SunEdison has made a significant first step into the grid-scale energy storage market, with the acquisition of US startup Solar Grid Storage.
US battery manufacturer, ViZn Energy, has teamed with financial services company, LFC Capital, on a programme to lease integrated solar and storage systems to property owners.
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.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), one of Japan’s major electric utility and transmission providers, will conduct a microgrid demonstration project on a remote Japanese island, incorporating solar, storage, wind and diesel.
UK PV installer Martin Cotterell argues that the renewables industry needs something in place to make sure that battery systems are sold appropriately; for instance, there is the potential for customers to get charged extra for a battery ‘add-on’ that doesn’t really give them a whole lot of benefit.
Energy storage is likely to be worth “tens of billion dollars in the next five to 10 years” across a number of global regions, according to executives at solar microinverter firm Enphase.
An ‘electricity trading’ scheme to be launched by Reposit Power in Australia for residential energy storage system owners has been described by an analyst as “one of the most interesting examples” of software as a differentiator in the energy storage marketplace.
Energy storage and microgrid software specialist Geli Energy and storage system maker Imergy Power Systems will collaborate on a California Energy Commission-funded microgrid project which could save a college district US$75,000 a year in energy bills.
It is sometimes said that as of today there is no business case which delivers economic viability for decentralised residential battery storage systems owned by private end customers- without subsidy programmes- or they propose other solutions which offer higher benefits. Despite the discussion, the market already offers a variety of storage solutions which seem to be well accepted by the end-customer. Volker Wachenfeld of SMA explains the contrast.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has revealed that its home battery storage products will be available “fairly soon”.
