October 29
Duke Energy to Install New Battery Storage Technology
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Duke Energy will be deploying a new battery energy storage technology developed by Honeywell to expand its flexible energy and renewable energy portfolios. The 400-kWh system will be deployed at Duke Energy’s Mount Holly Microgrids Innovation facility in 2022. Duke will test the ability of the solution to speed up its transition from fossil-fuel power generation to renewables. Honeywell claims its new flow battery is safe, cost-effective and provides long-duration energy storage compared to other technologies.
Southern California Edison (SCE) will add 535 MW of battery energy storage at three of its substations to increase grid reliability for next summer. This move was made in response to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency proclamation to accelerate the deployment of new clean energy and storage projects for the summer. SCE will use land at its existing substations to quickly interconnect the battery storage resources. It has tapped Ameresco to install the battery energy storage systems.
Uplight, the industry-leading technology partner for energy providers transitioning to the clean energy ecosystem, this week announced the acquisition of Agentis, a leading provider of customer engagement outcomes for utility business customers. Businesses are a vital segment of the utility customer base, representing about 60 percent of total energy sales, and driving both local economic and clean energy growth.
Despite living in homes that consume "15 percent more energy per square foot than owner-occupied homes," Americans who rent their homes often face significant barriers to participating in energy efficiency and clean energy programs compared to homeowners, according to a new report from the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC). More than a third of American households today are rented, not owned by the occupants, SECC quoted the U.S. Census Bureau – and renters are often limited in the energy-efficient actions that they can take around their homes.
In the race to meet aggressive decarbonization and net-zero carbon goals and regulations, a new study shows that utilities cannot afford to just focus on clean energy supply investments. The report, by The Brattle Group and Oracle Utilities, found that by 2040 actions by utility customers can reduce nearly two times more greenhouse gas emissions from the residential and light-duty vehicle sectors than would result from current policies to promote investments in clean energy supply alone.
Tesla found a new way to break the internet Monday: Sell 100,000 Model 3 electric sedans to Hertz, the recently bankrupt rental car company. Much of the ensuing commentary focused on Tesla’s value shooting past $1 trillion, which propelled CEO Elon Musk’s personal fortune to stratospheric new heights. But the deal, worth approximately $4 billion based on the list price of the Model 3, raises broader questions about the next stage of growth for the electric vehicle industry.
Earlier this month, Rocky Mountain Power proposed adding a sonnen battery to thousands of existing rooftop solar systems in Utah as a means of adding smart residential energy storage and creating a swath of firm dispatchable grid assets from intermittent producers. sonnen, one of the global market leaders in smart residential energy storage, is collaborating with ES Solar, a leading Utah solar contractor, as part of their partnership with Rocky Mountain Power’s Wattsmart Battery program.
Many states throughout the country are beginning to set their own greenhouse gas (GHG) emission limits to combat climate change. In order for states to meet these limits, significant GHG reductions from both the commercial & industrial and residential sector are necessary. This series of articles will examine how technology intersects with supporting policies to drive residential sector decarbonization.