Last week, two significant milestones in the emergence of a market for large-scale battery storage on the grid were laid in Ontario, Canada.

Lithium carbonate prices have started to creep back up again after coming down from 2022’s extreme highs, but the long-term outlook is one of downwards prices, research firm Fastmarkets said.

The US’ installed base of utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) increased by 80% in 2022, as the industry had a record-breaking year.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has cancelled a US$200 million grant application from lithium-ion battery firm Microvast, which rejected any links to the Chinese government.

Developer Pulse Clean Energy has secured a three-year £175 million (US$215 million) credit facility with a number of banks to go towards its pipeline of battery storage projects in the UK.

Developer Strata Clean Energy and utility Arizona Public Service (APS) have agreed a 20-year tolling agreement for a 255MW/1GWh battery energy storage system (BESS).

Utility Hawaiian Electric has finalised a plan to completely use renewable resources by 2045, including mid-term goals of adding renewables generation and rooftop solar by 2030.

UGL has been selected to design, test and commission a BESS which will provide power for BHP’s iron ore port in Western Australia.

A large-scale pumped hydro energy storage project in Washington State has passed a key stage of approvals, while another in South Dakota has been dropped.

Wärtsilä has revealed details of fire testing its large-scale battery storage product was put through, which the company claimed went beyond commonly accepted requirements.