Corporations and utilities are already interested in energy storage but must collaborate to advance deployment and lower costs, avoiding some of the past mistakes of the PV industry, according to the heads of one California-based industry group.

The unsung hero in the grid revolution is the data that enables new technology and provide more control of an increasingly complex system. Andy Colthorpe explored the growing role of Big Data in energy networks in a feature article for the downstream solar technology journal PV Tech Power.

Panasonic has given the first indication of the expected size of its investment in collaborator-competitor Tesla’s battery Gigafactory, which according to the company’s president could be up to US$1.6 billion.

Globally, energy storage is developing rapidly. Businesses that are shaping the market are being asked to nominate themselves to join the Energy Storage 100, a new industry initiative from Energy Storage News’ publisher, Solar Media.

A team of teachers volunteering to educate refugees and displaced peoples among the camps of Calais in northern France, will power a mobile school with a solar-plus-storage system.

Wolfram Walter of German energy storage maker ASD Sonnenspeicher – who converted his own sports car into a solar-powered EV – believes the established practise of connecting battery cells in series is holding back the potential of e-mobility.

Production and deliveries of Tesla’s stationary storage systems have now begun, while a company spokesman said it welcomes new competitors such as Faraday Future to the EV space – in line with Tesla’s stated values to accelerate clean energy deployment.

Glen Dimplex, by some estimates the world’s biggest maker of domestic heating appliances, is due to start recruiting households to participate in the latest phase of an EU trial of energy storage technologies.

As a climate scientist, reducing carbon emissions is at the heart of Dr Jill Cainey’s working life, but is it at the heart of UK Government policy?