Huawei Digital Power has said it will supply battery energy storage system (BESS) technology to what is thought to be the world’s largest off-grid energy storage project to date. 

Virtual power plant (VPP) company Swell Energy and battery storage provider sonnen have both announced deals that will turn thousands of residential solar-powered energy storage systems into valuable resources for their local grid network.

Power distribution company WEL Networks and renewables developer Infratec are in the final stages of assessment for what will be New Zealand’s first utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS). 

AutoGrid has raised US$83.5 million in funding to scale up its virtual power plant (VPP) platform for distributed energy resources (DER) and Leap has raised US$33.5 million to scale and develop its DER software solution.

Whether connected to a main electricity grid or not, commercial and industrial (C&I) microgrids are increasingly able to offer resilient and independent power supply and — perhaps more importantly — electricity cost reductions.

Hitachi Energy officially launched yesterday, rebranded from Hitachi ABB Power Grids, the business Japanese tech company Hitachi acquired an 80.1% stake in, in July 2020. 

Harmony Energy Income Trust (Harmony), a battery storage investment fund operated by UK renewables and energy storage developer Harmony Energy, intends to undertake an initial public offering.

A new joint venture (JV) is evaluating building battery cell gigafactories in the US, based on advanced lithium-ion technologies, formed by investor Koch Strategic Platforms and manufacturer FREYR Battery. 

UK-headquartered asset manager Gresham House has partnered Irish developer Strategic Power Projects to develop a solar and storage pipeline with a combined capacity of over 1GW.

The opportunities for energy storage in the US continue to grow and grow, but moving away from contracted revenue structures to merchant risk projects will be a challenge, especially for lenders.