Residential energy storage company SONNEN announced Tuesday that Blake Richetta, former North American sales manager for Tesla Energy, will help lead SONNEN’s expansion into the US as vice president of sales.

TrinaBEST announced that it has been awarded the opportunity to design and construct a hybrid energy storage system in Nouakchott, Mauritania. 

Vertically integrated energy storage solution company Leclanché and global battery manufacturer Narada Power have agreed to a strategic partnership for the manufacturing and development of lithium-ion battery technology for the Chinese and global markets.

Duke Energy has proposed installing a microgrid — powered by renewable energy — to power a communications tower in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the borders of Tennessee and North Carolina.

Energy storage system integrator Younicos has signed off on a deal with Panasonic to design and develop a solar-plus-storage system at Peña Station NEXT in Denver, Colorado, which includes the operations hub for Panasonic Enterprise Solutions Company and Panasonic CityNOW.

NEC Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of NEC Corporation, announced that it is supplying the Sterling Municipal Light Department (SMLD) of Sterling, Massachusetts, with a 2MW, 3.9 MWh energy storage solution.

GE and Southern California Edison (SCE) announced last week that they plan to install the world’s first battery storage and gas turbine hybrid.

Lithium-ion energy storage manufacturer Leclanché has secured new finance from ACE & Company in Switzerland as it looks to double its revenue.

Power conversion technology developer Ideal Power announced that it has signed off on a Master Purchase Agreement with Powin Corporation — a provider of commercial and industrial energy storage systems — to supply its 30kW and 125kW power conversion systems for Powin’s selection of commercial battery energy storage systems.

Utilities will “embrace energy storage” this year, while the development of standardised contracts and aggregated behind-the-meter storage are expected to take the energy storage world by storm, according to Navigant Research.