Jigar Shah has said that the addition of backup power helped persuade a California school district to add energy storage as well as going solar and that adding batteries can help “decision makers” see the true value of PV.

Officials from 56 Muslim-majority nations have come together to pledge new climate-related technology goals that included promoting microgrids, energy storage and renewable energy targets.

Australia-based renewables firm Windlab has bagged a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Queensland government-owned utility CS Energy to offtake power from a major hybrid 60.5MW solar, storage and wind park.

California-based energy storage technology developer Gridtential announced that it has closed US$11 million in financing led by 1955 Capital, with assistance from East Penn Manufacturing, Crown Battery Manufacturing, Leoch International and Power-Sonic Inc., as well as an existing investor in The Roda Group.

Australia’s biggest utility AGL, which has committed to phasing out coal by 2050, has said it is likely to replace the capacity provided by one ageing power station with batteries, peaking plants, demand response and pumped hydro.

Heating and cooling uses more than half of Europe’s energy, but the potential “immense value” of thermal energy storage has barely been explored, the head of an energy storage trade group has said.

More schools in North America will be able to ‘green’ their energy supply and hedge against future rises in the price of electricity, with Jigar Shah’s Generate Capital taking on six solar-plus-storage projects in California.

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued a new order seeking to improve the quality of components in the solar sector, including batteries to be used for stationary energy storage.

South Korean industrial group Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction has self-executed a solar-plus-storage project at its head offices in Changwon, using this and other projects on its own premises as a learning curve for external projects.

Our publisher Solar Media produces the quarterly technical journal PV Tech Power, aimed at the downstream end of the solar PV industry, and the September 2017 edition, Volume 12 in the series, is available now.