Energy Storage

Executive and boardroom moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy VC.

The University of Queensland has released a performance report on the Tesla Powerpack it installed in December 2019. Across a range of revenue streams, the Powerpack is already earning the university some serious cash.

16 project winners totaling 460 MW in capacity have been chosen by Hawaiian Electric Company to fill its most ambitious renewable procurement yet. The move will bring jobs to one of the areas hardest-hit by virus-related unemployment.

The Oakland-based developer is focused on solar-plus-storage and will be developing the massive, new 690 MW Gemini solar project with its 380 MW/1,400 MWh lithium-ion battery.

Also in the brief: DOE kicks off $230 million advanced reactor demonstration program, and the global coal industry will never recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Gemini project will be the largest solar plant in the U.S. and among the top-ten worldwide when completed on BLM land near Las Vegas. We spoke with the project developer to get some details on “one of the purest forms of time shifting you’ll ever see.”

SunPower has had to make fundamental changes to continue to be relevant in a solar industry very different from that of its roots. The company aims to become an energy service provider and is leaving low-cost manufacturing to its Chinese partner.

Scottish start-up Gravitricity is planning a project to store surplus power from renewables at Port of Leith. A 250 kW, grid-connected prototype facility will have its ability to stabilize the network tested. The system involves a 50-foot rig over a 500 to 5,000 foot shaft.

“We’ve taken how the industry would have evolved – probably in two years – and we’ve done it in a month.” — Lynn Jurich, CEO of Sunrun

Alencon Systems teamed up with Duke Energy to look at some of the challenges faced by a utility when adding a battery storage system to an existing solar installation. DC-coupled or AC-coupled? Grounding scheme?