Energy Storage

In 2011 the US Department of Energy (DOE) set a target as part of their SunShot Initiative that the cost of solar power should reach a very competitive $1 per watt, or 6 cents per kilowatt hour, by 2020. Last week they announced they had reached this target a full three years ahead of schedule […]

In this historic hurricane season, the fragility of existing energy infrastructure is on full display. One bright spot in all the coverage of Hurricane Harvey in Houston was that the microgrid equipped H.E.B. Grocery chain of stores kept its shops open and served the public, while power outages kept competitors closed. Each such microgrid success […]

“If the eclipse of the sun is complete it will be dark forever. The demons of darkness will come down. They will eat men!,” reads the The Florentine Codex, an ethnographic study of 16th-century Aztecs in Mexico, which included their interpretation of solar eclipses. In the modern age we, for the most part, have a […]

It didn’t seem that long ago that we were all talking about microgrids, a lot. We may have anticipated a large series of small, renewably driven, battery powered, local energy grids that can be disconnected from the larger utility grid and operate independently. The momentum seemed to have cooled on this revolution however, but recent […]

Home furnishings mega-brand IKEA has taken a bold step into the energy sector with the release of its new Solar Battery Storage offering. They promise to help UK homeowners make savings on their electricity bills, as well as increase the rate at which they can reap the benefits from their solar investment. Considering their brand […]

The future of the automobile is no doubt electric. Despite continued resistance from the oil lobby, electric vehicle (EV) sales continue to grow. EVs offer an emission free personal transport option that, with the proper infrastructure, will require little sacrifice from our current gas-guzzlers. As adoption goes up and prices come down, EVs are promising […]

Supply and demand resources can work together rather than against each other in the modern energy system. New technologies and greater intelligence are redefining the supply – demand relationship; increasing efficiency, enabling distributed generation and reducing overall consumption. At the forefront of this evolution is the Virtual Power Plant (VPP). VPPs take advantage of information […]

An electricity grid has often been equated to a central nervous system, sending signals across its extensive network to bring its body of connections to life. Like a central nervous system the power grid needs a brain to turn intention into action, one that can learn and anticipate in order to develop efficiency and functionality. […]