By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, 30 March 2017 A massive solar and battery farm is being built in South Australia’s Riverland region. If everything goes to plan, the plant will be running by the end of 2017 and will be the largest such system in the world, Brisbane-based renewable energy developer and investor Lyon Group announced. The Riverland plant consists of …
Energy storage: America’s industry to lose
By David Ferris, originally published in E&E News/Energywire, 27 Mar 2017 Julie Blunden is a former solar executive who now focuses her analytical ability on energy storage. When she sits down with an iced tea to run the numbers, they fill her with a sense of urgency. She sees a market that is strapping on its boots for a steep …
How EVs and storage can help shave demand and reduce costs. Also solar+storage at 6.3 cents per kWh in Chile
This article was written by Nick Stumo-Langer, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Communications Manager. He runs all of ILSR’s social media channels and previously was an Energy Democracy initiative Research Associate. Originally published at ilsr.org. Storage Already in Practice In Minster, Ohio, a solar plus energy storage system significantly reduces energy costs for the city’s municipal electric utility in a number of …
Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project, first solar farm on tribal land, is now online
Originally published on Solar Love and in the Santa Fe New Mexican, 22 March 2017 On March 16th, the first solar farm on tribal land in the US was activated. The 250 megawatt Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project, located on the 112 square mile Moapa River Indian Reservation about 30 miles north of Las Vegas, contains more than 3.2 million solar panels covering …
Small diesel losing its grip? Nigeria debates $30 million for off-grid solar power
March 8th, 2017 by Tina Casey on Clean Technica The news buzzing around the Intertubes this week shows just how far the solar energy field has come in a few short years. In the latest development, the Nigerian government is considering a $30 million allocation for off-grid solar projects. According to a report in Bloomberg solar panels are an “economic option” …
Pumped Hydro Storage Could Secure 100% Renewable Electricity For Australia
By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, 28 Feb 2017 A new report has found that pumped hydro storage could help secure a 100% renewable electricity future for the Australian electricity grid. A new study published this week by the Australian National University (ANU) claims that pumped hydro storage could be used to help build a secure and cheap Australian electricity grid …
Australian consortium launches world-first digital energy marketplace for rooftop solar
Really good news, initially published in The Guardian, 22 Feb 2017. Pilot program will allow homeowners to tap into a network of ‘virtual’ power stations made up of smart grids of rooftop solar and batteries. Australian homeowners with solar panels and batteries could soon trade their electricity in a digital marketplace developed by a consortium of electricity providers, energy …
New battery tech (sea water, rhubarb, water storage, more) opens new avenues
Rhubarb battery from Harvard By Tina Casey, Originally published on Clean Technica 13 Feb 2017 A research team from Harvard University’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has come up with a new, low cost “mega” scale energy storage system that could function effectively for ten or more years with minimal need for maintenance and repair. In commercial …
Energy storage set to increase by 40x in developing countries in the next 8 or 9 years
Over the next eight to nine years, energy storage capacity in developing countries is expected to skyrocket from 2 gigawatts (GW) today to more than 80GW, according to a new report by the World Bank Group. The report, “Energy Storage Trends and Opportunities in Emerging Markets,” indicates the annual growth in energy storage capacity will exceed 40% each year over …
There’s a revolution happening in electricity. Utilities need to keep up
By David Roberts@drvoxdavid@vox.com 19 Jan 2017 Electric utilities increasingly find themselves at war with their own customers. Homeowners and commercial building owners have all sorts of new choices for how to generate, store, and manage their own electricity — solar panels, home batteries, electric vehicles, smart thermostats and appliances, and more gizmos coming along every day. The more they take advantage of …