Following February’s Guest Blog which looked at factors- barriers, boundaries and benefits- that can influence its widespread adoption, SMA’s Aleksandra-Sasa Bukvic-Schaefer and Volker Wachenfeld focus on the discussions behind designing and implementing home solar-plus-storage.

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott is like King Canute, standing on the shore commanding the tide of renewable energy and energy storage not to come in. But no matter how much he rails against the future, this prime minister is way too late to stop the tide of progress. A range of factors are coming together at the same time that will see distributed solar PV combined with energy storage move into the early mainstream in the coming years – and sooner than later, says John Grimes of the Australian Storage Council and Australian Solar Council.

More than two-thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is still without electricity, with the figure rising to more than 85% in rural areas. Andrew Jones of S&C Electric looks at how energy storage could play a crucial role in realising the continent’s solar potential.

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.

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.

For decades Australia has been at the forefront in deploying renewable energy, coupled with energy storage solutions, in off grid and fringe of grid areas across remote Australia.  Many communities have transitioned away from polluting and expensive diesel generators and now use reliable and sustainable renewable energy and energy storage solutions.  But it is only now that the full impact of lower energy storage costs are becoming clear, writes John Grimes of the Australian Energy Storage Council.

E.ON, the German utility giant with 61GW of generation assets, has announced plans to split its business in two. The company will stake its future on renewables in a major restructuring, spinning off its conventional power generation business, in part as a response to the growth in distributed generation. Cosmin Laslau of Lux Research digs deeper.

Energy security is a growing concern for economies across the world with electricity outages currently costing economies billions of dollars annually, driving electricity prices up. The US experienced nearly 700 power outages caused by severe weather between 2003 and 2012, costing the country up to US$70 billion annually.

Will the Indian battery market scenario witness a major change? As the power supply in the country continues to be unreliable, the role of batteries has to change from being an emergency back-up solution to a long time power/energy storage solution.

Just 3–4% of electricity generated by utilities globally is stored today, according to the International Energy Agency. This is despite the fact that storage can help overcome the energy ‘trilemma’ of curbing rising energy prices, the need to ensure the security of supply and creating a low carbon economy. So, what’s the hold-up? Taking the UK as his starting point but with lessons transferrable to other regions, Roger Lin of NEC Energy Solutions explains and counters some of the myths that stand in its way.