ENERGY STORAGE 

PV Magazine: Report shows France will triple storage capacity by 2020

The report’s overall finding is that France’s installed capacity for energy storage will triple by 2020, thus exceeding the 100 MW limit. New self-consumption regulations, the opening of the ancillary services market and a new tender for 50 MW of PV+storage on the French Islands, the latest in a series of tenders announced for the region, are confirmation of France’s ambition to develop a leading market for energy storage…

Renew Economy: Turnbull right to fund energy storage: 100% renewable grid is within reach

In a speech to the National Press Club yesterday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared that the key requirements for Australia’s electricity system are that it should be affordable, reliable, and able to help meet national emissions-reduction targets. He also stressed that efforts to pursue these goals should be “technology agnostic” – that is, the best solutions should be chosen on merit, regardless of whether they are based on fossil fuels, renewable energy or other technologies…

Greentech Media: Spanish Coal-Fired Power Station Plans to Add Energy Storage

Enel-owned power company Endesa has taken the first steps to add battery storage to one of the largest thermal generation plants in Spain. The innovation will help make the plant more efficient and flexible, reducing emissions and the need for maintenance in order to prolong the plant’s useful life, the company says…

Renewable Energy World: Energy Storage Market Outlook 2017: State of Play

…For the near future, the dominant form of energy storage, pumped hydropower, is sure to remain the principal method of storing energy, occupying a global market share of over 95 percent…Going forward, battery storage — of the lithium-ion variety — is expected to retain its majority market share, according to Roberts…

 UTILITIES

Utility Dive: How utility data sharing is helping the New York REV build the grid of the future

…But New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) docket includes an effort to enhance and spread the knowledge of the utility grid, part of its distribution system planning proceeding. If stakeholders there can agree on a common approach, it could become a model to enhance grid planning and DER collaboration across the country…

Midwest Energy News: New Xcel program sells renewable energy directly to businesses and homeowners

Minnesota’s largest utility this spring will offer businesses and ratepayers the opportunity to buy shares of power directly from two renewable energy sources… The Public Utilities Commission approved a pilot for the program, known as Renewable Connect, in January. The pilot allows Xcel Energy to apportion 50 megawatts of wind generated from the 200 MW Odell Wind Farm in southwest Minnesota to the program…

Los Angeles Times: Californians are paying billions for power they don’t need

…California has a big — and growing — glut of power, an investigation by the Los Angeles Times has found. The state’s power plants are on track to be able to produce at least 21% more electricity than it needs by 2020, based on official estimates. And that doesn’t even count the soaring production of electricity by rooftop solar panels that has added to the surplus…. In recent years, the gap between what Californians pay versus the rest of the country has nearly doubled to about 50%…

POLICY

Greentech Media: Solar Policy Actions Spiked in 2016, With a Focus on Net Metering

…Nearly every single U.S. state took some type of policy action related to distributed solar in 2016, according to the NC Clean Energy Technology Center’s (NCCETC) year-end edition of The 50 States of Solar. A total of 212 solar policy actions were taken by states and utilities across the country, which represents 37 more actions than in 2015. These developments occurred in 47 states plus Washington, D.C…

Utility Dive: With tax reform on the table, senators prepare second push for energy storage incentives

… “At this stage there are a lot of moving parts, but we expect multiple pieces of legislation related to storage and taxes to be introduced,” Matt Roberts, executive director of the Energy Storage Association said… Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said he plans to re-introduce legislation in the current congressional session that would provide an investment tax credit for energy storage. He first introduced the tax credit in 2016, but it failed to pass out of committee…

RENEWABLE ENERGY

TIME: The Solar Power Industry Keeps Adding Jobs

The number of jobs in the U.S. solar industry grew by 25% last year as the energy sector continued its march away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, according to a new report. More than 260,000 people now work in the solar industry, according to the report, published by the non-profit Solar Foundation. The workforce employed in the industry has increased 17-fold since 2010. The figures in the report are consistent with numbers from the Department of Energy…

Bloomberg: How Germany Hammers Down Renewable Energy Costs: QuickTake Q&A

Germany’s pioneering turn toward clean energy is approaching another milestone with a new round of auctions for wind power expected to push the price of electricity from renewables to record lows. Rules for tenders in the next contest were implemented to bring wind and solar growth under control after capacity outpaced the German grid’s ability to absorb new flows of power and burdened consumers with higher costs…

Good News Network: Instead of Sending Holiday Cards to Customers, Business Buys Renewable Energy for Kenyans

Qmarkets, a global provider of enterprise idea and innovation management software, has partnered with UK-based charity Renewable World, to provide renewable energy to communities on the shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya. Every year Qmarkets allocates a significant budget towards wishing their contacts a happy holiday season, however in 2016 it was decided that this budget could be spent in a somewhat more meaningful way…