The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is to run a workshop in Germany next month to canvas final opinion ahead of publishing its first roadmap for electricity storage technologies.

Investment bank Citigroup is predicting a 240GW global battery storage market worth US$400 billion by 2030 as increased deployment creates a “virtuous circle” of falling costs.

The growth of technologies such as PV and storage will hit utility company revenues to the tune of US$130 billion a year within a decade, according to a study published yesterday by management consultancy Accenture.

Imergy Power Systems, the California-based energy storage specialist, has received an order for four of its ESP5 vanadium flow batteries from Hawaiian renewables firm, Energy Research Systems.

Sunworks, the installation arm of PV manufacturing start-up, Solar3D, has begun offering battery storage systems in its solar power projects.

The Swiss and Chinese power engineering firms ABB and BYD have revealed a collaboration to develop new storage technologies.

The Canadian province of Ontario is preparing to install a variety of new energy storage technologies after finalising details of a 34MW commercial-scale storage trial.

French battery manufacturer, Saft, has been awarded a contract to supply a lithium-ion battery system for use in a 12MW solar plant being built in Hawaii.

The first grid-connected energy storage facility in Canada, in the country’s leading solar province, Ontario, is now operational.

A boom in the use of electric vehicles will help push the energy storage market to US$50 billion by 2020, a study by Lux Research has concluded.