The company will operate for consumers in the US and Canada, aiming to unlock the potential offered by EVs for the electric power grid.

According to the partners in a press release, ChargeScape’s platform is designed to enable EVs to interact with the electric grid in ways that were not possible with traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.

This includes managed charging and energy-sharing services that can provide financial benefits to EV owners. Specifically, ChargeScape’s platform intends to eliminate the need for individual integrations between automakers and electric utilities.

The platform will also provide utilities access to the energy stored in a large number of EV batteries. EV owners will then have the opportunity to earn financial incentives by charging their vehicles during times that are advantageous for the grid, thanks to flexible scheduling.

In the future, the platform will enable EV owners to contribute to grid stability during peak demand through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) applications.

Vehicle-to-grid communications

ChargeScape is expected to enhance the efficient use of EV batteries by providing energy data to electric utilities and system operators, including aggregated demand response, aligning charging with off-peak hours and promoting the use of renewable energy sources.

According to the partners, the establishment of ChargeScape aligns with the increasing adoption of EVs, which presents challenges to the electric grid due to higher electricity demand for charging.

The platform thus aims to provide energy management services to help support grid resiliency while looking to the future of V2G capabilities that will benefit both EV customers and electric utilities.

Moreover, ChargeScape aims to contribute to decarbonising the grid; the company’s efforts aims to reduce EV customers’ personal carbon footprints by utilising electricity that comes from more readily available renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar.

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“Electric grid reliability and sustainability are the foundation for an EV-powered future,” said Thomas Ruemenapp, vice president of engineering, BMW of North America.

“ChargeScape aims to accelerate the expansion of smart charging and vehicle-to-everything solutions all over the country, while increasing customer benefits, supporting the stability of the grid and helping to maximise renewable energy usage.”

Added Jay Joseph, vice president of sustainability & business development for American Honda Motor: “With automakers accelerating toward the electrified future, we must find solutions like ChargeScape that enable all stakeholders to work together for the good of our customers, society and our industry by enabling greater use of renewable energy for and from mobility.”

The collaboration builds on the Open Vehicle Grid Integration Platform (OVGIP), which provides a unified interface using communication protocols where all the components of the VGI (vehicle-grid integration) system can interact for managed EV charging.

ChargeScape, along with the work done to date with OVGIP, is expected to bring managed charging benefits to a wider range of EV owners. It will also reduce marketing and outreach costs for utilities seeking to connect with EV owners in their service areas.

BMW Group, Ford Motor Company and American Honda have direct, multi-channel communication with their EV customers through the platform, solving a central problem for utilities, they state, who typically do not have an easy way to identify the EV customers in their service territory.

The formation of ChargeScape is contingent on regulatory approvals and is expected to become operational in the near future.

“Europe will do whatever it takes to keep its competitive edge.”

So said von der Leyen during her 2023 State of the European Union (SOTEU) address, announcing the EVs inquiry as one of two inititiatives to do just that, the other being a support package for the Union’s wind sector.

State of the EU

Referring to the importance of the European Green Deal at the start of her term in 2019, von der Leyen led her State of the Union address with the importance of the energy sector in enhancing Europe’s position as a competitive global player.

“Four years ago, the European Green Deal was our answer to the call of history and this summer, the hottest ever on record, was a stark reminder of that.”

Referencing the extreme wildfires and flooding experienced this year in Greece and Spain, as well as chaotic extreme weather in Bulgaria and other member states, von der Leyen emphasised how, although much has been done towards net zero, “our work is far from over.

“This is the reality of a boiling planet. The European Green Deal was born out of this necessity to protect our planet, but it was also designed as an opportunity to preserve our future prosperity.”

EV inquiry

This initiative, placing Europe again on the map against global energy competition majors such as the US and China, has been in the works through 2023 via tabled policies such as the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act.

However, although placing Europe on the map as a leading energy player will be key, von der Leyen also cautioned against isolating competitors:

“Our industries and technology companies like competition. They know that global competition is good for business and that it creates and protects jobs here in Europe. But competition is only good as long as it is fair.”

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Hence, the investigation into imported electric vehicles (EVs):

“Take the EV sector. It is a crucial industry for the clean economy with a huge potential in Europe, but global markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars; their prices kept artificially low by huge state subsidies.

“This is distorting our market and as we do not accept this distortion from the inside of our market, we do not accept this from the outside.

“I can announce today that the Commission is launching an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles coming from China (…) Europe is open to competition, but not for a race to the bottom.”

This, adds von der Leyen, is part of a strategy to “de-risk, not decouple” trade practices in the EU, a way to boost the Union’s competitiveness while retaining beneficial relations.

According to Reuters reportage, one of many reactions to the announcement of the EVs inquiry was from Sigrid De Vries, head of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), who commented on how “China’s apparent advantage and cost-competitive imports are already impacting European auto makers’ domestic market share, with a massive surge in electric vehicle imports in recent years.

“Von der Leyen’s announcement is a positive signal that the European Commission is recognising the increasingly asymmetric situation our industry is faced with, and is giving urgent consideration to distorted competition in our sector.”

Also commenting was Germany’s VDA Automotive Industry Assocation, which cautioned how “damage must be causally quantifiable and the community interest must be taken into account. Possible backlash from China must also be taken into account.

“One thing is clear: an anti-subsidy investigation alone will not help to solve the existing challenges with regard to the competitiveness of the European landscape. Policymakers in Brussels and Berlin must create the framework conditions to ensure that the transformation succeeds.”

The other initiative is focused on the wind sector, which has been “facing a unique mix of challenges and this is why we will put forward a European wind power package, working closely with industry and member states.”

The package, according to von der Leyen, will go towards fast-tracking permitting, improving the Union’s auction systems, boosting skills and supply chains and enabling eased access to finance.

Namely, OhmConnect, a residential energy management company, has partnered with LG Electronics to integrate their demand response programme with the ThinkQ App and drive grid-reactive demand response through LG Room Air Conditioners.

The platform makes use of a gamified energy management experience, allowing consumers to earn rewards by automatically optimising usage of their LG air conditioners during periods of peak grid demand.

According to OhmConnect in a press release, the goal of their demand response programme is to enable the creation of grid-connected homes, using integrations with other companies in the fields of renewable energy, energy storage systems, HVAC technology and other smart home technologies to strengthen and modernise energy infrastructure.

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One such integration into the programme, through the LG ThinQ App, users can remotely control the temperature settings of their LG room air conditioners, reducing energy consumption when the electrical grid strains.

“Together with OhmConnect, we are creating an integrated sustainable ecosystem to improve grid reliability and resilience, while helping homeowners save more money on energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint,” said Jae Ahn, Head of the ThinQ Platform business at LG Electronics USA.

“It is alliances – like ours with LG – that really make an outsized impact on enabling millions of residents to take control of their energy use,” added Cisco DeVries, CEO of OhmConnect.

“It’s exciting to partner with one of the world’s leading brands to help stabilise the grid as we march towards a clean energy future.”

LG and OhmConnect have plans to expand and enhance the service later in 2023.

The study, The Road to Transportation Decarbonization: Readying the Grid for Electric Fleets, was conducted jointly by the grid operator and the tech major to investigate the significant impact this electrification will have on the grid.

Namely, for the US grid to accommadate the much needed electrificaiton of heavy duty transport such as buses, trucks and vans, the study touts five key findings:

1: Region-specific strategy needed

According to the study, certain regions will experience grid impacts from MHDV electrification in the near future. Specifically, multi-megawatt charging loads from fleet clusters, or even a single depot, will quickly strain grid capacity in these areas.

As large fleets or states establish clear electrification targets or mandates, early adopters of electric MHDVs will place significant demands on the grid.

Utilities and policymakers must anticipate and prepare for these near-term loads and grid impacts, employing strategies tailored to each specific region’s needs.

2: Future-minded strategic investment

The study underscores the importance of coordinated investments in areas with high forecast electrification to minimise long-term costs and expedite electrification.

Namely, data, tools and forecast methods should be used to identify priority investment areas as well as locations requiring minimal, or deferred, infrastructure upgrades; these areas can then be aligned with fleet electrification and utility investment plans.

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3: Updating regulation

The research highlights the necessity for evolving regulatory and planning structures to accommodate MHDV electrification.

According to the research, the majority of the electric load scenarios identified fall outside the scope of typical utility planning and regulatory processes. It is thus crucial to develop anticipatory planning and investment processes and regulatory mechanisms that can adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of electric MHDVs.

4: Grid infrastructure upgrades

According to the study, an optimal grid infrastructure strategy for MHDV electrification will vary by location.

Different infrastructure strategies, states the research, such as electric network reconfiguration, multi-value grid infrastructure upgrades, and non-wires solutions such as storage, can effectively support electric MHDVs depending on the unique circumstances and requirements of each location.

Stakeholders, it states, should thus consider the specific needs of each location when devising an infrastructure strategy, enabling utilities to invest in solutions that not only address immediate demands but also accommodate long-term charging growth.

5: Collaborative efforts

The study emphasizes the necessity for new forms of partnership and cooperation to facilitate the transition to electric MHDVs.

Such collaboration among fleet operators, MHDV manufacturers, utilities, and other stakeholders, states the research, will be crucial to coordinate investments, assess charging needs and overcome barriers to charging deployment.

Bitcoin mining energy consumption revised down

The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, one of the key resources in this area, has had its first major revision since its launch in 2019, leading to a reduction, albeit relatively small, in consumption.

