Energy storage can change electricity’s status as the ultimate ‘just-in-time’ product, where supply and use have to be matched in real-time, but this won’t be possible without increasingly sophisticated software solutions. 

Utility-scale renewables developer Intersect Power has secured US$2.6 billion in financing for the construction and operations of a portfolio of solar and energy storage projects in California and Texas.

Enel X, one of the winners of contracts tendered by Italy’s transmission operator to provide fast response frequency reserve to the grid, has contracted Fluence to supply two battery energy storage system (BESS) solutions. 

News in brief from around the world in energy storage.

SunPower has launched its ConnectedSolutions virtual power plant (VPP), enabling customers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut to earn “hundreds of dollars a year” for allowing utility access to their stored energy during peak demand.

Three recent interesting steps forward on lithium battery sustainability, a growing concern and area of interest for the clean energy sector. 

Global clean energy group TagEnergy and the UK’s Harmony Energy have announced two grid-scale battery storage projects in England and Scotland to be developed through the pair’s joint venture (JV). 

Energy storage technology company Tesvolt has concluded a funding round, raising around €40 million (US$45.25 million) in equity capital.

ESS Inc’s recent special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, which listed the iron flow battery manufacturer’s shares and warrants on the New York Stock Exchange, has raised US$246 million cash.

A commercial fish farm in Austria has opted to use CellCube’s vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) with eight hours’ duration, in combination with solar energy, to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations.