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Residential solar and battery storage company Sunrun and Californian utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) have launched an “energy reliability program” to provide support from residential solar and battery systems during the state’s hottest months, when demand for energy is highest and energy supplies are tighter. Through the ‘Energy Efficiency Summer Reliability Program’, Sunrun will enroll up to 7,500 new and existing residential home solar and battery systems in PG&E’s service area into the program, creating a virtual power plant capable of discharging 30MW of clean energy back to the grid.

Independent power producer Hecate Grid’s plan to significantly increase the large-scale deployment of standalone storage received a boost with the close of a six-year $98.9 million credit facility package to recapitalise its operating assets and fund the construction of a portfolio of standalone battery storage assets in Southern California. The debt facility package includes a $79.5 million term loan and $19.4 million letter of credit facility, is collateralised by Hecate Grid’s energy storage projects without a guarantee or other credit support.

Energy storage company GES and independent storage and logistics company GPS have merged in order to “put greater focus on the development of the next generation of energy storage assets”. The new entity, called Global Energy Storage Group (GES), has four storage assets: two in the Netherlands, one in the UAE, and one in Malaysia.

In a project that could eventually be replicated across the US, WEC Energy Group, which has 4.6 million customers, is to test a new form of long-duration energy storage at its Valley Power Plant in Milwaukee. The project will involve WEC Energy Group collaborating with the energy research institute EPRI and CMBlu Energy AG, the developer and manufacturer of the long-duration battery based in California and Germany.

California-headquartered electric vehicle (EV) charging network ChargePoint and AI-driven clean energy system provider Stem, Inc. have agreed a deal aimed at accelerating the deployment of EV charging and battery storage solutions for “highway corridor DC fast charging and other EV charging applications like fleet charging”. ChargePoint will analyse the EV charging demand at EV site locations looking to install DC chargers, assess their eligibility for incentive programs—including the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI)—and work with Stem to determine if a battery energy storage system may reduce the EV site’s operating costs.

Despite the European Commission’s recent announcement of a ‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’, which it says, will aim to scale up renewable energy projects, including energy storage, there is scepticism about whether politicians in Brussels fully comprehend the importance of storage. In its response to the plan, EASE - The European Association for Storage of Energy said that Europe’s energy storage sector is a global leader in clean tech, but frequently, its role is “not fully recognised by policymakers”.

With UK solar and battery storage becoming increasingly competitive, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, on behalf of its Flagship Funds, has entered into a partnership with Amberside Energy with a view to developing 2GW of solar and battery storage projects in the UK.

Structured finance provider Close Brothers Leasing is looking to expand its lending in the battery storage sector and, in the latest move, it has provided an £85million funding facility to Conrad Energy that will fund eight battery storage sites across the UK.

• Mercedes-Benz among companies to sign recent second-life battery deals
• But serious concerns about use of such batteries for domestic storage
• Urgent need for widely accepted testing standards

Used electric vehicle batteries – or second-life batteries as they’re often known – have long been touted as having the potential to be used in stationary energy storage systems once they no longer meet the standards required for electric vehicles. 

Recycling batteries, in many ways, makes sense from both an environmental and economic perspective. If used batteries are taken to landfill, there is a risk that substances such as mercury and lead can leak into the environment and cause soil contamination or water pollution. Meanwhile, re-using batteries can also be financially profitable – recycling batteries, breaking them down into their constituent components (such as copper and aluminium, for example), and then selling them on can generate significant financial returns.

In addition, recycling batteries can be a cost-effective way of sourcing materials such as nickel and cobalt – supplies of both elements are getting squeezed, and consequently prices are rising. If we take the example of Nickel, it’s currently trading at around $28,000 per tonne, more than twice the price it was sold for five years ago. Cobalt prices have been prone to more fluctuation in recent times, though between April 2020 and April 2022, the price soared from just under $30,000 per tonne to more than $81,000 per tonne.

Second life batteries attractive proposition

Unsurprisingly, second-life batteries have become an attractive business proposition. Last month, it was announced that Mercedes-Benz Energy and Lohum – which describes itself as “India’s largest producer of sustainable Li-ion battery raw materials through recycling, repurposing, and low-carbon refining” – had entered into a “multi-year” supply contract agreement for second-life batteries. The batteries will be used for stationary applications ranging from small 6KWh batteries to larger 1MWh storage.

Other recent second-life battery-related developments included storage system provider Connected Energy – whose systems incorporate former electric vehicle batteries – completing a £15 million investment round. Investors in the round included Caterpillar Venture Capital, the Hinduja Group, Mercuria, OurCrowd and Volvo Energy. They were joined by existing investors Engie New Ventures, Macquarie, and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund. Connected Energy CEO Matthew Lumsden said the investment would “maximise the volume of batteries that are redeployed in second life applications”.