For example, for 2021 where the largest discrepancy occurs, the earlier estimate of 104TWh is revised downward by 15TWh to 89TWh.

For 2023 the estimated anticipated consumption based on the year-to-mid-August is 70.4TWh, rather than 75.7TWh of the earlier model.

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The Cambridge team attribute the change to the modelling of the Bitcoin mining hardware and technology, taking into account both the increased efficiency and power of the evolving application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

With the progressive reduction in chip size, there has been a corresponding reduction in power needed to transmit data.

However, this now appears to have slowed and steadied as the advances have approached the physical limits of semiconductor technology, with smaller chip manufacture becoming more challenging and expensive.

The Cambridge team expresses confidence in their estimates and regards each update as a progressive step toward enhancing their reliability, but the team acknowledges that Bitcoin’s actual electricity consumption remains elusive and can only be approximated.

Moreover, while electricity consumption is a crucial element in determining Bitcoin’s environmental footprint, it is one and the energy sources used in mining are just as important. Further research is planned to focus on developing a more nuanced perspective of Bitcoin’s electricity mix and more closely examining the climate risks and opportunities associated with cryptocurrency mining.

Samsung to add generative AI to home appliances

Samsung has been reported as planning to add a generative AI feature to its home appliances in the next year.

Yoo Mi-young, head of the software development team of Samsung’s digital appliances division, was reported speaking at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin: “Generative AI technologies will be applied to voice, vision and display” to enable the household electronic products to have a better understanding of what consumers do and want and to be able to respond accordingly.

It will enable the gadgets to communicate with users in a more conversational manner, and to better respond to their questions based on past exchanges and in context.

They will also be able to provide recipes and dietary suggestions based on for example the food ingredients stored in the refrigerator.

Yoo Mi-young was also quoted as reporting the development of an energy-efficient chip to process the increasing amounts of data of smart appliances, with features such as generative AI.

Hydrogen-powered van doubles the range of EV counterparts

Canadian hydrogen company First Hydrogen has reported that its hydrogen fuel cell powered light van supplied to GB fleet management provider Rivus has achieved an “unbeatable range”, easily more than doubling the upwards range to 240km of other modern light commercial electric vehicles.

The vehicle was trialed with Rivus for just over 4 weeks, and covered over 1,100km in that time. Tests were completed on diverse routes, providing data on how the vehicle operates under different conditions including urban city centre driving and extra urban routes covering both low-speed city centre roads and motorways.

The tests also covered the van both empty and loaded to 90% of its maximum weight capacity, reflecting the way vans will be used in the real world.

The vehicle was found to be not heavily affected by the speed or the payload, and performed well under the different load cycles compared to the electric counterparts, which can experience reductions in range by approximately 10%.

“The main benefit of the vehicle is the refuelling times are quicker than battery electric vehicles charge times. And of course, unlike internal combustion engines, hydrogen vehicles produce zero emissions,” Gemma Horne, Warranty Controller at Rivus, commented.

One Energy’s digital substation, intended to power its “Megawatt Hub,” was built as proof of concept for the company’s new, fully digital station architecture.

One Energy’s Megawatt Hubs provide high-volume power connections for industries that require significant loads of power for their operations, such as electric truck charging, digital currency mining, and indoor farming. A typical factory might use between five and ten MW of power. The Findlay Megawatt Hub is a 30MW site that is expandable to 150MW and includes the first fully digital, plug-and-play, transmission-voltage substation in the United States, said the company.

“It is time we completely rethink how substations are designed so that the industry stops making the same mistakes they have been for the last 50 years,” One Energy CEO Jereme Kent said.

“Traditional substations are not secure; they can fail during inevitable severe weather conditions, lack basic condition monitoring, and rely on thousands of small wires to send status and control signals back to the control building. This is why we’ve designed our fully digital substations at One Energy to be secure, digital, resilient, embrace real-time condition monitoring, and survive every conceivable weather event.”

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To build a fully digital substation, One Energy elected to use Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories’ TiDL system, marking the first time a substation is connected entirely by fiber optics using the TiDL system in the United States, according to the company.

One Energy said it preferred the simplicity of physical security that comes with TiDL’s point-to-point fiber communication. This is why the TiDL system was chosen over the IEC 61850-style digital architecture that is gaining traction in Europe.

The TiDL merging unit can be factory installed, tested, and commissioned in all major equipment, making field wiring as simple as connecting a fiber optic cable.

The substation’s 30 MVA transformer, built by Hitachi Energy, includes the Coresense M10 real-time dissolved gas analyser and condition monitoring system.

The system can detect an anomaly in the transformer and, through the control system, automatically send alerts via text to system operators.

The Coresense M10 performs a full dissolved gas analysis on the transformer every 10 minutes, compared to most substation transformers that only test oil once a year.

The high-voltage circuit breakers were also supplied by Hitachi Energy and feature a full condition monitoring package as well. Early and real-time communication and condition monitoring identify smaller issues before they potentially advance into larger issues.

Measures were also taken to increase the substation’s safety and resilience.

To provide physical security for the site, it is surrounded by permanent walls that are all modular and made of solid concrete.

To reduce risks related to animal interference and blowing debris, which are common and are major sources of fault for traditional substations, it was designed to allow for no exposed live parts on the medium voltage buswork.

To prevent what traditionally causes substation fires, it includes environmentally friendly oils and passive and automatic fire suppression systems, the company said.

Originally published on Power Grid.

Also on the radar are a €140 million ($150 million) financing round for investor EIT InnoEnergy as Europe is set to update energy policy, and a triple acquisition of US gas utilities by Canada-based Enbridge.

Shell to reportedly sell sonnen

On Thursday, German publication Handelsblatt reported that oil giant Shell intends to sell sonnen, the German developer of energy storage systems.

The report comes in as Shell moves to divest its retail operations within the UK, Netherlands and Germany as part of a strategic restructuring.

The strategy follows the company’s review of market conditions, announcing in June its retail exit.

Kicking off the strategy late last week, Shell sold its UK and German domestic operations to energy major Octopus Energy.

Shell’s Dutch operations are winding down and in the process of transition.

Shell acquired sonnen back in 2019. According to Handelsblatt, the sale will be a significant deal for Shell, which acquired the Bavaria-based company for €500 million ($535 million); the sale is expected to be valued between €1.35 billion ($1.4 billion) and €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion), according to Handelsblatt.

So far, sonnen has had a very strong 2023 with an expected turnover of €450 million ($482 million). Earlier this year the company announced increased capacity of its German VPP at 250MWh, marking the largest in Europe.

The company is expecting to grow the demand response tech, which consists of tens of thousands of intelligently-controlled sonnenBatteries throughout Germany, to 1GWh in the coming years.

Shell has declined to comment.

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EIT InnoEnergy’s private placement round

Dutch energy investment company EIT InnoEnergy has received over €140 million from strategic players in industrial, financial, training and digital sectors in a private placement round.

According to the company, proceeds from the financing will be used for increasing new deal flow, launching new industrial initiatives, tapping opportunities from new regulatory frameworks and expanding in the US.

InnoEnergy’s portfolios focus on early-stage innovative technologies and teams in clean tech, normally CAPEX heavy.

InnoEnergy currently has a portfolio of 200 companies, three of which are unicorns, on track to generate €110 billion ($118 billion) in revenue and save 2.1G tonnes of CO2e accumulatively by 2030.

According to InnoEnergy, these companies have collectively raised €9.7 billion ($10.4 billion) in investment to date.

Tabled earlier this year, the European Union has been expecting to pass several policies in mind of better enabling its industrial capacity within the energy sector.

Namely, the European market design has had a proposed reform and the Green Deal Industrial Plan – within which are contained the Critical Raw Materials and Net Zero Industry Acts – will aim to upskill the workforce, develop European clean tech supply chains and lower barriers to deployment.

Part of the private placement round will, states InnoEnergy, also be used for training and upskilling:

“The new skills, and the larger workforce we will need to fulfil net zero objects, are significant, so with our shareholder make-up of those in industrial and financial sectors, and also in academia and research, we are perfectly placed to deliver progress,” stated the company.

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Earlier this week, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) hosted the first High-Level Electricity Grid Forum, of which EIT Innoenergy was a collaborator, during which the grid was placed high on the agenda as a strategic focus for future investments.

New investors in the round include Societe Generale, Santander CIB, PULSE – CMA CGM Energy Fund, Renault Group, Stena Recycling and NIIT.

Existing shareholders Siemens Financial Services, Schneider Electric, Capgemini, Volkswagen Group, ING, Koolen Industries, GROUPE IDEC and Engie were also among the strategic players.

Commenting on the announcement, Diego Pavia, CEO of EIT InnoEnergy, said: “New strategic players have joined InnoEnergy’s outstanding cap table, several shareholders have reinvested, and altogether we have secured sufficient fresh financial resources to double our on-going impact.

“The accelerated energy transition in Europe and in the world, and an increased re-industrialisation ambition in the western world are unique opportunities for InnoEnergy, its portfolio companies and our trusted ecosystem partners. We have geared up for the journey ahead.”

Details on individual investor contributions have not been disclosed.

Triple gas utility acquisition

Canada-based energy company Enbridge has acquired three US-based gas utilities to create what it is calling the largest natural gas utility franchise in the US.

Enbridge entered three separate agreements with Dominion Energy to acquire EOG, Questar and PSNC for the purchase, which totals $14 billion after deductions, including $4.6 billion of assumed debt.

Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the US, transporting crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company also generates renewable energy, touting a growing European offshore wind portfolio.

