News in brief from this week in energy storage around the world.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is continuing its mission of funding priority development projects in emerging economies, this time by signing two grants that leverage US technology and investment to increase access to affordable, reliable electricity in Kenya.

Flow battery maker Primus Power was leader of the charts in VC funding in the first quarter of 2017, securing US$32 million from a range of investors, according to Mercom Capital’s latest report.

Clearly, renewable energy is now a viable alternative to traditional generation from a cost perspective. However solar and wind’s penetration of the grid is constrained by ageing infrastructure, high grid connection costs and their intermittent, weather-dependent nature. Scott McGregor looks at how long-duration energy storage on an industrial scale can help.

French hybrid energy storage solutions provider Electro Power Systems has secured an equity-linked financing deal to the sum of €30 million (US$31.88 million) with the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Younicos CEO Stephen L. Prince ponders the role of energy storage within the three ‘Ds’ revolutionising energy: digitisation, decentralisation and decarbonisation.

The world pipeline for energy storage on the utility side of the meter has doubled in the past year, reaching 3.4GW, according to new research by I.H.S.

Belectric has developed PV plants on every continent of the globe except Antarctica and also delivers energy storage system projects and offers a wide range of energy storage solutions including in-house battery systems, turn-key large-scale battery storage as well as scalable container solutions. Managing director of Belectric Solar and Battery, Frank Amend, spoke to Energy-Storage.News about the company’s recent acquisition by RWE subsidiary innogy and where the company sees energy storage (and solar) going.