EVs and Storage News

IKEA plugged-in four Blink electric vehicle charging stations at one of its Chicago-area stores as part of its partnership with Car Charging Group. This initiative represents the 13th such U.S. project for IKEA, with installation underway at other locations. In all, installation of units currently planned will bring the number of Blink charging stations available at IKEA locations to 54.

SolarReserve began commissioning the 110-MW Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, the first utility-scale facility to feature advanced molten salt power tower energy storage capabilities, located near Tonopah, Nevada. Commissioning activities include energization of the utility interconnection system and other electrical systems.

Sumitomo developed and installed the world's first large-scale power storage system that utilizes used batteries collected from electric vehicles. This commercial scale storage system, built on Yume-shima Island, Osaka, began operating in February 2014. Over the next three years, the system will measure the smoothing effect of energy output fluctuation from the nearby Hikari-no-mori solar farm, and will aim to establish a large-scale power storage technology by utilizing the huge quantities of discarded used EV batteries.

Abengoa was selected by the Ministry of Energy of the Chilean Government and Corfo (Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccion) to develop a $1 billion, 110-MW solar plant using tower technology with 17.5 hours of thermal energy storage using molten salts. The project will be located in the Atacama Desert and will be the first solar-thermal plant for direct electricity production in South America. Construction is due to start in the second half of 2014.

KEMA-Powertest added a new test cell, number 9, at its High Voltage & High Power Test laboratory in Chalfont, Pennsylvania. Once completed, the new high power test cell will be the largest test cell in size & volume (34 ' x30 ' x26 ' H) and will provide a safer environment to test and certify the latest Power Utility equipment coming into the marketplace.

IKEA officially plugged-in three Blink EV charging stations at its Dallas-area store as part of its partnership with Car Charging Group, the new owner of the Blink Network and Blink charging stations. This initiative represents the tenth such project for IKEA in the United States, with installation underway at seven other locations. In total, completion of the units currently planned will bring the total number of Blink charging stations available at IKEA locations to 55.

Maui Electric Company selected Greenlots, a global provider of open standards-based technology solutions for EV networks, SKY network management solution to manage the first open access public charging station on Maui.

GridSTAR brought a battery online to help improve the quality and reliability of the electric grid. The battery is part of the new GridSTAR Smart Grid Experience Center being developed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, spearheaded by Penn State and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, the Department of Energy, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The battery uses a special control system to inject or draw energy from the grid based on a signal from a utility.

Aquion Energy signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Siemens Industry under which both parties will test the integration of Aquion’s AHI batteries and Siemens’ Sinamics S120 drive technology. As part of the MOU, Siemens purchased an initial set of Aquion batteries for immediate shipment to their manufacturing and test facility in Alpharetta, Ga.

Ballard Power Systems and its consortium partners received approximately $6.7 million in funding from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) under the National Fuel Cell Bus Program for the deployment of two next-generation fuel cell buses as well as for extended operation of two existing Ballard-powered buses. Ballard will deliver its next-generation fuel cell power module - the FCvelocity-HD7 - to BAE Systems for incorporation into its HybriDrive propulsion system, with the final bus assembly to be completed by ElDorado National.