Upon the closings, Enbridge will add to its portfolio gas utility operations in Ohio, North Carolina, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, representing a significant presence in the US utility sector.

The acquisitions will double the scale of the company’s gas utility business to approximately 22% of Enbridge’s total adjusted EBITDA and is hoped to balance the company’s asset mix evenly between natural gas and renewables, as well as liquids.

Enbridge states that following the closings, its gas utility business will be the largest by volume in North America with a combined rate base of over CDN$27 billion ($19.8 billion).

In a press release announcing the acquisition, Enbridge cites how “high-quality, utility cash flows from the gas utilities” will reduce its business risk.

Michele Harradence, president of GDS and executive vice-president at Enbridge, commented that the utilities, each being based in the US, offer strategic advantage when it comes to regulation, namely how they “operate in regions with very attractive regulatory regimes” while offering diverse, low-risk growth opportunities.

However, earlier this week, credit ratings agency Moody’s changed Enbridge’s outlook from stable to negative, a result of the acquisitions.

“The negative outlook on Enbridge is prompted by the company’s announcement that it would acquire US gas utilities… adding pressure to an already weak financial profile that we expect to persist following the transaction close,” said Gavin MacFarlane, Moody’s vice-president – senior credit officer.

“Although Enbridge’s business risk profile improves modestly with the transaction, it is not enough to offset ongoing pressure on the company’s financial profile.”

What are your thoughts on Shell‘s reported strategy to move away from the residential market? If the reports are correct it will be interesting to see who manages to acquire sonnen, which has only been growing.

For the latest finance and investment announcements coming out of the energy sector, make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly.

I will also be attending Bentley’s upcoming Going Digital Awards in Infrastructure in Singapore in October. Will I see you there?

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Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

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This is according to findings from data and analytics company GlobalData, which projects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.54% for the market from now to 2027.

According to the company’s report Switchgears for Power Transmission, Market Size, Share and Trends Analysis by Technology, Installed Capacity, Generation, Key Players and Forecast, 2022–2027, while the market has been seen growth across regions, market drivers are context-specific.

For example, states the report, within the growing economies of the Asia-Pacific and Middle East (EMEA) regions, the market’s growth is being propelled by the increasing demand for electricity, with capacity addition in the generation and transmission sectors.

On the other hand, in the Americas and Europe, the report finds the replacement of ageing grid infrastructure, the shift to renewable energy, grid reliability issues, improved policy and investment decisions, as well as technology innovations as key factors.

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EMEA

Overall, states GlobalData, the EMEA region was found to be the leader in the market in 2022, with a share of 44.60% and a forecast to grow to 48.24% by 2027, higher than the growth expected in all other regions.

According to GlobalData, the high voltage (HV) switchgear market in the EMEA region was estimated to be $11.16 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $14.63 billion, registering a CAGR of 5.03% over 2023-27.

An additional driver, states the research, was an observed economic boom for Middle Eastern countries, leading to an increased demand for power.

Commenting on the report’s findings was GlobalData senior power analyst Bhavana Sri Pullagura, who stated how “the growing demand for electricity is giving rise to the need for new power plants, particularly those modes of generation that have minimal impact on the environment.”

With this, stated Pullagura, countries have started looking towards eliminating barriers to deployment of renewable technologies and gas-based generation.

“The falling capital cost and low gas prices also resulted in increased development of renewables and gas power plants. This contributed to the growth of the switchgear market, which is expected to continue as countries seek to increase the share of renewables and gas in their generation mix.”

Asia-Pacific

According to the report, in 2022, Asia-Pacific’s market value stood at $10.77 billion, accounting for a share of 43.05% in the global HV switchgear market. The HV switchgear market in the Americas is expected to reach $3.11 billion by 2027, as the grid requires upgrades to replace aging assets and to accommodate the increasing sources of renewable energy.

China, one of the fastest-growing economies with the largest fleet of transmission substations, topped the report’s global HV switchgear market in 2022 with a value of $7.73 billion, accounting for a 30.0% share. The country is expected to continue its leadership during the forecast period, reaching $9.19 billion in 2027.

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Bhavana Sri added: “The need to build transmission infrastructure to deliver power from renewable sources in remote regions, the increasing domestic demand for electricity, large-scale renewable energy deployment, the projected growth in the gross domestic product and rural electrification initiatives are some of the major factors aiding the growth of its HV switchgear market in China.

“The country is the world leader in ultra-high-voltage transmission, having made considerable investments in the development of transmission systems of voltage level of 765kv and above.”

The other major countries in the Asia-Pacific gas-insulated switchgear market, states GlobalData’s research, include India and Japan. India ranks third after China and the US in the global HV switchgear market, with a value of $1.15 billion in 2022 and a share of 4.60%.

“GlobalData believes that policies established to address environmental challenges and capitalise on market opportunities offered by technologies would notably impact the switchgear market by the end of the forecast period,” states Bhavana Sri.

The integration, believed to be a first for quantum-based cyber protection in smart meters, sees quantum computing-hardened encryption keys integrated into all Honeywell’s smart meters for gas, water and electricity.

This enhanced security is aimed to set a new benchmark for protection against data breaches and to help ensure the uninterrupted operation of the utilities infrastructure.

“By integrating Quantinuum’s encryption technology into our smart meters, we’re advancing data security for our customers and shaping the dialogue on how the utility industries should approach cybersecurity in the quantum era,” says Hamed Heyhat, President of Smart Energy and Thermal Solutions at Honeywell.

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“This integration underscores the necessity for continuous innovation to stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape. It is a level of protection that is imperative in our increasingly digital and interconnected world.”

Quantinuum’s Quantum Origin generates keys through quantum computing-enhanced randomness – a feature of the quantum world – which makes them unpredictable and thereby able to significantly enhance the data security.

Specifically a quantum cryptographic seed is generated on a quantum computer, which is then verified for strength and the keys are generated.

Tony Uttley, President and COO of Quantinuum, comments that robust cybersecurity requires a multifaceted approach, taking advantage of the latest technologies.

“Our work with Honeywell demonstrates the importance of using the power of today’s quantum computers to create a more resilient cyber infrastructure to better protect customers.”

Quantum Origin is designed for both devices and infrastructure, with keys generated directly into devices or on demand via the cloud.

The smart meter products with Quantum Origin from Honeywell are available now to customers in North America and Europe.

The package includes $2 billion in grants and up to $10 billion in loans, as well as a Notice of Intent (NOI) to make available $3.5 billion towards the country’s EV transition.

“President Biden is investing in the workforce and factories that made our country a global manufacturing powerhouse,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

“Today’s announcements show that President Biden understands that building the cars of the future also necessitates helping the communities challenged by the transition away from the internal combustion engine.”

Depending on their capital needs, manufacturers can apply to receive assistance via financial grants through DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) or preferable debt financing through DOE’s Loan Program Office.

The funding breakdown is as follows:

$2 billion for EV plant retrofits

$2 billion will be made available to spur the conversion of long-standing facilities to manufacture EVs and components.

Supported by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grants for EVs programme will provide cost-shared grants for domestic production of efficient hybrid, plug-in electric hybrid, plug-in electric drive and hydrogen fuel cell EVs.

The programme will expand manufacturing of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty EVs and components and support commercial facilities including those for vehicle assembly, component assembly and related vehicle part manufacturing.

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$10 billion for conversion projects

$10 billion will be made available in loan authority for applications under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program for automotive manufacturing conversion projects that retain high-quality jobs in communities that currently host manufacturing facilities.

Examples include retaining high wages and benefits, including workplace rights, or commitments such as keeping the existing facility open until a new facility is complete, in the case of facility replacement projects.

For projects that seek financing to convert or directly replace an existing factory that has high-quality jobs, DOE will assess the projected economic impacts of the facility conversion relative to the existing facility, including factors such as contribution to the local economy, employment history, anticipated employment and duration of its existence.

$3.5 billion to boost production

The DOE’s NOI to make available $3.5 billion in funding will expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for EVs and the nation’s grid, as well for battery materials and components currently imported from other countries.

The NOI – made possible by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—represents the second round of funding for battery materials processing and battery manufacturing grants to support the creation of new, retrofitted and expanded domestic commercial facilities for battery materials, battery components and cell manufacturing.

The programme will also support communities with experienced auto workers and a history of producing vehicles, applicants with strong workforce practices and applicants who plan to create high-quality jobs.

The round of funding was made possible by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.

Both the conversion grant funding opportunity and battery manufacturing notice of intent will be administered by the DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC).

NYSEG, a subsidiary of Avangrid, is to deploy LineVision’s non-contact LiDAR sensors to introduce dynamic line rating in the Hornell area of New York.

The goal of this ‘non-wires alternative’ is to reduce grid congestion with real-time data to enhance the capacity of the lines.

Traditionally, lines have been operated using ‘static’ line ratings based on fixed values.

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However, with the real-time data combining properties such as sag, temperature and the forecast weather conditions, the capacity can be determined on a ‘dynamic’ basis to enable increases in the capacity without potentially large and costly upgrades.

“We know that we have a critical role in building a smarter, more resilient network that will enable us to deliver clean energy to more customers,” commented Patricia Nilsen, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E.

“Investments in innovation like this are very exciting because it will benefit our customers in multiple ways.”

The sensors will be installed on two of the company’s transmission lines – one from Elma in Erie County to Strykersville in Wyoming County and the other from Warsaw to Perry in Wyoming County.

Funding for the project was awarded to Avangrid and LineVision through round two of NYSERDA’s Future Grid Challenge programme.

