Warmer than normal weather throughout much of the United States resulted in the first recorded net natural gas injection during a week in February since weekly storage data has been collected. For the week ending February 24th, the amount of natural gas in storage in the Lower 48 states increased by 7 Bcf.
Feb 8 - Italy's Enel has partnered with storage systems provider Aton Storage in order to expand its portfolio in the sector.
The deal follows agreements reached by Enel in recent months with Tesla, BYD and LG Chem.
Enel has also incorporated the Aton storage system in its commercial offering of photovoltaic panels combined with energy storage systems “which will launch shortly” it said.
One of the key factors that will determine the amount of gas used in power generation over future years is the cost and effectiveness of energy storage. The cheaper the storage, the more intermittent renewables will be able to be introduced to grids, and the less gas that will be required; especially in higher latitudes where solar is not available part of the year.
Oct 5 – Working with the utility Hamburg Energie the Technical University Hamburg Harburg (TUHH), Siemens is developing a thermal storage solution to be paired with wind energy, which it hopes “will set a future standard in efficiency.” Excess wind energy is used to heat rock-fill, protected by an insulated cover – when stored electricity is needed a steam turbine converts the heat energy back to electricity. Tests in spring 2017 will evaluate the energy conversion of a 36 MWh test bed based on a container holding approximately 2,000 cubic meters of rock-fill.
The world’s largest lithium-ion battery power storage – a 20 MW/80 MWh Tesla Powerpack – will be put in place at SoCal Edison’s Mira Loma substation in an effort to better harness renewable energy sources. California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) had mandated an accelerated procurement of power storage to counteract energy shortages following the Aliso Canyon gas leak.
Aug 30 – EDF Energy Renewables, the UK renewables arm of the French utility, will install a 49 MW battery power storage at its West Burton CCGT in Nottinghamshire. The final decision was made after EDF won a contract as part of a 200-MW Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR) tender by the UK's National Grid.
A total of eight projects secured contracts in the EFR tender; other winners include Vattenfall, Low Carbon, RES, Element Power, E.on UK and Belectric.
Aug 25 – Southern California Edison has selected a subsidiary of AltaGas to build a 20 MW storage project with a discharge capacity of 80 MWh east of Los Angeles. AltaGas Pomona Energy Storage will build, own and operate the project, which is estimated to cost up to $45 million and is meant to be operational by December. State regulators urge utilities to procure storage to avoid power outages.
Aug 25 – More than 20 days after Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat attended the ‘Sail-away Ceremony’, the gas storage ship destined to support power stations in Malta is still docked in Singapore. No fixed date has been set for its departure – so it is unclear whether will reach Malta as planned in mid-September.