Redflow NEWS & EVENTS, page-1161

Long Duration Energy Storage Technologies and Development
Industry Theatre
Tuesday, 18th Jul
11:15 - 12:25
Chair:Nishad Mendis, Manager, Energy Transition, Bureau Veritas Australia

• Energy Storage Will Drive the Global Energy TransitionBill Sproull, VP Business Development, ESS Inc As the price of fossil fuels continues to rise, the price of renewables continues to decrease. Coal prices have hit record highs over the last year, with the International Energy Agency predicts that the renewable energy sector is set to grow by 50% from 2019-2024 as the world seeks low-cost and low-carbon sources of energy. Energy storage will enable growing electricity demand to be reliably met with renewable energy despite the intermittent nature of wind and solar generation. A Victoria Energy Policy Centre report estimated that a 20-fold increase in current energy storage levels would be required to meet Australia’s 2050 net-zero goal. The Long Duration Energy Storage Council and consulting firm McKinsey & Co. have estimated that the world’s electricity grids must add between 85-140 TWh of long-duration energy storage by 2040 for full global grid decarbonisation. Recent new battery storage developments in Queensland, showcases Australia as a world leader in new long-duration energy storage technologies. New, commercially available long-duration energy storage technologies, including iron flow batteries, can deliver the storage capacity and energy security urgently needed in Australia and globally. New storage technologies do so at a lower cost and impact than legacy storage technologies, such as lithium ion, while avoiding supply chain vulnerabilities and operational challenges. This is key for avoiding new vulnerabilities arising from high and volatile critical mineral prices or highly concentrated clean energy supply chains. These new technologies can be deployed in a variety of use cases. One example includes a solar + long-duration energy storage microgrid deployed in a remote desert community in California that provides a resilient source of clean power, ensuring continuous operation of critical community facilities. Decarbonising the electricity grid with renewable energy and long-duration energy storage will provide energy security, combat climate change and reduce energy price volatility due to geopolitical challenges.
• World's largest next-generation long-duration energy storage project in operationKira Rundel, Commercial and Strategy, RayGen RayGen has a new approach to solar and storage, with recent investment from AGL, Schlumberger, Chevron, Equinor, Photon Energy and ARENA. RayGen is operating the world's largest next generation storage project (50MWh) near Mildura, using modules manufactured in Melbourne. The 4MW solar, 3MW/50MWh (17 hour) storage facility is the large-scale delivery of RayGen's high-efficiency solar and low cost thermal-water storage. The project has an offtake with AGL. A larger, 300MW solar, 150MW / 3.6GWh storage project - the world's largest non-pumped hydro storage project - is in development in South Australia, and RayGen is working with AGL on projects at the former Liddell coal power station. RayGen is also investigating baseload power supply to Chevron, Equinor and Schlumberger operations. The presentation will describe RayGen's new technology - how it works (in detail), key differences, applications - and also discuss this world-leading 50MWh project, with many photos from site during construction and operation. An outlook for future projects in development will also be provided.
• Maturing energy storage marketTim Harris, CEO and Managing Director, Redflow Lithium-ion batteries are currently addressing grid stability and renewable energy intermittence challenges. The maturing grid now requires medium to long duration energy storage to mitigate renewable energy curtailment, enable load shifting and peak shaving, and bulk energy arbitrage. This transition is seeing an increased interest in potential hybrid solutions capturing the best aspects of either technology and enabling participation in all potential revenue streams of utility scale grid connected batteries. Another emerging trend exhibiting this maturation is the need for community batteries that don’t require the cutting-edge grid support capabilities of lithium-ion but do require 10+ hours of energy storage duration and potentially even 24/7 capability. We have seen these developments in a number of other markets, for example across both commercial, industrial and utility scale projects in California and Arizona in the US. Along with key decarbonisation requirements Australia is poised to follow suit, given increased political pressure.
• Accelerating the Global Renewable Energy TransitionLucas Sadler, Vice President Sales & Business Development APAC, Energy Vault Variable renewable energy sources struggle to replace fossil fuel power due to the intermittency of the generation source (wind/solar) and the lack of economic and sustainable energy storage solutions. Energy Waste Management is a global challenge and environmental policy pressure is increasing with a renewed focus on sustainable development of the energy sector. Energy Vault addresses energy waste through a unique approach to the circular economy that addresses two major areas of risk. Cost-effective energy storage and energy management solutions are required to increase the amount of electricity that can be delivered to the grid from renewable energy sources in a balanced way that supports grid integration resiliency. Energy Vault develops sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions designed with a unique approach to the circular economy, to advance the transition to a carbon-free, resilient power grid.
• Accelerating renewables using gravityMark Swinnerton, CEO, Green Gravity The rapid decarbonisation of the energy system requires accelerated deployment of energy storage assets to maintain system integrity. Pressure on the delivery rate of pumped hydroelectricity projects, coupled with price and availability pressure on lithium, is lifting the cost of conventional utility-scale energy storage developments. Gravitational energy storage technologies are an emerging area of electro-mechanical systems directly competing with conventional electro-chemical and thermal energy storage options. Green Gravity is commercialising a technology utilising legacy mine shafts to move heavy weights vertically, creating economic energy storage at a scale likely to provide material storage to the grid. Green Gravity’s energy storage system moves multiple heavy weights vertically in a legacy mine shaft to capture and release the potential gravitational energy of the weights. By simply using proven mechanical parts and disused mine shafts, Green Gravity’s energy storage technology is low-cost, long life and environmentally compelling. Storing energy in this way uses no processed chemicals and has no performance degradation over time, or as a function of the number of cycles. Moving weights vertically allows for high Round Trip Efficiency and using legacy mine shafts allows reuse of existing structures. Australia has highly favourable conditions to develop and commercialise innovations in gravitational storage technology. With an innovative culture, significant demand for energy storage and around 100,000 legacy mine sites, the opportunity for domestic and export growth of this technology is significant.