Last year was a “seminal year” for energy storage, where the technology moved from “dream to reality”, according to impact investor Nancy Pfund, one of the earliest backers to Tesla and SolarCity.
The Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), an organisation comprising the municipal utilities of 10 cities and one irrigation district, has ordered a potential 1MW of ice battery storage systems from Ice Energy.
Financial services giant Morgan Stanley has anticipated that the US energy storage market will grow faster than current consensus expectations, while Deloitte has earmarked the technology for exponential growth – although not perhaps this year.
Solar PV paired with energy storage at scale could be provided to utilities at just US$0.10 per kilowatt hour, using advanced battery technology, one manufacturer has claimed.
Japan-headquartered NGK Insulators is the manufacturer of the NAS sodium sulfur battery, used in grid-scale energy storage systems around the world.
While Brexit – the impending departure of the UK from the European Union – looms, bringing uncertainty into the country’s economy and international relationships, the role energy storage will play in a decentralised, low(er) carbon and more flexible energy system at least seems a little more assured than it did before.
Another energy storage system project expedited to meet the resource adequacy requirements of a California utility following the Aliso Canyon gas leak has been completed, Powin Corporation has announced.
Nidec ASI has been selected as supplier of batteries to a 49MW energy storage project in the UK by EDF, which will help balance the grid and generate revenues until at least 2035.
A 1MW ‘virtual power plant’ part-funded by the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR), utilising energy storage across 29 customer sites, has been connected in O’ahu, Hawaii, by Stem.
