The huge increase in demand for safe and reliable batteries to store energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind heralds a new lease of life for advanced lead batteries, argues Dr Andy Bush of the International Lead Association.

The commercial and industrial segment is one of the most promising sub-sectors of the energy storage space. Julian Jansen of IHS Markit describes recent efforts to model the US C&I storage landscape and what it reveals about this dynamic emerging market. As told to Andy Colthorpe.

In short, energy storage technology is set to revolutionise our society, EVs and beyond, with power companies among the most affected – whether they like it or not. The sector needs to wake up to this and decide what it is going to do about it. Education could provide the wake-up call that power professionals need, says Bo Normark of InnoEnergy.

In much the same way that the industrial revolution changed society all those years ago, electrification is now the driving force behind the industrialisation of multiple sectors. Energy storage has an obvious role, but Olivier Chabilan of Skeleton Technologies looks at something you might not have considered – ultracapacitors.

UK-based power, heating and cooling equipment manufacturer Aggreko is investing £33 million in research and development.

Storage developers eyeing opportunities in Ireland’s DS3 programme will be able to bid for six-year contracts providing frequency response and reserve services in September when transmission system operator EirGrid will launch a new procurement process.

A European consortium is to test the use of long duration storage flow machine technology with a large scale tidal energy project planned for the UK later this year.

The UK’s first listed fund for energy storage is setting out to raise £100 million (~$139 million) for investment in battery projects, with a seed portfolio of an estimated 18MW/20MWh already arranged.

UK demand response aggregator Flexitricity has successfully secured gas and electricity supply licences from regulator Ofgem, giving the demand response aggregator the green light to enter the country’s balancing mechanism.

Islands are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters such as hurricanes. John Merritt of Ideal Power looks at some of the emerging solutions to building more resilient energy systems through the deployment of microgrids that combine multiple energy generation and storage technologies.