Finland

Rigorous testing for grid-scale lithium-ion storage systems involved heating battery cells to induce thermal runaway within Wärtsilä’s storage module. Performing fire tests reveals critical information to the manufacturer, first responders and asset owners about how the battery system reacts in the unlikely event of a cell failure.

Also starting up: Space Force awards $50k to flesh out an idea for a solar-thermal spacecraft, and Lightyear finds a manufacturer for its solar EV.

Yotta Energy just won seed funding to install batteries under solar modules — in an architecture analogous to microinverters and optimizers.

An independent power producer, AEP OnSite Partners, will be the first to deploy Wärtsilä’s new storage product. The 9 MW/15.6 MWh battery system will respond to PJM market signals and reduce the city’s peak demand by about 9 MW, while saving $1 million per year in transmission and capacity costs

Researchers have sounded the alarm. If no serious efforts are made on second-life battery use, recycling and vehicle-to-grid applications, decarbonization efforts may hit the buffers a lot sooner than expected.

Researchers from Michigan Technological University and Finland’s Aalto University say they have demonstrated that the cost per unit of power of black silicon PERC cells could fall 10.8%, despite an increase in cell processing cost.

Greensmith’s software will be used in Wärtsilä’s new hybrid power plants, as the Helsinki-based company further strengthens its position as a global energy systems integrator.