ESPL

Four projects involving a multiplicity of companies won commercial achievement awards at the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference in San Jose. Notrees Wind Energy Storage, SCPPA Thermal Energy Storage Programme, Santa Rita Jail Smart Grid, and Grid on Wheels each won for their innovation at utility scale.

The first project to win was the Notrees Wind Energy Storage Project, located in Goldsmith, TX. It performs frequency regulation, renewables capacity firming and electricity shifting with a 36MW, 24MWh advanced lead-acid storage system. Xtreme Power, Duke Energy and the DOE won an utility-scale awards for this project.

The second award went to Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) Thermal Energy Storage Programme located in Glendora, CA. It uses thermal energy installed at 200 customer facilities, totaling 2.5MW, 15MWh of rated capacity to supply energy time shifting, T&D deferral and renewable energy time shifting to the grid. SCPPA and Ice Energy also won a utility scale award for this project.

Next up was the Santa Rita Jail Smart Grid, in Dublin, CA, which is the country's largest CERTS-based microgrid (Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions) with renewable generation and large-scale energy storage. The microgrid remains operational even in the event of a regional power outage to maintain reliability and security at Alameda County's Santa Rita Jail. The companies involved were Alameda County, APT, BYD, CEC, Chevron Energy Solutions, DOE, Encorp and S&C Electric.

The final project to win was Grid on Wheels, of Newark, DE. It is the first case of EV batteries, chargers, and charging infrastructure to participate in, and generate revenue from, open ancillary services markets, including frequency regulation. The companies involved, BMW, EV Grid, NRG, and University of Delaware, won the award for being the most innovative mobility project in North America.

Entrants came from a range of applications that generate revenue by providing market services for the grid, such as frequency regulation, load shifting or spinning reserve. They were marked for: services provided to the grid, financing options, ownership model and technology strengths.

Samsung SDI and Xtreme Power are installing a 1MW/1MWh lithium-manganese oxide energy storage system for a demonstrative smart grid project in Texas. The system, to be installed at the Reese Technology Centre in Lubbock, is partly funded by the Department of Energy.

The project aims to promote utility scale energy storage with wind energy. The battery system will be utilised to regulate power generated from local wind turbines that suffer from intermittent loss of generation.

Samsung’s lithium-ion battery technology together with Xtreme Power’s Xtreme Active Control Technology (XACT), which gives millisecond response time, will enable the wind generated power to be fed into the national grid.

This is the first project Samsung SDI and Xtreme Power have worked on together to provide energy storage solutions for renewable integration and grid support. The companies have formed the alliance to reach renewable energy goals and promote a cleaner electric grid.

Emerson Network Power and SolarReserve are collaborating to produce and store solar energy in liquid molten salt at the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada. It will be the first project of its kind to harness energy from the sun and store it in this way. The 110-MW project is due to be online by the end of 2013.

SolarReserve’s system of 10,500 mirrors focus the sun’s energy to heat molten salt that flows through a central receiver, which sits atop a 540-foot solar power tower. The molten salt then flows up the tower where it circulates through the receiver and is heated by the sun’s energy. It then flows to another storage tank where steam is produced, using thermal energy, which powers a turbine to generate electricity. Excess thermal energy will be stored in the molten salt.

Emerson’s Ovation technology will directly control the circuit and heating process of the molten salt system, the water/steam cycle and auxiliary processes. The control system will also provide supervisory control of the mirrors and interface with the turbine control system. ?

Enough energy is expected to be generated to power 75,000 homes regardless of whether or not the sun is shining.

A123 Systems has filed for bankruptcy following a turbulent year. The Massachusetts-based lithium-ion battery manufacturer that employs 2 500 has been struggling to keep its head above water following disappointing sales of electric vehicles and a costly recall back in March 2012.

Johnson Controls Incorporated will buy the automotive business assets from A123 in a deal worth US$125 million. This will provide the finance for the company during bankruptcy. The factory in Michigan is to remain open for the time being.

This latest news puts halt to the discussions for a rescue buy-out by Wanxiang Group Corporation in August. The US$465 million deal would have meant the Chinese corporation held an 80% share in A123 and four of the nine board seats. However certain conditions, including A123's liquidity falling below operational levels, were not met so only $22.5 million of the loan amount has been funded. These complications prompted the deal with Johnson Controls. The talks had sparked political debate because A123 had received a substantial amount of public funding from the Obama administration to boost the advanced battery industry in the USA and there was unrest about the company then falling to non-American ownership.  

A123 Systems has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 16 October 2012 due to its mounting financial problems. There will be a bankruptcy auction for assets. Johnson Controls has provided A123 with US$72.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing to fund the bankruptcy case.

The Michigan-based battery maker has suffered because the EV market has failed to take off as quickly as hoped, only accounting for 3% of US car sales last year. For the first half of 2012 it reported losses of US$ 208 million, this vulnerable position led to the talks with Wanxiang Corp.

The mounting financial problems came despite a cash injection of US$249 million in the form of federal grants from the Obama administration in 2009. 

The bankruptcy will add fuel to the US presidential debate as another example of an unsuccessful ‘green’ investment by the Obama administration. Following EnerDel, A123 is the second of the 30 battery and electric drive companies that received government funding to go bankrupt. Excess of US$1.2 billion has been provided for battery makers, including A123 and Johnson Controls, over the past three years to boost the hybrid and electric vehicle market. Of the money A123 received in federal grants, US$132 million has been spent on building a factory in Michigan.

A123 has suffered losses of US$857 million since the company began and was at risk of being delisted from the stock market because of consistently low stock value.