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By Zachary Vasile
When the Hartford Business Journal asked Connecticut manufacturers, regulators and researchers about the viability of large-scale energy storage devices, or batteries, in 2017, they agreed that while the technology would one day be useful or even transformative, numerous obstacles, including cost, were making widespread adoption impractical.
Four years later, however, the view among industry insiders is much different, with many noting that batteries are, and have been, “ready for prime time,” in the words of Melissa P. Gillett, chairperson of the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
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Melissa P. Gillett
PURA last year issued a straw proposal laying out what regulators would hope to achieve through the adoption of energy storage systems, including hardening the grid against disasters like Tropical Storm Isaias, which left around 800,000 customers without power, some for more than a week.
The battery is ready to power the world
An electric car is charged by a mobile charging station on a street in Prague, Czech Republic
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Russell Gold,
, The Wall Street Journal
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Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries were first commercially used in hand-held camcorders in 1991. Laptops soon followed. A decade later, batteries enabled the rise of tech titans such as Apple Inc. by powering smartphones and wearable devices, then made their way into electric vehicles. The basic technology throughout remained pretty much the same: Lithium ions move through a liquid from the cathode to the anode, and back again.
Author: Alex Done, lead data scientist and market analyst, Modo Energy
Alex Done, lead data scientist and market analyst for energy transition specialists Modo Energy explained the newest ancillary services opportunity to open up on the UK grid, why network provider National Grid decided to launch it and what might lie ahead for electricity network services and grid balancing as the transition to low carbon energy sources speeds up.
Cover Image: 8minute Solar Energy s Eland Solar & Storage Center, 70 miles north of Los Angeles, on track for completion in 2023 and the subject of a fascinating blog in March from Apricum into why the project s power purchase agreement (PPA) came in at such a low price. Image: 8minute Solar Energy.