Volume 03 | January 2017 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY 03 lo.pdf · 4 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY CONTENTS INSIGHT ... 12-13 Giving EVs an extra push forward ... The aim of the three year project is

INSID

E CLEAN

ENERG

Ysolarpow

erportal.co.ukVol. 03. 2017

Volume 03 | January 2017

INSIGHT AND INTELLIGENCE FOR THE CLEAN ENERGY SUPPLY CHAIN

GOING ROGUE Dale Vince reveals how Ecotricity keeps disrupting the sector

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Why companies are turning to PPAs for their electricity needs

RHI REBELLION How a subsidy scheme brought down a government

INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY

A NEW HOPE:

The UK Energy Storage Opportunity

Supplement Inside

storage.solarenergyevents.com

Over 300 industry professionals attended the inaugural Energy Storage Summit in April 2016 – and the 2017 edition is set to be even bigger and better.

The focus of the Summit will be to attract energy buyers as well as potential investors of projects and technology. Business models across different market segments, technology innovation, case studies and industry stakeholder strategies will also be covered over the two days.

SPECIAL OFFER!

SAVE 10% when you book

online, use code: ICE

28 February - 01 March 2017VICTORIA PARK PLAZA, LONDON, UK

#StorageSummit

OFFICIAL PARTNER


DEVELOPERS & ENERGY BUYERS

CAMBORNE CAPITAL | Dan Taylor, Managing Director

ANESCO | Neil Hutchings, Director of Power Systems and Energy Storage

BRITISH RENEWABLES | Chris Bennett-Curry, Finance Director

EDF | Niall Riddell, Head of Special Projects

JOJU SOLAR | Chris Jardine, Technical Director

GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL | Peter Wiggins, Corporate Sustainability Manager

NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL | Wayne Bexton, Head of Energy

SMART POWER SYSTEMS | Dr. Ian Chilvers, Managing Director

EATON | Louis Shaffer, Distributed Energy Segment Leader EMEA

AES | Carla Tully, President AES UK & Ireland

BELECTRIC | Duncan Bott, Managing Director

AES ENERGY STORAGE | Paul McCusker, Vice President

UTILITIES

ENEL | Irene Fastelli, Head of New Technologies and Business Opportunity

EDF | Niall Riddell, Head of Special Projects

ESB | John Pollard

DNOS & NATIONAL GRID

OFGEM | Andrew Burgess, Associate Partner

NATIONAL GRID | Phil Sheppard, Head of Network Strategy

WESTERN POWER | Roger Hey, Future Networks Manager

SCOTTISH POWER NETWORK | Alan Collinson, Future Networks

WESTERN POWER | Faithful Chanda, Future Networks Engineer

WESTERN POWER | Mark Dale, Future Networks Engineer

WESTERN POWER | Ben Godfrey, Future Networks Engineer

UK PN | Adriana Laguna-Estopier, Low Carbon Technologies Manager Future Networks

UK PN | Jose Barros, Infrastructure Planning Engineer

NATIONAL GRID | Paul Lowbridge, Account Manager Power Responsive

FINANCIERS & INVESTORS

INVESTEC | Olivier Fricot, Head of Project Finance

MACQUARIE | Puneet Sharma, Corporate and Asset Finance

TRIODOS | Philip Bazin, Environment Team Manager

BLUEFIELD | Giovanni Terranova, Founding Partner

ZOUK CAPITAL | Colin Campbell, Director

INGENIOUS | Roberto Castiglioni, Fund Manager

JOHN LAING | Simon Parrish, Project Director

SUSI PARTNERS | Asif Rafique, Managing Director

TEMPORIS CAPITAL | Mark Henderson, Head of Infrastructure Debt

FORESIGHT | Richard Thompson, Director

PLATINA PARTNERS | Riccardo Cirillo, Director

ASSOCIATIONS

NFU | Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Renewables Adviser

ENA | Tony Glover, Head of Policy

APSE | Stephen Cirell, Consultant

FIRST WAVE OF SPEAKERS

Sponsors


Regulars

3INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY

In around two months’ time, the era of widespread solar deployment in the UK will grind to a halt, shuttered until such a time that it can be developed at grid parity. The closure of the Renewables Obligation scheme a year earlier than originally established, coupled with devastating cuts to the feed-in tariff, has all but brought the curtain down on the Great British Build-out.

But that’s not to say there aren’t opportunities in UK Solar. More disruptive and trou-blesome than ever – at least from a centralised generation point of view – the domestic solar industry is reimagining itself as a services industry. Whether it’s optimisation, opera-tions and maintenance, or just regular monitoring, there’s a burgeoning sub-sector of solar engineers finding work.

Unsurprisingly, this is the new area of intense competition. Just as EPCs raced to the UK in search of deployment opportunities, now O&M firms are falling over themselves to get in front of asset owners. If you’re after a broad-scope O&M contract, high-level panel testing or even just a quick spring clean you can bet there’s a company offering its ser-vices, and another one promising to do it cheaper than them.

UK Solar is now being beset by a price war. A race to the bottom for O&M that prom-ises much, but stands to deliver little. This issue’s cover feature (p. 16) analyses the battle for UK O&M market share, and uncovers that while there is indeed a price war being waged, the winners might not be the cheapest on offer.

O&M is not the only sector where price is a more fluid factor than before. In early January the European Commission recommended that anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar cells and modules be extended for a further two years in a somewhat surprising move considering its increasing irrelevance. Of course this is not the only issue affecting module prices and we also look to shine more light on the shadow of module oversupply (p. 22) which looks like rearing its head once again in 2017.

