Harmony Energy Income Trust Eyes IPO To Develop 213.5MW Of Tesla Battery Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
The article is a very detailed look at Harmony and their development of energy storage, using Tesla hardware and software.
It also has things to say about the energy storage market in general.
This is a paragraph.
Paul Mason, managing director of the Investment Adviser, said battery energy storage offers exciting growth potential, with an expected requirement of up to 43GW by 2050 from just 1.2GW now.
It is certainly looking that companies like Harmony Energy Income Trust will be important in funding this extreme growth of energy storage.
‘Unique’ Solar-Storage Solution Providers Plot 300MW / 3.6GWh Australia Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
The first two paragraphs outline the system.
A 1,200 hectare site in South Australia has been secured by a developer hoping to use it to build a 300MW solar power site with 3.6GWh of energy storage, based on a novel technology solution.
Europe-headquartered renewables company Photon Energy is working to roll out the technology created by Australian company RayGen. It combines a kind of concentrating solar power (CSP) + solar photovoltaics (PV) hybrid that RayGen calls ‘PV Ultra’, paired to a long-duration energy storage tech dubbed ‘thermal hydro’.
Thermal hydro appears to be an interesting concept, which uses hot and cold water reservoirs to store energy. Electricity is retrieved using a Rankin cycle engine and the claimed roundtrip efficiency is seventy percent.
This power plant might seem to be very futuristic, but a 4MW solar with 3MW / 50MWh of energy storage project is already under construction and should go on-line in the middle of next year.
The developer; Photon Energy hopes to get the giga-plant ready-to-build by the end of 2023.
This concept could be a very useful one, where there is enough sun for concentrating solar power.
Blue Hydrogen Is Not Clean Energy, Says Mining Tycoon
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the first paragraph.
Producing “blue hydrogen” from natural gas is not a clean energy source and is being wrongly promoted as one by the oil and gas industry, a billionaire mining mogul has claimed.
The mining mogul is Andrew Forrest, who is the second richest person in Australia.
I feel he is only partly right, as there are processes coming through that use a catalyst to split the hydrogen from the carbon.
But like the taxi in the picture at the top of the article with Mr. Forrest, his words are all good publicity.
Incidentally, I do believe that in a few years, we’ll have the technology to use so much carbon dioxide efficiently, that we may see gas-fired power stations used to create both energy and carbon dioxide.
Hydrophilic Polymers: The Key To A Green Future
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Tech Xplore.
This is the first paragraph.
Researchers from the University of Surrey and the University of Bristol are working on innovative devices to tame and store carbon-free renewable energy from unpredictable sources such as wind and solar.
That got me interested and I read the whole article.
This abstract on SpringerLink gives a definition of hydrophilic polymers.
Hydrophilic polymers are those polymers which dissolve in, or are swollen by, water. Many compounds of major technical and economic importance fall within this definition, including many polymers of natural origin. Many foodstuffs—containing substantial amounts of carbohydrate and protein— can be classified as hydrophilic polymers, and some have important technical and industrial uses, apart from their nutritional value. For example, although over 95% of the starches produced from corn (maize), wheat, potato, tapioca, and other vegetable sources are used as foods (human or animal), the remaining quantity represents an important part of the technical polymer market. In fact, more than two-thirds of hydrophilic or water-soluble polymers used in industry are derived from polymers of natural origin, so coming from renewable resources (harvested crops, trees, waste animal products and so on), rather than petrochemical sources of finite availability.
This paragraph from the Tech Xplore article describes the research.
The Chemistry Department at Surrey is working with collaborators at Bristol, Professors Ian Hamerton and David Fermin, and Superdielectrics Ltd., an innovative British Research Company located at the Surrey Research Park to transform simple hydrophilic polymers which were originally developed for use as contact lenses, to realize a second critical energy storage process.
This could lead to the next generation of supercapacitors.
Conclusion
This is fascinating technology and it could save the world.
Long Duration Energy Storage Council — A New Global Industry Body — Launched At COP26
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Recharge News.
This is the first paragraph.
The CEO-led organisation aims to ensure that fossil-fuel back-up is replaced with long-lasting zero-carbon alternatives by 2040.
The membership includes major players in energy and energy storage.
Hopefully, they’ll ensure the world has enough energy storage.
Read the article.
