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INSID
E CLEAN
ENERG
Ysolarpow
erportal.co.ukVol. 03. 2017
Volume 03 | January 2017
INSIGHT AND INTELLIGENCE FOR THE CLEAN ENERGY SUPPLY CHAIN
GOING ROGUE Dale Vince reveals how Ecotricity keeps disrupting the sector
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Why companies are turning to PPAs for their electricity needs
RHI REBELLION How a subsidy scheme brought down a government
INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
A NEW HOPE:
The UK Energy Storage Opportunity
Supplement Inside
storage.solarenergyevents.com
Over 300 industry professionals attended the inaugural Energy Storage Summit in April 2016 – and the 2017 edition is set to be even bigger and better.
The focus of the Summit will be to attract energy buyers as well as potential investors of projects and technology. Business models across different market segments, technology innovation, case studies and industry stakeholder strategies will also be covered over the two days.
SPECIAL OFFER!
SAVE 10% when you book
online, use code: ICE
28 February - 01 March 2017VICTORIA PARK PLAZA, LONDON, UK
#StorageSummit
OFFICIAL PARTNER
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DEVELOPERS & ENERGY BUYERS
CAMBORNE CAPITAL | Dan Taylor, Managing Director
ANESCO | Neil Hutchings, Director of Power Systems and Energy Storage
BRITISH RENEWABLES | Chris Bennett-Curry, Finance Director
EDF | Niall Riddell, Head of Special Projects
JOJU SOLAR | Chris Jardine, Technical Director
GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL | Peter Wiggins, Corporate Sustainability Manager
NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL | Wayne Bexton, Head of Energy
SMART POWER SYSTEMS | Dr. Ian Chilvers, Managing Director
EATON | Louis Shaffer, Distributed Energy Segment Leader EMEA
AES | Carla Tully, President AES UK & Ireland
BELECTRIC | Duncan Bott, Managing Director
AES ENERGY STORAGE | Paul McCusker, Vice President
UTILITIES
ENEL | Irene Fastelli, Head of New Technologies and Business Opportunity
EDF | Niall Riddell, Head of Special Projects
ESB | John Pollard
DNOS & NATIONAL GRID
OFGEM | Andrew Burgess, Associate Partner
NATIONAL GRID | Phil Sheppard, Head of Network Strategy
WESTERN POWER | Roger Hey, Future Networks Manager
SCOTTISH POWER NETWORK | Alan Collinson, Future Networks
WESTERN POWER | Faithful Chanda, Future Networks Engineer
WESTERN POWER | Mark Dale, Future Networks Engineer
WESTERN POWER | Ben Godfrey, Future Networks Engineer
UK PN | Adriana Laguna-Estopier, Low Carbon Technologies Manager Future Networks
UK PN | Jose Barros, Infrastructure Planning Engineer
NATIONAL GRID | Paul Lowbridge, Account Manager Power Responsive
FINANCIERS & INVESTORS
INVESTEC | Olivier Fricot, Head of Project Finance
MACQUARIE | Puneet Sharma, Corporate and Asset Finance
TRIODOS | Philip Bazin, Environment Team Manager
BLUEFIELD | Giovanni Terranova, Founding Partner
ZOUK CAPITAL | Colin Campbell, Director
INGENIOUS | Roberto Castiglioni, Fund Manager
JOHN LAING | Simon Parrish, Project Director
SUSI PARTNERS | Asif Rafique, Managing Director
TEMPORIS CAPITAL | Mark Henderson, Head of Infrastructure Debt
FORESIGHT | Richard Thompson, Director
PLATINA PARTNERS | Riccardo Cirillo, Director
ASSOCIATIONS
NFU | Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Renewables Adviser
ENA | Tony Glover, Head of Policy
APSE | Stephen Cirell, Consultant
FIRST WAVE OF SPEAKERS
Sponsors
storage.solarenergyevents.com
Regulars
3INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
In around two months’ time, the era of widespread solar deployment in the UK will grind to a halt, shuttered until such a time that it can be developed at grid parity. The closure of the Renewables Obligation scheme a year earlier than originally established, coupled with devastating cuts to the feed-in tariff, has all but brought the curtain down on the Great British Build-out.
But that’s not to say there aren’t opportunities in UK Solar. More disruptive and trou-blesome than ever – at least from a centralised generation point of view – the domestic solar industry is reimagining itself as a services industry. Whether it’s optimisation, opera-tions and maintenance, or just regular monitoring, there’s a burgeoning sub-sector of solar engineers finding work.
Unsurprisingly, this is the new area of intense competition. Just as EPCs raced to the UK in search of deployment opportunities, now O&M firms are falling over themselves to get in front of asset owners. If you’re after a broad-scope O&M contract, high-level panel testing or even just a quick spring clean you can bet there’s a company offering its ser-vices, and another one promising to do it cheaper than them.
UK Solar is now being beset by a price war. A race to the bottom for O&M that prom-ises much, but stands to deliver little. This issue’s cover feature (p. 16) analyses the battle for UK O&M market share, and uncovers that while there is indeed a price war being waged, the winners might not be the cheapest on offer.
O&M is not the only sector where price is a more fluid factor than before. In early January the European Commission recommended that anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar cells and modules be extended for a further two years in a somewhat surprising move considering its increasing irrelevance. Of course this is not the only issue affecting module prices and we also look to shine more light on the shadow of module oversupply (p. 22) which looks like rearing its head once again in 2017.
