SolarCity, one of the biggest names in US residential solar, has announced a new set of services targeted at utility and grid operators including the official launch of its grid-scale solar-plus-storage offering.

Tucson Electric Power (TEP), a utility in Southern Arizona with around 420,000 customers, has received approval to build two 10MW energy storage systems, including one co-located with solar, from the state’s regulator.

An influential German think tank and a national energy storage industry association have both said that long-term solutions need to be found for residential solar-plus-storage owners’ part-time reliance on the grid.

SolarReserve eyes 1GW solar thermal storage deal in China, first bi-directional inverter launched and proposed Australian pumped hydro site up capacity to 450MW.

Operators of transmission infrastructure and wholesale markets in the US have supplied their views on energy storage to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), with industry and other stakeholders expected to follow. Energy-Storage.News’ Andy Colthorpe spoke with Energy Storage Association policy expert Jason Burwen on what he describes as a “systematic review” that could have a transformative effect on the market and drivers for storage.

All the news, views and updates from the Energy Storage Summit at Twickenham Stadium, London.

Texas-headquarted Mercom Capital Group recently released its Q1 2016 funding and M&A report for energy storage, smart grid and energy efficiency sectors. Mercom’s CEO and co-founder Raj Prabhu discusses the energy storage trends tracked in this quarter with Energy-Storage.News, especially in light of the drop in venture capital funding this quarter.

This week, at the Energy Storage Summit in London on Thursday, Solar Media brings together a broad range of stakeholders as the country goes through some defining moments in infrastructure and energy policy. Here are some interesting recent developments in the space – and who you might expect to meet if you make it to Twickenham Stadium.

News in brief: Korea’s main utility and Samsung SDI have overseas markets in their sights, Leclanché subsidiary targets US and Canada, UK lead acid maker moves to Li-Ion with new crowdfund drive.

The trial of a 6MW/10MWh ‘Big Battery’ has proven energy storage can help Britain’s electricity network, but the next crucial phase is to assess the business case, the grid operator which commissioned it has said.