A planned commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage project in England could increase onsite solar consumption to the point that no power will be drawn from the grid on some days of the year.

Islands around the world provide ideal conditions for trialling new approaches to energy provision. David Pratt reports on some of the work going on globally to bring the benefits of cutting-edge renewable energy, storage and smart grid technologies to the world’s geographically isolated communities. To be continued later this week on Energy-Storage.news.

VC funding for battery energy storage companies in the first half of this year has already exceeded 2016’s total and looks on the way to bettering 2017, with US$539 million raised across 29 deals.

Long duration energy storage will be put to use in Germany’s grid, with RedT, a UK-headquartered maker of flow energy storage ‘machines’, announcing an initial 80MWh deployment to the country.

UK transmission network operator (TNO) National Grid has used a new web-based platform to dispatch ancillary services using battery storage in the first example of the new system being implemented across its reserve products.

Battery installations are underway at a European Regional Development Fund-backed project deploying low carbon infrastructure on the Isles of Scilly, in a model that it is hoped could be widely replicated elsewhere.

UK renewable electricity supplier Solo Energy is set to launch a ‘free battery’ business model to UK homeowners after a successful pilot on the remote Scottish islands of Orkney.

Pivot Power, a UK company targeting the development of 2GW of lithium battery energy storage to be rolled out together with a network of EV chargers, has had the first of its network of energy storage projects approved by a local authority.

‘Flexibility services provider’ Eelpower has bought up its second grid-scale energy storage system from developer Anesco in the UK, the 20MW Rock Farm battery in Shropshire, England.

Next Kraftwerke, offering ‘Virtual Power Plants-as-a-service’, will integrate a 2MW/2MWh battery at the premises of a commercial customer which will be integrated to offer both front-of-meter and behind-the-meter benefits.