Battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution has started construction on its gigafactory in Arizona, US, which will have 17GWh of production dedicated to the energy storage system (ESS) market.

The BESS ‘land grab’ looks set to continue as Tier 2 companies vie for market share before countries potentially curb imports from China, with one developer suggesting the recent CATL-Duke Energy case will “not be unique”.

Optimisation company Flower has acquired a 42.5MW/42.5MWh BESS project from developer OX2 in Sweden, a milestone deal for both companies.

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) of South Africa has opened the third bid window for its Battery Energy Storage IPP Procurement Programme (BESIPPPP), while also revealing the fifth and final winner from the first window.

Investments totalling US$425 million combined have been secured by US storage and solar developer-operators Lightshift Energy and MN8 Energy.

A regional council in Germany has given the go-ahead for transmission system operator (TSO) TransnetBW’s 250MW Grid Booster BESS project, which will be provided by system integrator Fluence.

Big investments are being made into the battery recycling sector in Europe as the continent looks to increase the domestic supply of critical materials for its lithium-ion gigafactory projects.

Prevalon Energy, a dedicated BESS spin-out from Mitsubishi Power Americas, has secured a 328MWh order from utility Idaho Power in the US.

BESS price falls have pushed many marginal projects in merchant markets into a rate of return needed for investment, US developer Available Power told Energy-Storage.news amidst the sale process for its own 100MW/200MWh ERCOT project.

The mayor of a town in Germany has allocated land at a former nuclear power plant site for a 120MW/280MWh BESS, after the government rejected plans to use it for storing nuclear waste.