Google has completed the 9.2GWh pilot project, will the energy storage sector embrace new opportunities?

Against the backdrop of the AI-driven surge in power consumption, Google has quietly launched a new round of energy arms race. On the one hand, it is directly participating in the layout of long-duration energy storage projects; on the other hand, it uses energy storage power station pilots to achieve hourly-level matching of renewable energy through energy storage.

01

Google's data center hourly matching rate is only about 65%

Foreign media "pv magazine" reported on September 18 that energy storage developer esVolta, energy tracking platform Quintrace, and clean energy trading platform LevelTen Energy announced a three-month pilot supported by Google.

This is the first publicly launched commercial project in the industry that realizes time shifting of existing green power. Enterprises do not need to add new green power installed capacity. Relying solely on energy storage dispatch, they can shift the existing green power attributes to the time periods when power is needed, fill the gap of clean power, and obtain the renewable energy use certificates for that period.

Specifically, the project mobilizes two energy storage power stations under esVolta in Texas, USA — the 240MW/480MWh Anole project and the 100MW/200MWh Burksol project, with a total capacity of 340MW/680MWh. The energy storage stations are charged at noon and discharged in the evening, transferring a total of 9.2GWh of photovoltaic charging power, which is verified hourly by Quintrace in accordance with the EnergyTag standard.

What Google wants to shift is not only electricity, but also the clean energy attributes behind it. In terms of operation, Google determines in advance the daily time periods with insufficient clean power supply; esVolta charges when there is surplus photovoltaic power during the day, and discharges and delivers fine-grained certificates with hourly timestamps during the gap periods; Quintrace verifies the charging and discharging hour by hour in accordance with the EnergyTag standard, deducts energy storage losses, and calculates the actual amount of compliant clean power delivered; LevelTen Energy is responsible for transaction account management to prevent double-counting of renewable energy attributes.

This process solves an old problem: traditional green certificates are summarized on a monthly or annual basis, and cannot answer "is the green power used at night from the same batch generated at noon". The hourly fine-grained certificates enable accurate traceability of both clean power and its environmental attributes.

It is worth noting that Google did not conduct tolling of the batteries (i.e. buy out the dispatching right of energy storage assets), nor did it bear commercial or dispatching risks. esVolta retains full operational control of the assets, including the ability to respond to price signals or grid emergencies outside the agreed time periods.

Relevant companies stated that this is the first publicly detailed commercial structure: enterprise buyers sign special agreements, to time-shift the environmental attributes they already own through battery energy storage, instead of purchasing new generation capacity or directly tolling energy storage assets.

At present, Google's own goal is to achieve 7×24-hour carbon-free energy for its data centers by 2030, but the current hourly matching rate is only about 65%. The SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard version 2.0 was released in June, requiring large power users with annual power consumption of at least 10GWh to calculate and report the hourly renewable energy matching rate, which will become a mandatory requirement for large companies when verification opens in February 2027. Under this pressure, Google needs to find a way to switch the accounting of clean energy attributes from "annual ledger" to "hourly ledger".

This pilot is also another measure taken by Google to promote refined carbon accounting. In 2023, Google cooperated with Denmark's Energinet and Better Energy to match production and consumption data on an hourly basis for the first time. Recently, researchers have also found that enterprises' early procurement commitments to 24/7 carbon-free energy, even if only partial commitments, can help reduce the cost of long-duration energy storage technologies by providing early revenue and actual operational data. The energy storage-based time shifting model of esVolta in this pilot is precisely to cater to this trend.

02

A new revenue stream for energy storage? How can domestic enterprises seize the opportunity?

"Xingjia Shuo Energy Storage" believes that on the surface, this pilot is a conventional operation of "charging at noon and discharging at night", but what is really worth paying attention to is that it opens up a new value dimension for the energy storage industry — energy storage is no longer just about transferring electricity, but also can transfer the "time attribute" of green power.

First, realize the time shifting of green power and its environmental attributes.

Although Google is only in the pilot stage at present, it can be seen that as the industry's requirements for the authenticity of green power continue to rise, achieving accurate hourly green power matching through energy storage may become the mainstream trend, and it is also expected to open up a new revenue channel for energy storage — the service fee for accurate hourly green power matching.

Of course, Google did not buy out the battery dispatching right in this pilot, and esVolta still retains the ability to respond to price signals and grid dispatching outside the agreed time periods. This means that this revenue from "selling time" is obtained additionally by using its regulation capability on the premise that the energy storage retains its original operational control right.

Second, domestic "verifiable" capability is the prerequisite for implementation.

At present, domestic green certificates in China are mainly issued on a monthly basis, which is difficult to meet the hourly accuracy requirement. However, policy support is already in place: the No. 688 document proposes an hourly matching mechanism for new energy generation and consumption, and Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Hunan and other regions have successively carried out pilots for hourly green power trading and traceability. Industry analysis suggests that energy storage enterprises should give priority to improving their underlying capabilities at this stage, such as obtaining 15-minute or hourly generation and consumption curves, tracing the source of charging and discharging, loss conversion, and attribute cancellation.

Third, the pilot does not mean mature revenue, and the cost account needs to be calculated clearly.

Even if the capabilities are fully improved, whether this business can make a profit still needs careful calculation. To earn this income, the power station has to bear a lot of costs, such as hourly metering and data governance, charging and discharging losses, opportunity cost of reserving SOC for specific time periods, certificate registration and compliance costs, and so on. If the spot price at night is high, the transaction income given up by reserving power in advance to fulfill the contract may be far higher than the certificate premium. The contract should not only specify "how much green power is shifted", but also clarify clauses such as metering boundaries, loss algorithms, abnormal data processing and attribute cancellation.

Fourth, will international customers recognize domestic green certificates?

The SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard version 2.0 requires large enterprises with annual power consumption exceeding 10GWh to calculate and disclose the hourly green power matching rate, and the revision of the GHG Protocol is expected to be finalized by the end of 2028. However, even if China's green certificates reach hourly accuracy, it is still uncertain whether they can be automatically recognized by systems such as the GHG Protocol. When deploying related businesses, domestic energy storage enterprises should simultaneously pay attention to the construction of an independent green power consumption certification system, promote international mutual recognition, and avoid being forced to passively follow foreign rules.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Xingjia Shuo Energy Storage", author: Xingjia Shuo Energy Storage, published by 36Kr with authorization.