The editorial team brings you the top takeaways from this year’s Summit, spanning everything from finance and the growing appetite for investment in the market today, to the technologies and policies that could help the UK and other nations to meet urgent deadlines for decarbonisation.

Stem Inc has completed a front-of-the-meter solar-plus-storage project in Massachusetts that will participate in New England’s wholesale markets run by system operator New England ISO.

Uplight, a US energy software company that helps electric utilities reduce their baseload energy use by monitoring and adapting how their networks operate based on consumer behaviour, has reached a valuation of US$1.5 billion following investment from groups including Schneider Electric.

The US’ installations of advanced energy storage — almost entirely lithium-ion battery systems — went beyond the 1GW mark in 2020, while in capacity terms the figure was close to 3.5GWh.

Launches of a new “allstar” commercial energy storage system and a large-scale storage solution designed to be moved from one site to another with ease demonstrate the changing needs of customers for versatile and flexible energy storage options.

The battery storage market in the UK has become a viable investment opportunity in just the past few months, even without the backing of long-term contracts for grid services, according to an investment manager in the renewable energy sector.

Texas’ grid and the idiosyncrasies of its electricity planning system regime made global headlines in February following a harsh winter storm and subsequent blackouts that affected millions of people and businesses for almost an entire week. It may be a unique market with unique characteristics, but what wider role can batteries — and other energy storage technologies — play in assisting the grid to remain stable and prevent a situation like this from happening again?

Global renewable energy project developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) said construction work has begun on its second battery storage project in the UK — and the world — with local partner Harmony Energy.

The success of an auction for fast reserve grid services held by Italy’s transmission system operator (TSO) indicates a strong appetite for battery storage, but market rules and regulations need some revision to capture that opportunity.

LG Energy Solution, formerly known as LG Chem, is offering free replacements to customers for some of its battery energy storage systems sold in Australia due to potential defects that could cause overheating.