But if opportunities in deployment and maintenance are at risk of curtailment due to pricing the same cannot be said of storage. Battery prices continue to fall at an amazing rate and opportunities in the UK market grow just as quickly. Grid service tenders such as Enhanced and Fast Frequency Response, alongside the Capacity Market auction, have granted utility-scale storage a route to market in the UK and the early results have been phenomenal.
Outside of the utility-scale realm battery storage manufacturers are flocking to the UK residential market. Established challengers for market share like Tesla, Sonnen, Solarwatt and Moixa are seeing their territory being broached by the likes of Nissan and Eaton, BMW and more. Utilities too have an eye on this potentially lucrative market, as Dale Vince tells us (p48). This issue also includes a special storage supplement written spe-cifically to uncover where the opportunities lie in the UK market, and how you can take advantage of them.
While it may only be January – and we cannot rule out a surprise or two within the government’s forthcoming carbon plan – the renewables sector’s direction in 2017 looks to be already cast in stone. If 2015 and 2016 were dictated by political will, 2017 stands to be largely dominated by price. And that might just be the driver to grant it much need-ed certainty.
Liam StokerEditor
WORDS FROM THE
EDITOR
Published bySolar Media Ltd.3rd Floor, America House,
2 America Square, London, EC3N 2LU
Tel: +44 (0) 207 871 0122
Fax: +44 (0) 207 681 3575
www.solarpowerportal.co.uk
Publishing director: Chris Riley
EditorialEditor: Liam Stoker
Head of content: John Parnell
Reporters: Andy Colthorpe, David Pratt
Design & productionArt director: Sarah Lee
Production: Daniel H. Brown
Web design & development: Azeem Hadi
AdvertisingUK advertisement manager: Rachel McGhie
Marketing & subscriptionsDigital marketing & production executive: Lindsey Guest
Printed by Buxton Press Ltd. Inside Clean Energy
Volume 03, 2017
ISSN: 1757-1197
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this supplement, the publisher will accept no responsibility for any errors, or opinion expressed, or omissions, or for any loss or damage, consequential or otherwise, suffered as a result of any material here published.
The entire contents of this publication are pro-tected by copyright, full details of which are available from the publisher. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Go to www.solarpowerportal.co.uk for more news and analysis.
4 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
CONTENTS
INSIGHT06-07 NewsAll the latest news and views from the UK’s clean energy sector
08-11 News analysis08-09 Going local
Liam Stoker, Solar Media
11 Burning down the house
12-15 Opinion12-13 Giving EVs an extra push forward
David Martell, CEO, Chargemaster
14-15 Burning question14-15 Are the RHI reforms good news for the renewable heat
sector?
IN-DEPTH
16-20 Cover story: Price Wars
Liam Stoker, Solar Media
22-23 The Cold War of Module Pricing
module prices John Parnell, Solar Media
8
12
5INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
24-26 Pricing Power
27-45 UK Energy Storage supplement
REGULARS03 Words from the editor
47 Products
48-51 Q&A
52-53 Policy update
54-55 Gallery
56-57 The databank
58 Inside Out
16
24
48
47
News
6 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
NEWS Reviewing the latest news from the UK’s clean energy sector
Centrica is preparing to launch a new £19
technologies, storage and other smart devices into a virtual energy market for 150 homes and businesses in Cornwall.
energy division work alongside Western
University of Exeter to deliver free smart technology upgrades to selected local residents, businesses and other large energy users.
It is understood that no technology suppliers have been lined up as yet, while Centrica will
the project gets underway.
with local renewable generators via the online
marketplace where energy capacity can be sold to the grid or the wholesale energy
demand.
The aim of the three year project is to deter-
in a rapidly decentralised energy system.
Jorge Pikunic, managing director at Centrica Distributed Energy & Power, said: “I believe this is a clear example of how the energy landscape could look in future - a truly decentralised market where energy is smarter, greener and cheaper.”
marketplace for energy with renewables at
which partnered local renewable genera-tors with businesses during a six-month trial carried out last summer.
The success of the trial culminated in the commercial launch of Selectricity in Novem-
service has been commercially available.
THE BIG STORY
solar powered homes will be developed as a result of a new joint venture
between Welink and Your
at £2.5 billion
25,000 Movers and shakersUK solar developer Push Energy has strengthened its management team with the recruitment of former Primrose Solar COO Nicola Waters. Waters joined Push Energy on Monday (9 January)
business Edge Power. Stuart BradshawLord
Prior of Brampton replaced Baroness Neville-Rolfe at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
become the new Treasury minister. Neville-Rolfe departed
new department in July 2015. As part of the Jesse
Norman was given the full energy remit, a brief he said he was “honoured” to receive.
projects awarded
Capacity Market
500MW
News
7INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
The European Commission
across European markets. Trade group SolarPower Europe Solar expressed disappointment at the extension decision, claiming
EU ProSun,
welcomed the decision, adding it would have preferred a longer extension to
end of March 2017 and needs the approval of member states.
Renewable Heat
the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has retained
-
Cambridgeshire County Council’s 10MW Triangle Solar Farm in Soham became the second and last remaining solar farm to receive
originally had a target commissioning date of 1 July 2016 but the council was
following the Brexit vote.
BayWa r.e. Green Hedge’s UK O&M division, taking its standing in the UK renewables O&M market to 620MW. board member at
propel it to become of the leading independent providers of O&M services.
