Energy Gains: CA & NY Long-Duration Projects Surge

What happens when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow for days on end? Discover how our grid can withstand energy droughts as we explore the latest advancements in long-duration energy storage. This week, we spotlight California's groundbreaking $27 million investment in storage solutions for disadvantaged communities, featuring innovative technologies from Redflow, Redox Blocks, and Noon Energy. Learn about New York State's ambitious goals for energy storage and the impressive Q1 2024 performance across the storage industry, with Nevada, Texas, and California leading the charge.

The future of renewable energy and nuclear power is brighter than ever. Get the inside scoop on the Sunrise Wind project off New York's coast and its recent green light for construction. Plus, delve into the Department of Energy's $900 million funding for small modular reactors and the bipartisan ADVANCE Act, aiming to speed up nuclear technology licensing. Join us for an insightful discussion on these pivotal developments and what they mean for the future of our power grid.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I've got your energy stories for this, the fourth week of June 2024, and I've got a lot of long-duration energy story stories. We'll see many more long-duration projects in the years to come as the grid becomes increasingly saturated with renewables. The planning challenge then increasingly focuses on so-called energy droughts, when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine for days on end. Within a few years, the typical four-hour energy shift from midday to evening peak, like we're seeing in California today, likely won't be the main focus anymore for storage. Instead, eyes and attention will shift to resource adequacy the challenge of keeping the lights on when well over half the capacity in the grid is renewable. Those storage resources won't be needed all the time, but they'll be critical for periods when the wind resources and the sunshine don't show up. So the California Energy Commission just approved almost $27 million in funding for three long-duration energy storage projects to serve disadvantaged, low-income and tribal communities. The solicitation specifically called for a minimum of 100 kilowatts of electrochemical or thermal battery resources with at least 24 hours of duration. The winners were Redflow, redox Blocks and Noon Energy. Redflow will install a 1.5 megawatt 6.6 megawatt hour zinc bromine flow battery system that will be integrated into a microgrid and be able to offer at least 100 kilowatts for over 24 hours. Redox Blocks will deploy a 3 megawatt-hour thermal battery with its proprietary storage material that can be heated to 1500 degrees centigrade and relies upon air expansion to drive a turbine and deliver energy for over 24 hours as well. And Nune Energy won its bid for a 100 kilowatt well. And Nune Energy won its bid for a 100 kilowatt 10 megawatt hour reverse carbon dioxide to carbon storage system that will be tied to a PV array to offer 24 hours of energy. Meanwhile, in New York State, the New York State Energy Research Development Authority is offering $5 million for long duration projects yielding up to 10 hours of duration. The state currently has a goal of 3,000 megawatts of storage, with 6,000 megawatts by 2030. Also in the Empire State, central Hudson Gas and Electric just issued an RFP for at least 10 megawatts of grid-connected energy storage systems in its Southeast New York service territory.

Speaker 1: 2:22

The storage industry as a whole continues to score points on the board. Wood Mackenzie reports that Q1 of 2024 saw record numbers for the quarter. Q4 is normally the seasonal winner. Q1 saw 993 megawatts and 2,952 megawatt hours across all market segments, up 84% from Q1 of last year in terms of megawatts and 89% in megawatt hours. Nevada, texas and California garnered over 90% of that Grid scale. Storage prices fell 39%, largely having to do with oversupply in China, and meanwhile residential didn't do too badly at 250 megawatts overall, with only 32 megawatts in California. So on-site storage in the resi space is certainly being democratized.

Speaker 1: 3:13

In New York, the Sunrise Wind project off its coast, jointly owned by Orsted and Eversource 942 megawatts just received the OK for its construction operations plan from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. That's the last piece of federal paper needed to commence construction 30 miles off Long Island and that construction will start in earnest later this year with expected commissioning in 2026. The Department of Energy is providing $900 million of funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law to support deployment of light water small modular reactors. The first round will offer up to $800 million to the first two mover teams that can put reactors in the ground and find offtakers and end users committed to deploying that first plant. The second round of funding will see support of up to $100 million to fix quote key gaps unquote affecting the domestic nuclear industry in areas such as design and licensing, supplier development and site preparation and finally also in the nuke space.

Speaker 1: 4:14

A rare bipartisan effort saw Congress pass a nuclear bill known as the ADVANCE Act. It directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to look for ways to accelerate its new nuclear technology licensing process, setting aside federal funding to support licensing and permitting costs for the first advanced nuclear developer to successfully deploy a technology in the field. Well, that's all for this week. Thanks for watching and we'll see you again next week.