News in brief, from another busy week for our colleagues reporting on the UK battery storage market at Solar Power Portal.

The German parliament has passed law amendments giving energy storage its own legal definition, in a move welcomed by industry sources.

Energy storage solutions company Leclanché claims an addition to its lithium-ion battery can reduce the risk of a thermal event by close to 80%, two months after a fire occurred in its battery production facility.

A pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant with a capacity of 20GWh in Valais, Switzerland, will begin operations on Friday, 1 July.

Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia has been fined for breaching National Electricity Rules over a three month period in 2019.  

Australia’s Clean Energy Council calls for an energy storage target, while arguing that a plans for a capacity mechanism should be scrapped.

Energy Dome, an Italy-based company which has developed a novel CO2-based long-duration energy storage system, has closed an US$11 million bridge funding round.

Investor Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has acquired exclusive project development rights for a 230MW/460MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Wales, UK.

Energy storage can enhance the reliability and lower the costs of operating and maintaining Ontario’s electricity distribution network.

The government of Western Australia has begun a drive to deploy at least 1,000 renewable energy off-grid power systems.