Capacity optimisation is crucial for the large-scale integration of renewable energies, with their potential for congestion.

New York state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) goals to achieve 70% renewable electricity by 2030 call for an additional 10,000MW solar capacity and 9,000MW offshore wind capacity.

Such an increase would likely cause significant congestion on transmission lines.

The hurricane made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning as a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 125mph. It entered Georgia with top wind speeds of 90mph, and was downgraded to a tropical storm Wednesday afternoon as its wind speeds decreased to 60mph. It continued into South Carolina on Wednesday night, and into North Carolina on Thursday morning.

Restoration efforts have already begun, as hundreds of thousands of customers have lost power.

Nearly half a million customers in Flordia and Georgia alone lost power, AP reports, and more than 300,000 customers in the Southeast are still without power Thursday morning, according to outage trackers from poweroutage.us and Star News Online.

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More than 30,000 utility workers in Flordia, where more than 140,000 customers are still without power, began to repair downed power lines and poles, AP reports.

Georgia Power has begun restoration and assessment efforts, and the utility said power had been restored to more than 40,000 customers by Wednesday afternoon, when 132,000 customers were without power. Nearly 100,000 customers are still without power in Georgia as of Thursday morning.

Dominion Energy workers in South Carolina began restoring power to the more than 23,000 customers who lost it, and the utility’s spokesperson said power should be restored for the remaining customers by the end of the day, although “severe damage” may slow restoration in some areas where customers are unable to receive power.

Duke Energy said it has restored power for more than 60,000 customers in North Carolina already, and said it will also restore power for all customers who can receive it by the end of the day. Roughly 23,000 customers are still without power in both Carolinas.

Originally publushed by Sean Wolfe on Power Grid.

Also on the radar are stats from BNEF showing how, in 2022, clean energy activities generated at least $2.56 trillion globally and the latest green bond from E.ON valued at a total of €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion).

Energy trading optimised by grid physics

US-based SESCO Enterprises has announced the use of a mathematical optimisation model to simulate market dynamics based on the transmission grid.

Namely, the power trader has signed on with Gurobi Optimisation LLC, which develops decision intelligence tech, to support their price optimisation.

As a trading firm in the energy markets, SESCO’s goal is to simulate the condition of the national grid, as well as consumer demand for the electricity it delivers.

These outputs simulate energy market dynamics and become inputs to the models SESCO has built to determine bid pricing at auction.

“The unique thing about electricity markets is that prices aren’t really determined by people buying and selling in an order book. Next-day prices are determined at the ISO (Independent System Operator) auction, where clearing prices are often set by the outcome of an optimisation solve – typically using tools like Gurobi,” explains Dylan Modesitt, chief investment officer of SESCO.

“So using the partial information we have, we try to determine what the optimal pricing would be.”

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SESCO’s business involves speculating on next-day electricity prices, as well as the longer-term forward markets for trading power.

“Our trading expertise is about the congestion component of price, which is the kind of pricing differential that arises from transmission lines being saturated at their limit,” explained Modesitt.

“And when transmission lines are saturated to some local limit, loss is going to emit as heat. So to avoid any kind of catastrophic failure, price signals are sent on either side of that transmission line. It’s a lot of demand speculation, and it requires an understanding of the actual physics of the grid.”

SESCO began building out mathematical models and used them to solve toy problems with another commercial solver.

However, states the trader, due to several million constraints and variables, either the incumbent solver was unable to find feasible solutions, or each solve simply took too long to be useful.

Hence the turn to Gurobi, which they state provides a solution that can capture the complex effects of the physical grid state as it impacts market outcomes.

Specifically, the advanced optimisation techniques used by Gurobi’s solver, states SESCO, improve the pricing precision and capital efficiency of their trading approach.

Listed global firms hit $2.56 trillion in clean energy revenues

According to analysis from BloombergNEF (BNEF), in 2022 clean energy activities generated at least $2.56 trillion globally, with power utilities and renewable manufacturers accounting for two-thirds of the figure.

The figure forms 2.6% of GDP, according to BNEF’s Clean Energy Exposure Ratings, which identified and rated over 8,000 listed companies with revenue exposure to clean energy activities, from over 50,000 assessed.

Listed electric utilities like EDF, Enel and E.ON accounted for $1.06 trillion (42% of the total) in clean energy revenues, followed by renewable energy manufacturers and developers including CATL, Vestas and Trina Solar, contributing $628 billion (25%) in clean energy revenues in 2022.

“While automakers like Volkswagen and Toyota are among the biggest earners in the rankings, their exposure remains low and so the auto industry only contributes $370 billion to the total,” said Mike Daly, lead author of the report.

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E.ON issues €1.5 billion in green bonds

E.ON has successfully issued two bond tranches with a combined volume of €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), backed by a combined peak orderbook of €4.3 billion ($4.7 billion).

Both tranches value €750 million ($815.6 million) each, with the first maturing in March 2029 and the second in August 2033.

E.ON’s CFO Marc Spieker commented on the green bonds: “The high demand from investors underlines again that we are on the right track with our strategy, which is focused on sustainability, digitalisation and growth.

“E.ON is determined to drive forward the energy transition in Europe. We want to invest a total of €33 billion ($35.9 billion) in the energy transition by 2027. Green bonds are an important financing instrument to do this, and we will continue to use them for our financing in the future.”

According to E.ON, a positive market environment has already allowed them to prefund financing needs for the upcoming 2024 fiscal year, while 2023 funding needs were already covered successfully by a €1.8 billion ($2 billion) bond issuance in January.

The proceeds of this green bonds will thus be used to finance and/or refinance Eligible Green Projects as defined in E.ON’s Green Bond Framework.

Bank of America Securities, Deutsche Bank, Natwest Markets and Unicredit served as active bookrunners in the transaction.

What are some of the strategies you’ve seen companies use to improve their energy trading and analytics? Are there any you’d like to see covered? Let me know.

For the latest finance and investment news coming from the energy sector, make sure to follow Smart Energy Finances Weekly.

Cheer,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

Follow me on Linkedin

The installations will start in the company’s southern communities and will lead to the installation of more than 260,000 of the new smart meters in the service area through 2025.

For Xcel Energy, the rollout marks the next step in the modernisation of its power grid, which so far has focussed primarily on boosting the capacity and reliability of the system through new and improved lines and substations.

With the smart meters, customers will be empowered to manage their energy use better while improving reliability and helping Xcel Energy restore power more quickly after an outage.

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“We’re excited to take this next step in building a smarter, more resilient and efficient energy grid and making it easier than ever for customers to understand and manage their energy use,” said Karl Hoesly, president, of Xcel Energy – Wisconsin.

“Smart meters are the starting point for this advanced grid, boosting reliability and providing new tools and technology to help customers lower costs.”

Smart meters will give customers near real-time energy use data with access through the company’s ‘My Account app’ or online.

They also will have access to programmes and services that will help them better understand their energy usage and how to improve efficiency and find more savings.

Currently, the majority of Xcel Energy’s old meters are AMR meters.

In addition to Wisconsin, Xcel Energy has smart meter rollouts underway in its service areas in Colorado, Minnesota and Texas.

The rollouts in North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico are tentatively scheduled to start in 2024 and in Michigan in 2025.

Xcel Energy serves approximately 3.7 million electricity and 2.1 million natural gas customers across the eight service territories.

Rather than relying on the traditional uni-brand battery-based system, the utility is focusing on the integration of smart thermostats, such as rooftop solar and other connected resources, such as water pumps, alongside battery storage within a centralised system to reduce energy demand.

SDG&E has been piloting the unique virtual power plant (VPP) system since December 2022, which consists of multiple customer-owned devices, to support the grid during peak hours.

According to SDG&E, most VPPs typically involve only one brand or one type of device, usually battery energy storage.

SDG&E’s VPP pilot involves a diverse range of devices within the same system, including smart thermostats, well water controllers and battery energy storage systems.

The pilot is taking place in Shelter Valley, a remote community in eastern San Diego County.

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Participants in the pilot include single-family homes with existing rooftop solar and the Shelter Valley Community Center, which serves as a resource centre for the community during emergencies. The centre received free installation of two batteries onsite.

In August, as temperatures increased, SDG&E deployed its VPP pilot three times to support the grid during peak demand periods. The connected devices functioned as expected.

When VPP participants receive a message about the potential for their devices to be turned off or discharge electricity to support the grid, they can opt out for certain devices, except battery storage. According to the utility, to date the opt-out rate has been very low.

The pilot first came online December 2022 and will run through December 2023.

Because of how well the pilot project has performed, SDG&E is now considering expanding the programme to other areas in the future.

Since the start of the pilot, the VPP has been tested through 17 simulated demand response events.

Virtual Power Plants

VPPs use advanced software to aggregate and coordinate the functions of a collection of small-scale, decentralised resources located at customers’ homes and businesses to meet grid needs.

A VPP network can comprise many devices and resources, including home appliances such as electric vehicles and chargers to HVAC equipment and solar plus battery energy storage systems.

Software programmes run VPPs in concert with grid operations to dispatch communications signals to devices in the VPP network to either power down or discharge electricity from existing resources back to the grid.

“The beauty of a virtual power plant is it can leverage existing resources to provide significant grid reliability benefits – with zero incremental emissions,” said SDG&E chief commercial officer Miguel Romero.

“When hundreds or thousands of businesses or homes are connected to a VPP and their resources are flexibly managed to charge or discharge electrons, they can help keep the lights on during hot summer days.”

