text: AES Corporation sounds out Australian partners to seize market share
  The integrated generator-retailers such as EA and AGL Energy are thought to be on the list of potential partners for AES, as well as transmission and distribution companies for potential projects using storage to eliminate the need for costly network upgrades.
  AES Energy Storage's Praveen Kathpal is talking to several potential partners in Australia. Supplied
  "We're really encouraged by the direction the market is taking here," said AES Energy Storage vice-president Praveen Kathpal.
  "It is clear that there are challenges for the power system but they are ones that storage is suited to meet and has proven to be able to provide in other parts of the world."
  Mr Kathpal wouldn't comment on the specific projects AES is targeting with potential partners, but said it is examining opportunities "across the spectrum", typically involving 10–100 MW of storage capacity. Included are batteries integrated with a renewable generation project – similar to Tesla's venture with Neoen in South Australia – as well as projects embedded in the grid network, and those involving storage closer to where the customer is using power.
  He said a convergence of factors makes Australia particularly interesting for storage, including the significant need for more flexible, dispatchable resources over the next decade as renewable generation increases and as old coal-fired plants retire. He also pointed to the opportunity to use storage to lift the utilisation rate of the transmission and distribution system.
  "On an industry level, we think the next five to 10 years provides a multiple gigawatt opportunity for storage across Australia and we are eager to participate in that," said Mr Kathpal, who is also chairman of the Energy Storage Association in the US.
  The federal government's proposed National Energy Guarantee policy envisages about 3600 MW of "dispatchable" generation capacity is added in 2020-3030, with storage an important technology to allow intermittent renewable generation to fit the bill.
  Mr Kathpal said that while Tesla's new South Australian battery, which was switched on last week, was important to increase the scale of storage to a size useful for network planning, AES's experience overseas pointed to the likely emergence of storage systems that provided energy over longer periods.
  "That's the general trend that we'll see: as costs come down and as the market becomes more familiar with storage, it's going to unlock the ability for storage to provide multiple uses in longer-duration configurations," Mr Kathpal said.