ROUNDUP: Australia’s Vanadium, UK Battery+EV Charger Deal, DC-Coupled Optimiser Launch From Alencon

Ground-breaking for the lithium-vanadium hybrid project this week for TEC-C Investments at the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy Campus. Image: via TEC-C Investments’ Felipe Kovacic / LinkedIn.

Australian Vanadium explores opportunities with UPS provider Metrowest

Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL), parent to vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) storage system company VSUN Energy, will jointly look at opportunities with Metrowest Power Systems, a maker of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems.

Stock exchange-listed AVL has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to “facilitate opportunities for both companies,” AVL said. Leaning on what it called Metrowest’s “proven track record and wealth of connections in industrial and utility sectors,” AVL and VSUN want to be able to take on bigger projects: “and to be considered equals to some of the more prominent participants in the market.”

The news comes during what appears to be a gradual period of acceptance for flow batteries in the Australian market. While the vast majority of new-build energy storage is lithium-ion battery, one New South Wales company, TEC-C Investments, said this week that it has broken ground on a 420kW/1,200kWh hybrid battery, combining lithium and vanadium flow energy storage technologies at the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy Campus. This follows on from a similar project going online recently at Monash University, which Scott McGregor, CEO of flow energy storage provider redT, blogged about for this site.

UK’s Moixa packages home battery with EV charging

Energy technology firm Moixa and EV charging manufacturer EO Charging have collaborated on a dedicated smart charging and home solar battery solution for the UK market.

The package will comprise Moixa’s smart home batteries and EO’s Genius range of home electric vehicle chargers, with Moixa’s GridShare flexibility software underpinning the combination of the two.

The companies said that installing the package together would help drivers cut the cost of charging electric vehicles at home.

Moixa’s software will monitor and use household data to learn energy consumption patterns. That will be measured against local weather forecasts – which would affect domestic solar panel output – to put together tailored charging plans for each installed system.

Story by Liam Stoker.

To read the full version of this story visit Current±.

Moixa battery (left) with EO EV charger. Image: Moixa Technologies.

Alencon, E22 launch DC-coupled solar-plus-storage optimiser

E22, a manufacturer of energy storage systems (ESS), power converters and power control systems headquartered in Spain, has partnered with Alencon from the US to offer a DC-coupled solar-plus-storage solution.

The pair tout the development and integration of E22’s DC POWER OPTIMISER; a DC-to-DC bi-directional power converter with Alencon’s bi-directional energy storage system optimiser (BOSS), connected to a battery and housed in a 2m by 2.3m container.

DC-DC converter manufacturer Alencon said the containerised solution also includes communications and controls suite, battery management system (BMS) and cooling as safety systems. Compliant with UL1741 and designed to UL9540A, Alencon said the distributed systems can connect with string inverters up to 150kW and up to 1,500volts DC. E22 developed the solution’s energy management and system control software platform, ETER. Other makers are expected to continue with launches of DC-coupled solutions for solar-plus-storage as the global market develops.

Investment fund takes 5MW step towards 150MW target

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund has completed the purchase of a 5MW standalone battery storage project.

But the UK fund’s portfolio is set to swell significantly in the coming months as it sets its sights on nearly 150MW of new battery storage capacity.

The facility, based in Wolverhampton, in the Midlands of England, originally formed part of an exclusive pipeline of projects pursued by Gresham House and has been purchased for a total sum of £3.5 million (US$4.25 million).

The project was developed by both Gresham House DevCo and Noriker Power.

It was connected to the distribution network and completed all G59 commissioning tests in April this year.

Gresham House said the project was aligned to its investment criteria by pursuing a revenue model based primarily on asset optimisation, using its capacity to profit from wholesale power price fluctuations and National Grid’s Balancing Mechanism.

The acquisition is Gresham House’s sixth such purchase and takes the fund’s utility-scale battery storage portfolio to 75MW.

However, that capacity is set to swell significantly if Gresham House completes its next acquisition, a 49MW operational asset, which is expected to close by the end of the year after it is brought online.

Two further utility-scale batteries are due to start construction imminently.