Just over US$28 million has been awarded by the US Department of Energy to projects that could deliver energy storage durations of up to 100 hours, while also committing US$120m to the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR).
California’s Governor Jerry Brown has passed the state’s 2045 zero-carbon electricity target into law, offering a major boost to the energy storage sector in the process.
Sweden’s first commercial wind power developer Eolus has entered the US solar-plus-storage market, announcing the acquisition of a mega-project currently in development.
US-based energy storage technology provider Powin Energy has claimed it has a pipeline close to 500MWh of projects under contract, including recent awards totalling 70MWh for customers in North and Central America and in Italy.
The US deployed 42% megawatts more energy storage in the second quarter of this year than in the first, with residential installations overtaking utility deployments for the first time.
Following news of SB100, legislation that would set California on a path to 100% renewables by 2045, the state is also on the brink of setting up a rebate programme for energy storage equipment sales.
US utilities deployed more than 520MWh of energy storage on their networks in 2017, bringing the country’s cumulative installed capacity of grid-connected energy storage systems to over 1GWh, trade organisation Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) has found.
Utility Xcel Energy’s latest resource plan for Colorado, aimed at increasing renewable energy generation and aiding the retirement of coal plants, was approved by the state’s Public Utilities’ Commission (PUC) on Monday.
Governor of California Jerry Brown, who likened the Trump administration’s environmental stance as a “declaration of war on America”, looks set to commit his state to a “100% renewable energy” policy.
Power outages pose great risks for corporate bottom lines and many have already suffered the economic brunt of unforeseen weather and grid events in 2018. Battery energy storage can be a versatile actor in networks, bringing resiliency as well as energy efficiency and economic benefits, writes Lisa Laughner, CEO of Go Electric.
