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Aqua Metals forced to halt operations after fire at lead-acid recycling plant

Lead-acid battery recycler Aqua Metals is counting the cost of a fire this week that caused ‘significant’ damage to its Aquarefinery area of its Nevada, US, plant.

The company’s equipment, including all 16 AquaRefining modules, control wiring and other supporting infrastructure, were damaged by the heat and smoke from the fire on 29 November

After initial damage assessments, the company believes it will incur a cost and delay in operating any processes within the plant, although it was not able to say how long, and at what cost.

lead-acid

battery

recycler

Aqua Metals

Aquarefinery

nevada

Nevada utility faces fine for failing to earmark energy storage funds

Nevada power utility NV Energy and its subsidiary Sierra Pacific Power Company have an anxious two-month wait to hear if they will be fined for not setting aside $10 million in incentives for energy storage systems in the US state.

Members of industry regulator the California Public Utilities Commission found that NV Energy had “failed to comply with the Commission’s orders” to set aside funding for energy storage during a prehearing on 27 June.

NV Energy outlines new BESS investments for Nevada

Nevada utility NV Energy has unveiled proposals to build an additional 590MW of lithium-ion battery energy storage systems in the state along with 1,200MW of new solar photovoltaic capacity.

NV is asking regulators to approve a total of three projects in the south of the state towards the utility’s target of doubling its renewable energy generating capacity by 2023.

Public Utilities Commission of Nevada

investment

Musk hits out at Panasonic over Tesla battery supply

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has blamed “lower-than-expected” battery manufacture from Panasonic for disrupting production of Tesla’s Model 3 electric vehicles (EVs).

Musk said in a post on Twitter that Panasonic’s battery cell lines at the ‘Gigafactory 1’ facility in Nevada amounted to about 24GWh per year— lower than the expected 35GWh— and had “been a constraint on Model 3 output since July (2018)”.

Musk added “Tesla won’t spend money on more capacity until existing lines get closer to 35GWh theoretical”.

Green light for Nevada utility’s battery storage projects

The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) has given approval for six NV Energy projects in the state— collectively the “largest clean energy investment in Nevada History”— as the utility moves towards its long-term commitment to providing 100% of its energy through renewables.

Three of the projects will be located in northern Nevada, three in the south. The projects represent a direct investment to Nevada of more than US$2 billion, and will bring an aggregate 1,001 megawatts of solar photovoltaic generation to the state.

NextEra Energy Resources

LithiumOre bets on metal extraction in Nevada

LithiumOre is to form a new division to develop a method of extracting battery-grade lithium from brine.

The division will extract battery metals from LithiumOre’s 26,000-acre Nevada land holdings, as well as marketing its extraction technology to other mining companies.

The Nevada-based exploration and development company said current extraction technology— involving a series of evaporation ponds— can take up to two years to complete and requires a huge amount of water, meaning the process is no longer permissible within the US.

LithiumOre CEO Doug Cole said the new division “simultaneously creates a technology side to our business with an entirely new revenue stream independent of our mining operations and realises our goal of becoming a fully integrated lithium mining and production company”.

Nevada study endorses ‘cost-effective’ battery storage

The potential for cost-effective battery storage projects in the US state of Nevada could range from 700 megawatts to more than 1,000MW by 2030, according to a new economic study.

The Brattle Group report, prepared for the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and the Nevada Governor's Office of Energy, also found that— for the Nevada system with a peak demand of roughly 8,500MW— up to 175MW of utility-scale battery storage with a four-hour storage capacity could be deployed cost effectively by 2020.

Brattle Group

nevada

Energy storage NV Energy

california

solar-integrated

US states ramp up battery storage

Nevada and California have announced moves to expand battery energy storage facilities across the two states.

In Nevada, utility NV Energy is asking regulators to back plans to build six solar energy plants with three related BESS facilities with a combined storage capacity of 100 megawatts.

lithium-ion batteries

Nevada links batteries to power plan bid

Nevada utility NV Energy has issued a called for proposals that could see up to 330MW of new renewable energy facilities built in the state together with associated battery storage.

NV Energy said the move would provide enough carbon-free electricity to power around 200,000 Nevada homes.

nevada

utility

NV Energy

renewable energy facilities

battery storage

Liquid molten salt for Emerson and SolarReserve energy storage project

Emerson Network Power and SolarReserve are collaborating to produce and store solar energy in liquid molten salt at the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada. It will be the first project of its kind to harness energy from the sun and store it in this way. The 110-MW project is due to be online by the end of 2013.

SolarReserve’s system of 10,500 mirrors focus the sun’s energy to heat molten salt that flows through a central receiver, which sits atop a 540-foot solar power tower. The molten salt then flows up the tower where it circulates through the receiver and is heated by the sun’s energy. It then flows to another storage tank where steam is produced, using thermal energy, which powers a turbine to generate electricity. Excess thermal energy will be stored in the molten salt.

Emerson’s Ovation technology will directly control the circuit and heating process of the molten salt system, the water/steam cycle and auxiliary processes. The control system will also provide supervisory control of the mirrors and interface with the turbine control system. ?

Enough energy is expected to be generated to power 75,000 homes regardless of whether or not the sun is shining.

critical power online

energy storage publishing

battery and energy storage technology

emerson network power

solarreserve

solar reserve