Batteries & Storage

Haiti will soon flip the switch on the first of 80 microgrids that EarthSpark International hopes to install in a bid to reduce energy poverty in the island nation.

Energy storage provider Advanced Microgrid Solutions has announced plans to buy 500 megawatt-hours (MWh) of battery storage from Tesla Motors.

Although the U.S. energy storage market is expected to grow 250% this year and complete 900 MW of deployments by 2019, clean energy entrepreneur Jigar Shah warned late last month that the technology may be over-hyped.

The Hydro-Québec research institute (IREQ) in Varennes, QC and Spain’s CIC Energigune are working on a solid state battery they hope will replace today’s lithium-ion chemistry.

With 85,000 Powerwall battery packs reserved in less than a week, and demand for battery storage products “just nutty,” at least one observer is suggesting the home storage market could swamp the capacity of Tesla Motors’ new gigawatt-scale battery plant under construction outside Reno, Nevada.

Just ahead of Tesla’s home battery announcement April 30, Greentech Media’s Stephen Lacey reported on concerns that the move toward solar smart homes may be getting ahead of itself.

The clean energy revolution entered a new phase yesterday with the formal release of Tesla’s Powerwall, a US$3,000 battery system that will provide storage for solar panels on homes and businesses and could help users cut their ties with traditional power utilities.