But if opportunities in deployment and maintenance are at risk of curtailment due to pricing the same cannot be said of storage. Battery prices continue to fall at an amazing rate and opportunities in the UK market grow just as quickly. Grid service tenders such as Enhanced and Fast Frequency Response, alongside the Capacity Market auction, have granted utility-scale storage a route to market in the UK and the early results have been phenomenal.

Outside of the utility-scale realm battery storage manufacturers are flocking to the UK residential market. Established challengers for market share like Tesla, Sonnen, Solarwatt and Moixa are seeing their territory being broached by the likes of Nissan and Eaton, BMW and more. Utilities too have an eye on this potentially lucrative market, as Dale Vince tells us (p48). This issue also includes a special storage supplement written spe-cifically to uncover where the opportunities lie in the UK market, and how you can take advantage of them.

While it may only be January – and we cannot rule out a surprise or two within the government’s forthcoming carbon plan – the renewables sector’s direction in 2017 looks to be already cast in stone. If 2015 and 2016 were dictated by political will, 2017 stands to be largely dominated by price. And that might just be the driver to grant it much need-ed certainty.

Liam StokerEditor

WORDS FROM THE

EDITOR

Published bySolar Media Ltd.3rd Floor, America House,

2 America Square, London, EC3N 2LU

Tel: +44 (0) 207 871 0122

Fax: +44 (0) 207 681 3575

[email protected]

www.solarpowerportal.co.uk

Publishing director: Chris Riley

EditorialEditor: Liam Stoker

Head of content: John Parnell

Reporters: Andy Colthorpe, David Pratt

Design & productionArt director: Sarah Lee

Production: Daniel H. Brown

Web design & development: Azeem Hadi

AdvertisingUK advertisement manager: Rachel McGhie

Marketing & subscriptionsDigital marketing & production executive: Lindsey Guest

Printed by Buxton Press Ltd. Inside Clean Energy

Volume 03, 2017

ISSN: 1757-1197

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this supplement, the publisher will accept no responsibility for any errors, or opinion expressed, or omissions, or for any loss or damage, consequential or otherwise, suffered as a result of any material here published.

The entire contents of this publication are pro-tected by copyright, full details of which are available from the publisher. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Go to www.solarpowerportal.co.uk for more news and analysis.

4 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY

CONTENTS

INSIGHT06-07 NewsAll the latest news and views from the UK’s clean energy sector

08-11 News analysis08-09 Going local

Liam Stoker, Solar Media

11 Burning down the house

12-15 Opinion12-13 Giving EVs an extra push forward

David Martell, CEO, Chargemaster

14-15 Burning question14-15 Are the RHI reforms good news for the renewable heat

sector?

IN-DEPTH

16-20 Cover story: Price Wars

Liam Stoker, Solar Media

22-23 The Cold War of Module Pricing

module prices John Parnell, Solar Media

8

12


24-26 Pricing Power

27-45 UK Energy Storage supplement

REGULARS03 Words from the editor

47 Products

48-51 Q&A

52-53 Policy update

54-55 Gallery

56-57 The databank

58 Inside Out

16

24

48

47

News


NEWS Reviewing the latest news from the UK’s clean energy sector

Centrica is preparing to launch a new £19

technologies, storage and other smart devices into a virtual energy market for 150 homes and businesses in Cornwall.

energy division work alongside Western

University of Exeter to deliver free smart technology upgrades to selected local residents, businesses and other large energy users.

It is understood that no technology suppliers have been lined up as yet, while Centrica will

the project gets underway.

with local renewable generators via the online

marketplace where energy capacity can be sold to the grid or the wholesale energy

demand.

The aim of the three year project is to deter-

in a rapidly decentralised energy system.

Jorge Pikunic, managing director at Centrica Distributed Energy & Power, said: “I believe this is a clear example of how the energy landscape could look in future - a truly decentralised market where energy is smarter, greener and cheaper.”

marketplace for energy with renewables at

which partnered local renewable genera-tors with businesses during a six-month trial carried out last summer.

The success of the trial culminated in the commercial launch of Selectricity in Novem-

service has been commercially available.

THE BIG STORY

solar powered homes will be developed as a result of a new joint venture

between Welink and Your

at £2.5 billion

25,000 Movers and shakersUK solar developer Push Energy has strengthened its management team with the recruitment of former Primrose Solar COO Nicola Waters. Waters joined Push Energy on Monday (9 January)

business Edge Power. Stuart BradshawLord

Prior of Brampton replaced Baroness Neville-Rolfe at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

become the new Treasury minister. Neville-Rolfe departed

new department in July 2015. As part of the Jesse

Norman was given the full energy remit, a brief he said he was “honoured” to receive.

projects awarded

Capacity Market

500MW

News


The European Commission

across European markets. Trade group SolarPower Europe Solar expressed disappointment at the extension decision, claiming

EU ProSun,

welcomed the decision, adding it would have preferred a longer extension to

end of March 2017 and needs the approval of member states.

Renewable Heat

the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has retained

-

Cambridgeshire County Council’s 10MW Triangle Solar Farm in Soham became the second and last remaining solar farm to receive

originally had a target commissioning date of 1 July 2016 but the council was

following the Brexit vote.

BayWa r.e. Green Hedge’s UK O&M division, taking its standing in the UK renewables O&M market to 620MW. board member at

propel it to become of the leading independent providers of O&M services.

Climate change minister Nick Hurd has said that the government is “think-ing through” ways to drive established renewable technologies such as solar towards subsidy-free deployment. He recognised that the spate of subsidy cuts proposed in the summer of 2015 had “caused some pain, some uncertainty”, and revealed that the government was now working towards “the next stage”, which would involve moving from “subsidy-based deployment to a subsidy-free

Quote of the issue“That’s called a Contract for Difference, isn’t it? At least that’s what they call it when nuclear gets it” Ecotricity founder Dale Vince, discussing what’s needed to bring renewables to subsidy-free deployment.

