December 4th, 2020 by Carolyn Fortuna

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A new energy storage project will offer New York State rapid response in discharging power to the electric grid. Cadenza Innovation’s lithium-ion supercell technology is centerpiece to a fully integrated, metal-enclosed, and rack-mounted 250 kilowatt-hour (kWh), 50 kilowatt (kW) battery storage unit located outside the New York Power Authority (NYPA) in White Plains.

The cost-effective, high-performance energy storage solution system will shave the NYPA office’s peak electricity demand for up to 5 hours. The project will foreground the safety and use of commercial energy storage systems and could be the stepping stone to more integration of renewable energy resources into the grid.

“Li-ion batteries are the most readily available and widely deployed technology to enable energy storage deployments for commercial and industrial markets, the grid, and other applications,” said Cadenza Innovation founder and CEO Dr. Christina Lampe-Önnerud. “It’s vital that safety be as much of a priority as performance and affordability, and our team has reinvented Li-ion batteries to deliver best-in-class capabilities in all 3 areas.”

The project showcases another example of what’s possible for the transformation to cleaner energy sources through energy storage.

Initially, in 2018, Cadenza Innovation had implemented a safe, low-cost Li-ion battery as a New York State demonstration project. Now, after extensive development, testing, and certification, the battery technology developed by Cadenza Innovation will highlight energy storage’s role in enhancing demand management and grid flexibility and will help advance New York State’s nation-leading climate and clean energy goals.

“For the energy transition, which is happening globally, the need for safe and reliable energy storage is critical,” Lampe-Önnerud told CleanTechnica in an exclusive interview. “That’s because energy storage serves as the bridge between the goal to quickly enable reduced emissions from fossil fuels while concurrently providing strategic solutions for renewable energy generation.”

The total cost of the supercell technology research and development project will be approximately $3 million, with $1 million in funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), approximately $50,000 from NYPA, and the majority of the remainder from Cadenza.

Digging Deeper into Cadenza’s Li-Ion Supercell Technology

Cadenza Innovation’s UL-listed supercell battery architecture substantially reduces the risk of propagation of thermal runaway while packaging components to lower costs and increase safety. It results in a design that improves energy density and advances the Li-ion battery industry. Under the project, NYPA, the largest state public power organization in the nation, will investigate the effectiveness of the energy storage system at reducing the peak load typical of a commercial building.

Once demonstrated, the system could be replicated at other businesses throughout New York State and beyond.

Lampe-Önnerud explained the Cadenza Innovation approach to li-ion supercell technology. “The Cadenza team took a pragmatic yet innovative path through the development of the Cadenza supercell, which is delivering one way to fully realize the promise of lithium-ion technology – high energy density at low cost and high reliability,” Lampe-Önnerud, a Swedish inorganic chemist and battery innovator, said. “Safety, which has been traditionally constructed around the battery, is engineered directly into the Cadenza supercell.”

The New York supercell technology project is one more example of the Wilton, Connecticut-based company’s field-proven, operational, and mass production experience with key technology partners to provide innovative supercell technology —  density, lowest possible costs, and safety.

“The NYPA installation,” she continued, “which takes advantage of Cadenza’s patented battery solution in combination with Hitachi ABB Power Grid’s market-proven inverter technology, allows for a real example of how easy peak-shaving is to implement and what the immediate gains are for the operations of a building. That, in turn, can contribute quickly and substantially in helping to combat climate change.”

What are the Possibilities for this Kind of Energy Storage in the Future?

“When safety means reliability, the discussions quickly move from fear of catastrophic events like explosions and fires, into framing up how to respond to a service event to replace a component,” Lampe-Önnerud remarked. “When this safety can be accomplished – and at the same time the energy density is high enough to allow the system to fit in a small area – we open the door to urban distributed energy storage. The third key point is cost, which has to work for the specific deployment and depends on electricity costs, peak-demand charges, and operational cost savings.”

Lampe-Önnerud acknowledged that a pragmatic perspective incorporated meeting cost targets through a “super-safe, high performing battery design.” She expressed appreciation to “all the testing and validation from multiple, internationally respected public and private sector independent test laboratories and expert assessments from market leaders such as NYPA and ABB.”

How Could Other Municipalities Change The Way They Think About Energy Storage, Peak-Shaving, & Demand Management Capabilities?

“With Cadenza’s new battery platform offering safety, performance and cost by design, in combination with the rigorous reviews and testing by multiple organizations, the NYPA installation signifies New York State’s absolute authority to put forward a new energy storage system ready for urban deployment,” she described.

“The fact that they are deploying it at their headquarters illustrates NYPA’s confidence having witnessed first-hand all of the rigorous testing that the system has undergone. Our hope is that this serves as an example to municipalities in the US and around that world that this system is ready to benefit and expediate their adoption of cleaner energy sources as they transition away from fossil fuels.”

Does Cadenza Innovation have Access to Enough Battery Cells to Meet Demand?

Lampe-Önnerud assured CleanTechnica that Cadenza Innovation is working with partners to secure adequate battery cells. “Cadenza has licensed manufacturing and sales rights of the supercell technology to manufacturers in Australia and China. The company is also currently in discussions to expand the availability of our supercell via large scale production in North America and Europe.”

She noted, however, “It is critical that this technology gets scaled up as it fundamentally answers the call to action to a rapid sustainable energy transition using existing infrastructure, manufacturing automation, and supply chain to make the technology available immediately.”

Final Thoughts about Supercell Technology

The 2018 Cadenza Innovation patent for its lithium-ion battery describes the company’s unique approach:

“A multi-core lithium ion battery includes a sealed enclosure and a support member disposed within the sealed enclosure. The support member includes a plurality of cavities and a plurality of lithium ion core members which are disposed the plurality of cavities. The battery further includes a plurality of cavity liners, each of which is positioned between a corresponding one of the lithium ion core members and a surface of a corresponding one of the cavities.”

Cadenza Innovation’s proprietary Lithium-ion rack, as described on their website, enables:

• UL1973 certified
• UL9540a tested and in compliance
• Built on non-propagating thermal runaway protected cells, high energy density and competitive pricing
• Flexible modular battery rack designed to meet various energy requirements
• Compact design for minimum installation space indoor and outdoor
• Real-time local and remote monitoring through the battery management system for C&I and utility applications
• 66 kWh rack available today

Its features include:

• Available in 50Ah, 3U and 83Ah, 4U sizes
• 19” rack mountable
• UL1973 compliant
• Direct replacement of Lead-Acid
• Low weight
• High safety and reliability
• Low maintenance
• High energy density
• Long cycle life
• Support for parallel connection
• Intelligent BMS system with automatic voltage balancing
• Optional high temperature performance configuration
• Optional real-time local and remote monitoring