Sept 12 - Installed thermal energy storage capacity in the U.S. is forecast to rise to 7.2 GW by 2020, up from 2.7 GW in 2011, according to Pike Research.
The annual U.S. market for incremental thermal energy storage capacity totals $268 million, with 246 MW of new capacity installed in 2011, Pike Research, a part of Navigant's Energy Practice, said in a report published on Wednesday.
The strongest growth for thermal energy storage is expected to occur in Europe, as market development is supported by the European Commission's efficiency initiatives and the rise in volatile renewable electricity generation.
„Under a conservative estimate of 2020 market activity, there will be about 19 GW of cumulative thermal energy storage installations in Europe by the end of the decade, equaling 2 GW of new capacity per year by 2020," analysts at Pike Research said in the report.
Thermal energy storage is used to better utilise surplus electricity generatated at solar plant projects by storing heat for later power generation.
August 28 – ABB has been commissioned to launch the largest battery energy storage project of its kind in Switzerland together with EKZ, a power distribution utility.
ABB supplied EKZ with battery energy storage solution using Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that can provide one megawatt of power during 15 minutes.
The storage facility is integrated into EKZ's power distribution network and is being used to evaluate
performance in key areas such as balancing peak loads and intermittent power supply, and the viability of the solution for grid optimization.
August 17 - Germany's municipal utility Stadtwerke Neustadt solar power developer IBC Solar have inaugurated a pilot project to store up to 200 kWh of electricity within a local grid area.
If the utility's solar plants produce more power than is required, the energy can be stored and supplied to the grid at a later point, online media solarserver.de reported on Friday.
The power storage unit helps to stabilises the local grid and reduced the need for further regional grid expansion.
March 19 - Siemens has installed a Siestorage energy storage solution at an Enel-operated pilot plant in Italy.
The plant has an output of one megavolt ampere and a capacity of 500 kilowatt-hours, Siemens' Infrastructure & Cities division said today.
The Siestorage energy storage solution was installed in Enel's the medium voltage electricity distribution network. Enel, Italy's biggest electricity producer, utilises Siestorage to a Smart Grid solutions for voltage regulation with the aim of integrating renewable energy sources into the medium voltage network.
E.ON UK has begun commercial operations at its Holford gas storage plant in Cheshire in the north-west of England. Once completed, the projected gas withdrawal rate at the facility will be 16 MMcm/day – sufficient to qualify the Holford gas storage plant as vital backup infrastructure for supplying fuel to gas-fired power plants.