Climate change minister Nick Hurd has said that the government is “think-ing through” ways to drive established renewable technologies such as solar towards subsidy-free deployment. He recognised that the spate of subsidy cuts proposed in the summer of 2015 had “caused some pain, some uncertainty”, and revealed that the government was now working towards “the next stage”, which would involve moving from “subsidy-based deployment to a subsidy-free
Quote of the issue“That’s called a Contract for Difference, isn’t it? At least that’s what they call it when nuclear gets it” Ecotricity founder Dale Vince, discussing what’s needed to bring renewables to subsidy-free deployment.
ON THE UPGOING DOWN
WATTSTORThe energy storage company
to help further develop its technology.
TERRAFORM POWERThe SunEdison yieldco sold all
Hermes in January, with just the troubled 11MW Norrington Solar
in improved output by 2025 if UK manufacturers
invested more in
£2.56m and a range of businesses have openly opposed plans
to increase business rates on
160
8 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
News | Analysis
S
Forced to stand on its own two feet – as government off icials have so delicately put it – a new model for
renewables has emerged in decentralised, local power grids that hand power back to the people. As Centrica and
Good Energy launch virtual power markets with renewables at their heart, Liam Stoker analyses what the future holds for
the UK power market.
GOING LOCAL
9INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
Analysis | News
“I believe this is a clear example of how the energy landscape could look in future - a truly decentralised market where energy is smarter, greener and cheaper.”
Now in its fi fth successive year, the Solar Power Portal Awards 2017 returns to the Hilton Metropole NEC on the evening of Wednesday 4 October 2017
to recognise the best and the brightest of the UK’s clean energy sector. Nominations are now open and we’ve 13 categories for you to enter.
GALA DINNER AWARDS CEREMONYWednesday 4th October 2017 | Hilton Metropole, Birmingham, UK
NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN!
• Residential Rooftop PV
• Commercial Rooftop PV
• Ground-mount Solar PV
• Best use of solar in a community/social benefi t project
• International solar project
• Energy storage project
AWARD CATEGORIES
• Energy effi ciency and corporate sustainability programme
• Product innovation
• Finance innovation
• Clean transport scheme
• Contractor of the year
• O&M Provider of the year
• Outstanding achievement
awards.solarpowerportal.co.uk
Nominate now at:
11INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
Analysis | News
A
-
-
HOUSE The Northern Ireland Executive has collapsed under the weight of a financial scandal dubbed the biggest in the country’s political history. David Pratt looks back over what went wrong for the scheme and how it left a power-sharing government in pieces
Opinion
12 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
Chancellor Phillip Hammond provided some much
-
Accelerated market growth
Health issues out in the open
-
Technical leaps and bounds-
-
With policy to support electric vehicles ramping up in the UK, most recently those outlined by the chancellor, Chargemaster founder and CEO David Martell sets the scene for UK EVs and explains what more is needed for greater success.
GIVING EVS AN EXTRA
PUSH FORWARD
Opinion
13
A refreshing experience
Charging into the future
We are all in this together
The Burning Question
14 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
✔I
-
-
-
-
YES
MARK HOWARD
RENEWABLE
The Burning Question
15INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
✘-
-
NO
JULIAN
JONES
and
HEAT SECTOR?
Feature
16 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
With its build-phase drawing to a close, UK solar is entering a new era; one of maintenance. With multiple gigawatts requiring O&M services, the sub-sector is becoming an increasingly interesting – and competitive – area to work, and not least because of price pressures. Liam Stoker analyses how cost trends are triggering a revolution in the solar services industry.
Feature
17INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
By the end of 2016, the UK’s solar capacity was edging ever closer to 12GW in capacity and, by the end of March – when the Renewables
2020 capacity forecasts three years early.
and loss.
The price war
provider to go with.
stands very clearly it is for a basic level of cover. Anecdotal evidence by other providers however
pieces when another provider has disappointed.
The scopes and services have also changed with
“At the end of the day you can race to the bottom and ultimately not deliver,” Howard Johns, MD at ENcome.
Feature
18 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
elsewhere.
There is also the fact that the UK was a late entrant
It is perhaps for these reasons that asset owners,
The owner knows best
ing director of one of the UK’s largest solar owners NextEnergy Capital, at a recent STA conference in
Solar, another of the UK’s largest solar holders, who
they contain.
headed?
“When people come to me and say ‘I can’t do it [O&M services] for less than £6,000 [per MW] each year’, I actually don’t care,” Abid Kazim, MD at NextEnergy Capital.
SUBSCRIBE AT: www.pv-tech.org/pv-tech-power/overview
The PV-Tech Power journal is focused on the challenges
and solutions concerned with designing, building and
operating commercial & utility scale PV power plants.
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Market WatchUS Solar In The Trump Era
Highlights from the latest issue:
Cover StoryChina Solar Market Update
Design & Build Designing in O&M
Building and Maintaining a Renewable Future
Enrgy is a competent partnering UK organisation working within the Renewable and Energy markets developing adaptive and strategic
relationships with the customers we support.
Enrgy have provided services to the UK market for over 6 years and have developed a strong multi-skilled competent team who work
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Enrgy understands and aligns itself with our customer’s availability and performance ratio requirements for the power generation we build and
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Tel 0333 577 9033 | [email protected] | www.enrgy.biz
HIGH VOLTAGE SERVICESProvided via UK Partner company
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OPERATION & MAINTENANCE Planned, predictive, preventative and reactive services
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CONTRACT & SITE MANAGEMENT Experienced multi-discipline UK management teams
Welfare, site preliminaries, CDM compliance, project management
Programme and Commercial Management.
