Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Battery-powered homes
Adara Power opens showcase home to market its JuiceBox battery
Some people are asking these questions: Can the addition of lithium-ion battery storage systems to residential homes lead to more energy independence for Nevada consumers? How easy is it to live in a battery-powered house?
On July 12th, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) became a cosponsor of Senate Bill 3159, the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act of 2016 with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The Senate bill establishes investment tax credits for business and home use of energy storage systems. It has the backing of the Energy Storage Association, the National Electrical Contractors Association and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.
For residential applications, the bill provides homeowners a 30 percent investment tax credit on their income tax returns to install a battery backup system with a storage capacity of at least 3 kilowatt-hours. This is the same investment tax credit available for the installation of photovoltaic solar panels on home rooftops.
The Senate Bill was passed on to the Senate Finance Committee for review. The bill must then be approved by votes from the Senate and House of Representatives before being sent to the president to be signed into law.
On Jan. 1, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada lifted a cap on rooftop photovoltaic solar installations, but also authorized an increase in the cost of grid connection service fees for participants in a Net Energy Metering program administered by utility NV Energy, from $12.75 per month to $38.51 per month. The PUCN also reduced the value of reimbursement credits for excess energy produced by rootop solar panels, from a consumer retail price credit of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour down to a wholesale price of 2.6 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The rate schedule changes were originally planned to be phased in over four years by 2020, but after protests from the solar installation industry and consumer groups, the PUCN extended the transition time to 12 years, becoming fully implemented by 2028.
The new Net Energy Metering program rate schedules from NV Energy can be found at www. nvenergy.com.
BATTERY-BACKUP POWER SYSTEMS OFFERED
In April, Adara Power and Bombard Renewable Energy opened an office and showcase home in Las Vegas to market its “JuiceBox” battery backup energy system for residential homes at 1385 S. Tenaya Way.
The company was founded in San Jose, California. More information about Adara Power and its lithiumion battery product lines can be found at www.adarapower.com.
Adara Power may have expanded its operations into the Las Vegas Valley because of the recent decision by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada.
A battery storage system could capture and store excess electricity generated by a rooftop photovoltaic solar system, preventing it from flowing back into the grid, while also conserving the homegrown energy for later usage by the household at night or during peak HVAC loads during the day.
K2 Energy in Henderson is another local lithium-ion battery manufacturer and distributor who is also considering the home energy storage market: www.k2battery. com.
“K2 Energy was started through an incubator program in Nevada during 2006 and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year,” said Marketing Manager Lysle Oliveros.
The company has been involved in large-scale renewable energy storage projects in the past, with its lithium-iron-phosphate battery cells. Although its primary market segments are military and medical applications, the company has produced small-scale uninterruptable power supply products, usually 48-volt battery systems that can be scaled for more backup system coverage around a home, according to Dave Anderson, who is the company’s business development manager at K2 Energy.
Both Adara Power and K2 Energy will be competing against Tesla Motors’ Powerwall and Power Pack product lines, that are being manufactured at the lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Northern Nevada within the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center of Storey County. Pricing and specifications can be found at www.teslamotors.com/ powerwall.
Green Mountain Power, a utility in Vermont, has been offering the Tesla PowerWall as a backup power system, with a storage capacity of 6.4 kilowatt-hours in conjunction with a Model 7600 SolarEdge Inverter with a rating of 7.6 kilowatts. Vermont customers pay a price of $37 per month that is added to their utility bill in order to rent the system. Two Powerwalls can be added to one inverter to double the amount of energy storage provided.
Through a net-energy metering program, if a utility customer purchases the PowerWall and inverter system through the Green Mountain Power program rather than renting at a monthly rate, the energy storage system owner has the option of allowing the utility to borrow energy from the Powerwall at peak demand times during the day and receive a credit to the monthly utility bill for the energy borrowed.
The inverter is governed at a maximum of 3.3 kilowatts per hour, so the backup supply system can provide about two hours of continuous electricity from the Powerwall at that maximum rate to keep the home refrigerator, lights, television and other small appliances running.
Last month, Tesla Motors also announced plans to purchase SolarCity, a rooftop solar installer with residential construction activity in 22 states, that had also included Nevada prior to the end of 2015.
SolarCity halted rooftop solar power installations in Nevada after the PUCN rate changes in January 2016 and laid off 500 employees. However, the company continues to employ about 1,500 people within its Las Vegas operations center, who will continue to service and sell rooftop solar installations in other states.
Tesla Motors intends to buy SolarCity at a price of $2.8 billion through a company stock swap. Elon Musk is chairman of the board and a