US commercial energy storage provider Stem has deployed its first system in Hawaii, for a pilot project that could help the island state’s main utility reach renewable energy goals “better, and at lower cost”.

Energy storage will be used to maximise the benefit of locally generated solar power, including reducing transmission losses, in a trial put together in Bavaria, Germany, by a partnership between academics, private companies and local government.

While some observers have breathlessly called 2015 the “Year of the Battery,” a more accurate description might be that we are seeing the dawn of the “Age of Energy Storage,” especially the winning combination of storage integrated with solar and emerging smart grid technologies, writes Panasonic’s Daniel Roca.

Sunamp, a Scottish manufacturer of heat batteries for domestic energy storage, including models designed to link with PV systems, has started serial production of its units from a base in the UK.

A 1,050MW hydroelectric pumped storage facility in Germany will receive an upgrade of its synchronous generators from engineering specialist Alstom.

One UK energy storage company has compared its latest venture to the energy trading markets of California ISO, as it prepares to pay its customers for providing vital grid services through their residential systems.

24M Technologies, a battery company spun out of A123 Systems in 2010, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to supply its semisolid lithium-ion cells to NEC Energy Solutions for use in NEC ES’s integrated energy storage systems.

European inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology will supply equipment to a 200MW large-scale energy storage project in Korea, including 1,000 battery inverters.

Investing in energy storage batteries to “create a 21st century, decentralised energy system” could pave the way to a sustainable and subsidy-free future for solar in the UK, according to an influential former minister.

Battery-based energy storage could provide up to 13 different services to the US electricity grid, while the usefulness of the technology increases the more ‘distributed’ it is along the system, according to a new report.