Europe has a huge base of hydropower plants and deep expertise. Why doesn’t the technology factor more heavily in the EU’s decarbonization plans? It’s the oldest and the biggest of all the clean energy technologies, but hydro has an uncertain role in Europe’s decarbonization plans. Over the past five years, Europe’s base of conventional hydropower […]
Portland General Electric Jumps Into Virtual Power Plant Business
Oregon’s largest electric utility wants a better understanding of the value of home batteries in grid operation and planning. Portland General Electric, the largest utility in Oregon, is jumping into the cutting-edge business of turning home batteries into grid resources. The company announced this week that it has received approval from regulators to link up […]
Second Life: Carmakers and Storage Startups Get Serious About Reusing Batteries
Batteries still have a lot of life in them after being swapped out of EVs. Why not use them on the grid? Batteries aren’t dead when they come to the end of their useful life in an electric vehicle. Reused or “second-life” lithium-ion batteries still have a lot of juice left in them, but so […]
Hawaiian Electric Reveals Full List of Winners From Its Big Energy Storage Procurement
The winners range from energy storage stalwarts to relative newcomers to the large-scale battery business. Hawaiian Electric this week revealed the full list of winners from its second large-scale procurement of energy storage and renewables for the islands of Oahu, Maui and Hawaii. The winners run the gamut from major industry players like AES and Engie to […]
Span Raises $10M to Scale Up Deployments of Smart Electrical Panels
Led by a Tesla alum, the California startup looks to tap growing demand for solar and storage in key markets of California and Hawaii. Span.IO, the San Francisco-based startup that makes a smart home electrical panel that can track and control behind-the-meter batteries, rooftop solar inverters, EV chargers and other key household loads via smartphone, […]
Dominion Targets 24GW of Renewables and Storage in Move Toward Virginia’s Clean Energy Goals
The utility embraces solar and offshore wind, but critics say its plan is too reliant on fracked gas and pipelines. Utility Dominion Energy is planning a major shift toward renewable energy and batteries as it looks to comply with Virginia’s ambitious new clean energy law. Dominion Virginia’s new integrated resource plan (IRP), announced Friday, represents […]
Scientists develop stable material for pseudocapacitors which store electrical energy by electron charge transfer
Scientists at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, have developed a stable material for pseudocapacitors or supercapacitors which store electrical energy by electron charge transfer. The material can offer a low-cost scalable energy storage solution as an alternative to […]
Scientists develop a new cathode material for metal-ion batteries
Researchers from the Skoltech Center for Energy Science and Technology (CEST) created a new cathode material based on titanium fluoride phosphate, which achieved superior energy performance and stable operation at high discharge currents. The results of their study were published in Nature Communications. Today, the rapid development of electric transport and renewable energy sources calls […]
Battery Researchers Look to Artificial Intelligence to Slash Recharging Times
Today’s EV fast-charging technology remains slow by gas-station standards. Faster testing processes for new charging techniques would help. The battery sector is turning to artificial intelligence for clues on how to improve recharging rates without increasing the degradation of lithium-ion batteries. Last month, a team from Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the […]
INNOVATION: Soon, batteries from Nuclear waste that last for thousands of years
Next-generation diamond batteries that use energy from radioactive materials have already been developed and tested by researchers at the University of Bristol, who now hope to recycle waste from decommissioned nuclear power plants around the UK New Delhi : Scientists are attempting to transform nuclear waste into batteries that can last for thousands of years. […]