Australia wants to leverage its position as a mining and minerals hub to capture opportunities in the battery industry.

Duke Energy has installed its first solar-and-battery microgrid capable of powering an entire town in North Carolina, while a mixed technology microgrid will add resilience to a new hub at JFK Airport.

Utility-scale solar PV developer Westbridge Renewable Energy has kicked off development of its fifth solar-plus-storage project in Alberta, Canada.

Peak Power, an Ontario-based C&I-focused energy storage and software firm, has secured a US$200 million financing agreement with Madison Energy Investments (MEI).

Government-backed energy storage announcements continue to roll out of Queensland, with the Australian state set to begin a ‘Neighbourhood Battery’ programme.

Our Next Energy (ONE) has raised US$300 million for its LFP cell gigafactory in Michigan while Turkish Kontrolmatik has started building its plant in South Carolina.

Green Deal Industrial Plan has been welcomed by the European Association for Storage of Energy, although mentions of energy storage included in a leaked draft seen by the industry group were absent from the final publication.

Arclight Capital Partners has committed US$150 million to its energy storage platform Elevate Renewable Energy for deploying battery storage alongside its legacy thermal plant portfolio.

India has committed to helping fund 4,000MWh of battery storage in its Union Budget and will come up with support mechanisms for pumped hydro.

Australia and New York are two very different places but both are likely to soon see their first government-backed tenders in which grid-scale energy storage can compete.