With over 30 companies exhibiting battery products or espousing the technology to the thousands of visitors in attendance, storage was always going to play a major role at last week’s SEUK | Clean Energy Live exhibition. David Pratt summarises the view from the show floor with regards the UK’s burgeoning storage market.

Preparations are now gathering pace as the UK’s solar and clean energy industries prepare to meet at this year’s Solar Energy UK | Clean Energy Live conference, held at the NEC in Birmingham.

Work has been completed on Australia’s “largest solar and battery storage project to date”, a 10.6MW PV installation at a copper mine linked to 6MW of storage, according to developer Juwi, which along with its project partners shared some images of the site.

This week, at the Energy Storage Summit in London on Thursday, Solar Media brings together a broad range of stakeholders as the country goes through some defining moments in infrastructure and energy policy. Here are some interesting recent developments in the space – and who you might expect to meet if you make it to Twickenham Stadium.

After claiming that interest in Powerwall and Powerpack was “overwhelming” and “crazy” seven months before the first commercial installations began, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that close to 400,000 people have reserved a Model 3, due out next year. Andy Colthorpe asks how much Tesla’s overall success in its stated mission to accelerate the transition to clean energy is pinned to a successful roll-out from the Gigafactory for the car.

UK manufacturers and distributors are offering many different forms of training in energy storage installation for residential and small commercial level all over the country, in expectation that solar installers will want to add energy storage to their product ranges and skillsets.

The UK looks set for the arrival of energy storage in a big way this year. While these companies and their battery chemistries are fighting it out for both market share and brand awareness, several energy storage systems have been deployed already on a commercial basis using a more novel storage technology – the saltwater battery.

We are approaching the sixth annual Solar Energy UK conference and exhibition, hosted by our publisher Solar Media. Taking place next week amid challenging times for the UK PV industry, recognition of the potential of storage at the top level at last, and actions already underway by the industry, will be among the central topics of discussion, with more exhibitors and conference strands than ever before.

The €32 million (US$36 million) Hydrogen Mobility Europe programme was launched today, with Germany, the UK, the Scandinavian countries and France signing up with the aim of expanding hydrogen refuelling station coverage across the continent. Andy Colthorpe speaks to one of the companies behind the project and power-to-gas energy expert Christopher Hebling of Fraunhofer ISE about this “modern fairytale” technology.

Tesla’s much-hyped battery announcement in April raised important questions over what business models will drive the deployment of stationary battery storage. As Andy Colthorpe reports, one answer is the virtual power plant, in which residential and commercial battery systems are aggregated to provide grid services.