Solar Grid Storage Wins US DoE SunShot Incubator Award & Funding

Batteries

Published on November 6th, 2014 | by James Ayre

November 6th, 2014 by James Ayre 

One of the market pioneers in solar energy storage systems/solutions, Solar Grid Storage, has won one of the US Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative awards+funding, according to a recent press statement.

The funding that accompanies the “Incubator” award â€" $968,120 in this instance â€" is to be used for the streamlining of solar + storage interactivity systems/processes with the grid, and for the acceleration of deployment of such technologies.

The winners of the most recent round of SunShot Incubator awards were announced by the Energy Secretary (Dr Ernest Moniz) at his keynote speech at the recent Solar Power International 2014.

The press release provides more specifics:

With this grant, Solar Grid Storage will develop a Solar Storage Operations Center (SSOC) to address the unique needs of managing grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) + storage assets. The SSOC will make it possible to bring together multiple storage sites and enhance grid stability with every new PV + storage resource installed, all the while reducing deployment costs. A scalable solution, the SSOC will help mitigate concerns about high-penetration PV deployment by enabling cost-effective control of residential, commercial, and utility-scale PV + storage systems.

“We are honored that Solar Grid Storage has been selected by the Energy Department’s SunShot Incubator program for this award,” stated Solar Grid Storage CFO Dan Dobbs. “We’re focused on taking the solar industry to the next level, which requires cost-effective addition of energy storage. With the award, we will be able to aggregate various-sized storage systems into larger virtual-energy assets, making the assets much more valuable for grid operators who call on them to balance power on the grid.”

For a bit of background on the company, the company’s business model is based around the incorporation of batteries into commercial solar PV installations, thereby enabling energy storage and potentially lowering its costs and increasing the stability of supply.

“With the SSOC, Solar Grid Storage will group residential PV + storage systems with its commercial and utility-scale systems so they too can participate in ancillary service markets, earning new revenues to make the overall system even more cost-effective.”

And, obviously, the addition of storage capacity will provide a source of backup power during grid outages.

Image Credit: Solar Grid Storage

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Tags: Department Of Energy, Solar Grid Storage, SSOC, SunShot Initiative

About the Author

James Ayre 's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.