Europe is suddenly seeing AI data centre scale-up take centre stage in energy planning considerations amid the ongoing electrification of the economy.

Developer New Leaf Energy withdrew its application for a battery energy storage system (BESS) in Santa Cruz County, California, US, choosing to seek approval through the California Energy Commission (CEC).

L-H Battery Company commenced lithium-ion (Li-ion) cell production at its Jeffersonville, Ohio, US plant this month, for automotive and stationary power applications.

This edition of news in brief features portfolio acquisitions, project completions, a supply deal and investments across Europe.

Dutch long-duration energy storage (LDES) developer Elestor has partnered with Windpark Zeewolde to deploy a 20MW/200-800MWh hydrogen-iron flow battery storage system at what is described as Europe’s largest onshore wind farm.

Waratah Super Battery developer Akaysha Energy and partners have begun construction of a large-scale battery project in Fukuoka, Japan.

The Australian government has introduced a dedicated First Nations Set Aside pilot into both Capacity Investment Scheme Tenders 9 and 10.

Arash Shojaie of QIC Infrastructure outlines how Queensland’s North West Energy Fund will approach cost reduction, technology selection and more.

System integrator HyperStrong will deploy sodium-ion BESS first in its home market of China, before bringing a product to the international markets, its president of technology said.

Eni Storage Systems has broken ground on a gigafactory in Italy set to build LFP cells for energy storage applications, while Chinese firm Hithium has won an €80 million grant from the Spanish government for a battery and BESS plant there.