ON THE UPGOING DOWN

WATTSTORThe energy storage company

to help further develop its technology.

TERRAFORM POWERThe SunEdison yieldco sold all

Hermes in January, with just the troubled 11MW Norrington Solar

in improved output by 2025 if UK manufacturers

invested more in

£2.56m and a range of businesses have openly opposed plans

to increase business rates on

160


News | Analysis

S

Forced to stand on its own two feet – as government off icials have so delicately put it – a new model for

renewables has emerged in decentralised, local power grids that hand power back to the people. As Centrica and

Good Energy launch virtual power markets with renewables at their heart, Liam Stoker analyses what the future holds for

the UK power market.

GOING LOCAL


Analysis | News

“I believe this is a clear example of how the energy landscape could look in future - a truly decentralised market where energy is smarter, greener and cheaper.”

Now in its fi fth successive year, the Solar Power Portal Awards 2017 returns to the Hilton Metropole NEC on the evening of Wednesday 4 October 2017

to recognise the best and the brightest of the UK’s clean energy sector. Nominations are now open and we’ve 13 categories for you to enter.

GALA DINNER AWARDS CEREMONYWednesday 4th October 2017 | Hilton Metropole, Birmingham, UK

NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN!

• Residential Rooftop PV

• Commercial Rooftop PV

• Ground-mount Solar PV

• Best use of solar in a community/social benefi t project

• International solar project

• Energy storage project

AWARD CATEGORIES

• Energy effi ciency and corporate sustainability programme

• Product innovation

• Finance innovation

• Clean transport scheme

• Contractor of the year

• O&M Provider of the year

• Outstanding achievement

awards.solarpowerportal.co.uk

Nominate now at:


Analysis | News

A

-

-

HOUSE The Northern Ireland Executive has collapsed under the weight of a financial scandal dubbed the biggest in the country’s political history. David Pratt looks back over what went wrong for the scheme and how it left a power-sharing government in pieces

Opinion


Chancellor Phillip Hammond provided some much

-

Accelerated market growth

Health issues out in the open

-

Technical leaps and bounds-

-

With policy to support electric vehicles ramping up in the UK, most recently those outlined by the chancellor, Chargemaster founder and CEO David Martell sets the scene for UK EVs and explains what more is needed for greater success.

GIVING EVS AN EXTRA

PUSH FORWARD

Opinion

13

A refreshing experience

Charging into the future

We are all in this together

The Burning Question


✔I

-

-

-

-

YES

MARK HOWARD

RENEWABLE

The Burning Question


✘-

-

NO

JULIAN

JONES

and

HEAT SECTOR?

Feature


With its build-phase drawing to a close, UK solar is entering a new era; one of maintenance. With multiple gigawatts requiring O&M services, the sub-sector is becoming an increasingly interesting – and competitive – area to work, and not least because of price pressures. Liam Stoker analyses how cost trends are triggering a revolution in the solar services industry.

Feature


By the end of 2016, the UK’s solar capacity was edging ever closer to 12GW in capacity and, by the end of March – when the Renewables

2020 capacity forecasts three years early.

and loss.

The price war

provider to go with.

stands very clearly it is for a basic level of cover. Anecdotal evidence by other providers however

pieces when another provider has disappointed.

The scopes and services have also changed with

“At the end of the day you can race to the bottom and ultimately not deliver,” Howard Johns, MD at ENcome.

Feature


elsewhere.

There is also the fact that the UK was a late entrant

It is perhaps for these reasons that asset owners,

The owner knows best

ing director of one of the UK’s largest solar owners NextEnergy Capital, at a recent STA conference in

Solar, another of the UK’s largest solar holders, who

they contain.

headed?

“When people come to me and say ‘I can’t do it [O&M services] for less than £6,000 [per MW] each year’, I actually don’t care,” Abid Kazim, MD at NextEnergy Capital.

SUBSCRIBE AT: www.pv-tech.org/pv-tech-power/overview

The PV-Tech Power journal is focused on the challenges

and solutions concerned with designing, building and

operating commercial & utility scale PV power plants.

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION IS FREE!

Market WatchUS Solar In The Trump Era

Highlights from the latest issue:

Cover StoryChina Solar Market Update

Design & Build Designing in O&M

Building and Maintaining a Renewable Future

Enrgy is a competent partnering UK organisation working within the Renewable and Energy markets developing adaptive and strategic

relationships with the customers we support.

Enrgy have provided services to the UK market for over 6 years and have developed a strong multi-skilled competent team who work

throughout the UK.

Enrgy understands and aligns itself with our customer’s availability and performance ratio requirements for the power generation we build and

maintain. Our ethos is to minimise impact and maximise your return.

Tel 0333 577 9033 | [email protected] | www.enrgy.biz

HIGH VOLTAGE SERVICESProvided via UK Partner company

UK fully qualifi ed and time served SAP Engineers

Installation, commission, maintenance and management of HV assets.

OPERATION & MAINTENANCE Planned, predictive, preventative and reactive services

Testing and fault fi nding

Component Management

Panel Cleaning and Vegetation Cutting

CONTRACT & SITE MANAGEMENT Experienced multi-discipline UK management teams

Welfare, site preliminaries, CDM compliance, project management

Programme and Commercial Management.

