Industry headlines and stats, the approval of US president Barack Obama and even the growing popularity of electric rickshaws have been used to drive home the message that energy storage is a technology for today, not some distant future.

Saft is doubling its production capacity with a new Chinese facility, UK energy minister Amber Rudd visited Cumulus Energy Storage and Tesla in California, Fluidic Energy to provide smart grids and storage in madagascar

BYD, DNV GL, Tesla, Schneider Electric and SMA Solar are among the names confirmed to attend Solar Media’s Energy Storage 100, a networking event in London celebrating the nascent energy storage industry.

A hybrid off-grid project from renewables firm Energy Developments Limited’s (EDL) including 4MW wind, 1MW solar and a 1MW/250kWh battery system in South Australia has reached financial close.

Many have predicted 2016 will be the year when energy storage starts to live up to its hype. Andy Colthorpe canvased views from some of the leading figures and companies in the sector on the next developments a market that could help take solar and other renewables to the next level.

Germany-based inverter firm SMA Solar technology has qualified lithium-based energy storage systems from commercial battery system provider Tesvolt for use with SMA’s Sunny Island battery inverter.

Energy storage solutions combined with hybrid solar PV plants and diesel generators will soon benefit communities in two starkly contrasting locations – in a luxury Maldives resort and in Australia’s Aboriginal community.

Recharge A/S, an investment fund specialising in renewables, will take a 50.1% stake in a €24 million (US$26.7 million) micro grid on a remote Portuguese island that could prove the validity of such projects as an asset class.

Energy storage could have a ‘highly critical’ role to play in emerging economies, Aloke Gupta of Imergy Power Systems says. Gupta, who was previously with California’s Public Utilities’ Commission, the state’s regulator, talks about the uses and applications of micro-grids, from his vantage point of view as a flow battery and storage system maker.

The UK looks set for the arrival of energy storage in a big way this year. While these companies and their battery chemistries are fighting it out for both market share and brand awareness, several energy storage systems have been deployed already on a commercial basis using a more novel storage technology – the saltwater battery.