SolarCity, one of the largest solar installers and leasing companies in the US, has moved into providing energy storage via pilot programmes for residential and commercial customers in key regional markets including California. Will Craven, director of public affairs and spokesman for SolarCity, discusses the regulatory situation facing the company and others in the rapidly growing area of energy storage-plus-solar.

AU Optronics (AUO) is to launch its residential and commercial energy storage system, Powerlegato, into the European, Japanese and Australian markets on the back of receiving the necessary certification.

After a strong showing in the energy storage segment at its European counterpart in June, Intersolar North America is following suit with a number of companies and organisations launching new products at the show.

DNV GL has launched the GRIDSTOR Join Industry Project, aimed at forming a recommended practice for energy storage, to which it wants to invite 15 partners from across a range of stakeholders.

PV Tech Storage interviewed Bill Radvak of American Vanadium, whose company has a plan to scale up flow batteries for renewable energy integration, using its own vanadium deposits.

A remote town in Canada which lies 55km away from the nearest electrical substation, was supplied with a battery system aimed at shoring up the reliability of its electricity supply.

SunPower Corporation has become the latest US solar provider to pilot the deployment of residential storage systems in California by extending the terms of an existing partnership with homebuilding company KB Homes to include storage.

In a two-part video interview with PV Tech Storage, Wolfram Walter, founder of battery manufacturer ASD Sonnenspeicher, said electricity storage suffered from an image problem. He describes to Andy Colthorpe how his company is marrying cutting-edge technology with cool design to appeal to a broader market.

Fuel cells for distributed generation will be developed through 13 new projects that have been announced by Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the US government agency responsible for promoting funding and RnD into advanced energy technologies.

NEC Energy Solutions has completed six new grid-tied energy storage systems for UK distributed network operator (DNO), Northern Powergrid.