Energy storage is a key enabler of net zero emissions in the UK, but some unresolved challenges still make it a complex sector to navigate, as Antonia Silvestri and Gary Roscoe, partners at law firm TLT, explain.

China has once again been ranked top for involvement in the global lithium-ion battery supply chain by BloombergNEF, but for the first time the US has come in second amid a policy rush to support the domestic industry. 

This edition of news in brief in energy storage comes from a busy week in the UK.

Northvolt has announced an expansion to its R&D centre in Sweden which will turn the facility into “Europe’s leading campus for battery technologies”.

GridBeyond is to optimise Greencoat Renewables’s first energy storage project. This 10.8MW front-of-the-meter battery is co-located with the Killala Community Wind Farm in Tawnaghmore Upper, Ireland and is expected to be online early next year.

Total demand for energy storage between this year and 2030 could be close to 1TWh worldwide, according to analysis from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. 

Research firm IHS Markit has said that 2021 marks the start of a continued period of rapid growth for the global energy storage industry, forecasting more than 12GW installations in total this year.

A 200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Australia has been awarded to New HOrizons Ahead (NHOA), the rebranded energy storage and e-mobility solutions company formerly known as Engie EPS.

News in brief from around the world in energy storage.

A long-duration energy storage system using NGK’s sodium-sulfur (NAS) batteries has been commissioned by a subsidiary of German chemicals company BASF, which seeks out high growth opportunity businesses to work with.