Building, civils and repairs
ROOFTOP AND GROUND-MOUNT Commercial scale deployments
Site Sizes from 50kw - 28MW
Roof Access, Work at Height and Rescue Trained personnel
Feature
20 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
and slightly fewer O&M companies seeking to win head contractor tenders as and when they become available, be it through the end of their EPC warranty or otherwise. While the price war may not wage on,
-
with those that do.
theme when discussing O&M. German power giant innogy (formerly RWE) has taken aim at the sector
BayWa r.e. has splashed the cash to secure its foothold in the UK market via Green Hedge’s O&M
-lia and ENcome moved for abakus’ UK arm when it became available. Johns says ENcome remains on
sense. Tendering for and winning contracts is all well
There are also other factors in play here. The RO was undeniably the biggest boon for UK solar and,
be deployed at scale further north than previous.
meaning that those hoping to cater for that services market would either have to be of a certain size
assets has only resulted in yet more pressure on O&M providers. “If customers were regionally focussed, smaller-sized but regionally strong players would
rarely are regional , and unless they choose to tender
challenge. A typical tender will include sites spread across the UK, and this is one part of the challenge facing smaller and medium-sized providers,” Sundelin says.
become pickier over the balance sheets of who they
head contracts. Those that can’t compete will instead -
nity-owned asset that might favour a local provider or,
niche. Panel cleaning, ground maintenance, advanced
need to be sourced from somewhere if head contrac-tors leave them out of their core scopes and skill sets.
“The number of MW isn’t the only thing that counts. Simply put, if you’ve got 300MW under 10-year head contracts at reasonably comfortable pricing and
more or less in the same region, that should put you
headline number of 600MW but under three-month
Sundelin says.So what for the future of O&M UK? It’s fairly clear
beyond as key players emerge and grow their share
steady and pricing sensible.
Thankfully, most contractors foresee the price war
soon. Johns is of the opinion that the trend for falling
At the end of the day, the cost is people and systems,” he says.
cannot. And it’s the people that stand to bear the full brunt of any ongoing price war in O&M in much
government’s subsidy onslaught. The UK solar market
margin as possible throughout deployment, and it would appear O&M is now following the same path.
“If customers were regionally focussed, smaller-sized but regionally strong players would have an easier time competing. But the owners very rarely are regional , and unless they choose to tender their portfolios in regional groupings, then this is a challenge,” Tess Sundelin, MD at BayWa r.e. Operation Services.
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Clean Vs. Dirty How much generation could you be losing?
Feature
22 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
Those of you familiar with the history of the
Installer’s view
MODULE PRICINGRed tape, stagnant demand and elaborate outside pressures have made module pricing in the UK complex and seemingly insulated from global price trends. John Parnell examines the stand-offs maintaining a status quo in UK module prices.
Cred
it: Y
ingl
i Sol
ar
Feature
23INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
Why so high
HOW THE MIP DIVERGED FROM REALITY?
Finlay Colville, head of PV Tech market research
ANALYSIS: GLOBAL PRICE TRENDS?
The average selling prices of the biggest PV manufacturers as determined by PV Tech’s Silicon Module Super League (SMSL).
Cred
it: S
olar
Pla
nts
Oliver Farr, managing direc-tor of Solar Plants.
Feature
24 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
In the wake of the Paris Agreement and the ensuing
and manufacturers right down to schools and public sector buildings have looked to solar to meet their carbon emission targets.
for renewable energy across a number of structures, usually at less cost than buying directly from the grid. This provides security against future rises in energy
has been adopted by so many companies.
their energy while purchasing it from renewable sources.
Favouring the consumer
way that Sainsbury’s, IKEA and many others have done.
side is that it is for the provider to stump up the capital,
ously only a pipe dream.When Northumbrian Water (NWL) decided to add
at the Bran Sands treatment plant, this aspect of PPAs proved to be crucial.
David Chapman, climate change manager at the water
ourselves we found that the return on investment was
need.
PRICING POWER
Corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) are not a new feature of the UK solar market, but since the cuts enacted to the feed-in tariff earlier this year they have risen to new prominence. David Pratt examines how these deals are made, and what benefits they offer to both sides.
Cred
it: N
WL
Feature
25INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
our sites but do it without a big commitment in terms of capital.”
The big savingsWhatever the length of contract, savings like those being
when considering a solar PPA. These savings are deter
and provider, which like almost every other facet of the UK solar industry has undergone change in the last year.
kWh. However, with the FiT rates cut as they were this has led to an increase in the typical price applied to these deals, with providers unable to achieve the same low premiums.
system PPA with Wellacre Academy in Great Manchester
providers and is of course dependent on what the client is willing to pay. For Eden, the deal must take account of
uses as much of the energy as possible on site, Eden’s
any risk posed by future changes to the FiT.
A view from the groundMany of the same principles apply to ground mounted PPAs, which as well as direct or private wire agreements can take the form of sleeving, whereby a generator feeds energy into the grid which is ‘sleeved’ through by the
solar farm. David Peill, commercial director at the
cost of energy down below grid prices.
green power through their power purchase arrangements from their supplier already so it has to be cheaper,” he said.
