Centrica has completed the installation of a 3MW battery in the North-East of England for local authority Gateshead Council, which the multinational utility’s Distributed Energy and Power business has dubbed one of the country’s largest commercial battery storage schemes.

TerraE Holding, a collaborative initiative to establish large-scale production line manufacturing of lithium-ion cells at a European ‘Gigafactory’, has signed a raw materials deal for anode materials with Australia’s Magnis Resources.

Officials from 56 Muslim-majority nations have come together to pledge new climate-related technology goals that included promoting microgrids, energy storage and renewable energy targets.

Australia-based renewables firm Windlab has bagged a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Queensland government-owned utility CS Energy to offtake power from a major hybrid 60.5MW solar, storage and wind park.

Australia’s biggest utility AGL, which has committed to phasing out coal by 2050, has said it is likely to replace the capacity provided by one ageing power station with batteries, peaking plants, demand response and pumped hydro.

The government of Jay Weatherill, premier of South Australia, has just formally launched three Calls for Proposals under the Renewable Technology Fund, a programme to foster private investment and accelerate project development in clean energy technologies.

Distribution network operators in parts of Australia could be restricted from owning or operating energy storage assets, in a measure proposed by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) to stimulate the market for behind-the-meter batteries.

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

Ahead of Thursday, when Expressions of Interest will start being received, a tender for 400MW of renewables and 100MW of energy storage has already attracted ‘huge interest’ in Queensland, Australia.

Another utility-scale energy storage facility has got the green light for construction in South Australia, claimed to be the first in the country to be “backed by mostly private investment from the energy industry”.