Oil and gas company Total has proposed to buy battery company Saft, which produces devices for the stationary storage industry as well as for transport and other applications.

Global maker of construction and mining equipment Caterpillar has launched an integrated micro-grid solution which combines solar PV and energy storage with the company’s power generation equipment.

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

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.

While the effectiveness of flow batteries in islanded situations is quickly being recognised, on the grid, the cost of providing that storage is still seen as something of an inhibitor to uptake. Andy Colthorpe spoke with the RedT CEO, Scott McGregor, to get his views on how flow batteries can thrive – and why lithium-ion is not the enemy.

Mercom Capital Group’s Q1 2016 report reveals 50% drop in VC funding for battery and storage companies compared to last quarter’s figures.

Roundup: A third of US PV installers offer storage and 26% more could join them this year, China’s BYD signs up with UAE’s Masdar, Sunvault and Aboriginal Power’s ‘self-sustaining’ community project.

PV inverter manufacturer Sungrow is partnering with renewable energy storage system market leader Samsung SDI to perform demonstrative energy storage projects in China.

ABB has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chennai-based engineering and research organisation, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) to partner on building microgrids and develop R&D in the battery energy storage area.