State agencies will begin immediate inspections of energy storage sites, and the working group is intended to help prevent fires and ensure emergency responders have the necessary training and information to prepare and deploy resources in the event of a fire.

“Following multiple fire safety incidents across New York, I’ve directed State agencies to immediately form the Inter-Agency Fire Safety Working Group to mobilize the personnel and resources necessary to keep New Yorkers safe,” Governor Hochul said. “The Working Group will collaborate with first responders and local leaders to identify best practices, address potential risks to public safety, and ensure energy storage sites across New York are safe and effective.”

Three notable fires occurred at New York energy facilities this summer. A fire at an energy storage system in Warwick burned for multiple days in June, a battery fire at a solar farm in Jefferson County raised concerns of possible air contamination in July, and an energy storage system at an East Hampton substation caught fire in July.

In 2019, New York state committed to adding 3,000MW of Energy Storage by 2030, among other energy and climate goals, as part of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

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The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services’ Office of Fire Prevention and Control (OFPC) staff and the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Emergency Response Unit responded to the Jefferson County incident and supported emergency response partners with performing precautionary air monitoring tests in the surrounding area of the fire.

While fires at energy storage facilities are exceedingly rare, Hochul has directed the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Office of Fire Prevention and Control, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Public Service, and the Department of State to lead the working group to independently examine energy storage facility fires and safety standards. The group will leverage experts and national laboratories in energy storage root cause and emergency response analyses to independently assess and identify common causes, air monitoring results or other community impacts, and other factors involved with energy storage fires.

The working group will investigate the recent energy storage fires in New York and will conduct a fire safety review, including emergency response analysis, of energy storage projects that experienced thermal runaway events across New York. Findings will include a list of recommendations for stationary energy storage equipment and installations. The working group would review energy storage system operations and operators as they examine the condition of their batteries to verify operation within design parameters; remedy any deficiencies identified; verify operation of on-site fire suppression; and confirm fire suppression plans with local fire departments, among other best practices.

The findings and resulting recommendations will also be shared with the New York City Fire Department, National Fire Protection Association, International Code Council, the New York State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council, and Underwriters Laboratories, establishing New York as a national and international leader in fire safety and stationary energy storage systems.

Originally published on Power Grid.

The lawsuit alleges that Hawaiian Electric failed to properly maintain its system and failed to shut off the power despite a red flag warning issued by the National Weather Service. Additional reports claim bare wire and leaning poles were to blame for the fire.

In a statement, CEO of Hawaiian Electric, Shelee Kimura acknowledged that there are “important lessons to be learned” from the tragic event, and urged the public to embrace the Hawaiian spirit of “collective strength and unity of our community.”

The utility believes its equipment was not at fault for starting the fire and laid out the timeline below:

1. A fire at 6:30 a.m. (the Morning Fire) appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds.
   
2. The Maui County Fire Department responded to this fire, reported it was “100% contained,” left the scene and later declared it had been “extinguished.”
   
3. At about 3 p.m., a time when all of Hawaiian Electric’s power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours, a second fire (the Afternoon Fire) began in the same area.
   
4. The cause of the devastating Afternoon Fire has not been determined.

“We were surprised and disappointed that the County of Maui rushed to court even before completing its own investigation,” Kimura said. “We believe the complaint is factually and legally irresponsible. It is inconsistent with the path that we believe we should pursue as a resilient community committed and accountable to each other as well as to Hawaiʻi’s future.”

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Utility says Maui is at fault for the fires

Kimura said the utility is “ready to work” with the communities impacted by the fires but cautioned that “the county’s lawsuit may leave us no choice in the legal system but to show its responsibility for what happened that day.”

Outlined below are additional details offered in the statement from Hawaiian Electric:

The records conclusively establish that Hawaiian Electric power lines to Lahaina were not energised when the Afternoon Fire broke out shortly before 3pm on August 8, in a field near Lahaina Intermediate School. Power had been out for more than six hours by that time. There was no electricity flowing through the wires in the area or anywhere else on the West Maui coast. Hawaiian Electric has informed ATF investigators of the availability of records that demonstrate these facts.

The small Morning Fire, seen in videos taken by local residents, began more than eight hours earlier. Those videos show that power lines had fallen to the ground in high winds near the intersection of Lahainaluna Road and Hoʻokahua Street at approximately 6.30am. A small fire that can be seen by the downed lines spread into the field across the street from the Intermediate School.

The Maui County Fire Department responded promptly to the Morning Fire. According to the Department’s public statement that morning, by 9am the Morning Fire was “100% contained.” The Maui County fire chief subsequently reported that the Fire Department had determined that the Morning Fire was “extinguished,” and the Fire Department left the scene by 2pm.

Once the fire was out, Hawaiian Electric emergency crews arrived at Lahainaluna Road in the afternoon of August 8 to make repairs; they saw no fire or smoke or embers. All lines to Lahaina remained de-energised and all power in the area remained off.

Shortly before 3pm, while the power remained off, crew members saw a small fire about 75 yards away from Lahainaluna Road in the field near the Intermediate School. They immediately called 911 and reported that fire.

By the time the Maui County Fire Department arrived back on the scene, it was not able to contain the Afternoon Fire and it spread out of control toward Lahaina.

“The county’s lawsuit distracts from the important work that needs to be done for the people of Lahaina and Maui,” said Scott Seu, president and CEO of HEI. “Since the devastating fire in Lahaina, Hawaiian Electric’s focus has been supporting all of those who have been impacted and helping Maui recover. HEI stands with Hawaiian Electric and the community in rebuilding Lahaina and empowering a thriving future for Maui and the other islands we serve.”

Originally published on Power Grid.

The solution, believed to be the first to use Amazon Sidewalk for data communication, is comprised of the Subeca ‘Pin’ as a Bluetooth meter register to replace the standard register on the water meter.

Once commissioned, the utility is then able to utilise the Amazon Sidewalk communications network, with the free communications benefit that it offers.

“This is a very inexpensive way for a utility to start building out an AMI platform,” says Patrick Keaney, CEO of Subeca.

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Subeca’s Pin is claimed to work with the majority of existing water meters and that it can be retrofitted in less than a minute.

To get the product out on the market the company has launched an ‘Explorer kit’ comprised of three Pins and the use of its Engage data platform for one year, available to 100 utilities.

Amazon Sidewalk is a long-range, low-bandwidth, low-power community wireless network for IoT that is enabled on Amazon Echo and certain other devices.

It is based on Bluetooth low energy and 900MHz LoRa and is believed to potentially provide coverage to over 90% of the population in the US – its only country of availability so far.

Subeca’s Pin includes the Bluetooth meter register as the core data collection component and the Bluetooth low energy and LoRa modules.

The company’s product offering also includes the ‘Act’, a Bluetooth wireless ball valve that will open, restrict or close upon command from a Bluetooth-capable mobile device or through the company’s Link data collection device.

Subeca has previously developed a LoRaWAN solution with a Pin featuring AWS IoT Core for low-cost communication.

Keaney, who has been CEO of Subeca since May, is the former worldwide head of development at AWS Water, with a focus on the development of IoT and cloud services in the water sector.

Faults are abnormal conditions in an electrical circuit that interrupt the flow of power, with the potential to cause blackouts that affect thousands of customers. Faults can be caused by equipment failure, human error, weather events and natural disasters. Understanding them enables electric companies and system operators to maintain reliable electricity service and reduce the number of outages.

However, traditional modeling methods are less effective at predicting how cutting-edge digital technology will behave. Newer energy resources like solar panels and electric vehicle chargers are spreading through the electric grid, increasing the presence of electronics called inverters, which alter the flow of electrical current to match the larger transmission system. Compared to mechanical systems, power electronics are much faster-acting devices that are affected differently by faults in distant parts of the grid. But most power companies have not adjusted their planning to reflect these changes.

That’s why the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is asking utilities and operators to use a new method to probe the causes and effects of faults: electromagnetic transient, or EMT, domain analysis. Compared with traditional modeling, this type of analysis is expected to portray rapidly unfolding events more accurately.

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“As the grid transformation happens with more inverter-based resources and EV chargers, EMT is needed to understand the reliability of the system,” said ORNL researcher Suman Debnath. Lacking these methods and tools, operators and utilities may not be able to retain their past level of service reliability, especially as they plan future interconnections and expansions of the transmission system.

Debnath’s team of ORNL researchers, working with partner Southern California Edison, conducted one of the first successful fault replications using EMT earlier this year after integrating their own models and algorithms into an EMT domain analysis tool. Running the simulation in the ORNL lab and in hardware at Southern California Edison, they said they accurately reproduced the effects of a 2018 California fault on a large solar plant.

“Developing a high-fidelity model will help utilities better understand the physical dynamics of the power electronics, thus improving grid performance and aligning with our future vision of grid modernization,” said Md Arifujjaman, senior engineer for grid technology innovation at Southern California Edison. “This kind of project helps us a lot. The more dynamics you can present, the better for us, for the grid and for the customer.”

Originally published on Power Grid.

Also on the radar are two further acquisitions: that of a Chinese EV manufacturer by a Dubai-based tech company, as well as of a grids-focused advisory company by a US-based global consultancy.

SMS acquires heat pump division for flexibility services

The Scottish smart metering company has announced the acquisition of Evergreen Energy’s domestic services division, which specialises in the installation and maintenance of renewable energy assets, including heat pumps, solar and battery storage for homeowners.

According to SMS, the acquisition will enhance their capacity to deliver an extended range of low-carbon, behind-the-meter energy solutions to the UK’s domestic and commercial marketplaces.

