India-based EPC firm Sterling and Wilson has forayed into hybrid power plants and energy storage solutions and is already in advanced discussions for its first such projects in Africa and Europe.

Eelpower, a UK-based developer which has executed renewables and cleantech projects including hydroelectric-plus-storage, has secured a £20 million (US$28.5 million) investment from investment trust Gravis Capital Management to build out its pipeline of permitted energy storage sites and pursue new development opportunities.

In short, energy storage technology is set to revolutionise our society, EVs and beyond, with power companies among the most affected – whether they like it or not. The sector needs to wake up to this and decide what it is going to do about it. Education could provide the wake-up call that power professionals need, says Bo Normark of InnoEnergy.

The US is expected to remain the world’s biggest market for energy storage until 2022, with China its closest rival, GTM Research has said.

British vertically-integrated utility Scottish Power has come under scrutiny from the demand side response (DSR) sector after proposing to national regulator Ofgem that de-rating factors applied to large scale battery storage should be extended to those used to provide DSR in the Capacity Market.

In much the same way that the industrial revolution changed society all those years ago, electrification is now the driving force behind the industrialisation of multiple sectors. Energy storage has an obvious role, but Olivier Chabilan of Skeleton Technologies looks at something you might not have considered – ultracapacitors.

Tesla is negotiating with the government of Armenia over supplying a grid-scale storage system, while Italy’s grid operator revealed it is collaborating with the EV and smart energy tech maker to “study new techniques of energy storage”.

Guidance issued by Britain’s transmission grid operator on how to co-locate energy storage with generation facilities has been welcomed by an analyst at industry group the Renewable Energy Association.

UK-based power, heating and cooling equipment manufacturer Aggreko is investing £33 million in research and development.

Battery storage is of growing interest to commercial and industrial (C&I) entities in the UK, but the wider energy efficiency sector has seen Brexit and other policy woes send confidence to new lows.