Please note that all times are in CST
The industry is often described as being at an inflection point, and is on course to be the largest market in the world for energy storage. The passing of the IRA has only strengthened the case for renewables across all verticals, however the industry still has some concerns it must face head-on in order to keep up with the pace of the growing market.
- Are mounting supply chain, procurement issues and elevated costs the biggest inhibitor to deploying storage projects?
- With an estimated 1444 GW of renewable generation in the queue, nearly 1,900 projects and many more jostling for a place on the grid, what needs to happen at the transmission level to make sure these projects are not being delayed by too long?
- Is the onus on federal or state-level government to address the interconnection issues: should individual RTOs set up expedited queues and look at updating eligibility criteria?
- How do we ensure that infrastructure build-out in terms of distribution and transmission is on track to hit 2035 targets for renewable capacity?
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In today's rapidly evolving energy landscape, energy storage has emerged as a critical tool for powering the future. Join SunGrid’s Vice President of Business Development, Chris Hoy, as we explore the exciting opportunities and challenges facing this dynamic market, including:
- The latest trends and policy updates fueling explosive growth in energy storage
- Insights into how to take maximize tax credits and incentives related to the recent updates on ITC and IRA
- Tips and strategies for navigating the energy storage approval process
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In the wake of the IRA, which left the industry feeling excited and recognized, what has the industry seen taking place at development level since the Act was passed in August 2022?
- What does the IRA and decoupling really mean, and what impact will this have in the mid to long-term?
- What direct impact have companies seen from specific qualifications around content-adders for domestic components?
- Does the industry see real value in hybridizing and/or aggregating storage now?
- The IRA is great from an economic standpoint, but how is it affecting cash flows and financing structures for storage?
- What impact will the credits have for off-takers who want to get involved in storage opportunities?
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Learn how vital standards such as UL9540A are for assessing key safety and design feature to ensure the safe operation of stationary energy storage systems (ESS). Join career-long battery safety, firefighters, and industry experts in this keynote to:
- Understand the impact of certifications and regulatory requirements
- Uncover safety testing and performance testing
- Ensure battery safety for end users
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Financing & Revenue Opportunities
Deployment
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What does it really take to scale an alternative energy storage technology?
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With complex challenges related to financial investment structures, chemistry, technology, design and cat risk, how do you know which risk management structure is best suited for your project?
- How can the rigors of insurance help make investment decisions faster and more efficient?
- How do you de-risk the investment case for asset owners who don’t want full merchant exposure?
- What are the benefits and risks associated with a tolling structure?
- Will optimizers start to provide a revenue guarantee or floor for battery assets?
- Can real-time battery data analytics assist with managing productivity and sustainability?
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With grids the world over coming under scrutiny and their resiliency being put to the test, one of the answers is seen to lie within the future role of long-duration in the storage eco-system.
- Highlighting the importance and influence the ISO and utilities can have on mandating use of different technologies
- What is the role of the federal government?
- Which are the chemistries that can provide 8-10 hour duration?
- Long duration energy storage can eventually replace natural gas, the question is when?
- How will storage fulfil resource adequacy constructs in the future?
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- The importance of algorithmic forecasting and optimization in combining multiple revenue streams
- The role of human trading experience and oversight
- Managing battery degradation and lifetime
- Risk management and structured products
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What are the storage technologies which are closer to market and easier to scale-up and which non-lithium technologies may have the edge in a future world?
- Why some Tier 1 suppliers are open to adopting other technology like LFP, NMC and flow batteries
- What do investors and financiers look for when approving non-lithium technologies?
- What can be done to reduce commercialization barriers for storage technologies through validating their business case and ability to meet performance requirements?
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Financing & Revenue Opportunities
Deployment
With new opportunities available for financing storage, and lots of hope on the horizon, it’s important that developers and IPPs fully understand the opportunity and how to work with tax equity partners.
- What are the need to knows around working efficiently with tax equity providers?
- What do they want to see in return for the risk?
- How comfortable are tax equity investors with merchant exposure?
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Preventing explosions and disasters with battery energy storage systems is a hugely important issue, with the majority of operational installations still using lithium-ion. In this session, we look at improving fire and explosion safety through products and innovative technology solutions.
- What are the best solutions for preventing explosions and thermal runaway with BESS systems?
- Do you know the critical variables when sizing explosion vent panels?
- Investing in proper surge protection and grounding solutions to help maintain the healthy operation of your storage system, minimizing expensive maintenance and repair work
- Using battery analytics software to monitor assets and ensure reliability
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This presentation will look at current battery storage trends in ERCOT related to deployments, market structures, pricing, M&A and procurement.
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Once a project is operational, it’s important for owners to understand how to keep making money and get the most out of the asset. Effective asset management will become even more important in a more competitive landscape.
- Working with the right energy storage optimizer and their key role in decision-making for owners
- How to manage and extend asset life with advanced analytics
- What do asset owners look for and how do they regard risk?
- How do you get better at forecasting, modelling and performance for operational assets?
- Understanding how to work with local utilities
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M&A activity in storage may have taken a hiatus in recent years, but it is expected to pick up in 2023.
- What will the M&A landscape in the US look like in the future? How much will be market ready to buy in the short-term?
- Will M&A transactions start to happen with more regularity, like in the wind and solar industries at their most mature?
- What should be your biggest considerations when acquiring a storage asset?