Building, civils and repairs

ROOFTOP AND GROUND-MOUNT Commercial scale deployments

Site Sizes from 50kw - 28MW

Roof Access, Work at Height and Rescue Trained personnel

Feature


and slightly fewer O&M companies seeking to win head contractor tenders as and when they become available, be it through the end of their EPC warranty or otherwise. While the price war may not wage on,

-

with those that do.

theme when discussing O&M. German power giant innogy (formerly RWE) has taken aim at the sector

BayWa r.e. has splashed the cash to secure its foothold in the UK market via Green Hedge’s O&M

-lia and ENcome moved for abakus’ UK arm when it became available. Johns says ENcome remains on

sense. Tendering for and winning contracts is all well

There are also other factors in play here. The RO was undeniably the biggest boon for UK solar and,

be deployed at scale further north than previous.

meaning that those hoping to cater for that services market would either have to be of a certain size

assets has only resulted in yet more pressure on O&M providers. “If customers were regionally focussed, smaller-sized but regionally strong players would

rarely are regional , and unless they choose to tender

challenge. A typical tender will include sites spread across the UK, and this is one part of the challenge facing smaller and medium-sized providers,” Sundelin says.

become pickier over the balance sheets of who they

head contracts. Those that can’t compete will instead -

nity-owned asset that might favour a local provider or,

niche. Panel cleaning, ground maintenance, advanced

need to be sourced from somewhere if head contrac-tors leave them out of their core scopes and skill sets.

“The number of MW isn’t the only thing that counts. Simply put, if you’ve got 300MW under 10-year head contracts at reasonably comfortable pricing and

more or less in the same region, that should put you

headline number of 600MW but under three-month

Sundelin says.So what for the future of O&M UK? It’s fairly clear

beyond as key players emerge and grow their share

steady and pricing sensible.

Thankfully, most contractors foresee the price war

soon. Johns is of the opinion that the trend for falling

At the end of the day, the cost is people and systems,” he says.

cannot. And it’s the people that stand to bear the full brunt of any ongoing price war in O&M in much

government’s subsidy onslaught. The UK solar market

margin as possible throughout deployment, and it would appear O&M is now following the same path.

“If customers were regionally focussed, smaller-sized but regionally strong players would have an easier time competing. But the owners very rarely are regional , and unless they choose to tender their portfolios in regional groupings, then this is a challenge,” Tess Sundelin, MD at BayWa r.e. Operation Services.

THIS

ADSPACESHOULD BE

YOURS

Want to promote your products or services to generate new leads and business?

Need to build brand awareness through UK’s biggest solar magazine?

CONTACT US NOW FOR ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIESCall 020 7871 0122 or email [email protected]

SPECIALIST SOLAR PANEL CLEANING

SITES: GROUND MOUNTED COVERAGE: FULL UK CAPACITY: 4 - 6MWp/DAY WATER: DEIONISED SUPPLIED OUTSOURCING: NONE SITE REPORT: INCLUDED PRICING: HIGHLY COMPETITIVE

GET IN TOUCH TODAY: [email protected]

07903 959 960

Clean Vs. Dirty How much generation could you be losing?

Feature


Those of you familiar with the history of the

Installer’s view

MODULE PRICINGRed tape, stagnant demand and elaborate outside pressures have made module pricing in the UK complex and seemingly insulated from global price trends. John Parnell examines the stand-offs maintaining a status quo in UK module prices.

Cred

it: Y

ingl

i Sol

ar

Feature


Why so high

HOW THE MIP DIVERGED FROM REALITY?

Finlay Colville, head of PV Tech market research

ANALYSIS: GLOBAL PRICE TRENDS?

The average selling prices of the biggest PV manufacturers as determined by PV Tech’s Silicon Module Super League (SMSL).

Cred

it: S

olar

Pla

nts

Oliver Farr, managing direc-tor of Solar Plants.

Feature


In the wake of the Paris Agreement and the ensuing

and manufacturers right down to schools and public sector buildings have looked to solar to meet their carbon emission targets.

for renewable energy across a number of structures, usually at less cost than buying directly from the grid. This provides security against future rises in energy

has been adopted by so many companies.

their energy while purchasing it from renewable sources.

Favouring the consumer

way that Sainsbury’s, IKEA and many others have done.

side is that it is for the provider to stump up the capital,

ously only a pipe dream.When Northumbrian Water (NWL) decided to add

at the Bran Sands treatment plant, this aspect of PPAs proved to be crucial.

David Chapman, climate change manager at the water

ourselves we found that the return on investment was

need.

PRICING POWER

Corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) are not a new feature of the UK solar market, but since the cuts enacted to the feed-in tariff earlier this year they have risen to new prominence. David Pratt examines how these deals are made, and what benefits they offer to both sides.

Cred

it: N

WL

Feature


our sites but do it without a big commitment in terms of capital.”

The big savingsWhatever the length of contract, savings like those being

when considering a solar PPA. These savings are deter

and provider, which like almost every other facet of the UK solar industry has undergone change in the last year.

kWh. However, with the FiT rates cut as they were this has led to an increase in the typical price applied to these deals, with providers unable to achieve the same low premiums.

system PPA with Wellacre Academy in Great Manchester

providers and is of course dependent on what the client is willing to pay. For Eden, the deal must take account of

uses as much of the energy as possible on site, Eden’s

any risk posed by future changes to the FiT.

A view from the groundMany of the same principles apply to ground mounted PPAs, which as well as direct or private wire agreements can take the form of sleeving, whereby a generator feeds energy into the grid which is ‘sleeved’ through by the

solar farm. David Peill, commercial director at the

cost of energy down below grid prices.

green power through their power purchase arrangements from their supplier already so it has to be cheaper,” he said.

