There are seven utility-scale energy storage system integrator companies that currently lead a global market poised for significant expansion, with Fluence and Tesla currently competing for the top spot, according to a new industry ranking report from Guidehouse Insights.

While it might be more than 200 times smaller than the world’s biggest battery energy storage system so far, a 1MW / 5.1MWh project awarded to technology provider FlexGen is expected to be the biggest of its kind in the US state of Kansas.

Updated: Alamitos, a 100MW / 400MWh standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) has begun operations in southern California, where it will help the state overcome electric system reliability issues as it pursues its goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045.

North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for battery storage to manage its electricity costs, with 15-year contracts on the table for the delivery and operation of a turnkey energy storage system.

Despite the fall in unit prices for energy storage, a total of US$3.6 billion of investment was committed to energy storage projects in 2020, around the same amount as in 2019.

A large-scale vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) demonstration project in California which has been providing grid services on a commercial basis will now also trial the use of the technology for microgrid applications.

Solar inverter manufacturer Sungrow’s energy storage system (ESS) solution will power a 100MW battery storage project in Texas which is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2021.

The US energy storage industry remained “remarkably resilient” during what most of us have found to be a difficult year – to say the least. Andy Colthorpe speaks with Key Capture Energy’s CEO Jeff Bishop and FlexGen’s COO Alan Grosse – two companies that made 2020 one of growth in their energy storage businesses – to hear what lessons can be learned and why economics rule.

Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of the national Energy Storage Association (ESA), has been named in the newly appointed senior leadership team at the US Department of Energy (DoE).

Vertically-integrated vanadium mining, production and supply company Largo Resources wants to launch its own vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) onto the market within a year-and-a-half, predicting that the technology will play a “critical role” in addressing significant demand for energy storage.