DOE’s David Sandalow Tours Ener1’s Mt. Comfort Plant

In conjunction with the Clean Cities Stakeholder Summit held in Indianapolis this week, David Sandalow, DOE Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs, spent time visiting Ener1’s Mt. Comfort manufacturing facility. Here’s an excerpt from his blog post describing his experience:

Seeing the new manufacturing lines at EnerDel – supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- reinforced the important role that programs like Clean Cities have on both our economy and our environment.

To read his entire post, click here.

Volvo Cars Plans to Open Second Factory in China

Ener1 customer, Volvo Cars, today received approval from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection to build a second factory in the city of Danqing in northeastern China. According to the ministry, Volvo plans to invest approximately $708 million to build the plant and is likely to start production in 2013. Although the company is still awaiting full approval, the plant is part of Volvo’s $11 billion expansion plan. Read more about Volvo’s plant and plans here. Volvo stated that it will continue to bring more all-electric and hybrid-electric vehicles to its fleet over the next several years with what it believe to be one of the industry’s most significant vehicle electrification strategies. Ener1 manufactures the lithium-ion battery system for the Volvo C30 Electric.

European Market for Energy Storage Expected to Grow

A recent report released by Frost & Sullivan finds that the utility-scale battery market in Europe earned revenues of $126.4 million (USD) in 2010 and expects it to increase to $564.9 million in 2015. As European countries face the need to increase the percentage of power generated from renewable energy sources, lithium-ion battery energy storage systems will become increasingly important. While Frost & Sullivan believes lead acid batteries are currently the only affordable chemistry (although energy density and performance don’t deliver), Ener1 believes its lithium-ion solutions can be even more beneficial to utilities as evidenced by some of its recent announcements.

Energy Storage Gaining Momentum

According to Strategic Directions in the Electric Utility Industry recently published by Black & Veatch, the #1 concern for U.S. electric utilities is the aging infrastructure, which topped the list of operational issues by those survey surpassing reliability and regulation, which were #2 and #3. However, it was interesting to see three other issues listed in the top-ten:

• Water management viewed as a “Potential Game Changer” and Energy Storage gaining momentum.
• Lack of understanding and funding represent greatest obstacles for Smart Grid implementation.
• Electric Vehicles will impact utilities’ annual load over time.

Now that the Federal government has published its A Policy Framework for the 21st Century Grid, perhaps there will be more focus on education, funding and adopting new technologies to address the country's aging infrastructure.

Ener1 Signs Five-Year Strategic Framework Agreement with Mobile GTES

Ener1 signed a five-year engineering and framework agreement with Mobile GTES in Russia today to contemplate the manufacture of lithium-ion-based uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. Mobile GTES is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Federal Grid Company. The companies anticipate the proposed UPS systems will have an initial total capacity of 27.8 MW. According to Oleg Bragin, general director for Mobile GTES:

We are planning to deploy 45 units over two years from western Russia to the country's Far East. This is a genuinely innovative project that will bring the level of development of the Russian energy industry, as a whole, to a qualitatively new level.

Ener1 & Federal Grid Company to Demonstrate Lithium-Ion Distributed Energy Storage System at SPIEF

Today, we announced that Ener1, in conjunction with the Russian Federal Grid Company (FGC), will display a fully operational, lithium-ion, distributed energy storage system as part of the 15th annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) starting tomorrow in Russia. CEO Charles Gassenheimer will also be participating as an industry expert on a panel entitled, "Smart Grid: Project of the Future," which is designed to educate and encourage debate around issues critical to wide-spread smart grid deployment around the world. The announcement also re-confirmed anticipated shipment dates for two large-scale distributed energy storage systems for the FGC, which was previously announced on Nov. 1, 2010. Read the entire announcement.

White House Strategy to Modernize Grid Announced

The Obama Administration announced its new strategy for modernizing the U.S. electric grid today. For more information, check out the news release and materials found here. Among the announcements made were:

• $250 million in loans for smart-grid technology deployment as part of the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service, which is focused on upgrading the electric grid in rural America.
• The launch of Grid 21, a private sector initiative to promote consumer-friendly innovations while ensuring proper privacy safeguards and consumer protections. Grid 21 will help consumers get better access to their own energy usage information so that they can take advantage of new tools and services to manage their energy use and save on their utility bills.
• New commitments by the Department of Energy to focus on improving consumer access to their own energy information, including the development of a crowd-sourced map to track progress, a data-driven competition designed to harness the imagination and enthusiasm of America’s students to encourage home energy efficiency, and new EIA efforts to measure progress.
• Expanded partnerships to continue working with States and stakeholders, including an initiative to share lessons learned from Recovery Act smart grid investments, a series of regional peer-to-peer stakeholder meetings, and updated online resources available at: www.SmartGrid.gov.
• The formation of a Renewable Energy Rapid Response Team, co-led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Energy, to improve Federal coordination and ensure timely review of proposed renewable energy projects and transmission lines, to ensure that renewable energy can power cities and towns across America, and to increase reliability and save consumers money by modernizing the grid.

Purdue Students Race Ener1-powered Karts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Zipping by spectators in electric-powered go-karts, students at Purdue University participated in the first Collegiate EV Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month as part of the festivities surrounding the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. The picture left shows the preliminary race that qualified students to compete, which was held at the track on the campus of Purdue University.

Ener1 equipped thirteen teams with lithium-ion battery solutions and also provided technical support working alongside the students to help them build true electric vehicles and understand energy storage issues. Ener1 is helping students at Purdue, as well as other universities, learn more about the emerging energy storage technology field. University teams from all over the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland raced hard to win the 100-lap kart race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Welcome to Powered by Ener1

This is the inaugural post for Powered by Ener1. As a company, Ener1 is dedicated to helping its customers develop effective and efficient energy storage solutions for utility grid, transportation and industrial applications. We're also interested in sharing information and insight about our technologies, solutions and vision to help drive the future growth and direction of the industries we serve. In the coming days, months and years, we hope to engage you in this journey.