With a sleeving arrangement, the added costs of

ment in some cases for a supplier licence can leave the

the deal during the contract.

power prices, both now and in years, comes into play. This is determined in the due diligence of a project, with

When Bristol City Council embarked on the eventual PPA deal with Bristol Sport for the Ashton Gate Stadium’s

providing the most accurate PPA price once supply and install costs were determined.

a big hedge on the future rises in power prices. What

we put on the table… so that they can show that they’ve made a decision over the length of the PPA to save their

As providers are working to undercut the forecasts

from the same sources, namely the large consultancies paid to provide the most accurate forecasts.

take on a PPA if the savings they believe can be made are

According to Richard Lowe, investment programme manager for the Bristol City Council Energy Service, the choice over which PPA mechanism to take is down to the consumer’s view on where power prices are headed.

start talking to them about what their bills are going to

just want to guarantee they get a discount every year,” he said.

Whatever the structure, these prices ensure lower costs for consumers which is a key entry point for garnering interest. As Pete Smith, stadium development

us.”

Cred

it: E

den

Gro

up

Feature


The green agenda However, another key driver for both the stadium devel

that these projects bring, which helps solar energy get a foot in the door.

This is backed up by the advances that solar energy has made in the UK in recent years, moving from a niche renewable energy to a bankable technology with

perceived as big business with a big investment lobby behind it and it is perceived as more of a commodity,” says Burrows.

NWL is currently tendering for a new solar framework, while Yorkshire Water has recently launched a tender

million pounds.

solar to teach young people about the future of energy supply

really disseminate the message out to future genera

Subsidy cuts: an age old story

ment has stumbled in the wake of January’s FiT cuts, the business case for these projects is set for a knock,

looking at the upcoming closure of the ROC subsidy scheme as a sign that pricing structures may become

ROCs and knowing that they will be ending for solar…only a few [corporates] are willing to pay a premium

to defend internally to buy on higher prices on a long term basis.”

PPAs with Peill claiming the company’s agreement with

Solar Park would not stack up if it wasn’t backed by subsidy.

head of energy strategy Mark Holland seeing a market

to get more value.

upcoming increases in business rates on solar installa

PPA model” while Burrows said the increase would be

The fact therefore remains that while there is corporate interest in solar energy, either large scale or

(as it has always done) and meet this demand.

get a basic price. A discount is then set against this grid rate and charged

This price is revisited at regular intervals – commonly on an annual basis – where the same discount is applied to updated grid pricing. This can

TRACKING THE MARKET?

Cred

it: B

risto

l Spo

rt

The UK Energy Storage Opportunity

SPECIAL REPORT

POLE TO POLL We team with Powervault to survey the market

STRANGER DANGER Fraunhofer ISE

REVEALED Our exclusive report


UK Energy Storage Opportunity

CONTENTS

40

38

40-41 Responding to demand What last year’s Enhanced Frequency Response tender

means for the UK storage sector David Pickup

42-43 Fraunhofer

30 UK energy storage pipeline

32-33 Financing & installing commercial storage

34-35 Surveying the UK Storage Market

38 Driving change

34



“B

Inside Clean Energy,

in UK?

UK STORAGE MARKETInside Clean Energy talks to Solar Media market

research analyst Lauren Cook about the newly-released battery storage pipeline report and what it shows about

the burgeoning grid-scale storage market in the UK.

Want visibility of energy storage sites in the UK?

Our UK Battery Storage Project Database report is a comprehensive database of 200 plus commercial and

industrial battery storage projects in the UK

Solar Media’s market research division, Solar Intelligence, provides the industry with accurate and timely data to ensure maximum focus on current and pending

opportunities at the site-specific level.

Data powered by:

www.solar-intel.com

REPORTS NOW AVAILABLE

UK Battery Storage Project Database reportUK Ground-Mount Solar Report Portfolio

Republic of Ireland Solar PV Opportunity Tracker report



I

Camborne Energy Storage (CES) worked with a

STORAGECamborne Energy Storage discusses how it financed and connected Europe’s first C&I Tesla Powerpack installation.

the cost of energy showing how this has hampered the

AUTHOR Harry Vickers is business development manager at Camborne Energy Storage



STORAGE

AUTHOR Chris Roberts is managing director at Poweri Services



B

STORAGE MARKETIn late 2016, Solar Media partnered with storage manufacturer Powervault to survey UK-based installers and contractors to uncover just where they saw the domestic storage market heading. The results, as Liam Stoker discusses, were revealing.

51%Have installed at least one

74%

65%

89%

34


35

63%Male

48%

48%

43% 27%

34% 91%

49%

uk.solarenergyevents.com

Follow us for year round updates! @_SolarEnergy

Starts 3 October 2017THE NEC, BIRMINGHAM, UK

DATES FOR YOUR DIARYNOW IN ITS 7th YEAR!

Solar + Storage + EVs + Smart Tech = A Clean Energy Future



Electric vehicle uptake is expected to soar in the

DRIVING CHANGEWith electric vehicle uptake set to surge, vehicle-to-grid networks that utilise onboard battery capacities have been highlighted as a key technology for the future. Liam Stoker looks at some of the work already taking place.

ADVERTORIAL


More than an energy storage solution, renewable hydrogen is the energy vector of the energy transition

When produced from renewable power, hydrogen offers the

capability to significantly decarbonize the power, gas, transport

and industrial sectors, by substituting oil, coal and natural gas.

In this case, hydrogen acts a 100% renewable energy vector,

connecting these sectors to renewable power.

A fast growing market with game changing potentialIt seems quite clear now that hydrogen technologies will be at

the core of our new decarbonized energy system. Whether it’s for

transportation, fuel production or energy storage, major compa-

nies around the world are strategically transitioning to renewable

hydrogen to help reduce their carbon footprint.

