In a webinar earlier this year, Bryan Whitton, product manager at Darfon America, presented on what’s driving the development of efficient, low-cost storage systems. His comments are summarized below. You can watch the full webinar on demand here.
Bryan Whitton, product manager at Darfon America
The market for energy storage technology is changing rapidly. Traditionally, energy storage was used in off-grid projects, or to provide a little bit of backup power for grid-tied installations.
The available systems were designed for these types of projects, without any heavy technology involved. They were complex and expensive to install. You had all these big, lead-acid batteries and you were constantly checking water levels and the specific gravity. You wound up having to design systems by putting together the pieces. There was no one place to go that could do it all with a simple plug-and-play approach.
But that’s where we’re at now. We’re moving on with storage system advancement, and there are several factors driving this.
The threat of grid destabilizing
First and foremost is the threat of grid destabilization. In markets like Hawaii, utilities can’t maintain proper voltages and frequency because of all the solar being fed in. There are new requirements and self-consumption, so whatever solar power you install, you’ve got to use; you can’t pass it onto the grid.
Many states are also abandoning net metering, making it financially nonviable to put solar on a house. Again, you’re stuck figuring out how to use the power if you want to go solar.
Utilities in some markets, such as in California, are creating new time-of-use schedules that are less compatible with PV production. Most PV systems generate power through the middle of the day, tapering off at the end, building up in the morning. That used to be really good when peak time-of-use was in the middle of the day when the air conditioning was running and people were at work. But some utilities are changing those peak time-of-use hours to the evening because that’s when people get home and use more power. If you aren’t producing enough solar to cover your electricity during peak hours, you’re not saving as much on your electricity bill.
Electricity-dependent lifestyles
Our lifestyles have also become much more dependent on electricity. It’s more difficult to survive when the electricity drops out. Pretty much everywhere you go throughout the United States there’s some natural disaster that can cause electricity to drop out for extended periods of time. People are looking for energy security. As a result, people are demanding more solar, but their solar array has to shut down when the grid goes down.
That’s no longer the case. Now you can tell customers that when the grid goes down PV with batteries can still be used to run your household. That’s a really big, powerful statement, and new technology means it can be done cost effectively.
More customers looking to go off-grid
Some people are looking for energy independence. More and more are looking to go off of the grid and generate their own reliable source of power. It’s getting easier to do this with more cost-effective and easy-to-install solar and storage solutions.