As the battery storage industry matures through competition and scale, a significant push for efficiency is coming, writes Dr Kai-Philipp Kairies, CEO and co-founder of ACCURE Battery Intelligence.

Aukera has closed a €460 million (US$534.23 million) structured credit facility to advance its project pipeline in five European markets.

Octopus Australia has referred the Blackstone battery energy storage system (BESS), a 500MW/2,000MWh standalone facility, to Australia’s federal government for assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has approved plans to require bidders in a renewable energy auction to include energy storage.

Blueleaf Energy and Universal Peak have closed financing for a 100MW/400MWh battery storage project, which was one of four winning bids in a Malaysian government tender.

EDF Power Solutions Australia has referred the Wala Wala Pumped Hydro Energy Storage project, a 300-400MW facility in NSW.

Copper theft has become a recurring security issue at Australian battery storage sites, with one regulator reporting multiple incidents.

OptiGrid has been selected by Vena Energy to provide trading optimisation services for the 408MW Bellambi Heights BESS in Australia.

East Point Energy, owned by Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor has completed construction and started operations at the 100MW/200MWh Citrus Flatts energy storage project in Harlingen, Texas, US.

A roundup of user-posted analysis, views and unofficial news from across the industry this past week, this time looking at this week’s sabotage attack on the German grid, BESS revenues and electricity market activity, CATL’s LFP price cut and various non-lithium news.