Hydrogenics: the leading provider of renewable hydrogen solutionsHydrogenics is the global innovation leader with over 60 years of

experience in designing, manufacturing and installing industrial

and commercial hydrogen systems around the world.

Hydrogenics electrolysers deliver pure hydrogen solutions for

industrial processes, renewable hydrogen projects and hydrogen

refuelling stations. The company also designs hydrogen fuel

cells for light and heavy fuel cell electric vehicles including urban

transit buses, commercial fleets, utility vehicles and trains, as

well as for stationary applications such as critical power and

hydrogen power plants.

Hydrogenics has production sites in Canada, Belgium and

Germany and sales offices in select locations around the world.

Hydrogenics is publicly listed on the NASDAQ (HYGS) and TSX

(HYG) and is the only global company to produce both state-of-

the art water electrolysers (alkaline and PEM) and PEM fuel cells,

making it the leading company in clean hydrogen technologies.

Energy systems across the globe are undergoing a funda-

mental transformation to increase the quality of air and to

decrease their dependency on oil, coal and gas as a primary

energy source. Driven mainly by a political vision to decrease

the negative impacts of climate change and decarbonize the

power sector, wind and solar technologies have emerged as key

renewable technologies. While the cost of renewable technol-

ogy has decreased much faster than expected, integrating

these intermittent energy sources into the power grid is highly

challenging due to the increasing need for grid flexibility and

energy storage solutions. This is where Hydrogenics, a global

hydrogen technology company, is leading the way in delivering a

clean and everlasting solution to the renewable energy equation.

Electrolysers are very fast-reacting devicesWater electrolysers are devices that use electrical power to

split water (H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). Thanks

to Hydrogenics’ focus on continuous innovation, electrolysers

are now capable of modulating their electrical energy input

very rapidly (less than 1 second) over the total power range,

making them a very attractive solution for the provision of grid

balancing services to the power sector in the MW-scale range.

Hydrogenics’ electrolysers are ‘plug and play’ units, safely and

reliably producing very pure hydrogen in continuous or dynamic

operation modes.

Hydrogen is used in a wide range of applications Hydrogenics has delivered hundreds of electrolyser systems for

every industry, including ammonia production plants (fertilizers),

oil refineries, industrial manufacturing plants (steel, float glass,

semi-conductors), power plants (generator cooling) and for the

hydrogenation of oils in the food industry. In addition, Hydrogen-

ics has supplied electrolysis technology to over 50 hydrogen

refuelling stations worldwide where hydrogen is used as a fuel

for fuel cell electric vehicles.

Renewable hydrogen as an energy vectorHydrogenics is leading the industry in renewable hydrogen

projects where electrolysers are used to store renewable

electricity (wind and solar) into hydrogen. Once the renewable

hydrogen is produced, there are several ways to commercialize

it in the energy system. Hydrogen can be re-electrified via a

fuel cell to deliver power again when needed (power-to-power).

Hydrogen can be directly injected in gas grids (power-to-gas)

under certain conditions or combined with carbon dioxide (CO2)

to produce synthetic methane (CH4). Hydrogen can be used in

industrial applications (power-to-industry), in fuel production

(power-to-fuels) at refineries or in the production of methanol.

AUTHOR

Denis THOMAS

EU Regulatory Affairs &

Business Development

Manager for Renewable

Hydrogen

HYDROGENICS

[email protected]+32 479 909 129 www.hydrogenics.com

Glencore Raglan Mine (Canada), hydrogen based energy storage solution for a renewable powered off-grid system: electrolyser (350 kW) and fuel cell (120 kW).



Energy storage is big news and, thanks in part

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

DEMANDThe potential for storage to help stabilise the grid has finally been recognised in the UK, where battery projects took all of the 200MW on offer in a recent frequency response tender. David Pickup looks at the evolving role of storage in the future grid and how further policy support can help it flourish.



-

-

-

Storage and frequency response

-

-

-

-

-

EFR contracts were awarded at between £7-12/MW/hr

Cred

it: R

ed-T



In 2016 in Germany 34.2% of electricity was generated by renewable energy sources. A major

power system through storage systems is therefore

of roof-mounted PV systems is becoming a leading market for so-called home storage systems. These

becoming more and more economically feasible

with a storage size between 2 and 10kWh. There

the majority of these systems are based on lithium-

address the aspects related to the acceptance and

In principle also other established technologies like

The majority of advanced energy storage systems are running on lithium-ion batteries and safety is perhaps the most critical aspect of their deployment, especially when they are to be used in consumers’ homes. Adequate testing procedures and standards are yet to be developed for the most part, and with 34,000 systems already in the field in Germany alone, the need to do so seems critical at this stage in the market’s growth. Dr Matthias Vetter and Stephan Lux of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy discuss two current projects they are working on that look at exactly that, both in standalone systems and when paired with solar PV.

start the set-up as well as all necessary process steps are checked once again. ©Fraunhofer ISE



at defects will dissipate slowly and can lead to

so called thermal runaway. One burning cell might

applied.

Standards

are not made for systems containing lithium-ion

Project ‘Safety First’: Safe grid-supportive storage for households

Fig. 2.: Storage systems under test at Fraunhofer ISE. ©Fraunhofer ISE

Fig. 3: Lithium-ion cells used in home storage system prepared for test. ©Fraunhofer ISE



lacking. Therefore the goal of this project is to

systems in order to prepare future safety standards.

Complementary to the analyses on the home

can be collected in the future by merely performing

parallel are collected to capture inhomogeneity in the storage systems. This inhomogeneity tends to

lead to failures and safety issues.

