Global shares of renewable energy are increasing, while at the same time data centres become an ever-more important part of our daily lives. Emiliano Cevenini of Vertiv looks at some ways in which renewable energy can combine with UPS and energy storage systems at data centres to offer new possibilities for energy and environmental controls.

It’s likely a strong indication of the way the world is adopting renewable energy rapidly that just under a month ago, one of the best-established trade shows for solar in the US featured what seemed like almost as much space dedicated to national and international energy storage companies and technologies, as it did for solar.

Solar & Storage Live 2018, the trade exhibition organised by Energy-Storage.news’ & PV Tech’s publisher Solar Media, opens its doors in a week’s time, with around 4,000 pre-registered visitors expected to flock to the NEC, Birmingham, England. Here’s why this year’s event is not to be missed.

Cloud-aggregated virtual power plants using residential or C&I battery storage as part of a smart energy management system can benefit the grid, integrate renewables and EVs and hopefully add a powerful long-term value proposition for home storage. Andy Colthorpe and David Pratt report on how some of the UK’s first VPP projects are proving the concept.

First developed by NASA, flow batteries are a potential answer to storing solar – and wind – for eight to 10 hours, far beyond what is commonly achieved today with lithium-ion. In the second of a two-part special report, Andy Colthorpe dives deeper into questions of bankability, market segmentation and manufacturing strategies with four very different providers of flow energy storage technology.

Some highlights from the show floor at Solar Power International’s co-located Energy Storage International show in Anaheim, California this week.

It’s Solar Power International this week and bigger than ever is its co-located sister show Energy Storage International in Anaheim, California. Here are some of the reasons why we’re excited to attend.

Andres Cortes and Ben Kaun of the Electric Power Research Institute discuss some of their recent work looking into the issues of the attributes and operations of co-locating energy storage with renewables

Power outages pose great risks for corporate bottom lines and many have already suffered the economic brunt of unforeseen weather and grid events in 2018. Battery energy storage can be a versatile actor in networks, bringing resiliency as well as energy efficiency and economic benefits, writes Lisa Laughner, CEO of Go Electric.

The fortunes of Gildemeister’s redox flow battery energy storage have been an interesting mirror to those of the technology class overall in some ways. Energy-Storage.news spoke to a leading representative of those assets’ new owner, CellCube Energy Storage company president, Stefan Schauss.