VIDEO: Using solar and batteries to replace diesel and other fossil fuels at off-grid industrial sites is both a viable business model and a way to “inject” solar into the global energy mix in a smart – and economical way, MD Karim Wazni says.

The International Flow Battery Forum is taking place this week and long-time organiser, Anthony Price of consultancy Swanbarton, wrote to Energy-Storage.news with some of his views on the market and a snapshot of where development currently lies.

Originally hosted on the Energy-Storage.news YouTube channel and of course the site itself as a video feature, our recent Editors’ Chat at Intersolar Europe / ees Europe 2019 is now the first episode to run on Solar Media’s new podcast channel.

A solar-plus-storage project in Brazil trialling different batteries, a 22MW solar farm with 2.4MW of battery storage in Senegal and NGK Insulators’ recent, huge project using sodium sulfur batteries in Abu Dhabi are among the nominees in this year’s Solar & Storage Live Awards: International project category.

World Bank Group has set up a “global international partnership” to support the deployment of energy storage in developing countries, just a few months after committing a US$1 billion sum to the sector.

Following announcements from various manufacturers of deployments and partnerships in new territories, the latest wave of flow battery news includes an agreement that could put batteries in space for mission critical applications at the likes of NASA and the International Space Station.

Schmid and Saudi companies are also planning a gigawatt-scale manufacturing facility for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries.

This year has already seen “significant acceleration” of activity in the global grid-connected energy storage market, with 4.3GW expected to be deployed this year, analysis firm IHS Markit has said.

As the building blocks of energy storage systems, batteries have a key role in influencing system design and economics. Davion Hill of DNV GL explores the importance of testing the performance of individual battery cells in minimising the exposure of battery buyers to technical risks

While Extinction Rebellion may have helped draw attention to the scale of the problem, it’s now up to us all – especially those of us with a head-start in the industry – to bring the solutions to life.