The measurement was done at an ambient

and the temperature spread inside the module

these systems in a Mediterranean or tropical

Project ‘SpeiSi’: Safety of stationary storage systems for solar electricity

safety and reliability of PV systems with storage.

emergency or back-up power or for systems with an

must be adapted to accommodate a broader use

Authors:

commercial available home storage system. ©Fraunhofer ISE

MyReserve. THE ENERGY STORAGE FUTURE IS HERE.

Find out more at:www.solarwatt.com

storage system that fully conforms to the Security Guidelines for Li-Ion-Home storage systems and has been

technology institutions such as TÜV and CETECOM. With quality standards on auto industry levels: from the raw

ARE YOU READY?

DO YOU WANT THE MOST EFFICIENT ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM - OR THE SAFEST?FACE IT, YOU WANT BOTH.

Feature


EWe know that most competent commercial solar

in electricity market prices, accurately analysing how much Solar PV output is likely to be absorbed on site is

example below:

accurately analyse how much Solar PV output is likely to be absorbed on these sites based on billing usage data

data are also required to appoint an industry approved

compared to the standard shapes used previously their

AND THE OPPORTUNITY FOR SOLAR PV INSTALLERSAndrew Padmore, chief executive at installer Egnida, discusses the looming changes to Ofgem’s P272 settlement code and what the opportunity is for solar installers.

Regulars


PRODUCTBRIEFINGSCIRCUITREE’S FLAGSHIP CIRRUS DEVICE TO LAUNCH

VIRIDIAN SOLAR TO MAKE NEW ADDITION TO ROOF INTEGRATED RANGE

WAXMAN ENERGY INTRODUCES PREMIUM PHONO SOLAR 270W POLY


Regulars

Ecotricity was recently lauded by The Sunday Times

What did you make of that accolade?It’s the kind of language venture capitalists use, along with ‘gamechanger’, but I kind of embrace it in our

kind of like that.

It’s what we’re here for. When we started in 1995 we brought green electricity to the world. You couldn’t buy it before. Then we did it with gas in 2010 and the Electric Highway [Ecotricity’s EV charging network]. Bringing that change to the world is what we live for. All of the growth just follows in the wake of that. We don’t seek it, but it comes. And that’s good because it empowers us to do more. You know that old expression ‘do you live to eat, or eat to live’? We eat to live. We make money to do our job.

There has been a lot of upheaval. I see that as a good and a bad thing. It’s bad generally for the sector, but it’s the weeding out that comes with it that’s the

for example, a lot of city money men piled into solar

to start with anyway, and that created this gold rush. A whole rash of small windmills were made by people who didn’t know what they were doing for example, and all of these things have the risk of giving renew-able energy a bad name. It’s weeded out the people that were in it for the short-term gain.

least that’s what they call it when nuclear gets it.

Q&A

Since founding the company more than 20 years ago, Ecotricity has gone from strength to strength under Dale Vince’s direction. Hailed by The Sunday Times as one of the most disruptive companies in the country, the clean utility has brought wind, solar and green gas to the masses. But it isn’t stopping there. With SunEdison’s rooftop solar business ready to step out of hiatus, a residential storage product emerging from development and at least one eye on acquisitions, Ecotricity is preparing itself for the long game. Inside Clean Energy spoke to Dale Vince to find out what else he has up his sleeve.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity


Regulars

support them?

things government has done to make it harder for small green suppliers is to apply a carbon tax to green energy. That’s cost us about £1 million a year and it’s an incredible thing to do. That’s on top of

on suppliers as well, and that’s even before Hinkley gets built. It’s going to be monstrous when it does. There are a lot of government schemes paid for through energy bills, and I think they should all be

think it’s unique in energy that so many govern-ment schemes are paid for by energy bill payers, and that’s a regressive way to get them paid as well.

I think a lot of what came out of the CMA was very poor actually. They ducked the big issue as

have some kind of price cap why not? They’re imposing one on the pre-payment meter market

logic that they haven’t explained. The idea of this tsunami of junk mail to every energy consumer in Britain by every energy company to encourage switching I think is just shocking. I think it’ll have

Last year Ecotricity launched its fourth Ecobond

help?

being built in the next 12 months in Gloucestershire and that’ll be one of our last wind parks. We’ve got one more with planning consent which is a monster

and we do hope to start work on that this year, so that’ll be a big focus. We’ve got some work to do on the Electric Highway to extend its reach, add more

going on.

happen?It was always inevitable. We started in August

delivered 23 million miles of clean driving so far and

miles, and by August we were doing nearly two

Vince says the company

“There are a lot of government schemes paid for through energy bills, and I think they should all be removed and paid for through general taxation.”

Cred

it: E

cotr

icity

[email protected]

24-25 APRIL 2017THE RIBA BUILDING, 66 PORTLAND PLACE, LONDON, UK

Best Practice & Optimisation of Solar Portfolios

Day 1 (Solar Asset Managers and O&M providers)

• The best practices to measure asset performance

• Develop strong KPIs

• Advancements in monitoring hardware and software

• Avoiding hardware failings

• How to balance costs against service in O&M contracts.

Day 2 (Solar Asset Owners and future investors)

• Uncover the top performing European and emerging solar markets

• Learn what to ask from monitoring services

• What O&M clauses to include in your PPA

• How to aggregate monitoring data to improve long term forecasting

• Utilise energy storage advancements and smart grid technology to supply clean electricity around the clock and increase your bottom line.

If you’re serious about capitalising from your solar assets for decades to come, or want to establish a reliable O&M reputation, Managing European Solar Assets is not to be missed.