Elsewhere, back in 2021, it was revealed that a partnership between Enel X and ADR (Aeroporti di Roma, Airports of Rome) would be piloting the integration of second-life batteries from electric vehicles into a 30MW solar park being built at Rome Fiumicino Airport, which is scheduled to be completed by 2024.

Fears about using second-life batteries in domestic storage

Now the storage industry is taking steps to assess the market for the use of second life batteries in domestic battery energy storage systems. The domestic battery energy storage market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years – projections from Solar Power Europe show that cumulative residential storage capacity installed across Europe will double from 6.1 GWh in 2022 to 12.8 GWh in 2025.

Yet there are serious doubts about whether second-life batteries are safe enough for domestic battery energy storage systems. A study published last month by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) concluded that some storage industry stakeholders hold the view that the safety of second-life lithium-ion batteries can never be guaranteed and “should not be employed under any circumstances” in domestic storage systems.

It's a conclusion that will come as a devastating blow to a number of companies that have been working on the development of second-life batteries with the domestic storage market in mind. However, the OPSS study revealed that other members of the storage community are more optimistic about the potential for using second-life batteries in domestic storage.

No consensus on testing standards

Some storage industry stakeholders are confident that it is possible to put a safety framework in place that will facilitate the use of second-life lithium-ion batteries. But there is a caveat – such a framework will only work if the full history of the batteries in their first life applications is known and they can be tested effectively.

The problem is that there appears to be little consensus on exactly how to evaluate the safety of second-life batteries.

This was highlighted by the OPSS study, which concluded that there is “currently no widely accepted test methodology for assessing the safety of second-life lithium-ion batteries” (outside of the UK and Europe, the US and Canada has the ANSI/CAN UL 1974 Standard for Evaluation for Repurposing Batteries).

As electric vehicle-use increases significantly, the amount of potential second-life batteries also grows. In 2021, electric vehicle sales in China tripled to 3.3 million, while sales in Europe stood at 2.3 million, up from 1.4 million the previous year, according to the International Energy Agency. Meanwhile, in the US, electric vehicles doubled their market share to 4.5 per cent in 2021, with sales totalling 630,000. The pile of batteries that could be given a second-life is only going to mount up.

The key will be eradicating any safety concerns surrounding second-life batteries. While such worries persist, the development of the second-life battery market will be severely constrained. And that’s a shame because the potential is significant. The lack of consensus on standards for assessing the safety of second-life lithium-ion batteries should be a major concern, not least for electric vehicle manufacturers. If concerns about the safety of such batteries increase, it will sow seeds of doubt in the mind of the electric vehicle industry’s potential customers.

Acciona Energía has signed a 10-year power purchase agreement with Portuguese firm Grupo Violas. Acciona is set to supply 55,000MWh of renewable energy to Violas annually from its 166MW wind and solar portfolio in Portugal. Read more

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Siemens Gamesa and Doosan Enerbility have formed a partnership in South Korea for offshore wind turbines. Siemens Gamesa has brought in Doosan to assemble its nacelles and turbines; carry out offshore installation; and perform offshore servicing. Read more

Only two onshore wind turbines were installed in England in 2022 because of planning red tape, RenewableUK has warned. Nearly all (98.7%) of the 318MW onshore wind capacity completed in the UK in 2022 was in Scotland. This activity level is in contrast to offshore wind, where three projects totalling 3.2GW were commissioned. Read more

US developer Longroad Energy has won support from Maine Public Utilities Commission to build the $2bn 1GW King Pine wind project in US state Maine. The commission has also supported an associated grid link by LS Power that will span Maine and Massachusetts. Read more

Chemicals company Evonik has signed a second power purchase agreement (PPA) with German utility EnBW for electricity from the 900MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm. This 15-year 50MW PPA is in addition to a 100MW PPA signed last year. Read more

Ikea owner Ingka Group is buying a 15% stake in TagEnergy's A$2bn (€1.3bn) Golden Plains wind farm near Geelong in Victoria, Australia. The 1.3GW project has a first phase of 756MW and a second phase of 576MW with 300MW of battery storage. Read more

Italian utility Enel is looking to sell a stake in its Greek arm Enel Green Power Hellas, which owns 368MW of wind, 164MW of solar and 19MW of hydro projects. The subsidiary is reportedly worth up to €1.2bn, with bids due this week. Read more

The Danish Energy Agency has suspended its open door offshore wind permitting scheme to check it complies with European law. Analysts said this puts 15GW of offshore wind projects at risk. Read more

GE has been ordered by a judge in Boston to double its royalty payments to Siemens Gamesa for patent infringement to $60,000 per megawatt. The judge also blasted both companies for failing to cross-license turbine innovations "in the global public interest". Read more

Vestas has reported a €1.6bn operating loss in 2022 on revenue of €14.5bn because of high inflation, supply chain constraints and geopolitical uncertainty. The firm said it also raised the average price of its turbines by 29% year-on-year to €1.07m/MW in 2022. Read more

Onshore wind developers in Poland are used to punishing policies, but a late change last month to rules that were designed to unlock onshore wind projects is a cruel twist. It is also putting billions of euros of European Union investment at risk.

