Inverters are critical to energy storage operation. As the “brains” of a storage project, inverters manage, optimize and ultimately drive project performance and returns. Yet the landscape for energy storage inverters remains nascent and fragmented, full of new products with varying applications and functionality. In a new report, The Energy Storage Inverter Landscape, we highlight the biggest challenges for storage inverter manufacturers, identify characteristics of successful vendors, and note key trends in the growing market. Here are five of the key trends shaping the energy storage inverter market. The vendor landscape will remain extremely fragmented in the coming years. Most inverter
For the past two decades, venture investors have embraced clean energy technologies. Now, with the search for better battery technologies, these same investors are turning to battery businesses. According to data from cleantech investment and advisory services firm Mercom Capital, battery companies have raised $480 million in the first half of 2017. the major portion of that capital was raised by Texas-based Microvast Power Systems (MPS), a subsidiary of HUZHOU, China-based Microvast. ...read more about Microvast, Gridential, and Romeo Power on digitaljournal.com
Nissa Scott started working at the cavernous Amazon warehouse in southern New Jersey late last year, stacking plastic bins the size of small ottomans. It was not, she says, the most stimulating activity. And lifting the bins, which often weigh 25 pounds each, was also tiring over 10-hour shifts. Now Ms. Scott, 21, watches her replacement — a giant, bright yellow mechanical arm — do the stacking. Her new job at Amazon is to babysit several robots at a time, troubleshooting them when necessary and making sure they have bins to load. On a recent afternoon, a claw at end of the arm grabbed a bin off a conveyor belt and stacked it on another bin, forming neat columns on wooden pallets surrounding
Gridtential Inc., an innovator in low-cost, high-performance energy storage technologies, announced today it has completed an $11 million Series B equity raise led by 1955 Capital, with participation from leading U.S. and Chinese battery manufacturers East Penn Manufacturing, Crown Battery Manufacturing, Leoch International and Power-Sonic Inc., and existing investors The Roda Group and battery industry leader and Chairman Ray Kubis. With the rechargeable battery market expected to exceed $100 billion by 2025, Gridtential will use this new capital to expand development and licensing agreements to meet growing global demand for advanced energy storage in the automotive, backup power, grid sol
A West Michigan startup hopes to drive down costs and increase consumer safety for electric vehicles with new technology it plans to bring to market next year. Jolt Energy Storage Technologies LLC of Holland is currently conducting long-term life cycle testing on a compound that will allow lithium-ion batteries to avoid overcharging, which can reduce the life of the battery or cause it to catch fire and explode in a worst-case scenario. According to Jack Johnson, who co-founded Jolt, the technology will improve the safety, reliability and durability of lithium-ion batteries, and ultimately reduce costs. The technology also allows for a more accurate measurement of the energy stored in a batt
Digitalization is changing shipping dynamics, while renewable technologies are re-inventing the energy mix Remember when you had to wait to flag down a taxi? Now we order a taxi via an app and it arrives at your door within minutes. Remember when you had to shop around for the cheapest product? Now the whole market can be compared at the click of a button. Shipping innovation has been left fairly stagnant while all around us we see the profound impact of technological advancements. We continue to see human labor manually off-load mixed products of shipping containers, and then manually refill them for the next trip. Ninety percent of the world’s trade travels by ship, the same as it was many
Tesla has partnered with Vestas, the world's biggest wind-turbine manufacturer, to figure out how to combine their batteries with Vestas' wind farms. The batteries will be used to store excess wind energy that can then be used when the wind isn't blowing. Though Tesla’s batteries are generally associated with the storage of solar power, the technology isn’t limited to just one form of clean energy. Recently, Tesla landed a contract to store energy produced by the Hornsdale Wind Farm in South Australia, and now, they’ve partnered with Vestas, the world’s biggest wind-turbine manufacturer, to figure out how to combine their batteries with Vestas’ wind farms. According to a statement from Vesta
Harvey, the hurricane-turned-tropical depression that’s devastated the Texas Gulf Coast, has also driven home the value of off-grid energy systems, from backup generators to microgrids -- and the dire results of failing to have them ready to prevent disasters. The floodwaters have killed dozens of people and left tens of thousands homeless, and the storm has also knocked out power for more than 200,000utility customers from Beaumont to Corpus Christi. While many residents have had power restored, many others are stuck in flooded areas where utility crews can’t even get to, let alone repair the damage. That’s left many homes, businesses and industrial facilities no choice but to ride out the
