Round-Up: Saft in Saudi, storage hits Capitol Hill and batteries roll into Switzerland

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Saft wins Saudi project deal

27 October 2015: Battery manufacturer Saft will install an energy storage system for a new innovation centre being built by major Saudi industrial SABIC. The company will provide 48 batteries with a peak power of 20kW and a capacity of 187kWh. They will be used to smooth the output of the building’s installed PV. Xavier Delacroix, GM at Saft’s Industrial battery Group said energy storage was vital “to help the Middle East region make the transition from its reliance on fossil fuels”.

Image credit: Saft
New storage caucus launched in US congress

27 October 2015: A new Battery Energy Storage Caucus has been launched by a Democrat and Republican US Representatives. Chris Collins (R-NY) and Mark Takano (D-CA) hope to brief Congress on the role of energy storage in reinforcing the US grid and making it “affordable, and sustainable”. “Energy storage is modernising the grid and enabling new economic possibilities, saving businesses and consumers money,” said Rep. Takano.

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Swiss college installs 500kWh PV-tied battery

28 October 2015: Swiss battery producer Leclanche has installed a system at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). The 500kWh titanate lithium-ion battery was developed in conjunction with EPFL and is based on the college’s grounds. It is connected to a PV plant owned by utility Romande Energie with results from the install to be used as part of EPFL’s smart grid research.

Battery system at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) .

3 November 2026
Málaga, Spain
Understanding technology and supplier selection for Europe’s utility-scale PV market in 2027. PV ModuleTech Europe 2026 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of PV module, inverter and battery supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, supply chain traceability, quality assurance, factory auditing, system reliability, and supplier bankability.
20 April 2027
Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy West Hotel, Dallas, Texas, Dallas
Policy, Procurement and Power Demand: Defining the Next Chapter for Energy Storage. Two days in Dallas where developers, IPPs, investors, utilities and the manufacturers building the technology come to close deals, not swap business cards. If you need to be in the room with the people deploying capital into US storage, this is that room.

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