Energy Storage

CEEM’s October Energy Storage Lunch and Learn event was hosted by Mortenson for CEEM members. Expert panelists included Brian Allen, Vice President at All Energy Solar; Brent Bergland Vice President of Product Development at Mortenson; Rao Konidena, President at Rakon Energy; and Mike Patterson System Sales Leader at Trane Technologies. The discussion was moderated by Virginia Mooty Rutter, CEEM’s Director of Engagement and Strategic Initiatives.

The concept of energy storage is simple, it is technology that stores energy produced at one time for use at another time. The potentials, however, are anything but simple. Energy storage, or battery storage, could be the key to harnessing clean energy solutions. One big criticism of wind and solar energy has always been, “what do we do when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining?” The answer, scale up battery storage technology so that it is reliable and cost effective and deploy it en masse to ensure clean, reliable and affordable energy.

Most people understand generally that solar energy becomes more valuable if some of it can be stored, to be available to be “dispatchable” when it is needed, and not just when the sun shines. Effective storage policy should identify which use-cases will have the most value at different stages in our shift to cleaner energy sources.

According to the Clean Jobs Midwest 2020 Report, Advanced Grid and Energy Storage jobs grew 5 percent in 2019. Overall, 2,899 Minnesotans were employed in this sector last year, making up 4.7 percent of the clean energy jobs in the state. Many Minnesotans are unaware of what exactly Advanced Grid is and what people who work in this field do. We talked to two of our member-businesses, Nokomis Energy and Werner Electric to learn more about what Advanced Grid and Energy Storage entail and what employees working in this sector do.

While lithium-ion batteries get much of the attention when it comes to talk about energy storage, a recent forum by Clean Energy Economy MN on the topic, shed light on other alternatives. In this piece we touch on some of the different reasons why energy storage can be a smart solution for building owners, and why policy plays a big part in the conversation.

Energy storage is becoming an increasingly popular topic in the energy sector, but what exactly does it mean? And, more importantly, what does it mean for the future of the electric grid?

A popular topic in the energy sector this year is storage, and the Minnesota state legislature is focused on it too. Among the topics prioritized by the Legislative Energy Commission (LEC) this fall—which have included the Conservation Improvement Program (CIP), wind siting, and biomass—energy storage was the focus of the committee’s most recent meeting on November 9.