US battery storage capacity increased by 52% year over year, to 10.8 GW by the end of Q1

While first-quarter additions shifted to ERCOT, the West is expected to again lead in U.S. capacity additions in the second quarter.

By Stephen Singer • May 30, 2023

No ‘silver bullet’: Report lays out fixes for interconnection delays plaguing US renewables and storage

“The wait to interconnect is so long that many projects drop out and never end up being built,” said Todd Olinsky-Paul, senior project director at Clean Energy Group.

By Stephen Singer • May 25, 2023

Explore the Trendline➔

Virtual Power Plants

Virtual power plants and their ability to balance energy supply and demand are increasingly sought by utilities as electricity demand increases, but their lack of standardization remains a barrier.

By Utility Dive staff

Mass. agency dismisses 2 battery storage projects, citing lack of legal clarity over ‘generating facility’

“As a matter of physics, batteries do not actually store electrical energy,” the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board said.

By Stephen Singer • May 23, 2023

Green Mountain Power aims to lift cap on popular residential energy storage programs with Tesla, others

A lengthy waitlist places an unnecessary barrier to participation in GMP’s two energy storage programs, and a 5 MW annual cap delays “robust storage deployment,” the company told Vermont utility regulators.

By Stephen Singer • May 16, 2023

DOE promotes commercialization of long-duration energy storage

To DOE, “lift-off” occurs when private capital can take over as technology costs and operations improve significantly.

By Stephen Singer • May 9, 2023

Hawai’i leads the way on advanced rate design with default time-of-use rates, fixed charge innovations

Hawai’i’s planned granular cost study still must prove to other states that the new TOU rates, fixed charge framework and new way of defining costs will allocate costs accurately, analysts said.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 9, 2023

Portland General Electric to add 400 MW of battery storage at 2 sites in partnership with NextEra, Eolian

The two 200-MW projects, one expected to begin service by the end of 2024, the other by the middle of 2025, represent the largest single procurement of standalone energy storage by a utility in the U.S. outside California, PGE said.

By Stephen Singer • May 1, 2023

California regulators approve PG&E, Energy Vault green hydrogen and battery microgrid

The microgrid’s planned use of green hydrogen fuel cells and batteries marks a departure from PG&E’s earlier practice of using diesel generators for backup power during outages.

By Kavya Balaraman • May 1, 2023

Peregrine Energy Solutions, Ascend Analytics plan auction for nearly 900 MW of energy storage

The companies will sell storage projects at six locations in four power grids across a broad swath of the United States.

By Patrick Cooley • April 27, 2023

Hyundai, SK On plan $5B Georgia EV battery plant

The venture will supply batteries to power Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EVs by the second half of 2025.

By Megan Ruggles • April 27, 2023

Maplewell Energy, Urban Electric Power to link zinc batteries, energy management systems as VPPs

Utilities have learned that they can defer distribution system upgrades if they add battery capacity and intelligently dispatch peak demand events, Maplewell CEO Matt Irvin said.

By Stephen Singer • April 25, 2023

Tesla posts strong Q1 increase in storage deployment as EV price cuts, uncertain economy hit profit

“As we've expected, the stationary storage growth actually will significantly exceed the vehicle growth,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said.

By Stephen Singer • April 20, 2023

Private equity to play growing role in renewable energy, storage and other cleantech: S&P Global

“This phase of acceleration in the energy transition may be the first major industrial and technology investment cycle that occurs primarily in opaque private markets,” S&P analysts said in a report released Wednesday.

By Ethan Howland • April 19, 2023

NYSEG, RG&E outline revised energy storage bidding process as New York works toward 6 GW goal

The companies will start taking bids on July 10 and award contracts in the spring and summer of 2024. Projects must be online by Dec. 31, 2028.

By Patrick Cooley • April 18, 2023

Utilities, independent power producers clash over best path to New York’s 6 GW of storage by 2030 goal

An industry group warned that customers will pay for cost overruns on storage projects if utility-owned storage “is given free range.”

By Stephen Singer • April 18, 2023

US energy storage needs national standards and regulations to thrive amid clean energy transition: GAO

Industry insiders and other experts largely praised the agency’s recommendations but noted that its recent report omitted some key hurdles to adopting energy storage.

By Patrick Cooley • April 11, 2023

Clean Power Alliance, NextEra Energy OK 75-MW long-duration energy storage PPA in Southern California

Julian Gold, CPA’s board chair, said last summer’s extended heat wave in California was a “powerful reminder as to why long-duration storage projects such as this are critical in building resilient communities.”

By Stephen Singer • April 11, 2023

Maryland can build more than 3,500 MW of energy storage by 2033: report

Storage is critical to meeting emissions and energy goals “and now we’ve got the data to show it’s a cost-effective investment, too,” said ACP Director for Eastern State Affairs Moira Cyphers.

By Stephen Singer • April 4, 2023

Solar panels and energy storage are worth the cost to integrate into US grid, executives say

“We have to figure out how people can pay for these resources, and to pay for them we have to value them correctly,” said Jon Wellinghoff, a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman.

By Patrick Cooley • April 4, 2023

Freyr explores coalition with Caterpillar, Siemens, two others to scale up green battery production

Development of robust, sustainable and circular supply chains for battery materials and technology is one of the coalition’s four potential guiding principles, Freyr said.

By Patrick Cooley • March 29, 2023

LG Energy Solution to invest $5.5B in Arizona battery complex

This is the company’s second investment in the state as it looks to capitalize on the U.S.’s burgeoning EV market.

By Sara Samora • March 28, 2023

Wärtsilä, Eolian complete 200-MW Texas storage facility, world’s largest merchant battery system

Risto Paldanius, vice president Americas, Wärtsilä Energy, said the project will help Texas “as it faces the natural replacement cycle of older inflexible generators and adapts to more frequent extreme weather events.”

By Stephen Singer • March 28, 2023

NY PSC gives Con Edison, Central Hudson, other utilities more time to procure 350 MW energy storage

It’s important to “continually assess” the state of the storage market and make changes as necessary, the New York Public Service Commission said.

By Stephen Singer • March 23, 2023

Spearmint Energy acquires 900 MW/2,000 MWh battery storage portfolio in Texas

The acquisition makes Spearmint one of the largest battery energy storage developers in Texas, the company said.

By Stephen Singer • March 22, 2023

DOE charts commercialization paths for long-duration storage, advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen

With about $260 billion in spending needed this decade, the reports released Tuesday highlight possible solutions to the challenges facing the technologies and routes to commercializing them.

By Ethan Howland • March 22, 2023