Andy Colthorpe spoke to Energy Storage Association (ESA) executive director Matt Roberts a few weeks ago, shortly after the group’s annual conference in Dallas, Texas. Based in Washington, the organisation’s activities include advising on policy at regulatory and state level as well as encouraging technologists and researchers to share knowledge.

The opening keynote address at Intersolar North America next week will be delivered by Tesla’s chief technical officer (CTO) JB Straubel.

Some news in brief from around the world of energy storage this week: UK residential storage company chases scale with crowdfunder, Younicos could hire 150 more employees by 2017, and Southern California Edison is set to flick the switch on a grid-stabilising storage system from NEC ES.

Lilia Xie of Lux Research spoke with the founders of 24M, which claims to have reduced lithium cell costs by 50% over existing technologies and is targeting US$100 per kWh by 2020.

Oil major Shell is to purchase 20MW of energy storage from Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS).

So-called ‘second life’ batteries taken from Nissan’s Leaf electric vehicle (EV) will be deployed in commercial-scale energy storage systems in regions including the US, following a deal involving Green Charge Networks.

John Grimes of Australia’s Energy Storage Council reports back from a recent visit to China, where he took a look at the processes and state of play of some of the country’s battery manufacturers.

UK energy efficiency solutions provider Anesco has bolstered its portfolio of operational storage solutions, installing its second commercial battery at a solar farm.

Elon Musk’s Tesla has done the rest of the storage industry a big favour by putting a price point on lithium-ion batteries, according to the CEO of Sonnenbatterie’s North American operations.

Renewables-powered energy systems that work independently of the grid at warehouse locations in India will be provided with flow battery-based energy storage solutions by US company Imergy.