Description

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary (2)

Table of figures (4)

New regulations and initiatives discussed this month (5)

Americas (5)

New York Public Utility approves Con Edison’s demand for behind-the-meter battery injection into the grid (5)

Nevada passes several clean energy bills for energy storage targets (6)

California passes SB700 to create more energy storage incentives alongside the SGIP (7)

PJM Interconnection responds to criticisms concerning the recent changes in regards to energy neutrality (7)

Europe (9)

New subsidy for PV plus storage in Brandenburg through RENplus program (9)

Asia / Oceania (9)

South Australian energy security may exclude battery storage, will the Finkel Report come to the rescue? (9)

Projects updates and announcements (15)

Overview of the 2017 market for utility-scale projects: tenders in the making (15)

Projects commissioned this month (16)

Projects announced this month (17)

Focus of the month – Utility scale, grid connected PV plus storage break prices records (18)

Introduction (18)

The TEP project combines all the necessary factors to make a low cost solar plus storage project (18)

Economies of scale and solar irradiation are at play (19)

The Investment Tax Credit (ITC): a 30 % tax rebate makes all the difference (20)

PV plus storage globally: energy costs are indeed diminishing, but the market remains localized to a few regions (21)

Geographic distribution of PV plus storage projects: only a handful of hotspots can be observed (21)

PV plus storage costs are diminishing, but the TEP project remains an exception (23)

Will PV plus storage become the new standard for the implementation of energy storage? Probably not (25)

Albeit convenient, PV plus storage is not necessarily optimal for the grid operators (25)

PV plus storage PPAs are not optimal, but that does not mean the end of PV and storage (and certainly not the end of generation + storage) (25)

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1: RegA and RegD signals available on PJM for frequency regulation (8)

Figure 2. Timeline recommendations from the Finkel report for Australia's future energy market (11)

Figure 3. Energy storage technologies included in the Finkel Report (adapted from DOE) (13)

Figure 4: Australian Gas and Lighting Energy (AGL)’s suggested prices of new generation (14)

Figure 5. Projects announced and commissioned in 2017 (16)

Figure 6 Comparison of energy costs in the United States by of generation source (18)

Figure 7. Estimated cost breakdown of the Tuscan Electric Power solar plus storage project (20)

Figure 8. Projected revenues for PV plus storage projects (24)