Wärtsilä’s decision to launch a strategic review of its energy storage & optimisation (ES&O) business, including potential divestment, may be because of its dilutive effect on the broader company’s margins, an analyst told Energy-Storage.news.

Investor EQT Infrastructure has acquired UK clean energy and battery storage developer-operator Statera, the latest in a flurry of deals in the UK market.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has earmarked up to US$3.5 billion of new capital for battery manufacturing, a week after European gigafactory company Freyr announced it would only be scaling in the US for now.

California-based Element Energy has raised US$111 million of equity and debt for its proprietary battery management system (BMS) for first and second life battery storage.

Volvo Group has acquired the US battery pack company Proterra out of bankruptcy, while its power solutions arm Volvo Penta is providing its BESS sub-system for EV charging infrastructure solutions.

Lithium-ion battery manufacturer Hithium will provide 55MWh of battery products for a solar-plus-storage project being built by EPC firm SolarPro in Bulgaria.

Second life energy storage firm B2U has put its second major project into commercial operation, a 3MW/12MWh system made up of Honda Clarity EV batteries.

Developer esVolta has secured tax equity financing for a 30MW/60MWh BESS in California while Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure has signed PPAs for two projects with one of the state’s utilities.

The national electric utility of Senegal, Senelec, has signed a 20-year capacity change agreement (CCA) with developer Infinity Power for a 40MW/160MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project.

Developer Kyon Energy has claimed the largest approved BESS in Europe for a 275MWh project in Germany, just as regulators extend grid fee exemptions for energy storage by three years to 2029.