- The importance of topology and which nodes will yield highest pricing in the future as well as now
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As many Tier 1 suppliers look to moving their facilities closer to home, how do they plan to ramp up their production and manufacturing capacity in the US, without disrupting the supply chain any further?
- What is the plan to de-risk the move to a more domesticated manufacturing sector?
- Which actual components will be manufactured in the US, and which partnerships should be strengthened in the EU to make sure our supply chains are resilient and globally connected?
- What is the Federal administration doing to boost and incentivize domestic manufacturing capacity?
- Which technologies will fit into an industry which is aiming to manufacture closer to home?
- How does the industry plan to bridge US demand until US supply is ready? How might those ‘bridge years’ be impacted by tariffs, and what lessons can be learnt from the solar industry?
- What does financial support from the government look like, and what are the other resources for capital in this area?
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Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) promise to smooth out the intermittency of renewable energy production and deliver a consistent, predictable flow of energy to state and national grids. However, asset owners and traders are now faced with new challenges to solve. It is necessary for them to operate in the wholesale and ancillary markets of the various ISOs using BESS provided by multiple OEMs. Therefore, a data platform and several BESS agnostic building blocks such as EMS, SCADA, Storage Fleet Monitoring & Storage Advanced Analytics help to increase efficiency throughout the design life of the BESS supporting both operations and trading teams. A modular architecture and interplay between edge and cloud that adapts to both standalone and co-located storage projects solve the challenges and provide long term, flexibility, scalability, and ultimately profitability.
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Storage played a significant role in the recent California heatwaves and outages and is playing a more significant role in ERCOT. This session will examine how energy storage assets have changed (and will continue to change) the grid planning and operations across the US.
- The role of storage in getting around some of the transmission and interconnection issues in areas prone to concerns around power supply reliability caused by extreme weather events
- How Virtual Power Plants and microgrids can help with congestion reduction
- Renewable energy curtailment management which in turn can help meet state policy goals
- The flexible capacity value storage can provide to the grid
- Transmission deferral
- Storage resources providing ancillary services
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Supply Chain & Manufacturing
Markets
With rising worldwide demand in BESS and rapid increases in average system size, chronic underperformance and safety risks have never been higher. New suppliers, factories, and production line technology and workers are deployed at increasingly rapid rates – leading to a spike of serious issues. In this session, we will review what steps energy storage buyers can take to ensure they choose the right supplier and get the quality they were promised.
- Best practices for choosing an energy storage supplier
- Traceability of upstream materials: steps to ensure your supplier complies with your code of conduct
- Supplier contract creation and negotiation
- A guide to a robust quality assurance program
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In an industry where supply chain shocks are being felt globally, what is the answer to dealing with the domino effect this problem is having on the renewable sector? What learnings can we take from other industries, and is building out new facilities closer to home the most efficient answer?
- How can you ensure supply chain efficiency in a rapidly growing market and ensure that gaps are being plugged?
- What is the industry doing to ensure any ethical concerns around supply are adequately addressed?
- Zinc vs. lithium – highlighting differences and similarities between the technologies
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Texas has been steaming ahead, with 1,170MW of energy storage installed in the second quarter of 2022, in spite of the ongoing supply chain crisis. This panel will discuss what next for one of the leading markets in the US, and one with an urgent need to continue ramping up storage as an answer to its weather-related problems and ensuring resiliency for the grid.
- What happens if the revenue services market is not enough for the amount needing to be built?
- What will happen in a booming market when batteries are marginalized, with too many batteries and not enough services?
- What learnings can be applied from other countries who have already experienced similar circumstances?
- How can you continue to make money from storage in ERCOT?
- What are the prospects for storage under the new Performance Credit Mechanism?
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- Results for storage systems in 2022 with never-before-seen insights into the financial performance of these assets
- Dual scenarios: actual performance vs. potential (AI-powered) performance
- Analysis of the effects of the storage + solar rule changes in the Inflation Reduction Act on Solar on revenue for existing co-located battery + solar systems in ERCOT
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California is becoming saturated and Texas is driving growth in the market at a record speed. What other markets are we seeing on the horizon, and where are the next ERCOT and CAISO?
- What do developers and investors need to consider when expanding their horizons?
- The benefits and pitfalls of securing assets in secondary or less mature markets now to ensure future success
- Where are future growth opportunities in the East, such as New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey?
- What learnings from CAISO and ERCOT can be applied to other markets within the US?
- An investors take on emerging markets and where they see potential
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- Despite increasing adoption of co-located systems, there are considerable industry knowledge gaps about the fundamental differences between the three main solar+storage configurations and which is best-suited to deliver high performing, low cost utility scale PV+storage systems.
- A comparison on the advantages of a Fixed Voltage DC-coupled architecture over competing Variable DC-coupled and AC-coupled designs.
- Discussion around the rapid growth of Fixed DC-coupled solar+storage deployments around the world and how Ampt String Optimizers are enabling various use cases, including “storage as a transmission” assets, peak management, and grid resilience.
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Supply Chain & Manufacturing
Markets
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Hot on the heels of the US, the Canadian government has also introduced an Investment Tax Credit for clean energy technologies, including storage and hydrogen.
- How quickly will this move help make Canada more competitive and open to new storage projects and clean energy technologies?
- What do we need to see at a provincial level in terms of policy to ensure that the future electricity system can keep up?
- What are the unique economics for an energy storage project in Canada compared to the US?
- Ontario is leading the way, with Alberta close behind, but which other provinces are spurring on energy storage deployment in Canada and what applications are being considered?
