listed their inventory publicly following mergers with particular goal acquisition corporations (SPACs) through the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, have reported their newest quarterly and full-year 2023 outcomes prior to now couple of weeks.
As Vitality-Storage.information lined Eos, ESS Inc and Vitality Vault’s financials collectively for Q3 2023, we proceed to take action right here.