Financial Incentive Needed To Drive UK Energy Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on pv Magazine.
This is the first paragraph.
The lack of an incentive regime for battery projects and the like – whether a fixed feed-in tariff or market-driven contracts-for-difference program – is likely to see the COP26 host miss its 100%-clean-power-by-2035 commitment, according to K2 Management.
As a Control Engineer, I would go for a market-driven contracts-for-difference program, which if properly setup should give feedback, so that eventually, storage and renewable energy production are in equilibrium with the power needed.
It’s not as if, we’re short of ideas for energy storage in the UK.
I think the breakthrough will come, when one of the big energy storage funds like Gresham House or Gore Street decides to back one of the viable environmentally-friendly energy storage concepts, that are currently under development.
I am watching energy storage, as I suspect there could be a big announcement at COP26.
New $1 billion-plus Project In Queensland To Double World’s Green Hydrogen Production Capacity
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on ABC News.
Ineos In Runcorn Is Key To UK Move To Hydrogen Energy
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Runcorn and Widnes World.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Thousands of buses and HGVs in the UK could soon be running on hydrogen – made in Runcorn.
The town, which already produces enough clean hydrogen to fuel 1,000 buses or 2,000 HGVs every day, is ramping up production to help reduce the amount of harmful CO₂ emissions on Britain’s roads.
The INOVYN site used to be owned by ICI in the 1960s and I used to work on the Castner-Kellner plant that electrolysed brine to produce sodium hydroxide, chlorine and hydrogen.
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund Revenues Boosted Amid Market Volatility
Over the last few years, I have blogged about energy storage and two energy storage funds; Gore Street and Gresham House.
According to an article on Proactive Investors, with the same title as this post, Gore Street hasn’t been doing badly lately and says this about their recent performance.
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC said its assets in Great Britain generated revenues two times above forecast in September and added that industry is only at the start of its growth curve.
When I saw the concept of an energy storage fund, as a Control Engineer, I liked it.
The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine, so something is needed to cover the gaps in the supply.
The obvious way to cover the gaps is to put a battery in the circuit.
- When the electricity supply is higher than the demand, the surplus electricity can be stored in a convenient battery connected to the grid.
- When the reverse is true and there is a deficit of electricity, the energy in the battery can be used to make up the difference.
The battery works with electricity, just like a bank works with money, except that batteries don’t pay interest.
- The battery owners do make money by buying electricity, when it’s cheap and selling it back at a higher price.
- Tesla and others will sell you both batteries and the controlling software.
- Some areas with perhaps high levels of wind and solar or unreliable power supplies could use batteries improve the robustness of the electricity supply.
- More wind and solar power will inevitably lead to a need for more energy storage.
- Battery technology will get cheaper in terms of the cost per MWh of storage.
- Battery-grid interface hardware will get more capable.
- Management software will get better at balancing the grid.
This all adds up to increasing opportunities at possibly lower costs for energy storage funds like Gore Street and Gresham House.
So we will inevitably see a growth of energy storage funds.
But they will change.
New Battery Technology
There are several new battery technologies, that I believe could prove to be competitive in terms of capacity, cost, efficiency and reliability when compared to lithium-ion batteries.
Some of them will also have the advantage of only using easy-to-source, environmentally-friendly materials in their manufacture.
Some battery technologies are also easier to scale up, in that your have a central unit, which is connected to several stores. So to scale up, you add another store to the central unit. Highview Power’s CRYOBattery works on this principle.
I can see energy storage funds taking off faster, when someone designs the ideal battery for their purposes.
More Energy Storage Funds
We will see more players enter the energy storage fund market, just as we saw more players enter the peer-to-peer lending market. But just as that market attracted men with silly hats, boots and horses, not all will be reputable. But there are signs that banks I might trust are entering the market.
I also think there could be a hybrid model, which is almost a cross between an energy storage fund and peer-to-peer technology.
But be prepared for financial innovation.
And always do due diligence before investing.
Local Energy Storage Funds
I can envisage sensible established players offering investment on a local basis.
So perhaps the residents of a town with a need for a battery, might like to help fund it.
Or just as Aviva with their strong connections to East Anglia helped to fund Greater Anglia’s new trains, they might fund a battery in perhaps Cromer.
Conclusion
I feel the future is very rosy for energy storage funds.
The Anonymous Widower 