With a sleeving arrangement, the added costs of
ment in some cases for a supplier licence can leave the
the deal during the contract.
power prices, both now and in years, comes into play. This is determined in the due diligence of a project, with
When Bristol City Council embarked on the eventual PPA deal with Bristol Sport for the Ashton Gate Stadium’s
providing the most accurate PPA price once supply and install costs were determined.
a big hedge on the future rises in power prices. What
we put on the table… so that they can show that they’ve made a decision over the length of the PPA to save their
As providers are working to undercut the forecasts
from the same sources, namely the large consultancies paid to provide the most accurate forecasts.
take on a PPA if the savings they believe can be made are
According to Richard Lowe, investment programme manager for the Bristol City Council Energy Service, the choice over which PPA mechanism to take is down to the consumer’s view on where power prices are headed.
start talking to them about what their bills are going to
just want to guarantee they get a discount every year,” he said.
Whatever the structure, these prices ensure lower costs for consumers which is a key entry point for garnering interest. As Pete Smith, stadium development
us.”
Cred
it: E
den
Gro
up
Feature
26 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
The green agenda However, another key driver for both the stadium devel
that these projects bring, which helps solar energy get a foot in the door.
This is backed up by the advances that solar energy has made in the UK in recent years, moving from a niche renewable energy to a bankable technology with
perceived as big business with a big investment lobby behind it and it is perceived as more of a commodity,” says Burrows.
NWL is currently tendering for a new solar framework, while Yorkshire Water has recently launched a tender
million pounds.
solar to teach young people about the future of energy supply
really disseminate the message out to future genera
Subsidy cuts: an age old story
ment has stumbled in the wake of January’s FiT cuts, the business case for these projects is set for a knock,
looking at the upcoming closure of the ROC subsidy scheme as a sign that pricing structures may become
ROCs and knowing that they will be ending for solar…only a few [corporates] are willing to pay a premium
to defend internally to buy on higher prices on a long term basis.”
PPAs with Peill claiming the company’s agreement with
Solar Park would not stack up if it wasn’t backed by subsidy.
head of energy strategy Mark Holland seeing a market
to get more value.
upcoming increases in business rates on solar installa
PPA model” while Burrows said the increase would be
The fact therefore remains that while there is corporate interest in solar energy, either large scale or
(as it has always done) and meet this demand.
get a basic price. A discount is then set against this grid rate and charged
This price is revisited at regular intervals – commonly on an annual basis – where the same discount is applied to updated grid pricing. This can
TRACKING THE MARKET?
Cred
it: B
risto
l Spo
rt
The UK Energy Storage Opportunity
SPECIAL REPORT
POLE TO POLL We team with Powervault to survey the market
STRANGER DANGER Fraunhofer ISE
REVEALED Our exclusive report
29INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
CONTENTS
40
38
40-41 Responding to demand What last year’s Enhanced Frequency Response tender
means for the UK storage sector David Pickup
42-43 Fraunhofer
30 UK energy storage pipeline
32-33 Financing & installing commercial storage
34-35 Surveying the UK Storage Market
38 Driving change
34
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
30 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
“B
Inside Clean Energy,
in UK?
UK STORAGE MARKETInside Clean Energy talks to Solar Media market
research analyst Lauren Cook about the newly-released battery storage pipeline report and what it shows about
the burgeoning grid-scale storage market in the UK.
Want visibility of energy storage sites in the UK?
Our UK Battery Storage Project Database report is a comprehensive database of 200 plus commercial and
industrial battery storage projects in the UK
Solar Media’s market research division, Solar Intelligence, provides the industry with accurate and timely data to ensure maximum focus on current and pending
opportunities at the site-specific level.
Data powered by:
www.solar-intel.com
REPORTS NOW AVAILABLE
UK Battery Storage Project Database reportUK Ground-Mount Solar Report Portfolio
Republic of Ireland Solar PV Opportunity Tracker report
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
32 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
I
Camborne Energy Storage (CES) worked with a
STORAGECamborne Energy Storage discusses how it financed and connected Europe’s first C&I Tesla Powerpack installation.
the cost of energy showing how this has hampered the
AUTHOR Harry Vickers is business development manager at Camborne Energy Storage
33INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
STORAGE
AUTHOR Chris Roberts is managing director at Poweri Services
34 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
B
STORAGE MARKETIn late 2016, Solar Media partnered with storage manufacturer Powervault to survey UK-based installers and contractors to uncover just where they saw the domestic storage market heading. The results, as Liam Stoker discusses, were revealing.
51%Have installed at least one
74%
65%
89%
34
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
35
63%Male
48%
48%
43% 27%
34% 91%
49%
uk.solarenergyevents.com
Follow us for year round updates! @_SolarEnergy
Starts 3 October 2017THE NEC, BIRMINGHAM, UK
DATES FOR YOUR DIARYNOW IN ITS 7th YEAR!
Solar + Storage + EVs + Smart Tech = A Clean Energy Future
38 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
Electric vehicle uptake is expected to soar in the
DRIVING CHANGEWith electric vehicle uptake set to surge, vehicle-to-grid networks that utilise onboard battery capacities have been highlighted as a key technology for the future. Liam Stoker looks at some of the work already taking place.
ADVERTORIAL
39INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
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When produced from renewable power, hydrogen offers the
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In this case, hydrogen acts a 100% renewable energy vector,
connecting these sectors to renewable power.
A fast growing market with game changing potentialIt seems quite clear now that hydrogen technologies will be at
the core of our new decarbonized energy system. Whether it’s for
transportation, fuel production or energy storage, major compa-
nies around the world are strategically transitioning to renewable
hydrogen to help reduce their carbon footprint.
