Up to date information compilation from Berkeley Lab tracks working and proposed vegetation

Enhancing battery know-how and the expansion of variable renewable era are driving a surge of curiosity in “hybrid” energy vegetation that mix, for instance, utility-scale wind and/or photo voltaic producing capability with co-located batteries. Whereas a lot of the present curiosity entails pairing photovoltaic (PV) vegetation with batteries, different sorts of hybrid or co-located vegetation with wide-ranging configurations have been a part of the U.S. electrical energy combine for many years.

A newly launched briefing from Lawrence Berkeley Nationwide Laboratory tracks and maps each working and proposed hybrid/co-located vegetation throughout america by means of the top of 2022 whereas additionally synthesizing information from energy buy agreements (PPAs). The scope of this information abstract contains co-located hybrids that pair two or extra assets (e.g., a number of sorts of era and/or era with storage) which are operated largely independently behind a single level of interconnection, and full hybrids that additionally characteristic coordinated operations of the co-located assets. ‘Digital’ hybrids that aren’t co-located are excluded, as are smaller (usually behind-the-meter) vegetation with lower than 1 MW of producing capability (i.e., our focus is on utility-scale vegetation).

This briefing is accompanied by two information visualizations, one centered on on-line vegetation and the opposite on these in interconnection queues, and an Excel information file with element on particular person vegetation. We are going to current this report throughout a free one-hour webinar on Thursday, September 21 at 1 PM Japanese. To register, go to: https://lbnl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_djSa2srJTgqEl92wVmF0Xg(hyperlink is exterior).

Key findings from this 12 months’s replace embody the next:

Final 12 months was one other massive 12 months for hybrid vegetation in america. On the finish of 2022, there have been 374 hybrid vegetation (>1 MW) working throughout america (+25% in comparison with the top of 2021), totaling practically 41 GW of producing capability (+15%) and 5.4 GW/15.2 GWh of power storage (+69%/+88%). PV+storage vegetation are by far the commonest and may be discovered all through a lot of the nation (see map), however there are practically twenty different hybrid plant configurations in operation as effectively.

PV+storage is the commonest sort of hybrid. Amongst on-line generator+storage hybrids, PV+storage dominates when it comes to plant quantity (213 in complete, and 59 of the 62 hybrids added in 2022), storage capability (4.0 GW/12.5 GWh), storage:generator capability ratio (49%), and storage period (3.1 hours).

Hybrid plant configurations mirror their major use instances: The comparatively excessive common storage ratio and period of PV+storage vegetation recommend that storage is offering useful resource adequacy (i.e., capability firming) and power arbitrage (i.e., shifting energy gross sales from lower- to higher-priced intervals) capabilities to PV+storage vegetation. In distinction, the low common storage ratio (14%) and brief period (0.6 hours) of the comparatively few working wind+storage vegetation means that they’re primarily concentrating on the ancillary companies markets (e.g., offering regulation and/or reserves). Separate information reported by plant homeowners helps these intuitions about major use instances.

Hybrid storage magnitudes are on par with standalone storage. As of the top of 2022, there was roughly as a lot storage capability working inside PV+storage hybrid vegetation as in standalone storage vegetation (~4 GW every). In storage power phrases, nevertheless, PV+storage edged out standalone storage by ~2 GWh (12.5 GWh vs. 10.4 GWh, respectively).

Interconnection queue information present continued sturdy developer curiosity in hybridization. On the shut of 2022, there have been 51% extra hybrid vegetation—representing 59% extra producing capability—in interconnection queues throughout america than there have been on the finish of 2021. Photo voltaic dominates these proposed vegetation as effectively: on the shut of 2022, there have been 457 GW of photo voltaic capability proposed as a hybrid (representing ~48% of all photo voltaic capability within the queues), most sometimes pairing PV with battery storage. On the identical time, there have been 24 GW of wind capability proposed as a hybrid (representing ~8% of all wind capability within the queues), once more most-often pairing wind with storage. In the meantime, greater than half of all storage within the queues is estimated to be a part of a hybrid plant. Whereas most of the vegetation proposed within the queues is not going to in the end attain industrial operations, the depth of curiosity in hybrid vegetation—particularly PV+storage—is notable, significantly in sure areas. For instance, in CAISO, 97% of all photo voltaic capability and 45% of all wind capability within the queues is proposed as a hybrid.

PV+storage PPA costs, and specifically storage adders, have been rising. The report additionally surveys pricing information from 81 PV+storage PPAs in 10 states totaling 9.9 GW of PV and 5.5 GW/21.8 GWh of batteries. Forty-two of those 81 PPAs are from working PV+storage vegetation, whereas the opposite 39 vegetation are nonetheless underneath building or in improvement. Although PV+storage PPA costs have fallen over time (left graph, beneath), “levelized storage adders”—i.e., the incremental value of including batteries to a standalone PV PPA—have not too long ago elevated considerably to ~$7000/MW-month, ~$60/MWh-stored (assuming one full cycle per day), or ~$15/MWh-PV (as proven in the precise graph, beneath). A number of the latest worth improve may merely mirror a development in the direction of increased battery:PV capability ratios on the mainland over time (whereas this ratio is often pegged at 100% in Hawaii), which can improve prices, all else being equal. The well-publicized impression of inflationary and provide chain pressures on battery costs is little doubt a contributor as effectively.

We don’t see the IRA’s impression on this 12 months’s replace. The Inflation Discount Act (IRA), which turned regulation in August 2022, offers standalone storage with entry to the funding tax credit score (ITC) for the primary time, thereby eradicating among the impetus to couple battery storage with photo voltaic in a hybrid configuration. We don’t but see the potential impression of the standalone storage ITC on hybridization mirrored on this 12 months’s report, for a number of doable causes. First, the IRA was handed comparatively late within the 12 months, with Treasury steering on implementation coming even later, and the market naturally takes time to react. As well as, the brand new standalone storage ITC solely got here into impact beginning in 2023, whereas this report focuses totally on 2022. In the meantime, interconnection queues from among the greater areas had both already closed their open utility season by the point the IRA handed, or else didn’t settle for or discouraged new interconnection requests in 2022. Lastly, there are a number of countervailing explanation why the development towards hybridization may proceed regardless of the standalone storage ITC; on this 12 months’s report, we discover a few of these remaining benefits of hybridization by means of two case research.

For additional particulars on these and different findings, together with high-level case research of two working PV+storage vegetation, please seek advice from the brief PowerPoint-style information compilation, which may be downloaded right here. The briefing can be accompanied by two information visualizations, one centered on on-line vegetation and the opposite on these in interconnection queues, and an Excel information file with element on particular person vegetation.

We are going to current this report throughout a free one-hour webinar on Thursday, September 21 at 1 PM japanese. To register, go to: https://lbnl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_djSa2srJTgqEl92wVmF0Xg (hyperlink is exterior).

On-line Hybrid and Vitality Storage Initiatives, https://emp.lbl.gov/online-hybrid-and-energy-storage-projects

This work was courtesy of Berkeley Lab  and funded by the U.S. Division of Vitality, Workplace of Vitality Effectivity and Renewable Vitality, Photo voltaic Vitality Applied sciences Workplace and Wind Vitality Applied sciences Workplace.

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