While the Federal government of Australia resists public and political pressure to commit to net zero targets, the states of Victoria and Queensland have made progress in advancing plans for a large-scale standalone battery project and a wind-plus-storage plant respectively.
Energy storage systems were historically used for grid balancing purposes within Europe, limiting their use to such applications or to be considered as “auxiliaries” to renewable generation assets. However, as market prices evolve and new revenue streams emerge, stakeholders must discover the diverse applications energy storage can tap into, writes Naim El Chami.
Germany’s draft renewable energy laws, which the government is seeking to introduce next year, have been heavily criticised by energy storage systems association BVES.
Another contract has been signed for energy from a large-scale solar-plus-storage plant by one of California’s Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) groups.
Eos Energy Storage has signed an agreement to deploy “more than 1GWh” of its aqueous zinc chemistry battery energy storage systems worth around US$250 million with US-based project developer Hecate Energy.
A grid-forming project in South Australia combining power electronics and battery storage to integrate wind and solar at a site near the end of a 120km 33kV transmission line is being replicated worldwide, the Head of Grid Edge Solutions at Hitachi ABB Power Grids has said.
The UK’s biggest battery storage project so far has been acquired by London Stock Exchange-listed battery storage investor Gresham House Energy Storage Fund and is already participating in numerous grid services markets.
Energy storage could solve problems of reliability for grid operators in India, such as the electricity blackout which struck Mumbai last month, a panel at the India Energy Storage Week conference heard today.
