Duke Energy Plans To Invest $500 Million In Energy Storage

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It may not seem like much. After all, it only works out to 37.5 MWh per year. But Duke Energy’s decision to invest $500 million for energy storage in conjunction with its solar portfolio in the Carolinas is still big, given the utility’s ongoing love/hate relationship with solar energy.

The investment will take place over 15 years and will increase battery capacity in North Carolina from its current 15 MW capacity and in South Carolina, well – right now you need a microscope to see its battery storage, so any increase would be immense.

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“Duke Energy is at the forefront of battery energy storage, and our investment could increase as we identify projects that deliver benefits to our customers,” said Rob Caldwell, president, Duke Energy Renewables and Distributed Energy Technology. “Utility-owned and operated projects in North Carolina and South Carolina will include a variety of system benefits that will help improve reliability for our customers and provide significant energy grid support for the region.”

This week, the company filed for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity with the North Carolina Utilities Commission for a solar facility in the Hot Springs community of Madison County as part of a microgrid project.

The Hot Springs Microgrid project will consist of a 2-megawatt (AC) solar facility and a 4-megawatt lithium-based battery storage facility. The microgrid will provide a safe, cost-effective and reliable grid solution for serving the Hot Springs area, and provide energy and grid support to all customers. The project will defer ongoing maintenance of an existing distribution power line that serves the remote town.

The Hot Springs project is part Duke Energy’s Western Carolinas Modernization Project, which involves on-going conversations with community partners to help advance a cleaner energy future for the region. It includes closing a half-century-old, coal-fired power plant in Asheville in 2019. The plant will be replaced with a cleaner natural gas-fired plant and distributed energy resources like solar power and battery storage.

Duke Energy’s long-term solar strategy has traditionally been a “solar for me but not for thee” formulation, building large-scale utility solar farms it controls while both subtly (and not-so-subtly) undermining rooftop solar in the Carolinas.

Proterra Electric Buses Get Enormous Boost From Daimler Investment Of $155 Million

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Yesterday will be remembered as a day when the United States got serious about transforming its aging fleet of buses from diesel-using dinosaurs into sleek new electric vehicles.

That’s when Proterra, a heavy duty electric transportation provider for the North American mass transit market, announced that it has closed a $155 million investment round co-led by Daimler, the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles.

In conjunction with the investment, Proterra and Daimler have entered into an agreement to explore the electrification of select Daimler heavy-duty vehicles, the first of which will be Damiler’s Thomas Built Buses for the school market, which Proterra believes is the next frontier for zero-emission, commercial fleets.

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With predictable routes per day, school buses are right in Proterra’s wheelhouse – and they expect to compete with Blue Bird (currently the only company serving the school bus market with electric vehicles, as we reported on earlier this year) in short order. What is also really cool is that energy demand for the fleets would be dense and off-peak, thereby reshaping the Duck Curve once again.

This announcement represents a significant milestone in the commercialization of heavy-duty electric vehicles as both manufacturers work to bring zero-emission technology to an expanded set of vehicle segments. With a history and legacy that dates back nearly 150 years, Daimler will be able to provide Proterra with relevant experience in manufacturing commercial vehicles at scale, while Proterra will leverage its proven experience in battery-electric mass transit and provide access to its industry-leading electric vehicle technology.

“We are excited to collaborate with Daimler, and we appreciate their investment and support,” said Ryan Popple, Proterra CEO. “Daimler is a global leader in vehicles that serve almost every category and market. Over the past year, we’ve gained a great deal of respect for the engineering prowess, operational expertise, and environmental stewardship of the Daimler team. We also appreciate the continued support of our existing investors who share our vision of clean, quiet transportation for all.”

If we had to bet, we’d bet on Popple and his Proterra team. After all, as Managing Editor Yann Brandt explored with Popple in this podcast, he has an aggressive goal for the electrification of the heavy-duty trucking and bus markets – and is working hard to meet it. This partnership with Daimler moves that goal ever closer.

Private Equity Firm Raises Nearly $1 Billion For Clean Tech Investements

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

A hundred million here, a hundred million there, and suddenly you’re talking real money. And that’s the kind of real money that Energy Impact Partners, a utility-backed investment fund, has raised to invest in clean tech.

$681 million, to be exact.

Bloomberg reports that Energy Impact Partners, backed by such utility giants as Southern Company and National Grid, are looking to invest the money in startups that are doing clean tech research, looking for the next big breakthrough.

This is in addition to the the $200 million the fund has already invested in companies like Advanced Microgrid Solutions and includes $150 million from U.S. Small Business Administration loans.

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As Bloomberg New Energy Finance notes:

Utilities are trying to capture future industry growth amid stagnant electricity demand and a rise in technologies that give customers more control over their energy use. Utilities disclosed about $6.8 billion in venture capital, private equity and merger and acquisition deals in 2017.

And as Energy Impact Partners’ CEO Hans Kobler told Bloomberg:

We are helping them future-proof their business. This is a difficult landscape and as utilities prepare for that, they need to look for what’s coming down the pike and we serve as their eyes and ears for them.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, clean tech startups need the money and aren’t going to be too particular where the money comes from to fund their breakthrough technology. On the other hand, it feels a little bit like the original electric car movement, doesn’t it? This fund invests in new and exciting clean tech technologies and keeps the utilities informed about what competition they will be facing down the road. This gives them the opportunity to prevent the technology from ever coming to light or to head it off by tangling it in regulations at the state level.

Now I know that would never happen because as we all know, utilities are as pure as the driven snow. But just in case this was the case, that kind of conflict of interest seems like a difficult one to navigate for Energy Impact Partners.

I’m honestly torn – what do the rest of you think?