Research firm IHS recently reported that as of the end of 2015, there was a global pipeline of 1.6GW of battery or flywheel-based grid storage projects in place. Andy Colthorpe spoke to principal analyst Marianne Boust, who explained why last year truly saw a “change in stakeholder mentality” in favour of energy storage and why 2016 will be another record-breaking year.

A joint statement on economic and social cooperation between the governments of India and France has “noted the important role of energy storage to promote renewable energies”.

Almost US$700 million of corporate funding went into energy storage in 2015, including US$397 million from venture capital (VC) investment, according to the latest report from Mercom Capital.

Misconceptions over the true value of energy storage are developing because of a “narrow focus” on the initial costs of the technology, a report has concluded.

The US Department of Energy is to fund six projects trialling the combination of solar and energy storage.

News in brief: Nissan commits to longer range EV batteries from UK plant, a first in energy storage financing for Green Charge, American Vanadium plans acquisition of Gildemeister, Ceres and Honda developing solid oxide fuel cell stacks for power equipment.

Placing a battery onto the grid is an economic investment. Matthew Hunt from the UK’s Chargesync discusses strategies for extracting the maximum value from devices and systems through optimising performance.

UK solar developers WElink Energy and British Solar Renewables (BSR) have signed a £1.1 billion (US$1.6 billion) deal with China National Building Materials Group (CNBM) to develop solar energy projects and zero-carbon homes in the UK.

California’s CalCharge is a partnership between public and private sector, aiming to accelerate the adoption of energy storage in the state. Andy Colthorpe of Energy Storage News spoke with CalCharge president Danny Kennedy, the Australia-born former chief of US residential PV installer Sungevity who has a colourful background in eco-activism and the programme’s recently appointed manager, Alex Luce.

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.