The Energy Storage Digital Series, an online-only conference and webinar series, produced and hosted by the events division of our publisher Solar Media kicked off yesterday. Here are some highlights and key quotes from opening panel discussion: ‘Predicting the energy storage tech of the future’.

South Korean lithium-ion battery manufacturer SK Innovation will begin construction on the second of two manufacturing plants in the US state of Georgia this summer, with the first already under construction.

The cost of battery energy storage has continued on its trajectory downwards and now stands at US$150 per megawatt-hour for battery storage with four hours’ discharge duration, making it more and more competitive with fossil fuels. Andy Colthorpe spoke to Tifenn Brandily, lead author of BloombergNEF’s latest LCOE report.

Solar Media’s Liam Stoker and Andy Colthorpe discuss the continuing effects of COVID-19 on worldwide power markets, reflecting on IEA forecasts for historic energy demand lows and what they mean for renewables.

Recent news in brief from around the world in energy storage – this edition is collected from the pages of our sister site PV Tech.

A design consultancy service contract for a 1200MW pumped hydro energy storage project, paired with solar and wind energy and under development by independent power producer (IPP) Greenko has been awarded to AFRY India.

While the renewable energy industry has suffered significant blows such as loss of employment during the COVID-19 crisis, venture capital (VC) funding into the battery energy storage sector in the first quarter of this year nonetheless saw a significant increase over the previous year’s equivalent period.

Mini-grids offer a quick route to electrification in parts of the world where grid extensions are unfeasible. Baptiste Possémé looks at the some of the technological and regulatory trends influencing the deployment of mini-grids in Africa and Asia.

What is thought to be the world’s largest ‘single-stack’ green hydrogen electrolyser, a 10MW project in Fukushima, Japan, began operations on schedule in March, provider Asahi Kasei has said.

Energy storage manufacturing giant CATL has partnered with Shenzhen KSTAR Science & Technology to construct a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility Fujian, China.