While the renewable energy industry has suffered significant blows such as loss of employment during the COVID-19 crisis, venture capital (VC) funding into the battery energy storage sector in the first quarter of this year nonetheless saw a significant increase over the previous year’s equivalent period.
Avalon Battery and redT have revealed that their proposed merger will create a new company to be known as Invinity Energy Systems.
A consortium featuring Mitsubishi and Japanese utility Chubu is set to buy out European energy major Eneco as Mitsubishi targets further European growth.
RedT has confirmed that Avalon chief executive Larry Zulch will lead the combined entity should its proposed merger complete, with Scott McGregor set to depart at the end of the year.
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.
‘Flow batteries’ could provide frequency response in the UK for the first time ever, as a modestly sized solar-plus-storage system has been pre-qualified into National Grid’s dynamic firm frequency response (dFFR) market.
RedT has confirmed it has agreed outline terms for a reverse takeover of fellow vanadium redox flow battery firm Avalon, a move which the firm said would create a “leading player” in the energy storage market.
Following on from our look at some of the takeovers of promising or already-prolific energy storage companies in the last edition of PV Tech Power, here’s an exclusive interview with Convergent Energy + Power CEO Johannes Ritterhausen.
Infrastructure investment firm Energy Capital Partners has acquired prolific ‘mid-range’ energy storage project developer Convergent Energy + Power in a deal worth "several hundred million dollars".
News in brief from around the world in energy storage.
The growth potential of energy storage has drawn interest from some of the biggest names in the power business and beyond. With the trend set to continue, Andy Colthorpe explores how three recent acquisition targets are faring under new ownership.
Perhaps the biggest indicator of the recognition of behind-the-meter storage so far this year has been the acquisition of Sonnen by oil major Shell. CEO Christoph Ostermann spoke to Andy Colthorpe about why home storage uptake could be on a worldwide series of inflection points.
Tesla will acquire Maxwell Technologies, it was announced this week, although it is not clear yet which of Maxwell’s product lines, including ultracapacitors, are of most interest to the Silicon Valley automaker and new energy company.
News in brief from around the world in energy storage.
Johnson Controls has sold off its power business, including its design and production of automotive batteries, to focus on management solutions for buildings and HVAC systems for industrial customers.
An agreement to buy 75% of Korean battery manufacturer Kokam gives SolarEdge a level of vertical integration that could make the PV company a ‘one-stop-shop’ for customers, while SolarEdge could diversify into areas outside solar energy.
Developer and EPC firm Conergy Asia has been acquired by the Green Investment Group (GIG).
Swiss vertically-integrated battery and energy storage system and equipment maker Leclanché has followed sonnen in netting a significant amount of investment to go into the second half of 2018, securing CHF75 million (US$76 million) from its main existing investor.
Shell has continued to scale-up its interest in distributed energy by participating in a €60 million (US$70.23 million) investment round by German battery storage firm sonnen.
German energy giants E.On and RWE have reached an agreement on a major exchange of business activities, promising a significant shake-up of the duo’s energy interests.
News in brief from around the world of energy storage.
France-headquartered multinational utility ENGIE has followed up acquisitions in smart energy by incorporating three companies including commercial energy storage provider Green Charge into its parent brand, with the explicit aim of furthering its position in North American markets.
Australian large-scale renewables investor Lyon Group has confirmed it is selling three projects under development, totalling 800MWh of energy storage and 545MW of PV generation capacity, in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
Calmac, a provider of ice-creating thermal energy storage systems – and ice rinks – has been bought out by a subsidiary of major US manufacturer Ingersoll Rand.
The amount of energy storage investment that came from VC (venture capital) funding more than doubled in the first half of 2017 compared to last year, a new report has found.
Nasdaq Helsinki-listed power company Wärtsilä’s acquisition of software specialist, system integrator and turnkey energy storage system provider Greensmith has been completed.
Energy storage provider and system integrator Younicos has been bought out by Aggreko, a power generation equipment and energy controls supplier.
Finnish power equipment firm Wärtsilä has immediately followed up its launch of hybrid and standalone energy storage systems with the acquisition of system integrator and software specialist Greensmith Energy Management Systems (Greensmith).
News in brief from this week in energy storage around the world.
Project funding for energy storage jumped to US$820 million in 2016 from just US$30 million in 2015, while Sonnen was revealed as the energy storage company to raise the most VC funding this year.