Earlier this week the UK government and energy regulator Ofgem published a strategy for a modernised, smart and flexible power system, the result of an eagerly anticipated response to last year’s Smart Power Call for Evidence. Liam Stoker takes a deep dive to examine the implications for solar and energy storage of this major undertaking.

Another 500MW of energy storage procurement targets have been bestowed onto California’s three main investor-owned utilities by the state’s Public Utilities’ Commission (PUC), on top of an existing 1.325GW mandate.

This special supplement on energy storage looks at a global market which has already come a long way and shows no sign of looking back. From residential to grid-scale, to microgrids and vehicle-to-grid, from safety to finance, we’ve condensed some of the biggest topics and themes into a handy collection which we hope will help illuminate and inform you all. Energy storage is growing into a cornerstone of the grid (and is arguably even more important off-grid); a vital component of decentralised, decarbonised and even digitalised future energy systems. Yet so many misconceptions and concerns remain and there is still so much work to be done in helping stakeholders gain a better understanding of what batteries – and other forms of energy storage – can do.

From Energy-Storage.News’ publisher comes The Global Energy Storage Opportunity, a special online-only supplement magazine that looks at some of the exciting recent developments in all segments from microgrids and residential to grid-scale and commercial.

German automobile giant BMW is to launch a new ‘Digital Charging Service’ (DCS) for its portfolio of electric vehicles early next year, promising to integrate EVs with national grids and on-site renewable generators.

The merging of Tesla and SolarCity into a single entity creates a new company well-placed to deliver a full range of energy-related products and services to consumers, analysts have said.

Low carbon transport body Cenex has launched a technology demonstration trial of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems in three major European cities.

Andy Colthorpe and Ben Willis profile some of the companies and technologies making waves in the fast-changing world of stationary energy storage, in a feature article which originally appeared in the seventh issue of PV Tech Power.

Utility E.ON and battery storage engineers redT have partnered to install a demonstration solar-plus-storage system at the HQ of warehousing and logistics firm JB Wheaton in Somerset, England.