Energy Storage News
The Mercury News: Batteries included – home charging begins to spread
…Orison – The San Diego start-up has introduced 2.2 kilowatt hour panels for home use. The company says the batteries’ design lends itself to home decor as well as storage. Starting at $1,600, it’s aimed at urban dwellers and simple to install – just plug it into a wall and smart software adjusts power usage. Its first products – a panel and tower – are expected to ship early next year.
Reuters: Corporate Investments in Energy Storage Reach $660 Million in Q3 2016
According to the latest edition of GTM Research and ESA’s U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, corporate investment in energy storage reached an all-time high in terms of quarterly investments in Q3. Disclosed venture funding and project finance totaled $660 million in the third quarter of the year, bringing the annual total to $812 million…
Forbes: How Made-In-America Battery Technology Can Help Make America Great Again
…By expanding our investment in advanced battery manufacturing today we can accelerate job growth while our economy comes roaring back. We can modernize our grid and infrastructure, and be the leading force in the advanced energy economy…
Greentech Media: 12 European Energy Storage Startups to Watch
…Called The Business Booster, this year’s event in Barcelona, Spain brought together 150 of InnoEnergy’s ventures. InnoEnergy, which usually holds a 10 percent share in the companies and projects it fosters, gives some of the most promising startups a 4-minute slot to pitch their concepts to the audience…
Power Engineering International: Energy storage most vital issue for European power sector
…A new poll – the POWER-GEN Confidence Index – asked more than 800 power players to rank the areas which they felt were most important to the European power market, firstly in the next 10 years, and then in the next 20. Energy storage topped the list in both categories – with 38 per cent of votes for the period to 2026 and rising to 41 per cent for the period to 2036…
Renewable Energy News
The New York Times: Google Says It Will Run Entirely on Renewable Energy in 2017
Last year, Google consumed as much energy as the city of San Francisco. Next year, it said, all of that energy will come from wind farms and solar panels. The online giant said on Tuesday that all of its data centers around the world will be entirely powered with renewable energy sources sometime next year…
Utility Dive: AEE: Renewable energy demand rising rapidly among large corporations
Renewable energy demand among U.S. companies is significant and growing quickly, according to a report from Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), a clean energy trade group. The AEE report, 2016 Corporate Advanced Energy Commitments, found that 71 of Fortune 100 companies have set renewable energy or sustainability targets, up from 60 just two years ago. Among Fortune 500 companies, commitments have held steady at 43%, or 215 firms, the report found…
The Guardian: EU on track to meet 2020 renewable energy target, report shows
EU countries are on track to meet their 2020 targets for renewable energy and emissions cuts but could fall short of ambitious longer-term goals, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Thursday…The bloc’s 2020 target calls for 20% of gross final energy consumption to come from renewable sources, and that number rose to 16.4% in 2015 from 16% in 2014, according to preliminary estimates cited in the report…
Policy News
Utility Dive: California air regulator rolls out draft plan to achieve 2030 climate goals
The California Air Resources Board last week issued an initial draft plan to meet the state’s ambitious 2030 climate goals, leaning on existing standards and requirements to achieve emissions reductions, Carbon Pulse reports. California plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, which the state says is the “most ambitious target in North America.”…
Fortune: Here’s Why the Clean Energy Industry Is Hopeful About Donald Trump
U.S. wind and solar companies for the first time gave more money to Republicans than Democrats during the 2016 election cycle, according to federal campaign disclosures, part of a years-long effort to expand renewable energy’s appeal beyond liberal environmentalists. The industry is now hoping its strategy of reaching across the political divide will pay off in the form of Congressional support as Republican Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic who has expressed doubts about the role of clean energy, takes the White House in January…
Utility Dive: Updated: Trump taps fossil fuel ally Scott Pruitt to head EPA
President-elect Donald Trump will appoint Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, multiple news outlets report. Pruitt is an ardent critic of the EPA’s power sector regulations under President Obama and has worked with generators and fossil fuel companies to combat stricter environmental rules…
Utility Dive: DOE grants $44M in CO2 storage research
The U.S. Department of Energy yesterday announced it would direct $44 million towards research into carbon storage, part of the agency’s initiative to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels. DOE selected 16 storage projects to receive the funds, aiming to address research gaps that get in the way of carbon capture development…