Investors are queuing “all the way down the street” but many require the first projects to be built before committing, Gridserve’s chief investment officer Mark Henderson has said.

Despite making huge strides forward, the energy storage industry’s work in helping stakeholders across the value chain understand the technologies and the roles they can play in a renewable energy future is far from done. Andy Colthorpe speaks with Energy Storage Association chief executive, Kelly Speakes-Backman, at the forefront of the industry’s push into unchartered regulatory, policy and public affairs matters.

Pivot Power is keeping an eye on solutions other than lithium-ion, but chief executive Matt Allen stressed the need to focus on the now and deploy chemistries that are “ready and investable”.

Commercial energy storage ‘pioneer’ Stem Inc and NEC have announced a master supply agreement and wide-ranging partnership that will see the latter’s equipment and solutions used in solar-plus-storage projects in Stem’s pipeline.

The Nobel Foundation recognised not only the role of lightweight, portable battery technology for mobile phones, laptops and latterly electric vehicles, but also that it “can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society”.

A new white paper from Wärtsilä Energy shows that being able to integrate and then optimise all of these different assets is the key to ensuring that your project – and your investment – is going to provide the maximum benefit, longest possible lifetime in the field – and the best business case. Risto Paldanius, Director of Business Development, Energy Storage and Integration at Wärtsilä told us a bit more about what optimization really means in today’s energy market.

Solarwatt shows off new ‘training and explaining’ app for installers of the company’s modular battery energy storage systems.

“With no large-scale batteries participating in the wholesale market in New York, the first day we turned the battery on it was exciting to see if all our internal models were correct in how the battery would behave,” KCE’s COO Dan Fitzgerald told us.

We talk about how solar and storage can be competitive with fossil fuels, how Solaredge is maintaining its own competitive advantage as well as some exclusive inside info on the company’s forthcoming residential battery energy storage systems.

Some choice words from conversations with Scott McGregor, CEO at redT, Avalon Battery president and chief product officer Matt Harper and NEXTracker’s chief technology officer, Alex Au.