Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) and Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) have been awarded a US$3.24 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate the use of energy storage to stabilise high penetrations of solar energy into Texas’ electric grid.

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and storage company Tesla has officially changed its name from ‘Tesla Motors’ to ‘Tesla Inc’ according to a new regulatory filing.

While Brexit – the impending departure of the UK from the European Union – looms, bringing uncertainty into the country’s economy and international relationships, the role energy storage will play in a decentralised, low(er) carbon and more flexible energy system at least seems a little more assured than it did before.

A 1MW ‘virtual power plant’ part-funded by the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR), utilising energy storage across 29 customer sites, has been connected in O’ahu, Hawaii, by Stem.

System provider JLM Energy has launched the first in a suite of energy storage products that connects battery storage directly to solar panels.

Increasing Li-ion demand will help to continue to lower energy storage costs, but also brings up an important issue: what should be done with the batteries after they are used in vehicles? Chris Robinson of Lux Research weighs up the pros and cons of recycling versus repurposing for second-life use.

News in Brief: Tesla’s Powerpack 2 is installed in a utility-scale project for SCE, Texan utility CPS opens EPC bids for a large-scale solar-plus storage project and Eguana and LG Chem expand their storage partnership.

Project funding for energy storage jumped to US$820 million in 2016 from just US$30 million in 2015, while Sonnen was revealed as the energy storage company to raise the most VC funding this year.

New York’s chief economic development agency Empire State Development is launching a battery cell assembly facility in Eastman Business Park (EBP), Rochester, which will serve battery and capacitor companies, in collaboration with the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST).

Dispatches from the India Rooftop Solar Congress 2017 in New Delhi. Indian rooftop solar will reach an inflection point in 2020 when battery-based storage becomes affordable enough to drive the PV segment, according to a new report by global analysis firm Crisil Research.