Hydrogenics: the leading provider of renewable hydrogen solutionsHydrogenics is the global innovation leader with over 60 years of
experience in designing, manufacturing and installing industrial
and commercial hydrogen systems around the world.
Hydrogenics electrolysers deliver pure hydrogen solutions for
industrial processes, renewable hydrogen projects and hydrogen
refuelling stations. The company also designs hydrogen fuel
cells for light and heavy fuel cell electric vehicles including urban
transit buses, commercial fleets, utility vehicles and trains, as
well as for stationary applications such as critical power and
hydrogen power plants.
Hydrogenics has production sites in Canada, Belgium and
Germany and sales offices in select locations around the world.
Hydrogenics is publicly listed on the NASDAQ (HYGS) and TSX
(HYG) and is the only global company to produce both state-of-
the art water electrolysers (alkaline and PEM) and PEM fuel cells,
making it the leading company in clean hydrogen technologies.
Energy systems across the globe are undergoing a funda-
mental transformation to increase the quality of air and to
decrease their dependency on oil, coal and gas as a primary
energy source. Driven mainly by a political vision to decrease
the negative impacts of climate change and decarbonize the
power sector, wind and solar technologies have emerged as key
renewable technologies. While the cost of renewable technol-
ogy has decreased much faster than expected, integrating
these intermittent energy sources into the power grid is highly
challenging due to the increasing need for grid flexibility and
energy storage solutions. This is where Hydrogenics, a global
hydrogen technology company, is leading the way in delivering a
clean and everlasting solution to the renewable energy equation.
Electrolysers are very fast-reacting devicesWater electrolysers are devices that use electrical power to
split water (H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). Thanks
to Hydrogenics’ focus on continuous innovation, electrolysers
are now capable of modulating their electrical energy input
very rapidly (less than 1 second) over the total power range,
making them a very attractive solution for the provision of grid
balancing services to the power sector in the MW-scale range.
Hydrogenics’ electrolysers are ‘plug and play’ units, safely and
reliably producing very pure hydrogen in continuous or dynamic
operation modes.
Hydrogen is used in a wide range of applications Hydrogenics has delivered hundreds of electrolyser systems for
every industry, including ammonia production plants (fertilizers),
oil refineries, industrial manufacturing plants (steel, float glass,
semi-conductors), power plants (generator cooling) and for the
hydrogenation of oils in the food industry. In addition, Hydrogen-
ics has supplied electrolysis technology to over 50 hydrogen
refuelling stations worldwide where hydrogen is used as a fuel
for fuel cell electric vehicles.
Renewable hydrogen as an energy vectorHydrogenics is leading the industry in renewable hydrogen
projects where electrolysers are used to store renewable
electricity (wind and solar) into hydrogen. Once the renewable
hydrogen is produced, there are several ways to commercialize
it in the energy system. Hydrogen can be re-electrified via a
fuel cell to deliver power again when needed (power-to-power).
Hydrogen can be directly injected in gas grids (power-to-gas)
under certain conditions or combined with carbon dioxide (CO2)
to produce synthetic methane (CH4). Hydrogen can be used in
industrial applications (power-to-industry), in fuel production
(power-to-fuels) at refineries or in the production of methanol.
AUTHOR
Denis THOMAS
EU Regulatory Affairs &
Business Development
Manager for Renewable
Hydrogen
HYDROGENICS
[email protected]+32 479 909 129 www.hydrogenics.com
Glencore Raglan Mine (Canada), hydrogen based energy storage solution for a renewable powered off-grid system: electrolyser (350 kW) and fuel cell (120 kW).
40 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
Energy storage is big news and, thanks in part
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DEMANDThe potential for storage to help stabilise the grid has finally been recognised in the UK, where battery projects took all of the 200MW on offer in a recent frequency response tender. David Pickup looks at the evolving role of storage in the future grid and how further policy support can help it flourish.
41INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
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EFR contracts were awarded at between £7-12/MW/hr
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UK Energy Storage Opportunity
42 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
In 2016 in Germany 34.2% of electricity was generated by renewable energy sources. A major
power system through storage systems is therefore
of roof-mounted PV systems is becoming a leading market for so-called home storage systems. These
becoming more and more economically feasible
with a storage size between 2 and 10kWh. There
the majority of these systems are based on lithium-
address the aspects related to the acceptance and
In principle also other established technologies like
The majority of advanced energy storage systems are running on lithium-ion batteries and safety is perhaps the most critical aspect of their deployment, especially when they are to be used in consumers’ homes. Adequate testing procedures and standards are yet to be developed for the most part, and with 34,000 systems already in the field in Germany alone, the need to do so seems critical at this stage in the market’s growth. Dr Matthias Vetter and Stephan Lux of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy discuss two current projects they are working on that look at exactly that, both in standalone systems and when paired with solar PV.
start the set-up as well as all necessary process steps are checked once again. ©Fraunhofer ISE
43INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
at defects will dissipate slowly and can lead to
so called thermal runaway. One burning cell might
applied.
Standards
are not made for systems containing lithium-ion
Project ‘Safety First’: Safe grid-supportive storage for households
Fig. 2.: Storage systems under test at Fraunhofer ISE. ©Fraunhofer ISE
Fig. 3: Lithium-ion cells used in home storage system prepared for test. ©Fraunhofer ISE
UK Energy Storage Opportunity
44 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
lacking. Therefore the goal of this project is to
systems in order to prepare future safety standards.
Complementary to the analyses on the home
can be collected in the future by merely performing
parallel are collected to capture inhomogeneity in the storage systems. This inhomogeneity tends to
lead to failures and safety issues.