The company, which earlier this year pointed to their flagship smart meter services and storage portfolios as key profit areas, is calling the acquisition “highly complementary to SMS’s leading role in the delivery of Great Britain’s smart meter programme, owning and managing c.4.5 million meter and data assets for customers,” they state in a press release.

Heat pumps are a key clean tech asset for enabling demand side response, which is gaining attraction in the UK as a method of alleviating peak demand on the country’s grid system.

The acquisition is thus hoped to deliver associated data solutions and demand flexibility services to energy suppliers, businesses and consumers.

Earlier this year in February, SMS announced a demand side response project, part of the UK Government’s Flexibility Innovation Programme, to design and deliver testing schemes for flexibility applications.

Earlier this week, UK market research company Cornwall Insight released research illustrating the crucial element smart meters represent for flexibility services, which have exponential savings potential, should households participate.

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SMS’s acquisition follows other strategic investments made last year in EV charge point software company, Clenergy EV, and of smart energy data platform, n3rgy, which similarly bolstered SMS’s presence in the EV charging infrastructure and data services markets.

Evergreen Energy’s other divisions, including the Homely and Easy MCS brands are not included in the transaction and will operate independently from the Evergreen Energy brand going forward.

Stated SMS CEO Tim Mortlock: “Whilst we will continue to operate the Evergreen Energy brand that has been successfully established within the northwest, the acquisition will bolster the Group’s overall capacity to deliver these carbon reduction assets on a wider national scale to a fast-growing domestic and commercial marketplace.

“The location of Evergreen’s Manchester base close to our national training academy and innovation centre in Bolton, where we are focussed on upskilling our engineering workforce and testing new technologies, will also be highly beneficial.”

A Middle Eastern acquisition of Chinese EV manufacturing

Dubai-headquartered mobility tech company NWTN has reached an agreement to make a strategic investment of $500 million in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group (EVGRF), a Chinese automobile manufacturer that specialises in developing EVs, aiming to accelerate the company’s position in the EV space.

NWTN and EVGRF entered into a share subscription agreement pursuant to which NWTN will acquire approximately 27.50% of shares of EVGRF alongside the right to nominate a majority of EVGRF’s board.

The proposed transaction is expected to close in Q4 2023, subject to customary and other closing conditions.

NWTN, a mobility and green energy company, has a full vehicle assembly facility in Abu Dhabi. Technologically, the company has expanded its capabilities to include PV generation, green hydrogen production and energy storage.

The strategic acquisition forms part of the company’s continuing expansion, vying in growing markets in the Middle East, North Africa, China and other countries.

NWTN states an emphasis for their business on the use of AI technologies, autonomous driving and personalised passenger experience as key to its market positioning.

The company believes a partnership with EVGRF will be instrumental in addressing the EV needs of the Middle East and will facilitate EVGRF’s research and development and mass production of new car models for eventual export overseas.

According to Reuters, the deal forms part of a $3.2 billion plan unveiled by Evergrande to reduce its debt and stay afloat.

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Consultancy’s acquisition to reinforce grid expertise

US-based ICF, a global consulting and tech services provider, has acquired CMY Solutions, a power and energy engineering firm that advises on decision-making for grid modernisation, programmes and investments.

Founded in 2016, CMY’s team of 50 specialised experts advise senior leaders of utilities and developers across the US, Europe and Asia, including investor-owned utilities, electric municipalities and electric cooperatives.

ICF on the other hand consists of approximately 9,000 employees, consisting of business analysts and policy specialists who work alongside digital strategists, data scientists and creatives in the public and private sectors.

The acquisition brings to ICF strong backgrounds in renewable energy integration, distributed energy resources (DER) impact studies and management.

Additionally, CMY brings “deep technical expertise in substation, transmission and distribution system design, protection and control, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance, as well as system planning and capital strategy consulting,” states ICF in a press release announcing the acquisition.

Commenting on the acquisition was John Wasson, ICF chair and CEO, who stated how the deal will “strengthen our ability to support utilities’ needs for grid transformation, reliability, resilience and renewables integration in a much more holistic way.

“As one team, we will scale our industry-leading energy service offerings and continue to grow our rapidly expanding technology and data management capabilities across the various markets we serve.”

Acquisitions have been key in this week’s Smart Energy Finances with smart metering for flexibility, EV manufacturing and grid modernisation expertise for consulting all seen driving strategic corporate moves.

What are your thoughts? What have you seen as having a large influence on decision-making when it comes to acquisitions in the energy sector and what would you like me to cover?

Let me know.

Cheers,
Yusuf Latief
Content Producer
Smart Energy International

Follow me on Linkedin

The human factor, when it comes to the use of distributed generation such as rooftop solar and its delivery to the grid is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to the modern grid.

Zhao, who directs Mines’ Smart Grid and Energy Research Lab, intends to study this human factor and this in turn could be incorporated so that the grid could predict how it will then be used by the humans.

Zhao says that while there is a great deal of effort underway right now to build the technology and infrastructure needed to run smart grids, the one thing missing from current research is the human factor.

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“The most important part of the equation is people, and we are trying to understand human behaviour to help build the most robust and fully functional smart grid models.”

The grant from the National Science Foundation is worth almost $200,000 over the next two years.

Specifically the intention is to introduce a data-driven approach to analyse and explicitly model power demand behaviour at the household level using real-world long-term data.

The goal is to reveal macro- and micro-residential power demand patterns, through matching 15-minute resolution smart meter data with consumer surveys, along with local parcel data and meteorological data, to achieve a comprehensive understanding of residential power demand behaviour at a disaggregated level.

This should then lay the foundation for research focused on data-driven analysis and modelling for next-generation power grids.

The primary contribution of the project is intended to be the development of a data-driven temperature-time-day-based model for residential power demand behaviour, relying solely on real-world data.

Zhao anticipates that the research also should have wider impacts, with the proposed model potentially readily expanded to other domains such as water usage.

It also should contribute to better understanding incentive effectiveness in changing consumer behaviour, particularly in green consumption.

Alongside the project a new ‘Smart Grid and Data Science’ curriculum will be developed, combining power engineering and social science.

Partners in the project include the local coop West River Electric Association and the chamber of commerce Elevate Rapid City.

Smoke impact on solar PV

The new project comes as Zhao has just completed another study on the impact of wildfire smoke on solar PV.

While solar energy production is likely to be impacted by low-level smoke, the project found that the output of individual solar panels can be reduced by nearly 50%, even when the smoke is present at high altitudes and air quality near the ground is not significantly impacted.

Moreover, the fluctuations vary with the intensity of the smoke, which often varies, indicating the importance of taking this into account as solar becomes more widespread in wildfire-prone areas and beyond given the propensity for the smoke to potentially travel large distances in the air.

US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) chose DERMS provider Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) to implement their Strata Grid DERMS at the facility.

ESIF is an energy systems integration laboratory facility focused on developing and deploying clean energy technologies and resilient distribution systems.

According to the ESIF’s research project manager, Sarah Williams, “DERMS-related research is core to the integrated, multi-disciplinary work happening at ESIF.

“We have confidence we are developing a powerful toolbox with SGS to address both existing and future use cases.”

DERMS are known for enabling enhanced control and visibility over assets for utilities and electric cooperatives, allowing operators to manage incoming renewable energy resources and grid-edge devices for improved performance of the electrical system.

According to SGS in a press release announcing their selection, example use cases of the Strata Grid DERMS include the autonomous operation and coordination of modern grid devices.

Within the system distributed energy resources (DERs) are leveraged for improved grid planning and operation, as well as demand-side management and customer engagement through bidirectional communication with utilities and energy market operations.

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According to SGS, the system is the “only DERMS software to combine the grid and market optimisation with real-time control”.

According to the ESIF, when it comes to their integrated energy capabilities, the lab includes tools and approaches to enable better integration with the electric grid and other energy infrastructure, diversification of integrated energy streams for resilience, cybersecurity risk management and customer participation in smart load management and energy generation.

The ESIF also states it has “hundreds of commercially available” DERs, including inverters, electric vehicles, batteries, home energy systems, solar panels, fuel cells and more, which can be integrated ‘in-the-loop’ with simulations for realistic experimentation.

According to SGS’ statement, NREL sought a DERMS capable of replicating utility control and the monitoring of distributed devices from small residential systems to the grid substation level.

“SGS is excited to partner with NREL on their research in the DERMS realm. With NREL’s research leadership and SGS’ industry-leading DERMS solutions, we expect to see very interesting and exciting learnings from this partnership,” said Jon Grooters, director of utility solutions at SGS.

The task force, which is planned to kick off its activities in early September, is aimed to drive the adoption and standardisation of wireless charging solutions for EVs globally.

Established in cooperation with association members Siemens AG, the wireless charging technology company WiTricity Corporation and German charging solution provider MAHLE chargeBIG, the taskforce is intended to seek to close existing gaps to ensure the successful integration and utilisation of wireless power transfer technology in the evolving electric mobility landscape.

The taskforce will actively work towards harmonising standards in wireless power transfer technology for charging EVs.

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Defining the respective applicability of wireless charging will play a crucial role in its integration into diverse EV platforms.

The taskforce also will seek to define rigorous test procedures and certification guidelines for interoperability, in order to ensure that wireless charging solutions are reliable, efficient and compatible across different platforms.

Additionally, the taskforce will focus on clearing the co-existence of relevant technologies for wireless power transfer to foster a cohesive ecosystem for the future of EV charging.

Members of the taskforce with expertise in wireless charging technology are now being sought from both CharIN members and non-members.