The Polish government has been looking to reverse a policy introduced in 2016 by the ruling Law & Justice Party (LJP) to restrict onshore wind in 98% of Poland.

The so-called ’10H rule’ specifies that wind turbines could only be located in areas that were a minimum of ten times their height from nearby homes or national parks. That is around 2,000 metres in practice. The result is that hardly any onshore wind capacity was built in Poland between 2016 and 2020, just as the pro-coal LJP wanted.

The situation has improved a little in recent years, as the government has given greater leeway for companies to develop any projects that gained permits before 2016. This led to 2GW of onshore wind completed in Poland between 2020 and 2022, and has taken the country’s installed capacity to 8GW. But much more could be done.

Last month, the government was discussing a draft law to change the setback rules to 500 metres, which is around a quarter of the typical distance under the 10H rule and would have made it far easier to build wind farms. However, the plan is now in doubt because Marek Suski, chairman of the parliamentary energy committee and member of the LJP, brought an amendment saying the setback distance should be 700 metres instead of 500 metres. This is a pretty transparent attempt to harm wind.

This may sound like a small issue, as 700 metres is still an improvement. But experts have warned this will severely limit investment in Polish wind. More than that, it is set to derail €35.4bn of grants from the European Union’s Recovery & Resilience Fund that were predicated on Poland showing greater support for renewables. It is an act of environmental and economic sabotage with elections looming this autumn.

A vote on the rule is due in the Polish parliament this week, with the Senate due to consider it within 30 days.

Polish problems

On 30^th January, A Word About Wind attended a webinar run by developer European Energy about the Polish renewables market. This includes analysis showing that there will be 75% less land for onshore wind with a 700 metre setback distance compared to 500 metres, and that could scupper at least 6GW of wind projects by 2030.

Olga Sypula, country manager for Poland at European Energy, said it would stop the construction of 70% of the wind projects in the firm's Polish portfolio. It would be the difference between 4GW and 10GW of new onshore wind by 2030, while the tougher setback rule would also significantly decrease interest in repowering work.

“We are sure 500 metres is a sufficient distance, and we are discussing new turbines and technologies that have less impact on the environment,” she said. This has also forced European Energy to focus its development in Poland on solar projects.

Trade association WindEurope has echoed the argument that any setback distance of over 500 metres would mean Poland struggles to meet its renewables targets and boost energy security: “The public acceptance for onshore wind in Poland is high, and the economic benefits are overwhelmingly clear. Poland would lose out badly if it messed up this opportunity,” said Giles Dickson, CEO at WindEurope.

Cristina Savescu, senior economist at the World Bank, told the European Energy webinar there is currently a deficit of private investment in Poland compared to other EU states, and it will only be bridged if Poland comes into greater alignment with the rest of the EU in areas including its support for decarbonisation.

World Bank research shows that $49bn would be invested in renewables in Poland until 2050 if the government continues on its current path, but it rises to $131bn in the same period if the government gets serious on decarbonisation.

“In that more ambitious scenario, we would have almost two-and-a-half times the investment needs,” said Savescu. She added that would require a fresh approach to planning and permitting, as well as investing in the grid and overhauling energy markets.

Wind developers and investors may rue this latest twist for Polish renewables, but it is the country as a whole that stands to lose.

ITM Power has signed two contracts with Linde Engineering in Germany for PEM electrolysers totalling 200MW. The electrolysers will be used at green hydrogen production facilities in Lingen operated by RWE and powered by offshore wind farms in the North Sea. Read more.

Renewables developer PNE has signed a memorandum of understanding with Omnia Holdings to explore the production of green hydrogen and ammonia in South Africa. Read more.

Swedish developer OX2 and Bank of Åland subsidiary Ålandsbanken Fondbolag have launched a feasibility study for a hydrogen and e-fuel production facility on Finland's Åland island. The Mega Green Port project would be linked with the port of Långnäs, and the Noatun North and South offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea. Read more.

German energy firm HH2E has signed a memorandum of understanding with utility LEAG to collaborate on the development of the hydrogen supply chain in Germany. LEAG is aiming to build a 7GW portfolio of wind and solar projects by 2030. Read more.