The measurement was done at an ambient
and the temperature spread inside the module
these systems in a Mediterranean or tropical
Project ‘SpeiSi’: Safety of stationary storage systems for solar electricity
safety and reliability of PV systems with storage.
emergency or back-up power or for systems with an
must be adapted to accommodate a broader use
Authors:
commercial available home storage system. ©Fraunhofer ISE
MyReserve. THE ENERGY STORAGE FUTURE IS HERE.
Find out more at:www.solarwatt.com
storage system that fully conforms to the Security Guidelines for Li-Ion-Home storage systems and has been
technology institutions such as TÜV and CETECOM. With quality standards on auto industry levels: from the raw
ARE YOU READY?
DO YOU WANT THE MOST EFFICIENT ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM - OR THE SAFEST?FACE IT, YOU WANT BOTH.
Feature
46 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
EWe know that most competent commercial solar
in electricity market prices, accurately analysing how much Solar PV output is likely to be absorbed on site is
example below:
accurately analyse how much Solar PV output is likely to be absorbed on these sites based on billing usage data
data are also required to appoint an industry approved
compared to the standard shapes used previously their
AND THE OPPORTUNITY FOR SOLAR PV INSTALLERSAndrew Padmore, chief executive at installer Egnida, discusses the looming changes to Ofgem’s P272 settlement code and what the opportunity is for solar installers.
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PRODUCTBRIEFINGSCIRCUITREE’S FLAGSHIP CIRRUS DEVICE TO LAUNCH
VIRIDIAN SOLAR TO MAKE NEW ADDITION TO ROOF INTEGRATED RANGE
WAXMAN ENERGY INTRODUCES PREMIUM PHONO SOLAR 270W POLY
48 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
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Ecotricity was recently lauded by The Sunday Times
What did you make of that accolade?It’s the kind of language venture capitalists use, along with ‘gamechanger’, but I kind of embrace it in our
kind of like that.
It’s what we’re here for. When we started in 1995 we brought green electricity to the world. You couldn’t buy it before. Then we did it with gas in 2010 and the Electric Highway [Ecotricity’s EV charging network]. Bringing that change to the world is what we live for. All of the growth just follows in the wake of that. We don’t seek it, but it comes. And that’s good because it empowers us to do more. You know that old expression ‘do you live to eat, or eat to live’? We eat to live. We make money to do our job.
There has been a lot of upheaval. I see that as a good and a bad thing. It’s bad generally for the sector, but it’s the weeding out that comes with it that’s the
for example, a lot of city money men piled into solar
to start with anyway, and that created this gold rush. A whole rash of small windmills were made by people who didn’t know what they were doing for example, and all of these things have the risk of giving renew-able energy a bad name. It’s weeded out the people that were in it for the short-term gain.
least that’s what they call it when nuclear gets it.
Q&A
Since founding the company more than 20 years ago, Ecotricity has gone from strength to strength under Dale Vince’s direction. Hailed by The Sunday Times as one of the most disruptive companies in the country, the clean utility has brought wind, solar and green gas to the masses. But it isn’t stopping there. With SunEdison’s rooftop solar business ready to step out of hiatus, a residential storage product emerging from development and at least one eye on acquisitions, Ecotricity is preparing itself for the long game. Inside Clean Energy spoke to Dale Vince to find out what else he has up his sleeve.
Dale Vince, Ecotricity
49INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
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support them?
things government has done to make it harder for small green suppliers is to apply a carbon tax to green energy. That’s cost us about £1 million a year and it’s an incredible thing to do. That’s on top of
on suppliers as well, and that’s even before Hinkley gets built. It’s going to be monstrous when it does. There are a lot of government schemes paid for through energy bills, and I think they should all be
think it’s unique in energy that so many govern-ment schemes are paid for by energy bill payers, and that’s a regressive way to get them paid as well.
I think a lot of what came out of the CMA was very poor actually. They ducked the big issue as
have some kind of price cap why not? They’re imposing one on the pre-payment meter market
logic that they haven’t explained. The idea of this tsunami of junk mail to every energy consumer in Britain by every energy company to encourage switching I think is just shocking. I think it’ll have
Last year Ecotricity launched its fourth Ecobond
help?
being built in the next 12 months in Gloucestershire and that’ll be one of our last wind parks. We’ve got one more with planning consent which is a monster
and we do hope to start work on that this year, so that’ll be a big focus. We’ve got some work to do on the Electric Highway to extend its reach, add more
going on.
happen?It was always inevitable. We started in August
delivered 23 million miles of clean driving so far and
miles, and by August we were doing nearly two
Vince says the company
“There are a lot of government schemes paid for through energy bills, and I think they should all be removed and paid for through general taxation.”
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24-25 APRIL 2017THE RIBA BUILDING, 66 PORTLAND PLACE, LONDON, UK
Best Practice & Optimisation of Solar Portfolios
Day 1 (Solar Asset Managers and O&M providers)
• The best practices to measure asset performance
• Develop strong KPIs
• Advancements in monitoring hardware and software
• Avoiding hardware failings
• How to balance costs against service in O&M contracts.
Day 2 (Solar Asset Owners and future investors)
• Uncover the top performing European and emerging solar markets
• Learn what to ask from monitoring services
• What O&M clauses to include in your PPA
• How to aggregate monitoring data to improve long term forecasting
• Utilise energy storage advancements and smart grid technology to supply clean electricity around the clock and increase your bottom line.
