Senator Martin Heinrich has proposed granting tax relief for purchasers of energy storage systems, in a similar way to how the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is applied to residential solar PV purchases.

Two US Senators introduced a bill in Congress at the beginning of this week that would require the national Secretary of Energy to establish research and demonstration programmes and deployment strategies for energy storage, if passed.

Seeking ways to optimise the use of clean energy, California network operator CAISO (California Independent System Operator) is considering the introduction of a load-shifting product that would incentivise storing peak energy for later use.

Duke Energy announced plans to install North Carolina’s two largest battery storage systems — which stands as a US$30 million investment as part of Duke Energy’s Western Carolinas Modernisation Plan.

Solar entrepreneur and financier Jigar Shah probably requires little introduction. The SunEdison founder and former CEO is now president at Generate Capital, a project financing venture for sustainable infrastructure investment. Shah spoke with Andy Colthorpe about Generate Capital’s latest solar-plus-storage projects for a school district in California, as well as sharing his thoughts on the economics of energy storage today.

A test and demonstration facility operated by South Africa’s main utility Eskom will trial Primus Power’s flow batteries, after a local developer was awarded a grant for the project by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

Fernhill Corporation, a Nevada-headquartered company that invests in and acquires companies for “long-term sustainable cash flow”, has applied to patent a hybrid capacitor-battery energy storage system.

Legislation recently introduced in California to cut red tape and reduce permitting times for energy storage systems and currently awaiting the state Governor’s rubber stamp could also halve the costs associated with paperwork, commercial system provider Stem has said.

China-based technology giant BYD has installed the first of its residential high-voltage B-Box energy storage systems in Germany and is aiming to launch the system into the US later this year.

Jigar Shah has said that the addition of backup power helped persuade a California school district to add energy storage as well as going solar and that adding batteries can help “decision makers” see the true value of PV.