Bigger projects, increased synergy with renewable energy generation, better evolved business models and a forward-thinking market design have contributed to the success of battery storage in the UK, with neighbouring Ireland also showing strong signs of rapid growth.

The US state of Wisconsin’s first large-scale solar farms only went online in late 2020, but electric and gas delivery holding company WEC Energy Group has just proposed plans for a 310MW solar power plant with 110MW of battery storage.

US utility Duke Energy should refile its 2020 integrated resource plan (IRP) to effectively allow for the diversity benefits of solar and storage to be captured, it has been argued by energy consulting firm E3.

Colocating battery energy storage systems alongside renewables projects will be ‘critical’ to energy networks in the future, and could help level up debt financing.

Updated: Spain’s government has approved an energy storage strategy that it says will put the country “at the forefront” of what is being done in Europe and help it move towards its 2050 climate neutrality target.

Leclanché will deploy a short duration battery energy storage system (BESS) and energy management software to a natural gas power plant in Levice, Slovakia.

Global energy major Total has continued its flurry of utility-scale solar acquisitions, picking up a 2.2GW pipeline of assets in Texas.

With coal on its way out and decarbonisation across many parts of the US now an integral part of state level policies, could the demise of natural gas be the next step? Gas is seen by many as an interim solution in the energy transition and provides flexibility to energy networks that have adopted a greater share of renewables, but the tide could be turning against this last great dinosaur of the fossil age.

Hitachi ABB Power Grids will supply battery energy storage and smart controls to Singapore’s first virtual power plant (VPP), on a project aimed at validating methods for integrating more renewable energy onto the city-state’s electricity networks.

The February 2021 episode of the Solar Media Podcast is now available to stream and asks the question: Could solar energy deployment in 2021 top 200GW?