As the world transitions to renewable energy sources, battery storage technologies play a vital role in replacing fossil fuels. Battery storage systems will play an increasingly pivotal role between green energy supplies and responding to electricity demands.
Battery storage, or Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), enables energy from renewables (solar, wind) to be stored and released when needed.
As the world transitions to renewable energy sources, battery storage technologies play a vital role in replacing fossil fuels. Battery storage systems will play an increasingly pivotal role between green energy supplies and responding to electricity demands.
Battery storage, or Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), enables energy from renewables (solar, wind) to be stored and released when needed.
Why is Battery Energy Storage Important and how it works
Battery Energy Storage (BES) plays a key role ensuring homes and businesses can be powered by green energy, even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind has stopped blowing. Battery storage systems harness energy from solar and wind power, storing it for release when needed. Advanced software algorithms and computerized control systems optimize energy production, storage, and release. During peak demand, stored energy is dispatched to the grid, ensuring a reliable and cost-effective supply.Battery storage is essential for integrating renewable energy into the grid. By capturing and storing excess energy, battery storage systems can:
Reduce production costs
Support net-zero carbon goals
Enhance energy security
Increase the value of clean energy
Benefits and Savings
The EU community estimates that battery storage and other low-carbon technologies could save the energy system up to $40 billion by 2050, leading to lower energy bills.
Emerging Storage Technologies
While lithium-ion batteries dominate the market, researchers are developing alternative storage solutions:While lithium-ion batteries dominate the market, researchers are developing alternative storage solutions:
Compressed air Energy Storage – With these systems, generally located in large chambers, surplus power is used to compress air and then store it. When energy is needed, the compressed air is released and passes through an air turbine to generate electricity.
Mechanical gravity energy storage – One example of this type of system is when energy is used to lift concrete blocks up a tower. When the energy is needed, the concrete blocks are lowered back down, generating electricity using the pull of gravity.
Flow batteries – In these batteries, which are essentially rechargeable fuel cells, chemical energy is provided by two chemical components dissolved in liquids contained within the system and separated by a membrane.
7.6Kw offgrid install. Battery Storage -920Ah at 48V. System Comes with Auto generator start embedded in the 12K Sol-Ark inverter. 12 – 450w bifacial solar panels producing 30% extra power from the back.
7.6Kw offgrid install. Battery Storage -920Ah at 48V. System Comes with Auto generator start embedded in the 12K Sol-Ark inverter. 12 – 450w bifacial solar panels producing 30% extra power from the back.
This install is quite unique. The lakefront property only has one spot where the maximum solar energy can be generated. Unfortunately, this spot is about 160-ft away from the inverter. larger sized wires (8 awg) had to be used to minimize the voltage drop to an acceptable less than 3% A Sol-Ark 12k inverter was used. Being an offgrid install on a new house, the builder where able to use the energy provided by the system to power their heavy equipment. The system was able to handle power needs with ease. Thanks to the home owners for the opportunity given to us to work on this project
The Doug Ford government cancelled 759 green energy projects in June, 738 of them solar projects, citing the high cost of electricity. Representatives of Ontario’s solar industry say solar has the potential to be the cheapest power.
Since the Ontario government cancelled more than 738 solar rooftop projects earlier this year, the solar industry has been urging the government to create a new free-market regulatory regime in the province.
All but the largest projects are on hold until the red tape that surrounds connecting to the grid in Ontario can be trimmed or eliminated, according to John Gorman, president of the Canadian Solar Industries Association.
Concerned about the cost of Ontario electricity, the Doug Ford government cancelled 759 solar and wind projects in June and ended the Green Energy Act — which was paying higher rates for renewable energy that was fed into the provincial grid — in December.
The previous Liberal government’s feed-in tariff for renewable electricity offered contracts at a fixed price above market rates in an effort to encourage the building of renewable systems — starting at 80 cents per KW/h for the first to sign such contracts in 2009, with the amount offered gradually reduced to about 22 cents.
That’s still higher than the rate actually paid by Ontario residents, which ranges from seven to 18 cents per KW/h.
But Gorman argues solar has the potential to be the cheapest power on offer, if the process of connecting to the grid can be streamlined.
Other provinces
The solar industry remains very active in markets like Alberta, where there is a simple regime for net metering — or selling off extra power that is not being used.
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia have all made progress in strengthening and streamlining net metering, Gorman said. Ontario has yet to catch up.
“We’re moving to a free market where everyone has the right to connect,” he says. “It can either be simple or very difficult.”
Currently Ontario has about 60 municipal and regional utilities. Each has a different process and contract to connect a solar system to the grid — contracts of up to 80 pages that can take months to implement.
The solar industry is out to change that.
“There is a real urgency to do this. The government wants to help farmers and homeowners save on electricity. This is a way of building capacity that does not draw on the tax base,” Gorman said.
Who’s losing out?
That’s because the capital cost of building solar systems falls to the private sector or homeowner — not Ontario Power Generation, which already has high debt charges from its nuclear system.
The owner of the solar system either gets a rebate on their electrical bill, or is reimbursed by their local utility, for feeding power into the grid.
The construction workers and technicians who put solar panels on roofs moved on to other work and weren’t greatly hurt by the cancellation of so many contracts this June, Gorman said.
But the First Nations, non-profits, municipal buildings, schools and homeowners who had planned to add rooftop solar were left without the opportunity to cut their electricity costs.
Fidel Reijerse, president of Resco Energy in Toronto, says these kinds of electricity users could benefit from a simplified net metering program in Ontario.
“Only the large projects are able to handle the bureaucratic burden and are able to move forward,” he said.
“A large swath of customers have been discouraged by regulation — everyone from the small business to the homeowner wanting solar on the roof.”
Fidel Reijerse of Resco Energy says only large rooftop projects on industrial and commercial buildings are going ahead, because of the cost and delays involved in connecting to the grid. (Resco Energy)
Reijerse says the Ontario government seems receptive to the idea of simplifying rules and regulations around solar — the Ford government campaigned this year on cutting red tape.
He said the industry has been lobbying several Ontario ministries, but primarily the premier’s office.
“In the solar industry, we don’t require money, just a change of regulations,” he said.
Writing off capital costs
One recent step forward is that Ontario has aligned with the federal tax regime that allows writeoff of the capital costs of a solar system in a single year.
“That is a help, but only for a certain segment of the market,” Reijerse said. “You have to be a profitable Canadian company with a building where you use energy. Non-profits can’t take advantage or pension funds.”
So a 500 KW system on a flat roof of an industrial building might find it is profitable to go forward.
But it doesn’t help the homeowner who wants rooftop solar.
Gorman said Ontario discourages third-party ownership — where a third party pays the capital costs of solar installation, in return for a portion of the proceeds.
“The homeowner is limited by their ability to borrow and they pay higher borrowing costs,” he said.
He said such systems have the potential to cut electricity costs for low-income homeowners.