If you’re serious about capitalising from your solar assets for decades to come, or want to establish a reliable O&M reputation, Managing European Solar Assets is not to be missed.
In 2016 the European solar market exceeded 100GW of installed capacity. With EPC warranties ending and 20-30 operational years ahead, asset managers and owners now must ensure solar assets are optimised to provide the payback periods promised and meet Europe’s growing low carbon electricity demands.
PARTNER
51INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
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few cars on the road and that itself was stopping
car on the road now, all the big manufacturers are
of what we do to help our customers make energy
We think it will come, the price of the technology is
is now talking about demand side response and that
circumstances and making the world more sustain
Cred
it: E
cotr
icity
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52 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
F -
BEIS: six months on
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• Bringing forward clean capacity
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• Keeping the lights on
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Inside Clean Energy’s policy partner The Whitehouse Consultancy makes sense of all the latest policy decisions impacting upon the green economy.
UPDATE
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The to-do list
53
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GALLERYTHE
54 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
1. A new solar installation atop Kimmeridge Fossil Museum. Installation and roofing by Elliotts, integrated solar panels by Viridian Solar. Image: Viridian Solar.
2. The Natural History Museum revealed it had saved more than £11 million by adopting CHP. Image: Natural History Museum.
3. Buckingham Palace could receive rooftop solar and other renewable generation technologies as part of a modernisation scheme. Image: The Royal Trustees.
4. BMW is to launch a ‘grid integrated’ and ‘solar-optimised’ EV charging service next year. Image: BMW.
5. Welink announced plans to complete as many as 25,000 homes each year, all of which would benefit from solar PV. Image: Welink.
6. Tesla unveiled its newly-designed Tesla Powerwall 2 late last year, moving the design on from its early version. Image: Tesla.
7. Photon Energy installed a 114.5 kWp photovoltaic (PV) system on the University of Birmingham’s new library working alongside Carillion. Image: Photon Energy.
8. Nissan’s energy storage ambitions came closer to reality as it confirmed pre-orders for the UK had started in November. Image: Nissan.
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DATABANK All the latest clean energy data and statistics, in easily-digestible charts and graphs
THE
12.4GW The amount of electricity
supplied by renewable sources on Christmas Day 2016,
equivalent to 40% of total demand. 9.4GW was supplied
via wind, 2GW from biomass and circa
0.6GW by solar PVSource: Electric Insights/Drax
84.5% New Build Generator 6.5%
5% Unproven DSR 2.6% Pre-Refurbishment 1%
0.3% Proven DSR 0.1%
(Source: EMR Delivery Body)
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
11 O
ct
18 O
ct
25 O
ct
1 N
ov
8 N
ov
15 N
ov
22 N
ov
29 N
ov
6 D
ec
13 D
ec
31 D
ec
0-10kW 10-50kW 50kW+
DOMESTIC SOLAR DEPLOYMENT IN FIT T4 (MW)
Source: Ofgem
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57INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
43.4%
in FY2016Source: IKEA
The total sum paid to SunEdison yieldco TerraForm
Power by EFG Hermes
Source: EFG Hermes
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Ons
hore
win
d
Sola
r PV
Plan
t bio
mas
s
Hyd
ro
(Source: BEIS)
4500000
4000000
3500000
3000000
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
Q1
2014
Q2
2014
Q3
2014
Q4
2014
Q1
2015
Q2
2015
Q3
2015
Q4
2015
Q1
2016
Q3
2016
Q4
2016
Source: BEIS
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58 INSIDE CLEAN ENERGY
InsIdeOutAn irreverent take on all the latest news and views from within the UK’s clean energy sector
A peak behind the curtain
To break the fourth wall, or give
you a sneak peek behind the curtain, Inside Out can speak about last
year’s Solar Power Portal Awards, held just
First and foremost, it’s important to recognise
this year’s ceremony in
in June last year, our esteemed panel of judges were let loose before winners decided
from our publisher Solar Media desperately trying to
Carr was an incident-free host for the evening…
The people BEISness Recipe for a sitcom
Late December saw the news that two of the
congratulate the pair and wish them every happiness in the future, but couldn’t help but think that a sitcom
so far include Ever Decreasing Subsidies, AC Coupling, been held by Charles Hendry, John Hayes,
juggling knives than the key tenets of the
Picking
faults
another issue of this magazine…
solarenergyevents.com
For speaking opportunities contact Joanne Wilkinson: [email protected]
For sponsorship opportunities contact Sylvester Gabriel: [email protected]
2017 UK EVENTS
BOOK NOW!@_SolarEnergy‘Solar Energy Events’
28 February - 1 March 2017Victoria Park Plaza, London, UKstorage.solarenergyevents.com
24 - 25 April 2017London, UK - The Riba Building, 66 Portland Placeassets.solarenergyevents.com
3 - 4 October 2017 The NEC, Birmingham, UK uk.solarenergyevents.com
31 January - 2 February 2017 Grange City Hotel, London, UKfinance.solarenergyevents.com
MyReserve. THE ENERGY STORAGE FUTURE IS HERE.
Find out more at:www.solarwatt.com
storage system that fully conforms to the Security Guidelines for Li-Ion-Home storage systems and has been
technology institutions such as TÜV and CETECOM. With quality standards on auto industry levels: from the raw
ARE YOU READY?
DO YOU WANT THE MOST EFFICIENT ELECTRICAL STORAGE SYSTEM - OR THE SAFEST?FACE IT, YOU WANT BOTH.