Fundamental changes in how battery energy storage technology works come faster than they have done in solar PV or wind historically – and governments and regulators will need to adapt to keep up, one industry insider has told Energy-Storage.News.
Utility San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Sumitomo Electric (SEI) have launched a 2MW/8MWh pilot vanadium redox flow battery storage project in California to study how the technology can reliably integrate renewable energy and improve flexibility in grid management.
The government of Victoria in Australia plans to invest AU$20 million (US$15.2 million) in large-scale energy storage initiatives across the state to reach 100MW by the end of 2018.
A multi-million pound EU funded project is set to provide the Isles of Scilly with a new smart energy system, using new software platforms to manage supply and demand through renewables, energy storage and electric vehicles.
While Germany is one of the world’s leaders in solar PV and now an early leader in residential energy storage, utility-scale energy storage is still “under discussion” and not yet a mature proposition, industry figures have said.
In a major energy strategy upheaval, the South Australian government is providing significant funding to support energy storage projects, starting with a 100MW grid-connected battery that will be the largest in the country.
A new project is set to test the feasibility of turning a UK car park into a MW-scale battery to provide power on demand to the electricity grid from electric vehicles.
Led by a record-breaking final quarter, energy storage reached 336MWh in 2016, growing 100% in megawatt-hours from 2015’s installed capacity, despite staying roughly flat in megawatts with 221MW deployed last year.
