Fuel cells are a good partner for microgrids, but costs limit deployment

But as more microgrids are deployed, fuel cell costs could fall. 

By Peter Maloney • May 10, 2016

Construction manufacturer Caterpillar enters microgrid and storage market

Caterpillar has launched microgrid suite that combines solar, storage and Caterpillar generators.

By Peter Maloney • May 9, 2016

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 Stories from Utility Dive

The U.S. clean energy transition is expected to accelerate in 2024 but faces question around transmission, financing, federal elections and other issues.

By Utility Dive staff

ComEd jumps on the demand charge train with new Illinois proposal

Residential demand charges have been most popular in the Southwest, but the Chicago-based utility features them prominently in a new legislative push.

By Peter Maloney • May 9, 2016

Tesla reports 25 MWh of storage capacity delivered in Q1 2016

A shareholder letter highlights demand for the Powerwall residential storage device and acknowledges delays in some deliveries.

By Peter Maloney • May 6, 2016

Updated: Exelon says 2 nuke plants on the line in sweeping new Illinois energy bill

The Next Generation Energy Plan, announced yesterday, would touch virtually every aspect of the state's power industry. Without it, Exelon plans to retire two challenged nuclear plants.

By Peter Maloney • May 6, 2016

Hawaii lawmakers to reconcile competing proposals for renewables, storage incentives

These proposals aim to ensure low-income families could purchase distributed generation systems and a tax break for energy storage for up to 25% of the costs. 

By Herman K. Trabish • May 5, 2016

CA companies Verengo, Swell companies team up for residential solar-plus-storage

Verengo Solar and Swell Energy is the latest partnership aiming to penetrate the market for residential energy storage.

By Peter Maloney • May 5, 2016

SolarCity unveils new software services for utilities, grid operators

The solar developer wants to help utilities deploy fully-dispatchable renewable resources and control DERs on their systems. 

By Gavin Bade, Herman Trabish • May 5, 2016

DOE's new $25M solar fund seeks development of distributed energy grid solutions

The ENERGISE program, part of the Department of Energy's SunShot initiative, seeks to fund grid technologies to manage high penetrations of distributed energy on utility systems.

By Herman K. Trabish • May 4, 2016

ACC approves TEP plans for renewables, storage, but not utility-owned solar

Arizona regulators approved an expansion in renewable energy investments and two storage pilot projects, but deferred a decision on utility-owned rooftop and community solar projects to TEP's general rate case.

By Gavin Bade • May 4, 2016

Puerto Rico energy storage project tests load shifting capabilities of hybrid batteries

An energy storage project in Puerto Rico will test the ability of hybrid batteries to shift load in response to the territory's storage mandate. 

By Peter Maloney • May 3, 2016

Oklahoma utility proposes demand charges to cover distributed energy costs

Oklahoma Gas & Electric is seeking approval to change its rate structure in order to adapt to accommodate distributed resources.

By Peter Maloney • May 3, 2016

Iowa electric co-op looks to buy RECs to go '100% carbon-free'

The Raccoon Valley Electric Cooperative in Iowa plans to reduce its carbon footprint to zero.

By Peter Maloney • April 29, 2016

Aquion installs storage for microgrid at California winery and farm

Aquion Energy is supplying its aqueous hybrid ion batteries for the project, which will use Ideal Power's 30-kW multi-port power conversion system to help make the California winery and farm more self-sufficient. 

By Peter Maloney • April 29, 2016

Beyond pilots: Duke Energy looks to install storage in regulated market

The utility has previously completed pilots but now says the time is right for a commercial storage facility operating in a regulated market.

By Robert Walton • April 28, 2016

Sunverge unveils inverters to help Hawaii Electric solar+storage technology

Sunverge has introduced inverters designed to meet Hawaii Electric's strict solar installation standards and serve the state's solar + storage market driven in part by Hawaii's 100%-by-2045 renewables mandate. 

By Peter Maloney • April 27, 2016

For grid flexibility, utilities pushed to think beyond gas plants and storage

There are more cost-effective methods to enhance the power system's responsiveness, a new paper reports.

By Herman K. Trabish • April 27, 2016

First-of-its-kind rail energy storage project targets role in CAISO ancillary services market

A California startup is targeting ancillary services as the use for the first grid-scale rail storage project to win approval from the Bureau of Land Management.

By Peter Maloney • April 26, 2016

Community Storage Initiative touts diverse backers, including EEI, NRECA, APPA

The group is calling for more information sharing and collaborative development of distributed storage solutions.

By Herman K. Trabish • April 26, 2016

Tesla's 2016 storage sales to SolarCity could dwarf entire US behind-meter market for 2015

A filing from Tesla indicates it expects to sell substantially more behind-the-meter storage capacity to SolarCity in 2016 than the entire U.S. market deployed last year, GTM Research reports.  

By Peter Maloney • April 26, 2016

Tesla unveils pricing details for Powerpack system

Tesla unveils pricing and online ordering details for its Powerpack commercial and utility scale battery.

By Peter Maloney • April 25, 2016

Lockheed Martin pushes into storage market with lithium, flow battery offerings

The aerospace and defense giant is targeting utilities and C&I customers for its lithium option while trying to commercialize flow batteries for long-duration uses.

By Peter Maloney • April 25, 2016

Exelon to double its storage capacity with 10 MW Ohio project

Exelon Generation will provide frequency regulation into the PJM Interconnection market with this 10 MW project. 

By Robert Walton • April 21, 2016

SDG&E 'ahead of the curve' to meet California's 50% RPS with help from storage

Ahead of schedule in meeting RPS targets, San Diego Gas & Electric looks to storage and energy efficiency to accommodate more renewables.

By Peter Maloney • April 19, 2016

FERC seeks input from ISOs on possible market barriers to energy storage

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given wholesale market operators until May 2 to docment barriers that may exist to adding energy storage resources to their grids.

By Peter Maloney • April 19, 2016