Wireless charging developments

Wireless charging is becoming increasingly popular for mobile and other devices, with EVs an obvious opportunity due to the convenience it offers.

Both static and dynamic options are available, enabling charging when parked in a garage or driving on highways respectively, with the former aimed primarily at homeowners and charging station operators and the latter initially at least for trucks and other high-use vehicles such as buses and taxis.

Its use so far is limited, however, but that is set to change with wireless charging now delivering efficiencies and charging times that match or even better those of traditional plug-in chargers, according to developers such as WiTricity.

As an example of recent development, WiTricity has entered into a partnership to deliver its technology in Europe with ABT e-Line, which initially will upgrade the VW ID.4 to support wireless charging and subsequently other VW, Audi and Porsche models thereafter.

In another example, another CharIN member, the Israeli company Electreon is to equip a section of the French A10 motorway southwest of Paris with dynamic wireless charging and a stationary wireless charging station initially for fleet use.

A third CharIN member InductEV recently opened a high power wireless charging R&D centre at its King of Prussia, Pennsylvania headquarters.

In the US there also is a move to introduce a grant programme for wireless EV charging with a proposal for $250 million to be made available for its introduction on roads and bus routes, in parking areas and at airports among other locations.

The seven-member ‘Data science and analytics’ team drawn from diverse fields including astrophysics, healthcare and finance is charged with creating three different systems, Predictive Health Analytics, GeoMesh and HealthAI.

Each will take existing data from Avangrid companies’ electricity grids and analyse it to forecast future performance of the grid, determine the condition of grid equipment or target at-risk locations for inspections and investment.

Ultimately, this should lead to increased reliability for the 2.31 million customers served by these companies, i.e. Central Maine Power, New York State Electric & Gas, Rochester Gas and Electric and United Illuminating.

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“We’re reimagining what’s possible for a utility when it comes to data science and analytics,” said Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO.

“Traditionally, we’ve partnered with third parties to integrate this type of cutting-edge technology into our business. Now, we have the talent in-house to create machine learning models that Avangrid will own.”

The ‘Predictive health analytics’ system is focused on taking a proactive approach to determine the condition of substation equipment such as circuit breakers and enable replacement before an outage occurs.

Traditionally, equipment is replaced primarily based on age or if it malfunctions and causes an outage. ‘Predictive health analytics’ will determine equipment’s overall health and life expectancy based on numerous factors, including age, frequency of use, and manufacturer and maintenance notifications.

The ‘GeoMesh’ project is mapping Avangrid’s service areas to identify the strengths and weaknesses of its networks to help forecast its performance during both blue-sky and storm scenarios.

To accomplish this, ‘GeoMesh’ breaks Avangrid’s service areas into small sections, for each of which predictions can be made based on data points, such as average wind speed, precipitation type and amount, outage history and reason, population and density of tree limbs and other vegetation.

The ‘HealthAI’ project is analysing Avangrid’s existing millions of high-resolution photos of its street-level distribution system to identify the assets visible in them and to catalogue their health, with a view to increasing awareness of their health and to help identify areas of concern.

Currently, the AI system is being trained to correctly identify the grid equipment in the photos and then it is intended to learn to analyse and determine the health of that equipment, e.g. if a cross arm is broken or if a wire is sagging.

With ownership of the AI systems, Avangrid anticipates their continual improvement, improving their cost-effectiveness.

The funding forms part of US President Biden’s Investing in America agenda; selected communities form the sixth cohort of the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants to help modernise the electric grid in the face of climate-driven extreme weather and natural disasters.

“From remote and rural communities to urban centres, it is essential that every pocket of America has a strong and reliable energy grid that can deploy cleaner, cheaper power to homes and businesses, said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

“Thanks to the transformative investments in grid infrastructure under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are preparing the nation for a more resilient, clean energy future.”

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The following states were selected for funding:

• Alaska will receive $22 million to reduce the likelihood and consequences of natural hazard events like winter storms, extreme temperatures and landslides causing disruption to normal grid operations and critical facilities.

• Utah will receive $12 million to reduce the overall negative impacts of disruptive events on Utah’s residential and commercial power end users.

• Virginia will receive $11 million to conduct enhanced grid modelling for transmission and distribution planning to reduce disruptions by informing strategic investment and deployment of innovative technologies. Grant funds will be used to address outdated or failing energy infrastructure equipment and materials like power lines, power poles, transformers and bucket trucks serving Virginia communities.

The following tribal communities were selected for funding:

• Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation will receive $458,123 to decrease the frequency and duration of electrical outages on the Reservation and address the energy burden experienced by low-income tribal members and disadvantaged communities.

• Chalkyitsik Village will receive $112,439 to support a continuous supply of power in the system and will improve grid reliability by decreasing the number of outages and improving the ability to recover after severe weather events. The grant funding will also be used to develop battery energy storage for critical facilities.

• Citizen Potawatomi Nation will receive $1.3 million to decrease the frequency and duration of electrical outages on the Reservation and address the energy burden experienced by low-income tribal members and disadvantaged communities.

• Fort Sill Apache Tribe will receive $684,000 to ensure critical tribal facilities are not impacted by disruptive events such as extreme weather and will implement improved controls, automation and communication technology to enhance local grid operations and control.

• Galena Village, otherwise known as aka Louden Village, will receive $112,894 to support a continuous supply of power to consumers, reduce outage risks, develop projects and approaches for backup power and advance partnerships with utilities to develop clean energy.

• Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians will receive $183,155 to ensure critical tribal community facilities are not impacted by extreme weather and other disruptive events and address the energy burden faced by the tribal community.

• Native Village of Port Graham will receive $181,493 to support battery storage for critical facilities, maintain a continuous supply of power that is acceptable to consumers and reduce outage risks and improve the ability to recover from disruptive events.

• Seneca Nation of Indians will receive $479,021 to modernise the electric grid, ensure critical community facilities are not impacted by extreme weather events and address the energy burden experienced by low-income tribal members.

• Summit Lake Paiute Tribe will receive $115,833 to enable investments in grid modernisation, ensure critical facilities are not impacted by disruptive events by providing backup power to enhance system adaptive capacity and reduce disruptions to grid operations from extreme weather events.

Over the next five years, the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants will distribute a total of $2.3 billion to States, Territories, and federally recognised tribes based on a formula that includes factors such as population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts.

The States, Territories, and tribes will then award these funds to complete a diverse set of projects, with priority given to efforts that generate the greatest community benefit while providing clean, affordable and reliable energy.

Since May of this year, DOE has distributed more than $455.5 million in Grid Resilience Formula Grants due to the Investing in America Agenda.

Form Energy received the largest award of $12 million. The company plans to develop, design and construct a 10MW/1,000MWh iron-air battery system with a project location still to be determined. Form Energy has signed deals to deploy its battery with utilities such as Xcel Energy, Southern Company, and Great River Energy, and recently broke ground on a commercial-scale battery plant in West Virginia.

Ecolectro, Inc. received $1.08 million to scale-up the company’s polymer chemistry and materials it expects to significantly reduce the cost of producing hydrogen by electrolysis and create a drop-in replacement for current designs. This project entails scaling laboratory-proven technologies with engineering and validation prototypes to build and test 10kW electrolysis units. The electrolyser will be deployed in a pilot demonstration in partnership with Liberty Utilities in Massena, New York.

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PolyJoule, Inc. received $1.03 million. The company plans to install a 2MWh, 167kW PolyJoule modular battery storage system in partnership with Eastern Generation at its Astoria Generating Station located in Queens, New York. This demonstration aims to prove the safety, technical, operational and economic merits of the PolyJoule Conductive Polymer BESS in a densely populated urban setting.

Urban Electric Power (UEP) received $703,965 to install a 100kW/1MWh battery storage system, anchored by the company’s rechargeable zinc alkaline battery technology. The proposed project will be designed for 10- to 24-hour applications at commercial and industrial facilities. The project is located in Pearl River, New York.

In addition to these awards, the state also opened up $8.15 million in funding to support innovative long duration energy storage solutions, devices, software, controls and other complimentary technologies yet to be commercialised.

Officials say project submissions should advance, develop or field-test hydrogen, electric, chemical, mechanical or thermal-electric storage technologies that will address renewable integration challenges, such as grid congestion, hosting capacity constraints and siting in New York City.

New York State has a goal to install 3,000 MW of energy storage by 2030.

Originally published on Power Engineering.

DEWA files 3D printing patent

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)’s Research and Development Centre is something of a pioneer with 3D printing and has just filed a new patent for an innovative build plate and method to detach 3D printed objects automatically.

This is intended to improve the performance of 3D printers by easing the removal of 3D printed objects during the printing process and thereby making it feasible to have a continuous 3D printing operation.

The invention supports DEWA’s intensive efforts to develop advanced infrastructure and specialised software in 3D printing and additive manufacturing, and invest in them to overcome challenges in the energy sector, according to the utility.

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HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, says that the utility supports Dubai’s endeavours to become the global hub for 3D printing by finding innovative solutions and technologies that modernise the manufacture of spare parts in its business.

“We adopt 3D printing as an innovative solution for our internal operations to print spare parts for devices and equipment, in addition to extending the lifespan of our equipment,” he says, adding that DEWA is the first organisation in the GCC to apply metal 3D printing technology using threads and wires.

DEWA reports having achieved a Guinness World Records title for its 3D printed laboratory and previously a patent has been registered for an adhesive device for 3D printers, which automatically distributes the adhesive material on the 3D printing plate, to ensure that the printed material sticks adequately to the build plate.

