Although huge amounts of capital are being deployed into storage, some investors speaking at the Energy Storage Summit 2022 made it clear that the investment model is still set to evolve hugely.
Eos Energy Enterprises has said that equipment and machinery will begin arriving next month as the zinc-based battery storage company expands its manufacturing facility near Pittsburgh.
Pandemic-related supply chain issues for lithium battery materials hitting the energy storage space are just “bumps in the road” for the sector, and the supply chain will “come out stronger because of it”.
US President Joe Biden announced a “major investment in domestic production of key minerals and materials” this week, including efforts to strengthen supply chains of lithium and other materials used in batteries.
Italy-headquartered global energy storage and electric vehicle (EV) technology group NOAH, formerly Engie EPS, is expanding in the US market with one project recently going online and two more in the pipeline.
Standalone storage, demand from commercial and industrial (C&I) customers and new types of grid services will increasingly help drive growth in energy storage in the coming years, but the future mix between battery-based and alternative storage types is still unclear.
Investors are becoming increasingly comfortable with energy storage as an asset class but numerous regulatory and market design hurdles remain across European markets.
The energy transition arm of Italy’s Enel Group has started construction on a 20MW/40MWh behind-the-meter battery energy storage system at Imperial Oil’s petrochemical complex in Sarnia, Ontario, which it claims will be the largest in North America.
The first awards of funding designed to “turbocharge” UK projects developing long-duration energy storage technologies have been made by the country’s government, with £6.7 million (US$9.11 million) pledged.