In 2016 the European solar market exceeded 100GW of installed capacity. With EPC warranties ending and 20-30 operational years ahead, asset managers and owners now must ensure solar assets are optimised to provide the payback periods promised and meet Europe’s growing low carbon electricity demands.

PARTNER


Regulars

few cars on the road and that itself was stopping

car on the road now, all the big manufacturers are

of what we do to help our customers make energy

We think it will come, the price of the technology is

is now talking about demand side response and that

circumstances and making the world more sustain

Cred

it: E

cotr

icity

Regulars


F -

BEIS: six months on

-

• Bringing forward clean capacity

-

-

-

• Keeping the lights on

-

Inside Clean Energy’s policy partner The Whitehouse Consultancy makes sense of all the latest policy decisions impacting upon the green economy.

UPDATE

Regulars

The to-do list

53

Regulars

GALLERYTHE


1. A new solar installation atop Kimmeridge Fossil Museum. Installation and roofing by Elliotts, integrated solar panels by Viridian Solar. Image: Viridian Solar.

2. The Natural History Museum revealed it had saved more than £11 million by adopting CHP. Image: Natural History Museum.

3. Buckingham Palace could receive rooftop solar and other renewable generation technologies as part of a modernisation scheme. Image: The Royal Trustees.

4. BMW is to launch a ‘grid integrated’ and ‘solar-optimised’ EV charging service next year. Image: BMW.

5. Welink announced plans to complete as many as 25,000 homes each year, all of which would benefit from solar PV. Image: Welink.

6. Tesla unveiled its newly-designed Tesla Powerwall 2 late last year, moving the design on from its early version. Image: Tesla.

7. Photon Energy installed a 114.5 kWp photovoltaic (PV) system on the University of Birmingham’s new library working alongside Carillion. Image: Photon Energy.

8. Nissan’s energy storage ambitions came closer to reality as it confirmed pre-orders for the UK had started in November. Image: Nissan.

1

2 3

Regulars


5

6

7

8

4

Regulars


DATABANK All the latest clean energy data and statistics, in easily-digestible charts and graphs

THE

12.4GW The amount of electricity

supplied by renewable sources on Christmas Day 2016,

equivalent to 40% of total demand. 9.4GW was supplied

via wind, 2GW from biomass and circa

0.6GW by solar PVSource: Electric Insights/Drax

84.5% New Build Generator 6.5%

5% Unproven DSR 2.6% Pre-Refurbishment 1%

0.3% Proven DSR 0.1%

(Source: EMR Delivery Body)

22

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

11 O

ct

18 O

ct

25 O

ct

1 N

ov

8 N

ov

15 N

ov

22 N

ov

29 N

ov

6 D

ec

13 D

ec

31 D

ec

0-10kW 10-50kW 50kW+

DOMESTIC SOLAR DEPLOYMENT IN FIT T4 (MW)

Source: Ofgem

Regulars


43.4%

in FY2016Source: IKEA

The total sum paid to SunEdison yieldco TerraForm

Power by EFG Hermes

Source: EFG Hermes

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

Ons

hore

win

d

Sola

r PV

Plan

t bio

mas

s

Hyd

ro

(Source: BEIS)

4500000

4000000

3500000

3000000

2500000

2000000

1500000

1000000

500000

0

Q1

2014

Q2

2014

Q3

2014

Q4

2014

Q1

2015

Q2

2015

Q3

2015

Q4

2015

Q1

2016

Q3

2016

Q4

2016

Source: BEIS

Regulars


InsIdeOutAn irreverent take on all the latest news and views from within the UK’s clean energy sector

A peak behind the curtain

To break the fourth wall, or give

you a sneak peek behind the curtain, Inside Out can speak about last

year’s Solar Power Portal Awards, held just

First and foremost, it’s important to recognise

this year’s ceremony in

in June last year, our esteemed panel of judges were let loose before winners decided

from our publisher Solar Media desperately trying to

Carr was an incident-free host for the evening…

The people BEISness Recipe for a sitcom

Late December saw the news that two of the

congratulate the pair and wish them every happiness in the future, but couldn’t help but think that a sitcom

so far include Ever Decreasing Subsidies, AC Coupling, been held by Charles Hendry, John Hayes,

juggling knives than the key tenets of the

Picking

faults

another issue of this magazine…

solarenergyevents.com

For speaking opportunities contact Joanne Wilkinson: [email protected]

For sponsorship opportunities contact Sylvester Gabriel: [email protected]

2017 UK EVENTS

BOOK NOW!@_SolarEnergy‘Solar Energy Events’

28 February - 1 March 2017Victoria Park Plaza, London, UKstorage.solarenergyevents.com

24 - 25 April 2017London, UK - The Riba Building, 66 Portland Placeassets.solarenergyevents.com

3 - 4 October 2017 The NEC, Birmingham, UK uk.solarenergyevents.com

31 January - 2 February 2017 Grange City Hotel, London, UKfinance.solarenergyevents.com

MyReserve. THE ENERGY STORAGE FUTURE IS HERE.

Find out more at:www.solarwatt.com

storage system that fully conforms to the Security Guidelines for Li-Ion-Home storage systems and has been

technology institutions such as TÜV and CETECOM. With quality standards on auto industry levels: from the raw

ARE YOU READY?

DO YOU WANT THE MOST EFFICIENT ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM - OR THE SAFEST?FACE IT, YOU WANT BOTH.

Volume 03 | January 2017 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY 03 lo.pdf · 4 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY CONTENTS INSIGHT ... 12-13 Giving EVs an extra push forward ... The aim of the three year project is

Documents