Harnessing the power of quantum for solar energy harvesting

Northeastern University professor Sijia Dong has been awarded a US Department of Energy grant to explore algorithms for simulations on quantum computers that may further the pursuit of renewable energy sources.

Specifically what Dong wants to do is develop quantum algorithms that can enable quantum chemical simulations of macromolecules that may be leveraged for solar energy harvesting and conversion.

“In photosynthesis, a plant can convert solar energy to make sugar, a chemical that can help the plant survive,” says Dong, an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology as well as affiliated faculty of physics and chemical engineering at Northeastern.

“If we can do something like this artificially – convert the solar energy into chemical energy to make materials or useful chemicals – that will be very helpful for society.”

To date, Dong and her team have been using traditional digital computers to simulate the photochemistry of macromolecules and materials that could lead to new forms of clean energy.

However, it is a hard problem computationally and if the simulations can be carried over to a quantum computer, that should greatly accelerate the capability of developing such molecules and materials.

A Samsung Galaxy Ring

This column doesn’t normally cover rumours, but those about Samsung mobile products tend to be quite reliable so we have no hesitation in reporting the likely release of a Samsung Galaxy Ring.

Why a Galaxy Ring is of interest is because early patents indicate that it has potential for smart home integration and to control connected devices.

What we know so far is that a smart ring is almost certainly under development with a possible launch in 2024.

Based on the patents filed, other possible integrations include health tracking, such as heart rate and temperature monitoring, and coupled with XR glasses, finger and hand tracking in XR applications based on their positional information.

The concept of a connected ring isn’t new and the Oura ring as a fitness monitor has been around since 2015.

For Samsung, it would mark the company’s continuous evolution in the wearables market as an adjunct to its mobiles, while potentially providing a significant step up in convenience for smart home enthusiasts.

The company says this would allow it to deliver more low-cost renewable energy to electric customers throughout the Upper Midwest.

The company filed a Certificate of Need application with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to install a second circuit on two segments of the existing Brookings County-Hampton transmission line. The new second circuit will run between Brookings, South Dakota and Marshall, Minnesota. Xcel Energy is leading the permitting and construction efforts.

The transmission project will provide additional capacity to relieve congestion on the grid, allowing more low-cost wind power from southwest Minnesota and eastern South Dakota to reach customers throughout the region. Wind energy does not have any fuel costs and contributes to a diversified energy mix, which helps protect against rising fuel prices. Xcel says the project supports its vision of delivering 100% carbon-free electricity in Minnesota by 2040 to meet the state’s new clean energy standards.

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Most of the proposed project will not require changes to the existing transmission line route, which began operation in 2015 as part of the CapX2020 project, a joint project with several other utilities. At that time, the Public Utilities Commission and CapX2020 companies agreed there would likely be a need for new transmission in the future. As a result, the project team constructed the middle portion of the line between Lyon and Scott counties with two circuits and built the western and eastern segments as “double circuit capable.” This allowed the companies to meet customers’ energy needs at the time while anticipating growing energy demand in the future.

The new second circuit would be placed on existing transmission structures and run approximately 60 miles from the Brookings County substation near White, South Dakota to the Lyon County substation near Marshall, Minnesota. A second 39-mile segment would run between the Helena substation in Scott County, Minnesota, and the Hampton substation in Dakota County, Minnesota.

The Public Utilities Commission will review Xcel Energy’s proposal, a process that generally takes up to one year and includes opportunities for input from customers, landowners, and other key stakeholders. If the state approves the project, the company expects to start installing the new circuit in 2024 and finish the project in 2025.

The project is expected to include investment by Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, Great River Energy, Missouri River Energy Services, and Otter Tail Power Company.

Originally published by Sean Wolfe for Power Grid.

The forecast demand is a new challenge surfacing for the US, which now needs to face exponentially increasing demand for critical minerals.

This is according to the New York-based financial information and analytics company’s study, Inflation Reduction Act: Impact on North America metals and minerals report, which finds that the historic policy is accelerating demand for critical minerals and copper that are vital to energy transition technologies.

They add that ensuring enough qualifying supply to meet that demand faces ‘considerable challenges’.

Accelerated demand

Namely, US energy transition demand from clean tech such as EVs, charging infrastructure, solar PV, wind and batteries, will continue to accelerate and be materially higher for lithium (+15%), cobalt (+14%) and nickel (+13%) by 2035 than was projected before the IRA was enacted in August 2022.

According to the study, demand for copper will be 12% higher by 2035 than pre-IRA projections. Copper is not currently listed as a critical mineral in the United States and does not qualify for IRA tax credits. However, its role as the “metal of electrification” makes it vital to the energy transition and demand for it will rise as it is used alongside critical minerals in energy transition applications.

Adding the post-IRA demand increases on top of demand growth that was already expected prior to the IRA becoming law means that total combined energy transition-related demand for lithium, nickel and cobalt will be 23 times higher in 2035 than it was in 2021. Total demand for copper will be twice as high, the study finds.

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While post-IRA demand is expected to be materially higher, securing enough supply under the law’s sourcing requirements faces considerable challenges, the study says. To qualify for IRA tax credits, processing and/or extraction of critical minerals used must be in the US and/ or in a country with which the US has a free trade agreement (FTA); and that sourcing cannot involve a “foreign entity of concern.”

Commenting on the study was Daniel Yergin, S&P Global’s vice chairman: “This new comprehensive analysis shows that the Inflation Reduction Act is indeed transformative on the demand side.

“However, challenges remain in securing supply of critical minerals needed to meet growing demand and achieve its goal of accelerating the energy transition.”

Material breakdown

Of the four materials analysed in the study, only lithium is likely to be sufficiently supplied to the United States under the IRA’s domestic content requirements, given already-planned capacity additions in the United States and other FTA countries such as Chile, Canada and Australia, the study finds.

Cobalt and nickel were both found to be unlikely to be sourced at levels high enough to meet demand.

While there is enough cobalt produced in FTA countries to meet the IRA domestic sourcing requirement, the United States does not currently source most of its cobalt from those countries. Doing so would require a challenging reorientation of trading patterns across several countries given intense international competition for resources, the study says.

Nickel was found to be the most challenged in terms of supply. There does not appear to be enough nickel supply in FTA countries to meet demand under the IRA requirements—even if all primary nickel production in FTA countries was exported to the US.

While copper is not subject to sourcing requirements under the IRA, ensuring access to enough supply to meet US demand post-IRA is also at risk, the study says. The United States will become more reliant on imports as growing demand for energy transition-related end markets outpace domestic supply.

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For example, the United States relies on one country, Chile, for 60% of refined copper imports. However, for Chile the United States accounts for only 20% of its refined copper exports. The United States could struggle to secure additional supplies from Chile if other markets that represent a larger share of Chilean exports also compete for that supply.

The increasing reliance of the United States on imports as energy transition demand grows places new emphasis and urgency on challenges such as long lead times and permitting complexities that prolong development of domestic resources, the study says. S&P Global data on 127 mines across the world that began production between 2002 and 2023 shows that a major new resource discovery today would not become a productive mine until 2040 or later.

Copper represents a particular opportunity in the United States, which country possesses more than 70 million tons of an untapped copper endowment, equivalent to more than 20 years of US copper demand, even at the level of peak energy transition-related demand in 2035, the study says.

“Timely and transparent permitting is a fundamental operational challenge to supplying metals for the energy transition, particularly in developed markets such as the United States that have high levels of transparency and both political and civil society scrutiny of policy,” said Mohsen Bonakdarpour, executive director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

“Expediting permitting reform while meeting environmental and community concerns has become a central topic in boosting mineral supply for the energy transition.”

According to S&P Global, the utility’s shares plunged as much as 42% at the start of the week under the threat of a class-action lawsuit in the wake of the wildfires on Maui, which claimed the lives of over 100 people to date and widespread destruction across the island.

According to S&P, attorneys from three firms in California and Hawaii filed a complaint with the Oahu District Court alleging that Hawaiian Electric equipment “foreseeably ignited the fastmoving, deadly, and destructive Lahaina Fire.”

S&P notes that the complaint suggests that the utility should have de-energised power lines after the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning and “knew that their electrical infrastructure was inadequate, ageing, and/or vulnerable to foreseeable and known weather conditions.”

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Reportedly, states the Washington Post, power lines are the likely cause of the fire. Namely, an electrical malfunction was directly correlated with data of a Hawaiian Electric power system problem, adding evidence that the state’s main utility equipment sparked multiple fires.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the utility, which is the parent company of Maui Electric Company and serves 95% of Hawaii’s 1.4 million residents, is speaking with restructuring advisory firms to address financial and legal challenges over its potential liabilities.

S&P Global Ratings has downgraded the utility to BB-, otherwise known as junk status, warning investors that the utility is a risky bet, due to the high risk of default.

After the wildfires broke out last week, the Hawaiian utility warned of extended outages, which affected over 12,400 customers.

As of Wednesday, restoration has still been underway on transmission lines, with approximately 2,000 customers remaining without electricity in West Maui.

According to Hawaiian Electric, crews are currently working to install a second mobile substation to support restoration efforts and more than 100 utility poles will be needed. A shipment is expected to arrive from Oahu covering the utility pole requirements as well as supplying fencing and other equipment.

According to the National Interagency Fire Centre, 68,988 wildfires burned more than 7.5 million acres of US land last year.

The lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric is the latest case of a utility being associated with a wildfire. In the past years, lawsuits have been filed against PacifiCorp and PG&E.